411’s Wrestler of the Week 04.28.08: Week 4
Posted by Larry Csonka on 04.28.2008
HHH wins the WWE Title, Keiji Mutoh wins the IWGP Title, Matt Hardy wins the US Title, MsChif wins the SHIMMER Title, William Regal is KING, and there is even more than that! 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 , 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!
Daniel Wilcox
1) Triple H
This one is pretty simple. The Game capture his twelfth world title in what I would consider an upset because hardly anyone thought anyone not named Randy Orton had a chance of winning that match. Furthermore, it was a hell of a match and Trips really worked his ass off.
2) Matt Hardy/William Regal: Hardy won the US Championship, finally, while William Regal pulled off a shocker by winning the King of the Ring on Raw. Both accomplishments are deserving of this spot, so it's a tie.
3) Edge: Even though he lost at Backlash, Edge put in a hell of a performance. On top of that, he had a great match on SmackDown with CM Punk, which he won, and scored the pin in the big eight-man tag match on Raw.
4) Undertaker
5) Randy Orton
Andy Clark
1) Triple H
Despite the monumentally stupid move of delaying this change from WrestleMania to freaking Backlash, Triple H still scored a big victory and snagged his twelfth World Title in the process. The King of Kings is back on his throne.
2) Keiji Mutoh: Won the IWGP Title from Shinsuke Nakamura and adds on to his already impressive legacy.
3) William Regal: Shocked the world by winning the 2008 King of the Ring tournament. Whether or not this was a good thing or not is still to be determined but this is no doubt a huge win for Regal.
4) Matt Hardy & Undertaker (tie)
5) Bison Smith & Akitosho Saito
Chris Lansdell
1) MsChif
She won her company's biggest title, out of nowhere, having had a seemingly unbeatable champion (Sara Del Ray, who holds a pinfall victory over Awesome/Amazing KONG) covered for at least 10 the night before in a tag match. MsChif becomes only the second person to beat Del Ray, and the second SHIMMER champion.
2) Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito: Won the Global Tag League in NOAH, beating a team containing Mitsuharu Misawa in the process. Either on its own would be a big feat, but to combine them is worthy of a high rank.
3) Matt Hardy: Finally got the MVP bugbear off his back and one that elusive singles title. Well, except the cruiserweight title, but we're supposed to forget that. Oh, and the European title. That too? OK, umm...Hardcore title? Gee, I guess Coach is just dumb then.
4) Takashi Sugiura
5) Keiji Muto
Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) HHH
I was ready to give Regal the nod until about 10:50 PM Eastern time, but HHH had to go and win his 12th World Championship. I have a standard rule for these things, and if you win a World Title, you are going to get my vote for WOTW. HHH wins the title, and gets the top spot. Simple as that.
2) William Regal: I really wish I could have given him the vote, but HHH had to ruin things. Still, he wins 3 matches in 1 night on RAW, and claims the King of the Ring crown. It will be interesting to see where they go with this, but the image of Regal on the throne was pretty bad ass. He seriously looked like a James Bond Super Villain.
3) Matt Hardy: Finally, his chase of the US Title has ended, and perhaps this is the start of a push to the Main Event. I suspect another match or two with MVP before this feud finally ends, and then who knows where Hardy goes from here. Perhaps MVP moves up to Taker, and Edge drops down to Hardy.
4) The Undertaker
5) Samoa Joe
Jerome Cusson
1) Triple H
If you win the WWE championship in this kind of atmosphere, you deserve to be the wrestler of the week. I know he's done this 12 other times, but the "Age of Orton" is finally dead, and I say thank God
2) Keiji Muto-Speaking of legends, we've got another one winning his company's biggest championship. Muto is one the greatest wrestlers of all time and while he may not be as good as he once was, it's still freakin' Muto.
3) Matt Hardy- He finally got the monkey off his back by beating MVP to win the United States championship. Props to Mr. Hardy
4) MsChif
5) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito
ARI
1) Triple H
I am fully prepared for the freak out that will happen as a result of some of the votes this week, but for me, its very clear, even with a very busy and noteworthy week internationally and on the Indies, that Triple H should be slotted into the top this week. It wasn't a win out of nowhere, but it certainly wasn't considered a strong possibility considering the new life given to Orton's title reign with the whole "Age of Orton" lexicon. Triple H had to work hard for this one, in both the kayfabe and the smart sense of the word. I for one will not complain about this title win, as Triple H hasn't had a run with the top title of the Raw brand since 2004.
2) William Regal/CM Punk: It was awesome to see Regal win the King of the Ring title as he is someone who long ago deserved a serious run as a top heel. This could be his big chance to do just that. Then, as a CM Punk fan it was great to see him involved in three matches on Monday Night Raw of all places. I never thought I'd see the day that I could say the phrase "Raw Is Punk", but there it was.
3) Keiji Muto: A shocking title victory overseas, winning the IWGP title after all this time.
4) Matt Hardy
5) MsChif
Christi Csonka
1) Matt Hardy
Yes it isn't the biggest title in the world but my favorite Matt "Hotty" finally defeated MVP for the US Title. This has been a long time coming and Matt is very deserving as he and MVP had a damn fine match.
2) MsChif: MsChif dethroned Sara Del Ray to become the NEW SHIMMER champion. Beating Del Ray is hard enough, but the title win is huge for MsChif.
3) HHH: HHH wins the big belt in what I thought was an "OK" match.
4) Samoa Joe
5) William Regal
Samuel Berman
1) Gamma
Won Dragon Gate's tournament to crown a new Open the Brave Gate Champion after shenanigans forced the belt to be vacated. Gamma, who is quite possibly the best heel that American audiences have never seen, may soon assume the mantle of being the leader of the Muscle Outlaw'z as current group point man Naruki Doi seems to be on the outs. Either way, this win is a huge one for both Gamma and the MO'z.
2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito: Won Pro Wrestling NOAH's Global Tag League, and went through former GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa to do so.
3) Keiji Muto: Upended Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title, NJPW's top belt.
4) Triple H and MsChif (tie)
5) CIMA
Matt Short
1) Triple H
Love or hate the guy, there's no getting around the fact that his winning the WWE Championship from Randy Orton is going to be the most talked about and argued about thing for the next few weeks.
2) Keiji Muto: This could be another controversial title win, but Muto's winning of the IWGP Heavyweight title from Shinsuke Nakamura is not something to ignore. The Japanese fans were apparently received Muto's win extremely well, so maybe from a business standpoint New Japan made the right call.
3) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito: After the grueling, month long Global Tag League Tournament Smith & Saito stood on top as the ultimate winners, defeating Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa in the final match of the tournament. It was an unexpected team to win the whole thing, but it livens the picture up in NOAH a bit.
4) Gamma
5) Matt Hardy
Ryan Byers
1) MsChif - I wholeheartedly admit that there's a bit of personal bias here, but, even discounting that, MsChif winning the SHIMMER Title from Sara Del Rey is a big deal. Not only are we talking about capturing the third most prominent (prominent, not prestigious) women's championship on the face of the earth, we're also talking about defeating a champion who had only ever been beaten by one other wrestler in the company and who had racked up five big defenses over top-level challengers. Additionally, this victory opens up several doors for 'Chif, in all likelihood giving her a big opportunity for increased exposure in larger Indies like FIP and ROH, who recognize the SHIMMER strap. The real kicker is that the title win wasn't MsChif's only accomplishment. She was also victorious in another match with Del Rey, this one a tag encounter involving their respective partners Cheerleader Melissa and Allison Danger. Though the goth grappler didn't score the official fall in that contest, she did manage to keep then-champion Del Rey down for at least a ten count behind the referee's back. Top that off with a match against Amazing Kong on Sunday night, and the woman hailing from "The Inferno" had a strong weekend.
2) William Regal - As I made clear in a recent column, my WOTW votes aren't based on the kayfabe importance of an accomplishment as much as they are what an accomplishment means for a wrestler's career in real world terms. Given those criteria, William Regal had the biggest win of any WWE wrestler this week when he walked away with a victory in the King of the Ring tournament. Though it in all likelihood won't make him in to a main eventer for years to come, the royal moniker will probably set up the Englishman for a brief run at the Raw Title given the new babyface champion and lack of quality heel challengers on the current roster.
3) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito - Though where it actually takes them remains to be seen, a big victory over a legend like Misawa and an established main event attraction like Ogawa could mean a lot for the career of this team.
4) Keiji Muto
5) Triple H
JT
1) HHH
While this is not the decision that I wanted, they did it just about as well as possible as to not completely halt Randy Orton's momentum. HHH hasn't held the gold in 4 years, and he has certainly put in his work during that time to justify him winning his 12th world title. As if the win alone wasn't good enough, he also put on a pretty fantastic match once it was one on one while simultaneously making Orton look like a million bucks in his loss. The King of Kings returns to his throne.
2) William Regal: Say what you will about the credibility of the title, but there have only been 17 "King of the Ring" winners, and William Regal is one of them. He now shares companies with names like Harley Race, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart. He's long overdue for an angle this big and he earned it by making CM Punk tap clean.
3) Keiji Muto: Apparently nobody saw this coming except for the two men wrestling and the guy booking it. That said, while one wrestler wins his 12th world title, Muto wins his 10th (21st title overall if you count secondary and tag team). He has been in this business for more than 20 years and I think that not only is this a HUGE win for him, but a fantastic move for NJPW to capitalize on that fact.
4) Matt Hardy
5) MsChif/Edge
Jeremy Thomas
1) Triple H
Pretty easy pick here. After winning his first world title in over three years (I'm not counting his 2 hour reign at No Mercy), Triple H finally won the big belt again...and not only did he win it, he won it in what was a pretty decent match. A lot of people give H a lot of shit for keeping his spot, but then they forget he hasn't held the title in forever. This is a title win that Triple H has earned, as well as a top spot on the WOTW voting this week.
2) William Regal & Matt Hardy: This was a tough one for me to pick. Regal got probably the highest accolade in his career by winning King of the Ring. Meanwhile, Matt finally got the US Title that's been eluding him in the injury-plagued feud with MVP. Big week for both men, no doubt.
3) Keiji Mutoh: Mutoh won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time in his career in a huge surprise by beating Shinsuke Nakamura. If Mutoh can hold on to the title for just over two months, he'll have the longest combined IWGP Championship reign in history. That's pretty damn big.
4) MsChif
5) The Undertaker
Bayani Domingo
1) Triple H
He won "The" title in an elimination 4-way. Pretty impressive, but the question now is where do they go with this because they are running out of ways to make me care about HHH title reigns. Well they did that about 3 years ago but still...
2) Keiji Mutoh: IWGP Heavyweight Championships are a hell of a lot harder to come by then most people realize, but they sure as hell seem harder to hold on to. No one else will say this but...is it just me or is Mutoh becoming the HHH of New Japan?
3) William Regal/GAMMA: "King" William Regal has his biggest win in nearly a half decade by my count and GAMMA sneaks off with the "Brave Gate" title. Good week to be a mid-card heel.
4) MsChif
5) Matt Hardy
Stuart James
1) Triple H
He surprised me and nearly everyone here (well done to those that called it) by ending the Age of Orton. It was a fantastic, unpredictable main event, that was extremely well booked. You can't ask for much more, and HHH walked away the new WWE Champion, which he should hold onto until SummerSlam. This is a great opportunity for WWE to put someone else over by beating The Game, so this all works in my book. Randy and Cena have some unfinished business with two consecutive months of Orton stealing the title from him, so where does HHH go?
2) William Regal: Got to win King of the Ring, which surprised practically everyone. William Regal achieved the greatest achievement in his career, and won the King of the Ring, without burying talent. He was a heel winner, and lets hope this is just as entertaining as King Booker.
3) Matt Hardy: I was going to give it to Undertaker, but Matt Hardy's win surprised me and meant a lot to me. In retrospect, it's probably a great decision. Matt Hardy needs that major single's title reign, and MVP, I think, is ready to step up. The draft should shape things up for Matt Hardy to get new challengers (Kennedy, perhaps?). Overall, I'm very happy having Matt as US Champion.
4) Undertaker
5) Shawn Michaels
Jarrod Westerfeld
1) MsChif
Defeating the reigning champion of Sara Del Ray for the SHIMMER Championship, who had held the title since June 2, 2007 – a woman who had been practically unbeatable within SHIMMER even with a victory over Awesome/Amazing KONG. To defeat this former champion not once, but practically twice in the same weekend? That's a freaking feat! That's something to really talk about, and that's something I feel we need to highlight more so than Triple H's 12th title victory over a champion that has always looked shaky since becoming champion. The biggest win in wrestling this week, and it goes to the one challenger no one figured in considering the rich history between Daizee Haze and Del Ray.
2) Matt Hardy: A man who has chased down the champion for almost a full year, and had to endure challenging to special sporting face offs, befriending this enemy, suffering through injury, humiliation, and then the suffrage of time, to finally win the title after such a grueling battle. Through all of this, Hardy did it all and has gotten that monkey off his back – he finally has that one key victory over MVP that declares him, officially, to be better than MVP.
3) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito (tag): Winning the Global Tag League tournament is impressive – winning it over former GHC World Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa and his tag partner, Yoshinari Ogawa, is even more impressive, as you should come to expect more out of these two. Only the future knows what holds for these two – that and the booking team.
4) William Regal
5) Triple H & Keiji Muto (tie)
TG Corke
1) Triple H
Usually, when either of WWE's World titles or the TNA World title changes hands, I will vote the new champion Wrestler of the Week. This occasion shall be no exception. There's been talk for a while about Triple H winning, but after Orton retained at Wrestlemania I wondered if there was a new experimental challenger in mind. But now, it's clear that they just wanted to give him one final rub so he wouldn't be damaged after losing (rumors of another hotel incident may not have exactly helped sway the decision, either). However, Triple H's victory is monumental for another reason - although nearly everybody has been referring to him as an 11-time WWE Champion before now, this is actually only his seventh reign with the maiden belt. Therefore, he's just tied The Rock as the most prolific WWE Champion ever. Well done!
2) Matt Hardy: At The Great American Bash, MVP was the better man. Amazingly, nine months after that and a tag team title reign/faked friendship/pizza-eating/title loss/betrayal and injury/appendectomy/failed Jeff Hardy push/Money in the Bank run-in later, this was Hardy's FIRST REMATCH with the US title on the line. This time, Hardy won and got his most significant singles victory ever.
3) William Regal: Read my latest column for my feelings on the King of the Ring tournament and how much it means to people. Had Backlash taken place next week instead of last night, Regal would probably have taken the top spot here.
4) MsChif
5) Shawn Michaels
Michael Bauer
1) MsChif
Take everything Ryan said and compare that to the accomplishments of Triple H, William Regal, or Matt Hardy this week. None of them beat a person who looked unstoppable as champion and only Matt Hardy did something to help his career. That is why MsChif is number one for me this week.
2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito - Forget the Tag League for one second and think about this... they beat a team with Misawa on it. That deserves #1 by itself almost any other time.
3) Matt Hardy - It has been a long time coming for Matt Hardy to hold a singles title that will matter.
4) Keiji Muto
5) Roderick Strong / Takashi Sugiura
Arnold Furious
1) Triple H.
You win the WWE title that pretty much makes you number one vote. Not only that but surviving a 4-way dance to do it makes the victory all the more sweet. Getting revenge on Randy Orton is priority for a number of wrestlers but surely we knew in our hearts it'd be H's who got the job done? After all Ric Flair's record won't beat itself.
2) Bison Smith/Akitoshi Saito. I'm really hoping this is the start of the big Saito push. He's always floundered in the midcard before but he has awesome potential and has done for years. Winning the GTL gives both guys a chance to shine a little higher up the card. And of course they beat Misawa to get the job done.
3) William Regal. In any other week he'd have been #1 easily. Winning a one night tournament on Raw to be crowned King of the Ring for 2008 is a mighty achievement. So what if he stacked the bracket to suit him he still beat Finlay and CM Punk in the same night.
4) Matt Hardy
5) Keiji Muto
Larry Csonka
1) Keiji Muto/HHH
Muto gets the HUGE IWGP Title win, a win that I don't think anyone expected. Rock on dude, I am still a HUGE Muto mark. HHH also captured some big gold as he finally won back the WWE Title.
2) MsChif: MsChif dethroned Sara Del Ray and is now YOUR SHIMMER Champion.
3) William Regal: It's good to be the king…
4) Matt Hardy
5) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…GAMMA - 10 Votes
Fifth Place…Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito - 28 Votes
Fourth Place…MsChif and Keiji Muto - 40 Votes
Third Place…William Regal - 46 Votes
That's KING Regal to you, peasant!
Second Place…Matt Hardy - 48 Votes
Matt Hardy FINALLY won the US Title from MVP.
Wrestler of the Week…HHH - 72 Votes
The Game survives the four way elimination match at Backlash and gets revenge on Randy Orton as he won the WWE Title!
Yearend Standings~!
Just four weeks in to the new voting year and some of the major players are already off to a hot start. Matt Hardy is out to the early lead. He did well last year, but injuries hurt his overall standing.
Matt Hardy – 24 (Smackdown)
Samoa Joe – 15 (TNA) Ric Flair – 15 (WWE) {Retired} Mickie James – 15 (RAW) HHH – 15 (RAW)
William Regal – 12 (RAW) 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)
GAMMA??? who in the blue hell is this...and he had a better week than the King of Kings???
Posted By: chris hyatte (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:22 PM
MsChif??? Tie with the GAME?? this is insulting!!!
Posted By: oscar (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:39 PM
Bison Smith should never be put on the wrestler of the week list.
Posted By: ALEC BALDWIN (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:47 PM
This is my second favorite column after Hidden Highlights... nothing can make me go "hell yeah!" and "WHAT THE FUCK!?!?" within such a close time frame as this
Posted By: Jamal (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:47 PM
Michael Bauer shows again what kind of a loser he is you have MsChif(who won a worthless indy belt that maybe 10 people know about,and leave HHH off the list? you truely are an indybot
Posted By: Guest#2387 (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:48 PM
No, an IndyBot would not have included Matt Hardy. HHH winning the title again meant nothing to me. Everything else did.
Posted By: Bauer (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 03:59 PM
I dare you tell Amazing Kong, who's competed for it and lost, that the SHIMMER Championship is "worthless indy belt that maybe 10 people know about."
SHIMMER is the largest women's promotion in the United States, and their DVD's are distributed not only through Ring of Honor's online store but nationally through retail outlets. Additionally, the SHIMMER belt is defended at ROH events.
Worthless & Unknown Indy Belt, you say? Riiiiiiight.
Posted By: Jeremy Thomas (Registered) on April 28, 2008 at 04:09 PM
Half of these people shouldn't even be voting. How can a win for a womens title from and indy that no one can see be bigger then the #1 title in wrestling changing hands. this WOW voting is becoming a joke.
Posted By: BuDDyLighT021 (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 04:13 PM
How can Mischif be voted above HHH in WOTW in some of your votes...what puts the SHIMMER title ranked above the WWE Title??b really i know some prob dont like the WWE but the WWE titile is the biggest in the business and it weas a good match to boot
Posted By: Ian (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 04:46 PM
People, it's their opinions. Who gives a a shit? So some writers like some wrestlers more than others. They write the columns and they get to vote. Stop taking it so personal!
...yikes, dudes. yikes.
Posted By: 2J Slackalishous (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Sometimes I think this is just smark bait. But then other times I think its mark bait. Either way, its entertaining to read the comments in its wake!
Posted By: Dr Domino (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 05:45 PM
Same old shit from the smarks every week, if it's not mainstream American it's worthless? get the fuck over yourselves and realize that just because it didnt happen in WWE or TNA doesnt mean its not important to the WORLD of pro wrestling
Posted By: Guest#2418 (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 05:59 PM
Why does Taker never get any love here? He always seems to win.
Posted By: Joe (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:04 PM
Yes, but we are supposed to want to read what these people have to say. If, on a week when someone wins a world title (like it or not), that person doesn't even make the list when some NOBODY wins a nothing title gets the top vote, it points all signs towards idiocy of the voter. The intention here is supposed to encourage us all to read these people's columns.
Posted By: DaHumorist (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:05 PM
Regal? He had a way too easy path to deserve WOTW consideration.
Posted By: Capt. Smooth (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:12 PM
I seriously cant understand how people say that the Backlash main event was awesome becuase I thought it was boring and at no time did I ever expect HHH to lose. Whats up with Nakamura dropping the belt to Mutoh? What's with these old guys beating all the hot young rising superstars?
Posted By: Tony (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:14 PM
If Chris Jericho (who I'm a big fan of) won the WWE title on the same week that Carlito (who I hate) won the WHT and I had a vote, I'd pick Carlito because of the larger impact on his career.
Compare the impact of Triple H's and MsChif's title wins on their careers:
Triple H - 1 closer to his goal of beating Flair's record
MsChif - Cemented her as one of the top female wrestlers in the country. Likely to result in more bookings with ROH and other indies, increasing her exposure and improving her financial situation.
Posted By: Adam (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:18 PM
one year ago, Regal was serving the king...NOW he is the king! ALL HAIL KING REGAL..ALL HAIL KING REGAL!
Posted By: jmc4534 (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:24 PM
i mean two years ago...oops on my part
Posted By: jmc4534 (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:26 PM
Samuel Berman's ranks are about as bad as his dad Chris on ESPN. And who the fuck cares if someones 80 year old gamma wins anything that isn't BINGO.
Posted By: Scrotum Pole (Registered) on April 28, 2008 at 06:42 PM
You can rant and rave about how "big" SHIM...it's SHIMMER right? OK Thanks. You can rant and rave about how "big" SHIMMER is all you want but let's just lay the cards out on the table now, WWE's half-assed women's division is more recognized than this promotion. It's such a mind boggling situation where Triple H's WWE title win meant nothing. Yes he's won it 11 times before, yes he's the boss' son-in-law, but a WWE Heavyweight Title win is the ONE thing all aspiring pro-wrestlers hope to achieve one day. Many feel that the WWE is watered-down wrestling but let's be honest here, it's the premier and biggest wrestling promotion in the history of man - bar none. Now I'm not too big on H winning the belt just yet and killing young Randal's momentum but a WWE title win is HUUUUGE I don't care who does it. Plus this is added to the fact that with this victory, H ties The Rock with the most WWE title reigns in history and he ties Hogan with 12 World Title wins altogether. Look I know it's your opinions but I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that many of you truly believe that H's win was second to anything else this week.
Posted By: The GT Shaman (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 06:50 PM
OK, all the people moaning? How does this elevate Hunter? How does it shake up WWE? What impact does his 12th title win have on his career or the company that drastically alters the industry?
Now, Matt Hardy wins his first second-tier title. Not a huge thing, but notable and cements him as a mid-to-top guy.
MsChif wins the most respected women's title in NA over arguably the best women's wrestler in the west and is now put into that upper echelon.
Basically, the indies, Mexico, Japan and Europe figure into these rankings, and sometimes the events there impact the individuals or the industry more than Hunter's umpteenth ride at the top of the hill.
Posted By: Gaz (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 07:46 PM
While winning the Shimmer Championship is a big accomplishment, but it is nowhere NEAR the prestige of the WWE Title.
Let's face it here...love him or hate him, HHH definately had the best week, as he beat three of the most prolific wrestlers in the top wrestling company in the world.
Posted By: Mike (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 07:56 PM
I get more annoyed by the likes of Corke and Wilcox (BTW they're the same person) only putting WWE and TNA names in. This column has led me to seek out some awesome matches that would have otherwise passed under this casual(ish) fan's radar.
Posted By: Simpleton (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 08:20 PM
"What impact does his [Triple H's] 12th title win have on his career"
"Matt Hardy wins his first second-tier title. Not a huge thing"
You're kidding right?
Posted By: The GT Shaman (Guest) on April 28, 2008 at 10:09 PM
To everyone complaining about others voting for independent wrestlers or those who aren't as "high profile"... take one more look at the top three for this week: Triple H, Matt Hardy, William Regal. ENOUGH SAID.
Posted By: Ari Berenstein (Registered) on April 29, 2008 at 01:27 AM
People talk about prestige, but don't understand what Triple H kill prestige of WWE Championship. Mutoh, Gamma and MsChif have shocking wins, while Triple H's wins was boring and predictable. Yes, some people don't care about Triple H. It's their opinion. I sure what Triple H beat Hogan's and Flair's record. I care about Triple H when he became WWE Champion in first time. But how many people hate him when Triple H became 20 time WWE Champion? And how many people care about him?
Posted By: L'Mago (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 03:20 AM
What GT Shaman is failing to note is that Triple H won out this week based on the culminated votes of everyone, but wants to pick on the fact that people have different opinions about who they thought had a better week. And in the process misses the fact that some people see things differently than him.
I've explained my stance - a title change from a dominant champion means that much more to me than a title change of the biggest promotion from one weak champion to a more dominant challenger. I think others felt the same way and that's reflected in their voting tendencies.
Also, apologies to all who think that we're just supposed to vote upon who happens to be in the biggest promotions in the world rather than who we felt had an important week that is worth noting in this column. Just because it happens to be in some indy promotion doesn't mean it isn't important - after all, everyone starts out somewhere, and the indy's is always that start.
Posted By: Jarrod Westerfeld (Registered) on April 29, 2008 at 07:07 AM
haha, who the hell is MsChif.
some of these picks are laughable. Try to remain objective and keep your smarkism in check. Thanks.
Posted By: Prez (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 09:40 AM
Michael PS Hayes has my vote for wrestler of the week.
Posted By: Col Debeers (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 01:35 PM
Only ARI had CM Punk on his list.
The guy had clean wins over Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho in one night. How did he not make any other list? I'm not suggesting him being the top guy but he had a Top 5 week.
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 02:11 PM
So let me see if I've got this right. Undertaker stands tall at the end of Raw, retains the world title in a PPV quality match against Batista on Smackdown, and then again against Edge at Backlash, and he doesn't show up in the top 5 at all? Not even a special mention?
As the late Gorilla Monsoon would say "Holy Mackerel!! What a miscarriage of justice!!
Posted By: Mr Quimby's Beard (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 04:06 PM
i know that this is based off kayfabe but is HHH winning the chapionship even a kayfabe accomplishment any more? he's done it 12 times.
Posted By: Guest#9475 (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 04:09 PM
This is becoming insulting. It's not worth reading a column where people are just giving themselves fellatio for actually knowing indy wrestlers.
A guy won his TWELFTH world championship this week. If you pick anyone but him you are out of your freaking mind.
It's not that feds other than the WWE don't matter. But THEY DON'T MATTER.
Posted By: Penguin (registered) (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 05:33 PM
I just enjoy reading this column if only for the fact that it always generates some interesting comments in the comment section. Controversy really does Create Cash... or in this case, web hits.
Posted By: Trueblue (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 06:20 PM
John Cena should be NUMBER ONE, because he's so great. And he's a marine, too! Support our troops, jerks!
Posted By: JCjr (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 08:00 PM
"Gamma, who is quite possibly the best heel that American audiences have never seen..."
Oh, Berman, please educate me on the wrestling world. Your superior knowledge astounds me.
Posted By: Tyler (Guest) on April 29, 2008 at 08:31 PM
great top 3 even though I'm not a big HHH fan anymore but he's the best choice they have right now.
Is Ultimate Warrior eligable for wrestler of the week now?--- it would be great to see you all comment at him!!
He could get negative points.... Think about it guys... Negative points=GOLD, Csonka!! GOLD!!!
Posted By: Turnstyle (Guest) on April 30, 2008 at 12:58 AM
MsChif won botht he Shimmer Title and the NWA title(beating Amazing Kong) So I would say that ranks up there but then Again I like the young lady almost as much as Muto and I like Larry am I BIG MUTO Mark like all real smart marks are LOL
Posted By: Truthslayer (Registered) on April 30, 2008 at 03:08 AM
MsChif beating Del Rey was something that absolutely nobody saw coming. Same with Mutoh's IWGP win.
Triple H's 12th title reign isn't anywhere close to being that important.
Posted By: Guest#9305 (Guest) on April 30, 2008 at 06:55 AM
So MsChif's win makes her one of the biggest women's wrestlers in the US today? Really? I think Mickie James, Beth Pheonix, Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, ODB, Victoria, Jackie and a whole cast of other women rank far ahead of her. Fact is, wrestling is a business and unless you are turning a profit, pushing a product and making money for someone, it doesn't matter.
Screw Gamma. Screw Berman. Screw Bauer and Byers. You all are idiots
Posted By: Guest#4434 (Guest) on May 02, 2008 at 04:17 PM
