411’s Wrestler of the Week 04.21.08: Week 3

Posted by Larry Csonka on 04.21.2008

Mickie James wins the WWE Women’s Title, Jimmy Jacobs dominated the weekend ROH shows and Petey Williams wins the TNA X-Division Title! But who had the goods to take home the WOTW award? Check out the latest edition of 411's Wrestler of the Week for all the details!



Welcome to Week 3, Year-FOUR, of 411's Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview to kick things off as we have some new rules for year four…

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!

Stuart James
1) Nigel McGuiness
Two big victories this week, one in tag team action against one of the favorite tag teams in the Indy circuit today, El Generico and Kevin Steen, and one in a ROH World Title match with Kevin Steen. Two victories in two high profile matches makes McGuiness my easy choice for wrestler of the week in a very slow week.

2) Chris Jericho: Got to pin Umaga, who is a jobber to the stars, thus making Jericho a star via proxy. Well, maybe not, but not many people get to do that, and he also retained his title in the process. He's also made a very good, subtle heel turn, interfering with the Michaels and Batista angle, which has now gotten even better since his inclusion. Here's to hoping we see lots of HBK/Y2J clashes!
3) Mickie James: Beat the monster Beth Phoenix, in a phenomenal match on Raw, which has made me enthusiastic for the division again. Mickie is now a four time women's champion, putting her equal with Lita, but still behind Moolah and Trish.
4) Age of the Fall
5) Kota Ibushi


The Original Andy Clark
1) Jimmy Jacobs
ROH should just name this past Saturday's show "Jimmy Jacobs and some other stuff" because he was all over the place. Ordering around the AOTF, crying over Lacey, starting a blood feud with Austin Aries, and taking Mark Briscoe out of action Jimmy Jacobs crammed four weeks worth of material into one night.

2) Mickie James: Surprised us all by winning the Women's Title from Beth Phoenix on Monday night.
3) Petey Williams: Cashed in his fake Money in the Bank shot to beat Jay Lethal for the X-Division Title on Impact.
4) Kaz & Eric Young
5) Chris Jericho


Jeremy Thomas
1) William Regal
Call me crazy, but Regal really did give off the performance of the week, as the WWE gave him the 'hometown push' against the WWE Champion. Regal's only the GM, and he put Orton right to the limit in a really good match. Meanwhile, he got to put the heel-turning Y2J in his place in his GM capacity. Good week for Mister Regal.

2) Chris Jericho: Got put in the middle the best feud currently going in the WWE, and managed to beat Umaga. Hey, look, they're actually defending the IC Title from time to time!
3) Mickey James: Hey, look, new WWE Women's champion! A good move, if a surprise one out of nowhere, that makes the division somewhat interesting again, as Beth is definitely going to want her revenge. And it was a good match, too. Congratulations, Mickie.
4) Petey Williams
5) Kaz & Super Eric


Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Mickie James
She won gold by defeating one of the more dominate heel champions in the Women's division. This match was pretty good, and it was nice they gave her the time to celebrate. A great moment even if the WWE doesn't do anything with the Women's division from this point. Still, enough to make her my choice for Wrestler of the Week.

2) Petey Williams: He also won gold, and did it in the manner that my boy Edge has done in the past. I don't like that they are turning Petey into Scott Steiner Lite, but at least it gets him back on my TV screen. I was also thankful they got the gold off of Lethal. Hopefully, this will get the X-Division back on track after all the comedy garbage we have recently seen.
3) William Regal: I have to get Regal in here because I don't know if I will ever get another chance. He looked like he was having a great time Monday, and his match with Orton was damn entertaining. There was no way he was going over Orton, but the trick is that they made up believe he could.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Randy Orton


Michael Bauer
1) Jimmy Jacobs
Sure, Saturday was pretty much his show, but this could also be a sign that RoH finally has alot of faith in Jacobs to carry the load in the near future. He also made Shelley tap to have the Age of the Fall defeat the Machine Guns in their hometown. Now, he gets his first true main event singles program with Aries and I can not complain.

2) Nigel McGuiness - Soundly defeats Kevin Steen twice in one weekend to end Steen's momentum cold.
3) Mickie James - The new WWE Women's Champion for the feel good story of the week.
4) Petey Williams
5) Mike Quackenbush/Kota Ibushi


Christi Csonka
1) Mickie James
The WWE did something that they haven't done in a long time, they put on a women's match that I wanted to see, that I enjoyed and that gave us a great result. While I prefer the TNA ladies, it was nice to see the women in WWE that CAN wrestle get the chance TO wrestle. Mickie deserved the win here, no doubt about it.

2) Awesome Kong: While Mickie James was winning a title Awesome Kong had a great match with Roxxi defending her title. This was a great week for the ladies.
3) Petey Williams: Won the X-Division gold, that's good enough for me.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Randy Orton


Matt Short
1) Mickie James
Won the Women's Title in a damn fine little match against Beth Phoenix this week. The win was just captured so well and the match came off strong to me that I've got to give Mickie number one this week.

2) Jimmy Jacobs: As others have pointed out, Jacobs was all over this weekend's ROH shows. First he made Alex Shelley tap out in his match against the MCMGs then dominated the following night in terms of the company's focus. Now to cue all the fans claiming that ROH is starting to become too "sports entertainment" because they've deluded themselves into thinking that ROH never was like that in the first place.
3) Kota Ibushi: Kept on looking impressive in ROH this weekend and scored his first win in America over El Generico.
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) The Osirian Portal


ARI
1) Jimmy Jacobs
Holy good god am I ever pumped up for Jacobs and the whole Age of the Fall / Aries & Lacey angle after the events of this weekend. ROH has been good but lacking that certain something to spark a buzz around their programs. THIS weekend's events surrounding Jacobs being dumped by Lacey and the resulting chaos surrounding Jacobs' breakdown was it. Jacobs has now cemented his status as being a part of the ROH legacy. His character's saga and evolution is so deep and richly developed.

2) William Regal: He had the spotlight in his home country and fought the WWE champion in a non-title match. This was a great effort from him this week, even if he did almost kill Randy Orton.
3) Mickie James: Finally unseated Beth Phoenix for the WWE Women's title in a feel good moment. Its good to see James get back to championship status and to go from one women's wrestler to another (and not to a 'Diva') means a good deal to the women's division.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Scott Steiner & Petey Williams


Samuel Berman
1) Jimmy Jacobs
A huge weekend for the Age of the Fall's leader. First, Jacobs forces his career-long rival Alex Shelley into submission in Friday's main event tag match. Then, as if that weren't enough, Jacobs dominates Saturday's card with the beginning of a program with former ROH World Champion Austin Aries. Given the depth of Jacobs' work in Chicago Ridge, I don't think it's overstating things to call him the most three-dimensional performer that ROH has right now.

2) Jay & Mark Briscoe and Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (tie): Given the impossible task of living up to their 2007 classic, both teams brought their best to put on a fitting sequel.
3) Kota Ibushi: Though it only translated to a single victory, trust me when I say that Ibushi was one of the true stars of this past weekend.
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) Nigel McGuinness


JT
1) Mickie James
I hate weeks like this. Nobody was UBERLY AMAZING, yet there was like a lineup of 10 - 15 people who all "had a great week". So it really comes down to who you want to give love to. I'll give Mickie the love because she's one of the "sexy picks" this week and well, it's rare for the E to put effort into the Women's Division let alone have someone win a title over one of if not the most qualified female wrestlers on the roster.

2) Jimmy Jacobs: See what I said for #1.
3) Chris Jericho: See what I said for #2 and by default #1.
4) William Regal
5) Petey Williams


Arnold Furious
1) Mickie James. I marked for her feel-good win over the seemingly unstoppable Beth Phoenix on Raw. Her storytelling and reactions over the course of the feud (however disjointed thanks to WWE not actually caring about the women's division) have made it. She's certainly been the outstanding performer in the women's division since the old guard of Trish & Lita headed off into the sunset.

2) Petey Williams. Here's hoping Mike Tenay refers to him as the "Ultimate Opportunist" up to the point where Michael Cole feels the need to copyright it.
3) Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio. It's not every day Misawa & Ogawa job inside of three minutes. Sure it was the Japanese X-Pac who took the loss but nevertheless...big win.
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) Nigel McGuinness


Andrew Critchell
1) Mickie James
She won the Women's Title over the previously unstoppable Beth Phoenix. Let's home Mickie can raise her game now that she has the strap.

2) Petey Williams - Won the X-Division Title and hopefully rid the world of the Black Machismo version of Jay Lethal. The old Jay may have been boring but at least he didn't make me want to change the channel
3) Jimmy Jacobs - Had a big weekend in ROH, pretty much both shows were all about him. A star is born? Maybe if he gets a haircut and stops listening to The Used and My Chemical Romance
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked)


Seth Roy
1) Petey Williams
Used the briefcase/gift from Scott Steiner smartly, and will hopefully have a long run with it against the likes of Shark Boy, Curry Man and Consequences...

2) Mickie James: Finally gets that big win over Beth Phoenix, who had only been pinned by Maria before, when Candice Michelle provided a distraction. Also, Mickie gets the title again.
3) Chris Jericho: Inserted into what should be the best feud/match at Backlash, and the seeds were planted for a full-blown heel turn.
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) William Regal


Jarrod Westerfeld
1) Jimmy Jacobs
Everyone is going to cry about how Jacobs basically shouldn't be getting top billing over guys like Mickie James and Petey Williams, but let's be real here - James won a title with no build and only got the title to add some spice to a division that needs some spice, while Petey was handed a title that is about as meaningful a note as being the roadie that helped set-up the stage for Pink Floyd. Jacobs did something that neither did and that's establish himself as the character to look out for this year, taking on a big win over Alex Shelley of the Murder City Machine Guns in Detroit, and then following to progress as a character struggling with his want to help Aries and for his love of Lacey and the betrayal suffered from both running off into some sort of bliss together. Jacobs is now the guy to watch out for in ROH, and he didn't have to win a title to do such a thing.

2) Petey Williams and Mickie James (tie): Both won titles on the big two stages, so that's worth noting. Both share this honor just because they got a nice moment to shine, though Mickie should lose points for making out with Todd Pettingill's clone, Number 5482 Todd Grisham.
3) Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio: A win over Misawa and Ogawa is nothing to sneeze at, and that deserves getting some mention at least.
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) Nigel McGuinness


Larry Csonka
1) Mickie James
My baby Mickie finally gets the Women's Title back, and it was glorious!

2) Petey Williams: Mini-Pump steals the X-Division title with his Feast or Fired case. The sneaky bastard.
3) William Regal: Shades of old school Regal on Raw, that was awesome.
4) Awesome Kong
5) Jimmy Jacobs/Mike Quackenbush

THE WINNERS!

Special Mention…Nigel McGuinness and Mike Quackenbush - 12 Votes

Fifth Place…William Regal - 18 Votes

Fourth Place…Chris Jericho - 21 Votes

Third Place…Petey Williams - 37 Votes

Petey Williams takes full advantage of his title shot and regains the X-Division title!

Second Place…Jimmy Jacobs - 41 Votes

Jimmy Jacobs was all over the latest set of ROH shows, starting a hot feud with Aries and taking out Mark Briscoe.

Wrestler of the Week…Mickie James - 58 Votes

Mickie James got the huge surprise win of the women's title as Raw went international. She had been battling Beth Phoenix for a long while and finally defeated the Glamazon.

Yearend Standings~!

Just three weeks in to the new voting year and some of the major players are already off to a hot start.

Samoa Joe – 15 (TNA)
Ric Flair – 15 (WWE) {Retired}
Mickie James – 15 (RAW)

Matt Hardy – 12 (Smackdown)
Jimmy Jacobs – 12 (ROH)
Jay Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Mark Briscoe – 12 (ROH)

Batista – 9 (Smackdown)
Randy Orton – 9 (RAW)
Petey Williams – 9 (TNA)
Suwama – 9 (All Japan)

Kurt Angle – 6 (TNA)
Shawn Michaels – 6 (RAW)
Chris Jericho – 6 (RAW)

William Regal – 3 (RAW)

Nigel McGuinness – 1 (ROH)
Mike Quackenbush – 1 (US Independent)
Joe Doering – 1 (All Japan)
Anthony W. Mori - 1 (Dragon Gate)

Voting began 4.07.08

Year-End Rankings Key:

WWE, Raw, ECW and Smackdown Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLUE.

TNA Contracted Wrestlers are represented in GREEN.

ROH Contracted Wrestlers are represented in RED.

US Independent Wrestlers are represented in MAROON.

Japanese Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLACK.

Mexican Contracted Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.

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PREVIOUS WINNERS

Year One Winner: Ric Flair
Year Two Winner: Samoa Joe
Year Three Winner: John Cena