411’s Wrestler of the Week 3.05.13: Year Eight, Week 48

Welcome to WEEK 48, YEAR EIGHT 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

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 around WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday (the voting week runs Monday through Sunday). Let’s see who wins this week…

Larry Csonka
1) Matt Taven
Matt Taven hit the jackpot as far as career advancement goes, taking his victory in the 2013 Top Prospects Tournament and turning that into an ROH TV Title victory. A lot of fans seemed to not like the victory, but as far as career advancement, this was a huge deal for Taven.

2) Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly: Speaking of big wins, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Briscoes via pin to become the new ROH Tag Team Champions at the 11th anniversary iPPV.
3) CM Punk and John Cena: They worked together to deliver an awesome main event on Raw, which made the WM main event and WWE Title feel even more important.
4) Kevin Steen
5) Kenny King

Ryan Byers
1) John Cena
I don’t know what he is going to have to do to finally shut up the boo-birds and the “You can’t wrestle!” chanters, but John Cena had an *excellent* match against CM Punk this past Monday night on Raw, the best the show has seen in literally years and an early match of the year contender. Plus, if you’re somebody who likes to look at this voting from a storyline perspective (which I’m typically not), his victory cemented his place as a Wrestlemania XXIX headliner, putting him into one of the biggest WWE Title matches in history.

2) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Tanahashi is booked a lot like Cena (ask TJ Hawke if you don’t believe me), but the difference is that everybody accepts the fact that Tanahashi is great while some deny it when it comes to Cena. This week, Tanahashi continued his string of strong main event performances, beating Prince Devitt in a battle pitting New Japan’s heavyweight ace against New Japan’s junior heavyweight ace.
3) Tommy End: The wXw 16 Karat Gold tournament has become one of the largest events in all of independent wrestling, and, this year, it was won by Dutch wrestler Tommy End. We’ll see if End’s career will now take off as those of other noteworthy 16 Karat competitors have.
4) Brock Lesnar
5) Antonio Cesaro

TJ Hawke
1) John Cena/CM Punk
Had a match on Raw that will likely be better than any match on Wrestlemania this year and reminded us that when WWE wants to do wrestling, they do wrestling very, very well.

2) Tommy End: Won wXw Germany’s 16 Carat Gold Tournament.
3) Matt Taven: On Saturday night, Taven went from barely known northeast indie guy to Ring of Honor World Television Champion.
4) Rich Swann & Uhaa Nation
5) Kenny King

James Wright
1) John Cena
Retained his right to fight the Rock at Wrestlemania for the WWE title and actually pulled off some new moves while doing so. Cena proved once again that when he can actually be arsed to put some effort in he could put on a great match. I still would have rather had a triple threat match at Wrestlemania but whatever.

2) Austin Aries: Not only did Aries carry the whole show on Impact but he clearly asserted himself back into the world title picture while his tag team partner Bobby Roode was away. He mocked Hernandez after beating him in classic heel fashion and broke out his Jeff Hardy impression, it was a good time.
3) Kenny King: No matter how low key winning a title will always be important to me and so the new X Division champion gets his due. Now the only question is what he will do in a division with no stars.
4) Kevin Steen
5) C.M. Punk

Nick Sellers
1) John Cena
Cena just pips Punk to the post, mainly by virtue of his pre-match promo being slightly better, and for once again defying his critics by putting on one of the best matches seen on Raw in years. It had that big fight feel to it, and it culminates in a fantastic series of matches between the two over the past couple of years. Cena in particular is in fine form, wrestling with a renewed motivation and vigor as he heads into Wrestlemania against The Rock.

2) CM Punk: Same reasons as Cena, though his “I am God” promo wasn’t a patch on his counterpart’s last words before the main event. Despite losing his last 3 big matches, Punk has looked like a bigger star for them each and every single time. He’s excellent. It takes two to tango, and tango they did in a match that I genuinely think the roster will be hard pressed to beat this year.
3) Bad Influence: My favorite duo in the industry right now. Christopher Daniels’ shtick in particular is fantastic, from the appletinis to his ring general medals, and even saying stuff to the camera on the way to the ring like “I think we should see other people, sorry!” is so sickeningly evil it hurts. They’re great wrestlers too. Hopefully, their tag bout on Impact with Hardy/Bully Ray isn’t the last main event we’ll see them in this year.
4) Austin Aries
5) Kenny King

Jack McGee
1) John Cena
Defeated CM Punk in an outstanding match on Raw to cement himself in the Main Event of WrestleMania 29. Cena gets the monkey off his back by finally beating Punk, he shakes the past year with the Rumble win and shot at Rock, and now goes for redemption on the biggest stage in wrestling.

2) CM Punk: Was awesome in his match with John Cena on Raw, and just continues to deliver week in and out. It’s hard to argue with the year Punk has been having.
3) Kenny King: Defeated RVD on Impact to win the TNA X-Division Title.
4) Matt Taven
5) Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly

Jeremy Thomas
1) John Cena
Won the match of the week by FAR to retain his shot at the Rock heading into WrestleMania 29.

2) CM Punk/Matt Taven: Punk may have lost, but damn did he put on a great match in the loss and I don’t think his cred was hurt at all. Meanwhile, Taven won the Ring of Honor TV Title, which may be the biggest boost to one’s career over the past week.
3) Kenny King: Ended Rob Van Dam’s reign as TNA X-Division Champion on Impact.
4) Tommy End
5) Antonio Cesaro

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.

Other International 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 Year Six Winner: The Miz Year Seven Winner: CM Punk