411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.14.08: Week 41

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.14.2008

Erick Stevens takes out Danielson and Aries, Umaga and Hardy have a great cage match to close out Raw and Kong is now the new TNA Knockouts champion! But who got the votes to win the 411 WOTW Awards? Click to find out!



Welcome to Week 41, Year-Three, of 411's Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview to kick things off as we have some new rules for year three…

Each writer chooses FIVE wrestlers from any promotion and each wrestler gets a point total attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…

1st - 5
2nd - 4
3rd - 3
4th - 2
5th - 1

Then we tally up the votes and the official 411 Wrestler of the Week is crowned. But wait, there's more! Each week the top SIX vote getters get a points value for their ranking which looks something like this…

1st - 15
2nd - 12
3rd - 9
4th - 6
5th - 3
6th - 1

...and they go towards the 411 Wrestler of the Year award to be announced each year at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let's see who wins this week…

The Voting!

Ryan Byers
1) Jeff Hardy/Umaga
I was really down on Raw this week, as their "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal" gimmick had been under-whelming, and their women's match was so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up my ballot for Worst Match of the Year in 411's 2008 awards. Then, when I was least expecting it, two men walked in to a steel cage and SAVED THE SHOW. Jeff Hardy and Umaga have been wrestling each other on and off for a little under a year now, and they've always had great chemistry. However, they took their rivalry to a whole new level this past Monday, putting on a contest with so much intensity and so many dramatic high spots that it may wind up going down as one of Raw's best contests of the new year. I'm not yet completely sold on the prospect of Hardy becoming a main event player in the company, but, if he keeps performing on this level, I'll come around on him quickly.

2) Erick Stevens - Like him or not, Stevens scored not one but two impressive upsets on this weekend's Ring of Honor shows and looks like he may be making a legitimate run at their championship before 2008 wraps up.
3) The Amazing Kong - Though her Impact match against Gail Kim was gutted by a commercial break, what we did see was very good, and the majority of that was due to Kong's work. To top it off, she won the title.
4) Gail Kim
5) Claudio Castagnoli


Christi Csonka
1) Awesome Kong
Awesome Kong keeps her awesome roll going and finally captures the TNA Knockouts Title, IN THE MAIN EVENT! She has been nothing but fun to watch and she deserves the award and the title. WHOO HOO!

2) Jeff Hardy/Umaga: I had the chance to actually watch all of Raw this week, and this was a great match, it should have been on a PPV it was so good.
3) Gail Kim: She's been great lately, and while the match was short, she had another good match with Kong and I have to reward her for that.
4) Chris Hero and Sara Del Ray
5) Erick Stevens


Andy Clark
1) Jeff Hardy/Umaga:
My initial inclination was to only give it to Jeff Hardy but Umaga looked great in this match even with a loss so I figured I'd give him the vote too. Hardy proves yet again that he deserves to be in the top spot. He is having great matches, he will do whatever it takes to entertain and the pop he received on Monday was insane.

2) Awesome Kong: After two great matches and one good one Awesome Kong finally comes away with the TNA Knockouts Title. We now have an epic Kong vs. ODB match at the next PPV.
3) Erick Stevens: Successfully defended the FIP Title this weekend in an ROH ring by defeating Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. This are both huge victories and continue to legitimize Stevens as a force to be reckoned with in ROH.
4) Chris Hero & Sara Del Ray
5) MVP


Michael Bauer
1) Erick Stevens
If anybody had a bigger weekend in any federation, I dare you to find it for me. Erick Stevens not only defended the FIP World Title twice, but he did so by pinning Austin Aries AND Bryan Danielson after not wanting a double count out. Pinning Aries is one thing, but pinning Dragon is still a huge deal.

2) Awesome Kong - A huge win for Kong as she finally defeated Gail Kim to become TNA Knockout Champion.
3) Jeff Hardy - Best Cage Finish Ever!
4) Miz and Morrison / Yang and Moore
5) Umaga


Bayani Domingo
1) Awesome Kong
The best feud in wrestling and one of the only reasons to tune into Impact! now a day. Awesome Kong finally scaled the TNA Knockouts Division and became TNA's Knockout Champion. Great little match and Kong probably proved herself as arguably the best female wrestler in the industry right now.

2) Erick Stevens: Two huge wins this week as he defended his FIP title versus Danielson and Aries and pinned both of them. Can anyone stop the momentum of "Choo Choo"?
3) Jeff Hardy/Umaga: Great match, great TV match, and the saving grace of an otherwise under whelming "RAW Roulette". Funny how matches like this don't get the same kind of "Why not put this on PPV and make some $$$" in the WWE as they do in TNA.
4) Kevin Steen
5) Gail Kim


Daniel Wilcox
1) Jeff Hardy
The rainbow-haired warrior had a tremendous match with Umaga in a Steel Cage on Raw this week and came out on top following a Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage, sending a message to Randy Orton. Every week Hardy makes me think he's got a legit chance at winning the WWE Championship in two weeks at the Rumble.

2) Awesome Kong: Kong won the TNA Knockout's Championship on Impact this week with an impressive win over Gail Kim.
3) John Morrison/The Miz: The SmackDown tag team champions retained their titles in an impressive 15 Minutes of Fame Match against Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore.
4) Triple H
5) MVP


Chris Landell
1) Erick Stevens
Proving me correct and cementing my upset victory in Buy or Sell, Erick Stevens comes up huge this weekend, pinning both Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson on consecutive nights to retain his newly-won FIP title.

2) Awesome KONG~!: After narrowly losing a match she dominated at Final Resolution, Kong finally beat Kim for the title on Thursday.
3) Jeff Hardy: THAT cage match will be talked about all year, and has set an early pace for MOTY.
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) Gail Kim


Matt Short
1) Awesome Kong
After months of chasing Gail Kim, Kong finally triumphed in this week's Impact main event to win the TNA Knockouts title. You can question the timing of the title switch, but you can't take this big win away from Kong.

2) Jeff Hardy: Won an amazing cage match against Umaga this Monday in spectacular fashion. Hardy looked like a million bucks and that closing shot of him looking down from the cage at Orton is going to be one of those moments people will remember at the end of the year. Hardy gets some added momentum and looks great doing it.
3) Erick Stevens: Stevens is getting a huge push in ROH at the moment. He not only won the FIP title at the Final Battle weekend to close out 2007, but this weekend came up with two massive wins in title defenses against Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson.
4) John Morrison & The Miz
5) Claudio Castagnoli


Theo Fraser
1) Erick Stevens
The first ROH shows of 2008 are in the books, and already it looks like we may have to crown Erick Stevens the Breakout Superstar of the Year. He defended his newly won FIP World Title at both shows this weekend, and that in itself is an impressive feat. But these were pinfall victories over the red-hot Austin Aries AND the man synonymous with Ring of Honor, Bryan Danielson. Some people seem to be against the decision, but this is exactly how new stars are made. Stevens also gets bonus points for being an honorable champion, as both matches were restarted after he won by count out, wanting a clean victory. Stevens' FIP title run is off to a terrific start.

2) Jeff Hardy: Participated in one of the better WWE Cage matches in quite some time, and in my eyes it seems like Hardy can do no wrong right now. He is on the ride of a lifetime, and another big Raw main event win over the Samoan Bulldozer puts him in second place this week.
3) John Morrison & The Miz: Got the sneaky (yet still impressive) win in the 15 Minutes of Fame match over Yang & Moore
4) Awesome Kong
5) Kevin Steen


Samuel Berman
1) Erick Stevens
Clean victories over Austin Aries and "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson give Stevens one of the best weeks by an ROH wrestler in recent memory. For an up-and-comer to defend his title against world class competition like that and come through with a pair of victories is remarkably impressive and deserves top billing this week.

2) Jimmy Jacobs: Defended the ROH World Tag Team Titles alongside Tyler Black and then followed up with a win over Vulture Squad leader Jack Evans
3) Jeff Hardy and Umaga (tie): Even I sat and watched the main event of RAW.
4) Kevin Steen
5) Claudio Castagnoli


SAT
1) Awesome Kong
Awesome Kong gets the top slot for winning the TNA Women's Title from Gail Kim on Impact.

2) Erick Stevens: Erick Stevens gets the second slot for successfully defending the FIP Title twice over the weekend. The thing that makes this even more impressive is that he beat Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. This was a hell of a week of Stevens.
3) Jeff Hardy: Jeff Hardy gets the third slot for winning the cage match against Umaga. The thing that makes this victory even more impressive was the fact that he won by pinning Umaga instead of winning by escaping the cage.
4) Umaga
5) Gail Kim


ARI
1) Jeff Hardy & Umaga: Its only one week into 2008 and already these two may have put on the best TV match of the year. The match was electric and the crowd totally responded to Hardy--he has been legitimized as a main event talent over the last month. A sidebar kudos go to Randy Orton for being the third man in this show, including his reactions to Hardy taking down Umaga and then the impasse the two had when Hardy was on top of the cage and came down with the Super Whisper in the Wind. Great finish to the best match of the week.

2) Erick Stevens: The Choo-choo train has left the station and is on an express run to the top of ROH and FIP. Two singles wins over Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson on back-to-back nights would be impressive enough, but that these matches were reported as being REALLY good is even better news for Stevens.
3) Amazing Kong: Was a part of the first women's main event match on iMPACT and demonstrated her talent and ability. It wasn't the best match in their series but the spotlight and the convincing win gets her this third place spot. In a less busy week she would have been number one. At this point, Kong could give Kurt Angle or Samoa Joe a run for their money.
4) Kevin Steen
5) Rey Mysterio


Jeff Small
1) Jeff Hardy
Hardy highlighted a very entertaining edition of Raw Roulette with a Steel Cage win over Umaga. Not only was picking up the win impressive, but the way he did so, will go down as one of 2008's top moments! The Whisper in the Wind off the top of the cage will go down in the history books and also gives him even more momentum going into his title match with Randy Orton. Jericho and HBK never looked so good in their recent conquests for the title.

2) Amazing Kong: Kong picked up the Knockouts Title after powerbombing Gail Kim three times! Even though it was given the main event slot of Impact, it's a shame the match was only given 10 minutes (4 of which were commercials). It's up to Kong now to continue her dominance over the TNA Women's Division while having entertaining encounters with a variety of opponents.
3) Erick Stevens: Two big wins over Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson in the same weekend is quite impressive. Shame neither of those matches will be on PPV.
4) Umaga
5) JBL


Mathew Sforcina
1) Amazing Kong
It was either a few days too late or a month early. But really, is anyone seriously going to vote against her? Really?

2) Jeff Hardy: Great Match. Shame it won't mean anything in a few weeks.
3) Erick Stevens: And let the "411 is Anti-WWE" mail commence!
4) Umaga
5) John Morrison & Miz/ Moore and Yang


JT~!
1) Awesome Kong
Won the best booked title in the second largest fed in North America, and did so in awesome fashion. Could have been a blah-television match, but Kong (and Kim) made sure that was in no way the case. Good match, which gets additional kudos for being on free TV, something the WWE is rarely willing to do (switch titles).

2) Erick Stevens: If you don't think that Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries are two of the biggest Indy names on the planet right now, you need to re-evaluate your wrestling coverage. When you PIN them both on separate occasions to keep your world title, you get kudos.
3) Jeff Hardy/Umaga
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) MVP



Larry Csonka
1) Awesome Kong
As I and many others on the staff have said, Kong vs. Kim has been the best booked feud in the company, they have had great matches and Kong is the most dominant figure in TNA today. She deserves the title and in my opinion the top vote this week.

2) Jeff Hardy/Umaga: A great cage match with a great ending that makes Hardy look like a huge star. Good shit here.
3) Erick Stevens: Stevens picks up two huge wins over the weekend and continues to roll on as the FIP Champion.
4) Gail Kim
5) Chris Hero and Sara Del Ray

THE WINNERS!

Special Mention…Kevin Steen and Claudio Castagnoli - 7 Votes

Fifth Place…Gail Kim - 10 Votes

Fourth Place…John Morrison and The Miz - 11 Votes

Third Place…Umaga - 39Votes

Umaga gets some love this week for his part in the great Raw main event with Jeff Hardy.

Second Place…Erick Stevens - 56 Votes

Erick Stevens defeats Austin Aries AND Bryan Danielson in the same weekend, that's huge and he definitely deserves a top spot in the voting this week.

Wrestler of the Week…Jeff Hardy and Awesome Kong - 63 Votes

With his great win Monday Night, Jeff Hardy continues to roll along as the #1 contender for the WWE Title.

Awesome Kong finally defeated Gail Kim and wins the TNA Knockouts Title. Kong is dominant in the division right now and might be preparing herself for a LONG title run.

Year-End Standings~!

With his tie for first place this week, Jeff Hardy continues one of the best rolls in WOTW History and now has moved up to fifth place and tied with Edge. Meanwhile Kong, Umaga, John Morrison and Erick Stevens all had good weeks and move up to the middle of the pack, and not that far outside of the top 15. There are 11-weeks to go, and as we are seeing every week things can change in an instant. Stay tuned to see how this continues to play out!


-The top 15 spots are marked

1. Kurt Angle – 89 (TNA)

2. Samoa Joe – 87 (TNA)

3. John Cena – 78 (Raw) {INJURED}

4. Matt Hardy – 66 (Smackdown) {INJURED}

5. Edge – 65 (Smackdown)
5. Jeff Hardy – 65 (Raw)

7. CM Punk – 61 (ECW)

8. Randy Orton – 55 (Raw)
8. Mark Briscoe – 55 (ROH)
8. Jay Briscoe – 55 (ROH)

11. Batista – 51 (Smackdown)

12. MVP – 47 (Smackdown)

13. Shawn Michaels – 45 (Raw)

14. Jimmy Jacobs – 41 (ROH)

15. Claudio Castagnoli – 38 (ROH)


Nigel McGuinness – 36 (ROH)

Bobby Lashley – 35 (Raw) {INJURED}

CIMA – 33 (Dragon Gate)

Chuck Taylor – 32 (US Independent)

Kaz – 28 (TNA)
John Morrison – 28 (ECW)
El Generico – 28 (US Independent)

Amazing Kong – 27 (TNA)

Erick Stevens – 26 (ROH)

Umaga – 25 (Raw)
Bryan Danielson – 25 (ROH)

Giant Bernard – 24 (New Japan)
The Great Khali – 24 (Raw)
Takeshi Morishima – 24 (ROH/NOAH)
Chris Hero – 24 (US Independent)

Austin Aries – 22 (ROH)

Sting– 21 (TNA)
Black Machismo – 21 (TNA)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 21 (New Japan)
Ric Flair – 21 (Raw)
HHH – 21 (Raw)

Mike Quackenbush – 19 (US Independent)
Kevin Steen – 19 (US Independent)
Chris Sabin – 19 (TNA)

Brother Ray – 18 (TNA)
Brother Devon – 18 (TNA)
Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent)
Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE)

Gail Kim– 16 (TNA)
Ken Kennedy – 16 (Raw)
Kenta Kobashi – 15 (NOAH)
Masato Tanaka – 15 (ZERO-ONE MAX)
Christian Cage– 15 (TNA)
Christopher Daniels – 15 (TNA)
Alex Shelley – 15 (TNA)
James Storm – 15 (TNA)
Chris Jericho– 15 (Raw)
Lance Cade – 15 (Raw)
Trevor Murdoch – 15 (Raw)
Santino Marella – 15 (Raw)
Eddie Kingston – 15 (US Independent)

Tyler Black – 14 (ROH)
Tomko – 14 (TNA/New Japan)
Naruki Doi – 14 (Dragon Gate)
Masato Yoshino – 14 (Dragon Gate)

Ricky Banderas a.k.a. Judas Mesias – 13 (AAA/TNA)


Elijah Burke – 12 (ECW)
Deuce – 12 (Smackdown)
Domino – 12 (Smackdown)
Chris Harris – 12 (US Independent)
Shinsuke Nakamura – 12 (New Japan)
Gamma – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Taku Iwasa – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Keni'chiro Arai – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Ryusuke Taguchi – 12 (New Japan)
Dick Togo – 12 (New Japan)
PAC – 12 (Independent)
Adam Pearce – 12 (US Independent)
Roderick Strong– 12 (ROH/FIP)

Abyss – 10 (TNA)

Low Ki – 9 (US Independent)
Vito Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent)
Sal Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent)
Icarus – 9 (US Independent)
Gran Akuma – 9 (US Independent)
Kenny King – 9 (US Independent)
Jason Blade – 9 (US Independent)
Lince Dorado – 9 (US Independent)
TAKA Michinoku – 9 (New Japan)
Yugi Nagata – 9 (New Japan)
D LO Brown- 9 (NOAH)
Bull Buchanan - 9 (NOAH)
Naomichi Marufuji - 9 (NOAH)
Mitsuharu Misawa – 9 (NOAH)
Keiji Muto – 9 (All Japan)
Joe Doering– 9 (All Japan)
Blue Panther – 9 (CMLL)

Necro Butcher – 7 (US Independent)
Finlay – 7 (WWE)
Paul London – 7 (Raw)
Brian Kendrick – 7 (Raw)

The Miz – 8 (ECW)
Hornswoggle – 6 (Smackdown)
Rey Mysterio – 6 (Smackdown)
Carlito – 6 (Raw)
Booker T– 6 (TNA)
Scott Steiner– 6 (TNA)
Kensuke Sasaki – 6 (All Japan)
Milano Collection AT – 6 (Japan)
Scott Hall – 6 (Independent)
Super Dragon – 6 (Independent)
Davey Richards – 6 (ROH)
Ultimo Guerrero – 6 (CMLL)
Averno – 6 (CMLL)

Shelton Benjamin– 4 (ECW)
AJ Styles– 4 (TNA)
Delirious – 4 (ROH)
Rob Van Dam – 4 (US Independent)
Hallowicked – 4 (US Independent)

Eric Young – 3 (TNA)
Big Daddy V – 3 (ECW)
Jimmy Yang Wang – 3 (Smackdown)
Shannon Moore – 3 (Smackdown)
Beth Phoenix – 3 (Raw)
Charlie Haas – 3 (Raw)
William Regal – 3 (Raw)
Mistico – 3 (CMLL)
Atlantis – 3 (CMLL)
Togi Makabe – 3 (New Japan)
Tiger Mask IV – 3 (New Japan)

KENTA – 2 (NOAH)

Jeff Jarrett – 1 (TNA)
Super Crazy – 1 (Raw)
JBL – 1 (Raw)
Hardcore Holly– 1 (Raw)
Cody Rhodes – 1 (Raw)
Colt Cabana – 1 (WWE)
Dragon Kid – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Taiji Ishimori – 1 (NOAH)
Andrew Martin – 1 (US Independent)
Sherri Martel – 1 {Deceased}

Voting began 4.09.07

Year-End Rankings Key:

Raw and Smackdown Wrestlers are represented in BLUE.

ECW Wrestlers are represented in GREEN.

TNA wrestlers are represented in RED.

ROH/FIP Wrestlers are represented in MAROON.

US Independent Wrestlers are represented in ORANGE

Japanese wrestlers are represented in BLACK.

Mexican Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.