411’s Wrestler of the Week 05.26.08: Week 8

Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.26.2008

Batista takes out Jericho and MVP, Hector Garza and Mistico are the new CMLL Tag Team Champions, the AJ/Angle feud has begun, Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito became the new GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and more! 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 8, 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) Dave Batista
Defeated both MVP and Chris Jericho this week in order to build towards a big One Night Stand rematch with Shawn Michaels. Not to mention he was in the two best matches on Raw and SmackDown this week, and deserves a LOT of credit for them. They weren't great, but for free TV, Batista brought the awesome this week and is an easy first choice

2) Mr. Kennedy: With the help of his tag team partner, Wellness, he was able to end the regime of William Regal in a "loser gets fired" match, and got a great reception for it. He beat Regal at his own game and now its time for him to move up the card.
3) Big Show: Killed four bitches on ECW to give himself some proper direction that he's not had in a while.
4) Hector Garza & Mistico
5) Kurt Angle


Shawn S. Lealos
1) Mr. Kennedy
Kennedy was the man to finally dethrone the current king of the ring. Actually, the wellness plan dethroned him, but Kennedy was allowed the honor in the storylines. It was not long ago that Kennedy was supposed to be Mr. McMahan's son and get a major push until he got into some trouble. He was also Mr. Money in the Bank, but lost that to Edge thanks to an injury. Now, if he can just stay healthy and out of trouble, he might get the push he deserves.

2) Batista: Big Dave beat both the Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho and the former U.S. Champion MVP this week and has guaranteed himself a match against Shawn Michaels at One Night Only. That should be a great match, as Shawn is great at playing the little man in danger and a stretcher match against Batista is about as overwhelming as odds can get.
3) A.J. Styles: This was NOT LIKE the face turn for Randy Orton. Orton was punked out and beaten like a bitch. A.J. Styles fought back and looked pretty good until the numbers game grew too much. Then it was Angle laying out A.J. at the end to set up their upcoming PPV match. Yes, A.J. lost. Yes, he was beaten bloody. But that was one hell of a moment and a face turn that should prove to be the return of the Phenomenal One – finally.
4) Randy Orton / JBL
5) Rodney the Piper


Jeremy Thomas
1) AJ Styles/Kurt Angle
What could be one of the hottest feuds in wrestling, if the booking goes right, was one pretty damn well on Impact this week. This face turn is EXACTLY what AJ needs to get back on the ball, and Kurt did a wonderful job of pulling it off between his segment and the attack on AJ. Let's face it, the segment was handicapped by TEH DRAMAZ, but Kurt did it well. If this stays on course, it'll do exactly what it needs to do; build up AJ as another big babyface, and give him a return of credibility.

2) Ken Kennedy: You've got to hand it to Kennedy; not only did his face push get a big bump, but he got to get the thorn in his side, William Regal, fired. How ironic is it that the Wellness Policy, which derailed his first push, is what helped boost his new one by putting Regal on the sidelines?
3) The Big Show: Show came in and destroyed the top four contenders to the ECW title without making them look worthless, and gave the ECW Title #1 Contender's Match life I didn't expect it to have by doing so. Kane vs. Big Show could be a fun feud for the C-Show strap.
4) Dave Batista
5) Teddy Long


Michael Bauer
1) Batista
Big Dave would definitely approve of his week on Raw and Smackdown this week. Defeating Jericho in the best TV Match this week and then beating MVP on Smackdown gives Dave all the momentum he needs going into a rematch with Shawn Michaels in just one-week time.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito: They are the New GHC Tag Champs defeating Marufuji & Sugiara.
3) Hector Garza & Mistico: We also have New CMLL Tag Champs, beating Averno & Mephisto.
4) Big Show
5) Finlay


Chris Lansdell
1) Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito
In a rare non-PPV week in the US, a GHC tag title change is the biggest news. These two young-ish guys have been knocking on the door of a title for a while, and following on from their big Global Tag League win the title change trigger was pulled. A big moment for both men, and one that could trigger a big career.

2) Hector Garza and Mistico: Two huge names south of the border pick up the vacant CMLL titles, which is why they place slightly behind Smith and Saito.
3) Mr. Kennedy: Is getting HUGE face pops, seems to be entering the Steve Austin lookalike contest, and had a good free TV match with Regal to send him off for 60 days.
4) Batista
5) AJ Styles/Kurt Angle


ARI
1) Batista
THIS Batista is fun to watch. BATISTA SMASH! Jericho and MVP were wiped from existence and Batista walks in with a ton of momentum to take on Shawn Michaels in a stretcher match.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoski Saito: Gaijin seem to win tag belts in NOAH, so it isn't like this breaks any established conventions. However, it is the culmination of a push Smith has received in NOAH over the last several months. Not to mention he and Saito went over Marfuji and Sugiura, who were on a roll as GHC tag champions.
3) Mr. Kennedy: He is being featured big time as the anti-authority heel, although now with William Regal out of the picture for 60 days, his momentum might get stuck. I don't see who else there is to feud against in the anti-authority storyline, but I would like to see a feud between him and Randy Orton.
4) Hector Garza & Mistico
5) Shelton Benjamin


Jerome Cusson
1) Batista
It's a bit of a slow week for the voting, so I'll go with someone who won two big televised matches over stiff competition. His feud with Shawn Michaels has a great deal of juice at this point and picking up these wins gives him lots of momentum going into his Stretcher Match.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoski Saito- By winning the a major tag team championship in Japan, they earn the second spot. Fairly simple logic.
3) Hector Garza & Mistico- By winning a major tag team championship in Mexico, they earn also earn a spot on this list. More of that simple logic.
4) Mr. Kennedy
5) AJ Styles/Kurt Angle


Jarrod Westerfeld
1) Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith
A slow week is always a dreadful one for those in the media wrestling world, because usually something big happens outside of America's television sets (except for CMLL and AAA, we actually get that stuff over here without a cable provider). So with a big win over Noamichi Marufuji and Takashi Suguira for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, they get a nod here for the top spot. Being a huge title win that followed a huge tournament victory in one of, if not currently the biggest wrestling promotion out of Japan, Smith gets is first taste of NOAH gold. I bet he loves Misawa for talking him out of retiring now.

2) Hector Garza & Mistico: Two straight falls to claim the CMLL World Tag Team Titles over Averno and Mephisto is pretty big. But, this doesn't really trump Saito and Smith's victory only for the fact that these guys aren't going to remain a tag team for long, and much like everything in CMLL, they'll probably break up within a year as Mistico is still a big deal and will probably be moved on to a huge singles career before too long. But hey, they did good this week, and that's all that matters for this award.
3) Mr. Kennedy: The push year of Mr. Kennedy continues, this time on its third wind and off the back of a stumbling and bumbling William Regal. Hey Willy, remind me why it's ironic that you failed the Wellness Policy now? Oh well, Kennedy gets a big win over the man that had been the most interesting aspect of Raw for some time, and secures that Kennedy is a popular and hot face ready to start making some big challenges to follow this success - now whether he remains hot and doesn't get the Elijah/Punk/MVP Experience is another topic of discussion.
4) Batista
5) Big Show


Matt Short
1) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito
Continued their so far awesome 2008 by winning the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles from Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura. These two have become a surprise hit for NOAH, winning over the Japanese crowds and winning the Global Tag League. A good year so far for this pair of heavyweights.

2) Batista: I'll have to agree with what everyone else has said so far. The guy had some good matches this week. I loved that Jericho match.
3) Hector Garza & Mistico: Another tag team title change on the international scene as Garza & Mistico won the vacated CMLL World Tag Team Titles by beating Averno & Mephisto in two straight falls.
4) Mr. Kennedy
5) Joe Doering


Christi Csonka
1) Hector Garza & Mistico
I really enjoyed Hector Garza back when he was in TNA, and when I get to see Lucha (with Larry) Mistico is EASILY my favorite. That should come as no surprise, considering I love the little flippy guys. Together they captured tag team titles this past weekend, and for that they get my top spot.

2) AJ Styles/Kurt Angle: Both guys are favorites of mine, and the angle to close out Impact made me want to see these guys have a match. AJ s AJ, and if Kurt is healthy it could be an amazing one.
3) Batista: Once again Batista has caught my interest. A fun match with both MVP and Jericho AND winning? Yes, he'll get some love from me.
4) The Big Show
5) Booker T


Andy Clark
1) AJ Styles
People have been complaining about AJ playing the goof for months and I kept saying that it would pay off. It allowed the AJ Styles face character to recharge his batteries after a lengthy run as the face of TNA in its early years. Now, even though he lost his match and got his ass kicked, we are starting to see the return of the old Phenomenal One.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito- They continue their good run by winning the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.
3) Batista- Came off as a real badass this week, beating Jericho and MVP, and hopefully heading towards a vicious beat down of that faker HBK.
4) Joe Doering
5) John Morrison, The Miz, & Mike Adamle


SAT
1) Batista
Batista gets the top slot for his amazing week. First, he beats Chris Jericho on RAW and then he beats MVP on SmackDown.

2) Hector Garza & Mistico: Hector Garza & Mistico get the second slot for winning the CMLL World Tag Titles by winning two falls against Averno & Mephisto
3) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito: Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito get the third slot for defeating Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
4) Big Show
5) Mr. Kennedy


Samuel Berman
1) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito
Naomichi Marufuji is to NOAH what Shawn Michaels is to WWE (that is, he's held all of the belts in the company and beating him actually means something). So when Smith & Saito upended Marufuji and partner Takashi Sugiura (himself seemingly the top challenger to GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima), it's certainly worth noting, even in a more packed week. Smith & Saito end a half-year stranglehold by the champs on the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.

2) Tim Donst & Hydra and Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke (tie): Both teams acquire their third point with wins over Los Ice Creams and Lince Dorado & El Pantera respectively, and in so doing earn future shots at CHIKARA's Campeonatos de Parejas.
3) Vin Gerard: A pair of victories over Create-A-Wrestler and an up-and-coming Jimmy Olsen deserves some note, as Gerard has become not only the prohibitive favorite heading into Young Lions Cup VI weekend, but has become one of the most entertaining performers in CHIKARA this year.
4) Hector Garza & Mistico
5) Mr. Kennedy


Ryan Byers
1) Dave Batista
In a voting period light on actual accomplishments, I may as well rely on quality performances in terms of making my top selection. Big Dave, though his ring work overall is still a bit hit or miss, had the best match on Raw this week AND the best match on Smackdown this week. On top of that, he was victorious in both of them. Like I said, this isn't exactly earth shattering and won't mean a gosh darn thing for his career in either the long-term or the short-term, but that's the case with virtually every wrestler on the planet this week.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito - Usually when NOAH does something with Bison they're just building him up a bit so that somebody that they actually want to push can beat him and steal whatever momentum he had. For his sake, hopefully this Tag Title win is a bit different.
3) Tim Donst & Hydra - Both Donst & Hydra and the team of Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke earned CHIKARA Tag Title shots this weekend, but I've got to rank the Neo-Solar Temple Team a bit ahead of the Fabulous Two because their capturing a shot is a bit more of a "breakout" accomplishment. Donst is virtually a rookie and Hydra is just now breaking away from being a pure comedy act, and hopefully being put in to championship contention allows them to be taken a bit more seriously.
4) Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke
5) Hector Garza & Mistico


JT
1) Batista
Okay, sometimes, the big dogs are undeniable in the week's they've had. We've had some great WWE action, some good TNA action, and some good Indy action. End of the day though, the fact remains Batista is one of the big draws in the E, and he beat two of the most over guys in the company in Jericho (no brainer) and MVP (continues to raise his own stock). That cannot be ignored. Not only that, it's on the heels of the fact that he's heading into One Night Stand to try and avenge his loss to Shawn Michaels at Judgment Day.

2) Hector Garza & Mistico: You show me five matches where someone actually won the first two out of three falls to win it, and I will show you 500 that went three falls. Have to give these guys credit for not only pulling this off, but the trust the booking team had in them doing so. Winning titles does hurt either.
3) Kennedy: Part of me fears that William Regal's suspension has KILLED this push, so I will give it to him this week for showing up, continuing to be amazingly over, and oh yeah, getting the most hated man in the WWE - evil dictator King Regal - fired by beating him in a career ending match.
4) AJ Styles
5) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito


Daniel Wilcox
1) AJ Styles
Considering it's been a relatively slow week, my pick for WOTW goes to AJ Styles, simply due to the fact that this full face turn should finally get his career back on track. Who would have thought that the Angle Family Drama would have ended up becoming a compelling angle? The closing moments of Impact were brilliant and now we can get AJ back to where he needs to be. No more comedy please.

2) Batista: The Animal had two really good matches on free TV this week and defeated two of the companies greatest talents in Chris Jericho and MVP. Batista is on a roll.
3) Kurt and Karen Angle: The Angles get my 3rd place vote for their part in the AJ beat down segment. As I said, it was a great segment and both played their roles brilliantly.
4) Mr. Kennedy
5) Randy Orton


Larry Csonka
1) Hector Garza & Mistico
To kick of the title changes this week, Garza and Mistico defeated Averno & Mephisto in two falls to win the CMLL World Tag Titles. The titles had been vacated but now have a new home, which is good news for CMLL fans.

2) Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito – The took out Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura to become the new GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, that's easily worthy of a top spot.
3) Batista – While I didn't like it all from a booking perspective, big Dave had a big week and definitely deserves some credit.
4) AJ Styles
5) Booker T

THE WINNERS!

Special Mention…Kurt Angle - 12 Votes

Fifth Place…AJ Styles - 27 Votes

Fourth Place…Mr. Kennedy - 33 Votes

Third Place…Hector Garza and Mistico - 42 Votes

They became the NEW CMLL World Tag Team Champions this week!

Second Place…Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito - 49 Votes

They became the NEW GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions this week!

Wrestler of the Week…Batista - 62 Votes

He defeated Chris Jericho, MVP and will have a One Night Stand with HBK.

Yearend Standings~!

Hardy got out to a lead, but his has not done much since and is barely hanging onto the number one spot. Styles, Kennedy, Garza and Mistico all debuted this week on the big list, and make it all the more interesting. Eight weeks into the year and no one is doing anything big to separate themselves from the pack as of now.

Matt Hardy – 30 (Smackdown)

Suwama – 24 (All Japan)
King William Regal – 24 (RAW)
Batista – 24 (Smackdown)

Samoa Joe – 21 (TNA)

Homicide – 15 (TNA)
Hernandez – 15 (TNA)
Ric Flair – 15 (WWE) {RETIRED}
Shawn Michaels – 15 (RAW)
Mickie James – 15 (RAW)
HHH – 15 (RAW)
John Morrison – 15 (ECW)
The Miz – 15 (ECW)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)
Akitoshi Saito – 15 (NOAH)

Kaz – 12 (TNA)
Jimmy Jacobs – 12 (ROH)
Jay Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Mark Briscoe – 12 (ROH) {INJURED}
Roderick Strong – 12 (ROH)
Jack Evans – 12 (US Independent)

Nigel McGuinness – 10 (ROH)

Randy Orton – 9 (RAW)
Petey Williams – 9 (TNA)
Chuck Taylor – 9 (US Independent)
Mistico – 9 (Mexico)
Hector Garza – 9 (Mexico)

Kurt Angle – 7 (TNA)
Chris Jericho – 7 (RAW)

Keiji Muto – 6 (All Japan)
Mr. Kennedy – 6 (RAW)
MsChif – 6 (US Independent)
Incognito – 6 (Mexico)

Bryan Danielson – 3 (ROH)
Ryuji Hijikata –3 (All Japan)
Jeff Hardy – 3 (RAW)
AJ Styles – 3 (TNA)

Brent Albright – 1 (ROH)
Awesome Kong – 1 (TNA)
Mike Quackenbush – 1 (US Independent)
Joe Doering – 1 (All Japan)
Anthony W. Mori - 1 (Dragon Gate)
GAMMA - 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