411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.21.08: Week 42

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.21.2008

Christian Cage is the #1 contender, Jeff Hardy continues to roll, SHINGO and BxB Hulk win NOAH gold and more!



Welcome to Week 42, 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!

Andy Clark
1) Jeff Hardy
To the best of my knowledge I have never voted someone to the No. 1 spot three weeks in a row, not even my boy John Cena. But Jeff Hardy continues to bring the awesome every week and I haven't been this excited for a title match since Eddie Guerrero challenged Brock Lesnar. Hardy is improving on the mic and has proved that he will do absolutely anything to get this feud over. Bravo.

2) Christian Cage: Christian Cage was on solid Three-Way Elimination Match on Impact that had a surprisingly nice big match feel to it to become the new No. 1 Contender.
3) BxB Hulk & SHINGO: Won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Tam Titles in Japan off of the awesome team of Naruki Doi & Masata Yoshino. Yet another Dragon Gate team has made a big impact in the NOAH title picture.
4) Hornswoggle
5) Ric Flair & MVP


Mike Campbell
1) Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk
Everyone thought this would be another token defense for Speed Muscle, and they were wrong!

2) Jeff Hardy: Considering the Royal Rumble Title defense is usually just filler, Hardy has been going above and beyond in making everyone care about this match. It'll be a shame if all this good stuff is wasted after the PPV.
3) Chavo Guerrero: Whether it was legal or not he finally got his win over Punk and got his title match.
4) Christian Cage
5) Ric Flair


Michael Bauer
1) Jeff Hardy
What can you say? The guy is on the roll of his life right now and that Swanton Bomb onto Orton will be remembered for sure.

2) Nigel McGuiness - Defended the ROH Title in Japan and is all set for his tough weekend.
3) BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi - Japanese Tag Title switch is no small deal.
4) Christian Cage
5) Edge


Theo Fraser
1) Jeff Hardy
You could probably copy and paste what I've been saying about Jeff Hardy for the past few weeks. Hardy is on a roll, and he's definitely making the most of it. Jeff once again looked like a true main eventer, and I love that his character hasn't been compromised, as evidenced by the wacky Swanton Bomb off the elevated platform, showing that he's still the daredevil crazy bastard he always was. Hats off to WWE Creative; for once they are keeping things simple, and it is paying off as they have built a feud that is now reaching fever pitch, and the fans are into it. In past years, I have always bought the Royal Rumble for the Rumble match itself, but this year, I'm handing over my cash because I want to see the culmination of this tremendously booked feud. One week left...don't fuck it up, WWE.

2) BxB Hulk & SHINGO Takagi: Pretty significant turn of events here, as Hulk & SHINGO defeated Doi & Yoshino Naruki to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles...at a Dragon Gate event. This is just another example of how strong the relationship is between NOAH and Dragon Gate, and I expect even more cross-promotional battles in the near future.
3) Nigel McGuinness: Retains the ROH World Title in a match against Go Shiozaki on the 1/20 NOAH show, and, perhaps more importantly, gets the time to shine, as the two compete in a 20+ minute outing in the semi-main event.
4) Christian Cage
5) PAC


Christi Csonka
1) Christian Cage
Christian beat Joe and AJ to earn another title shot. That's good enough for me.

2) ODB: She stepped up with a good win this week and she's the next victim, I mean opponent for Kong.
3) Jeff Hardy: While everyone knows I am a Matt Hardy girl, Jeff keeps impressing every week and at this point, I really want him to win the title.
4) Ric Flair
5) Chavo Guerrero


Matt Short
1) Jeff Hardy
Add another clip to Raw's highlight reel, courtesy of Jeff Hardy. The guy is on a major roll heading into his Royal Rumble title match and has people believing he can legitimately win the WWE Championship.

2) New Hazard (Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk): I might not be so upbeat about Speed Muscle losing the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles to another Dragon Gate team, but you gotta give it up for Shingo & Hulk.
3) Christian Cage: Overcame Samoa Joe and AJ Styles to become the number one contender to Kurt Angle's TNA World Championship.
4) Nigel McGuinness
5) Chavo Guerrero


JT
1) Christian Cage
Look, I know that Jeff Hardy is the sexy pick here, but he's been the #1 contender for a month now; Christian Cage did several things this week:

A. Helped expand TNA's relationship with New Japan and promote global relations to both the Japan and TNA audience (granted I am aware this was the effort of the entire roster but he is included in that and for the sake of this list felt it was noteworthy).
B. Won a match – clean – against two of the most over people on the roster.
C. Participated in one of the best if not the best match on television this week.
D. Became #1 contender to the TNA World Title.

That's a pretty hefty list, and therefore he gets my #1 slot.

2) Jeff Hardy: Man, he has been on an amazing roll, eh? I don't think they'll put the belt on him but he's been so stellar I would be shocked if creative hadn't considered it a time or two since they originally booked the angle. At any rate, his roll continued this week and so he gets my #2.
3) Nigel McGuinness: From all reports, had a fantastic, lengthy match with Go Shiozaki and in doing so also retained his ROH World Title.
4) Ric Flair
5) Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk


Samuel Berman
1) Nigel McGuinness
I may not love having him as ROH World Champion, but waltzing into Korakuen Hall and defeating soon-to-be ROH regular Go Shiozaki to defend his title is a pretty good week by any standard. And in related silver lining news, Nigel seems to have NOT injured himself during this outing. Oh, and before I go, golly I do hope that this week's voting doesn't offend everyone so gosh darn much. I mean what was I thinking leaving off Awesome Kong for winning a vanity title in a two-woman division that no one cares about? Memo to the haters: if you don't like my votes, get a column of your own (and two others you edit) and vote however you want.

2) BxB Hulk & Shingo: Their improbable GHC Jr. Tag Team Title win has got to be the talk of Japan (oh, and I'm a HUGE Shingo mark).
3) PAC: Had a big couple of days at WrestleJAM with some tag wins and outlasting a stacked field in a battle royal.
4) Jeff Hardy
5) Christian Cage


Bayani Domingo
1) SHINGO & BxB Hulk
I've been hearing for the better part of a year that SHINGO and Hulk would be the new face of Dragon Gate, while that hasn't exactly happened yet, they do have a huge win over Speed Muscle and are the GHC Jr. Tag Team Champions. Winning someone else's title on your home turf always gets you some kudos.

2) Christian Cage: Won the #1 contendership while outlasting Joe and AJ.
3) Nigel McGuinness: Beat Go to retain his title, while not the most popular RoH champ of all time, definitely one of the most interesting.
4) PAC
5) Jeff Hardy


Ryan Byers
1) Jeff Hardy
I'm apparently the only one, but I wasn't that blown away by Hardy's dive. I don't mean any disrespect by saying this, as I think Jeff is a hell of a performer whose recent push has been quite entertaining. However, it's hard for me to go nuts for a man falling on to a crash pad. It's something that I or anybody else watching the show could do . . . so why is it really all that special? Besides, the number one contender attempting to put the champion out of action BEFORE he has an opportunity to win the title strikes me as a poor strategy. What I'm really putting Jeff on top for is his promo on the early part of last Monday's Raw. The man's mic skills have been steadily developing over the last couple of months, and this was his best performance in memory. Solid work on the mic was probably the only thing preventing Jeff from becoming a fixture on the main event scene last year. Now that he's cut some damn fine promos, he may be in that position by the end of 2008.

2) PAC - Between getting the fall in two big multi-man tag matches and winning the WrestleJAM battle royal, he's quickly becoming Dragon Gate's most heavily pushed gaijin.
3) Christian - For winning the number one contendership that I could've sworn he already won on the January 3 Impact.
4) BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi
5) Nigel McGuinness


Jeff Small
1) Jeff Hardy
The WWE has done everything right in pushing Jeff Hardy as a main eventer. From giving him the opening interview slot to the unbelievable Swanton Bomb from the set, last Monday's Raw revolved around Jeff. Best part of it all: Jeff has ran with the ball perfectly over the past few weeks. If only all deserving talent could get a push like that.

2) Christian Cage: Defeated TNA's top two homegrown talent (Joe and Styles) in a good main event to become the #1 contender once again. Out of all the ex-WWE superstars that have joined TNA, Cage has definitely gotten the best deal. And like Jeff Hardy in the WWE, he definitely deserves his push.
3) Nigel McGuiness: Retained his ROH title in Japan. Now healthy McGuiness should see a lot more competition coming his way.
4) BxB Hulk & SHINGO Takagi
5) Mini Batista


ARI
1) Jeff Hardy: While a lot of the writers have already made great points about Hardy's good promo selling his feud with Orton and the dramatic swanton diver, here's something else: for the first time in his career it is absolutely one hundred percent believable that Jeff Hardy could win the WWE championship. It is also one hundred percent believable that he could represent the WWE well as its top champion. Can you believe it? Jeff Hardy is riding a huge wave of momentum as a top tier player and I don't want it to stop.

2) Christian Cage: I don't watch TNA regularly anymore but I understand the main event was a very good match and that there was effort from all three men in the ring. Cage defeated Joe (via DQ, yes, but hey it counts) and then made AJ Styles pay for choosing Kurt Angle over himself.
3) Nigel McGuinness: The ROH World champion has won all but two of his matches on the current NOAH tour and has taken none of the falls. He successfully defends the belt against Go Shiozaki, who is a very good wrestler and someone who NOAH and ROH seems to believe in. Nigel is starting to shake off some of the instability of his title run over the last few weeks and as long as he can stay healthy he should have a terrific '08 ahead of him.
4) Finlay
5) Tyson Tomko


Mathew Sforcina
1) Jeff Hardy
You know what? Give him the title at the Rumble. NO-ONE, seriously, would pick it, you can then have him lose it back at NWO to Orton or a heel HBK or something PLUS have a nice long tourney to crown a new champ at WM which gives everyone not orbiting Santino a storyline, and you give Hardy a hell of a rub. Heck, Kane was champ for a day and he's still got some residual heat. Come on WWE, take a chance.

2) PAC- A bit spotty for my taste, but wins is wins.
3) Nigel McGuinness- Wasn't he like injured?
4) Christian Cage
5) BxB Hulk & Shingo


Daniel Wilcox
1) Jeff Hardy
There's not much left to say that hasn't already been said about Jeff Hardy. The role he is on right now is by far the biggest in his career and it's not totally out of the question for him to win the WWE Championship a the Royal Rumble.

2) Christian Cage - Cage became number one contender to the TNA Championship after beating Samoa Joe and AJ Styles in a great match on Impact.
3) MVP/Ric Flair - These two great talkers had a tremendous VIP Lounge segment on SmackDown.
4) Chavo Guerrero
5) CM Punk


Larry Csonka
1) BxB Hulk and SHINGO
BxB Hulk & SHINGO defeated Doi & Yoshino and won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles this week, AT a Dragon Gate event! The DG and NOAH relationship continues to go strong and the whole situation keeps getting more interesting by the week.

2) Christian Cage: Is the #1 contender again, defeating AJ and Joe on Impact.
3) Nigel McGuinness: Nigel gets a strong defense in Japan, which should lead to GO's ROH debut and quest for the title.
4) Jeff Hardy
5) ODB

THE WINNERS!

Special Mention…Ric Flair - 9 Votes

Fifth Place…PAC - 14 Votes

Fourth Place…Nigel McGuiness - 33 Votes

Third Place…SHINGO and BxB Hulk - 39 Votes

These men won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles this week off of the hot team of Yoshino and Doi.

Second Place…Christian Cage - 49 Votes

Christian Cage defeats Samoa Joe and AJ Styles en route to becoming the #1 contender for the TNA Title.

Wrestler of the Week…Jeff Hardy - 61 Votes

The amazing roll of Jeff Hardy continues, he cuts a good promo, was willing to put his IC title on the line and then flew off of the set onto Randy Orton to end Raw on a high note.

Year-End Standings~!

Ric Flair and Pac make small moves this week, while SHINGO and BxB Hulk make their debuts on the list. Current ROH Champion Nigel McGuiness breaks into the top 15, and Christian Cage made a big move and now is close to that top 15. The big story is the run that Jeff Hardy is on. In the last six WOTW columns (this week included) Jeff didn't place twice, has one second and THREE first place victories. This has allowed him to become a major player and to leap into the 3rd spot in the yearend standings.


-The top 15 spots are marked

1. Kurt Angle – 89 (TNA)

2. Samoa Joe – 87 (TNA)

3. Jeff Hardy – 80 (Raw)

4. John Cena – 78 (Raw) {INJURED}

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

6. Edge – 65 (Smackdown)

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. Nigel McGuinness – 42 (ROH)

15. Jimmy Jacobs – 41 (ROH)


Claudio Castagnoli – 38 (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)

Awesome Kong – 27 (TNA)
Christian Cage– 27 (TNA)

Erick Stevens – 26 (ROH)

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

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

Austin Aries – 22 (ROH)
Ric Flair – 22 (Raw)

Sting– 21 (TNA)
Black Machismo – 21 (TNA)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 21 (New Japan)
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)
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)
PAC – 15 (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)
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)
BxB Hulk – 9 (Dragon Gate)
SHINGO – 9 (Dragon Gate)
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.