411’s Wrestler of the Week 02.07.11: Week 45

Welcome to Week 45, Year SIX, of 411’s Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview of the rules to kick things off for us as a reminder…

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

If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!

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…

Larry Csonka
1) Jerry The King Lawler
Simply put, Jerry Lawler has been booked better as a challenger than almost anyone in WWE right now. The crowds love him, for his age he performs very well, and as a long time Jerry Lawler fan, I am very happy to see him get this chance. Rock on King.

2) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito: Won the Open the Twin Gate titles by defeating the team of Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fuji.
3) AJ Styles: Gave a good promo on Impact, and while the angle can be complained about, Styles stuck out as a big player this week in my mind.
4) Jeremy Buck
5) KONO & Joe Doering

Michael Ornelas
1) AJ Styles
Ugh. I will vote him because of the wrestler, not the booking or the story around it. The face turn PROMO was very effective and AJ looked like more of a star than TNA Champion Ken Anderson. For TNA to acknowledge Hogan/Bischoff destroying WCW and all the mistakes they’ve made in the last year on air makes me wonder if it was all a work…and it would have been one the dumbest, costliest works of all time. But AJ was stellar in his promo here, so first place it is. Now get off my nuts when I vote CM Punk first for an excellent promo.

2) Jerry Lawler: Good for Lawler. It really looks like he has a road to WrestleMania and I won’t be surprised if he has a match there. The question is…who does he fight? The Miz and Michael Cole are really the only two things that’d make any sense…but they wouldn’t make it a WWE championship match with the Miz, and I don’t see it with Michael Cole. Alex Riley vs. Lawler just doesn’t say “WrestleMania” to me. Oh well, he’s headed to the Elimination Chamber in a championship match and I’m happy for the guy.
3) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito: It bugs me that Mochizuki and Fuji’s reign was so short, but these guys won gold regardless. Dragon Gate’s new Open the Twin Gate champions get third place this week for an overseas title change.
4) Kelly Kelly
5) Alberto Del Rio

Aaron Hubbard
1) Jerry Lawler
The Memphis Legend outlasted six of the top stars on RAW to win a title shot at The Miz at Elimination Chamber. He won’t win the title at this point in his career, but hopefully he’ll be wrestling on the big show in some way this year.

2) AJ Styles: Turned babyface (FINALLY) and revealed that Fourtune is THEY in TNA, actually making me excited about the main event scene of that company for the first time in months.
3) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito: Not my favorite Dragon Gate guys, but they are a great tag team and are once again the Open the Twin Gate Champions.
4) Tatsumi Fujinami & Mil Mascaras (TIE)
5) Drew McIntyre

Chad Nevett
1) AJ Styles
Led Fortune turning on Immortal and delivered one hell of a promo, putting himself right back at the top as the face of the company, title or no title.

2) Jerry Lawler: Won the Raw Rumble and will face the Miz at Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship.
3) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito: Won the Open the Twin Gate Championship.
4) Mr. Anderson
5) Edge

Ryan Byers
1) Jerry Lawler
Yes, he’s over sixty years old. Yes, we here on the internet are supposed to complain every time an old guy gets pushed over a younger wrestler. However, in this particular case, I DON’T CARE. Why? Because Lawler has been a more entertaining performer on Monday Night Raw than virtually any young wrestler over the course of the past several months, and I’m very happy to see those solid performances get rewarded with a big win on television this week and a pay per view title match against the Miz. I’m behind Lawler 100%, and, if I buy the Elimination Chamber pay per view, it’ll be because of him.

2) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito: In perhaps the biggest title change of the week, these two are the new Open the Twin Gate champions over in Dragon Gate, defeating the veteran team of Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fuji.
3) Kelly Kelly: I’m not a big fan of her as a wrestler, but I will give her some recognition for participating in what was probably the biggest match of her career, the main event of Smackdown.
4) KONO & Joe Doering
5) Keith Hanson

FRANCISCO RAMIREZ
1) AJ Styles
Finally something of note occurred and actually very well done at the end of Impact. Fourtune turning and AJ Styles being at the head of the team, followed by AJ’s scathing promo and comments regarding Bischoff and Hogan left me wanting to see Impact next week. Hopefully TNA can keep this momentum going and bring something positive out of all the negativity that was present.

2) Jerry Lawler: The King won the Raw Rumble becoming the number 1 contender for the Miz’s WWE Championship.
3) Ken Anderson: Retained the TNA title with shenanigans, which happens to be the TNA way!
4) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito
5) Alberto Del Rio

SCOTT SLIMMER
1) The Osirian Portal
Ophidian and Amasis may not have had any high-profile in-ring accomplishments this week, but I would still argue that this was the biggest week of their career. They were EVERYWHERE this week thanks to their viral dance-off video, and they got the kind of mainstream exposure that is almost impossible for an indy tag team to achieve. If handled properly, the buzz they received this week could lead to big things for them in 2011.

2) Jerry Lawler: He’s a legend. He’s a Hall of Famer. And he’s the NEW number one contender for the WWE Championship. ‘Nuff said.
3) Kelly Kelly: She’s hot. She’s involved in an intriguing storyline with Drew McIntyre. She’s hot. She was in the main event of Smackdown. And she’s hot. ‘Nuff said.
4) Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito
5) AJ Styles

THE WINNERS~!

Year-End Rankings Key:

WWE, Raw, SmackDown and NXT-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.

Australian Contracted Wrestlers are represented in INDIGO.

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**PREVIOUS WINNERS** Year One Winner: Ric Flair Year Two Winner: Samoa Joe Year Three Winner: John Cena Year Four Winner: Chris Jericho Year Five Winner: CM Punk

If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!