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411’s Wrestler of the Week 7.30.13: Year Nine, Week 16
Welcome to YEAR NINE, WEEK 16 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 Tuesday (the voting week runs Monday through Sunday). Let’s see who wins this week…
Larry Csonka
1) Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano is still your current, reigning and defending Open The Freedom Gate champion. He had a good match with Rich Swann on the Saturday iPPV event in a non-title affair, but then delivered in an outstanding main event on the Sunday show, retaining the title against Akira Tozowa. That was his 16th successful defense, and he has held the title over 620 days now.
2) Daniel Bryan: The Daniel Bryan power hour on last week’s Raw was some awesome TV, and a great vote of confidence for him heading into Summerslam. The fact that WWE dedicated so much TV time for him last week means that they have a lot of confidence in him, plus, he was AWESOME. The period against Cesaro was amazing, and right up there with some of the best TV wrestling this year. Mark my words, Summerslam + small package on Cena = awesome near fall and crowd reaction.
3) Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV: Won NOAH’s annual junior heavyweight tag team tournament, which also scored them the vacant GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles.
4) Manik
5) CM Punk
Jesse Nguyen
1) Daniel Bryan
Surprised? Well you shouldn’t be. The number one contender for the WWE Championship managed to deliver three fantastic matches in one night, including a WWE match of the year candidate with Antonio Cesaro. Unfortunately, he winded up going through a table at the end of the night. Still, he takes the top spot for showing just how determined he is going into SummerSlam.
2) Christian: Christian scored two wins this week. One against Fandango and one against Jack Swagger. It seems he’s making a beeline straight into the title picture, and a winning streak is a good argument for that.
3) Johnny Gargano: Gargano had three wins on the Dragon Gate USA weekend shows. The first was against Rich Swann, and the next two against Akira Tozawa. (The first win had shenanigans, so it was rescheduled for the end of the night.) Gargano went on to retain the Open The Freedom Gate Title against Tozawa in a great match.
4) Manik
5) Cody Rhodes
Ryan Byers
1) Daniel Bryan
Without much in the way of major championships changing hands this week, D-Bry is an easy pick for number one, as he had two excellent-by-free-TV standards matches this past Monday night, one against Antonio Cesaro and one against Jack Swagger. He also wrestled Ryback, which was . . . well . . . a match featuring Ryback. Perhaps more importantly for Bryan than the fact that he had good matches and that he won those matches is the fact that, apparently, the half-hour or so of straight wrestling he did stood up fairly well in the quarter-hour ratings. Where are all those guys who claimed Bryan could never be a WWE star three years ago?
2) CM Punk & Paul Heyman: This marks the second consecutive week that these two have not just cut great promos on each other but have instead cut absolutely LEGENDARY promos against each other. Seriously, people, this is how it’s done. None of this cutesy prototypical WWE crap in which everything has to be a joke and matches have no stakes. These men hate each other, they believably tell you they hate each other, and, more importantly, they tell you when and how you can watch them express their hate for each other in a physical manner (via a proxy in Heyman’s case). That is pro fucking wrestling.
3) Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV: Liger & Tiger, who are contracted to New Japan, made a guest run in Pro Wrestling NOAH to compete in their annual junior heavyweight tag team tournament. The NJPW duo won the tournament, which also gave them the vacant GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. This made Liger a double champion, as earlier this month, he won the CMLL Tag Titles with Hiroshi Tanahashi.
4) Daisuke Sekimoto
5) Johnny Gargano
Justin Watry
1) Daniel Bryan
To me, a gauntlet match is still just one match. It may be a three for one special, but it is all in the same realm. In the grand scheme of things, none of that really matters. Daniel Bryan defeated Jack Swagger in a good match. He followed that up with a great performance against Antonio Cesaro – probably the THIRD best match on Raw all year. After that, I suspected Big Show was next. Instead, we got Ryback…which was fine. The two worked well together and even though it was by DQ, Bryan won once again. The man is on fire leading into his huge match against John Cena at Summerslam, and I fully expect him to become the new WWE Champion. Yes! Yes! Yes!
2) CM Punk: Once again, CM Punk brought the goods. I like the fact that he is staying out of the ring. Whether fans want to believe it or not, his days as a full-time performer are running out. One year? Two years? Whatever it may be, the guy should not be wrestling each week in and week out. This Monday night was all about confirming his Summerslam battle with Brock Lesnar. With Paul Heyman on the opposite side of a promo, that match was sold. Add in a nice appearance on Smackdown, and you have a successful week for Punk!
3) Christian: I stay away from spoilers – both for Raw (this week) and Smackdown (most weeks). Therefore, I am completely in the dark on what happens next for Captain Charisma. So far though? So good. He is delivering in the ring since coming back and with the commentators reminding us of his World Title hopes, he may be getting a shot sooner rather than later.
4) Alberto Del Rio
5) Damien Sandow
Matt O’Connell
1) Daniel Bryan:
Far and away, Daniel Bryan takes the cake this week. His gauntlet match was a thing of absolute beauty, especially the middle section with Cesaro. He looks more able to beat Cena cleanly than Ryback or Henry ever did, which is all the more impressive given how poorly Bryan was booked the last time he orbited a world title scene. Simply, the guy looked like a million bucks on Monday, and I hope the trend continues into SummerSlam.
2) Christopher Daniels: One of the most frustrating things about TNA is their habitual disregard for the contributions of Christopher Daniels. He was once part of TNA’s most highly-regarded feud ever along with Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, and has also been stellar in tag team competition over the years. Yet somehow, I only recall a handful of world title challenges, the most recent being an unsuccessful run against Jeff Hardy about a year ago. I hope that Daniels’ (clean!) victory over Samoa Joe in this week’s BFG Series match is the beginning of a real main event push for a guy that really deserves it.
3) Cody Rhodes: Cody Rhodes’ recent face run got off to a bit of a slow start with decent but unspectacular matches. But his briefcase segment with Damien Sandow on SmackDown! allowed Cody to show more personality than he has for at least the last year, and Sandow’s hysterics perfectly highlighted Cody’s level-headed approach. Good luck, little mermaid. Good luck.
4) Christian
5) Manik
James Wright
1) Daniel Bryan
Having an hour to showcase his talents in a gauntlet match situation was a great way to sell the ability of Bryan to anyone who was still doubting his credentials for being the number one contender. The build for Bryan so far has been great and makes me believe that he really could take the title from Cena at Summerslam, something I never probably would have believed before if you’d have told me.
2) Manik: Won the X Division title, which arguably doesn’t mean that much on its own, but if he can hold it for near 365 days then he could be the TNA world champion, so that’s something. Will it happen? Possibly.
3) Damien Sandow: While he finished up Smackdown choking on sea water, Sandow was the main focus of the show and frankly felt much more like the world champ than Del Rio and made me eager for him to keep possession of the case so that he can indeed claim the title in the near future.
4) Cody Rhodes
5) C.M. Punk
Jack McGee
1) Manik
TJ Perkins/Manik won the X-Division title this past week on Impact wrestling, defeating Greg Marasciulo (the former Trent Baretta) and Sonjay Dutt. The match was a good match and after some questionable booking and decisions with the character and title as of late, I hope that Manik can be the anchor the division needs to rebuild.
2) Daniel Bryan: Daniel Bryan kicked the world’s ass on Raw for like, 45 minutes last week. He is a great man, and I cannot wait for Summerslam, because I think he and Cena will have a really good if not excellent match. The crowd will be awesome for the match.
3) Johnny Gargano: Continues to dominate DGUSA with a title reign that is over 600 days. With CIMA losing his title recently, he is now the most dominant champion in the Dragon Gate Universe.
4) Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask IV
5) CM Punk
THE WINNERS~!
Still your reigning and defending Open The Freedom Gate champion!
Your NEW TNA X-Division Champion!
Daniel Bryan – 33 Votes
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week 16…
Daniel Bryan – 81pts.
Dean Ambrose – 64pts.
Seth Rollins – 60pts
Roman Reigns – 60pts
Chris Sabin – 36pts.
Prince Devitt – 33pts
Curtis Axel – 33pts.
CM Punk – 30pts.
Mark Henry – 27pts.
Brock Lesnar – 24pts
Bray Wyatt – 21pts.
Ryback – 20pts
Randy Orton – 16pts
Kurt Angle – 15pts.
Bully Ray – 15pts.
Dolph Ziggler – 15pts.
Kofi Kingston – 15pts.
Kenta Kobashi – 15pts.
Ricochet – 15pts
Damien Sandow – 15pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 12pts.
Manik – 12pts.
Austin Aries – 12pts.
Luke Harper – 12pts.
Erick Rowan – 12pts.
Alberto Del Rio – 10pts.
Christian – 9pts.
Johnny Gargano – 9pts.
Jimmy Uso – 9pts.
Jey Uso – 9pts.
Rampage Jackson – 9pts.
Big E. Langston – 9pts.
Abyss – 9pts.
Wade Barrett – 9pts.
The Undertaker – 9pts
Jun Akiyama – 9pts.
Mikey Nicholls- 7pt
Shane Haste – 7pt
Shingo Takagi- 6pts.
AJ Styles – 6pts.
John Cena – 6pts.
AJ Lee – 6pts.
Fandango – 6pts.
KENTA – 6pts.
Yoshihiro Takayama – 6pts.
Jigsaw – 6pts.
The Shard – 6pts.
Jushin Liger – 4pts.
Mickie James – 4pts.
Rob Van Dam – 4pts.
Hiroshi Tanahashi- 3pts.
Suwama – 3pts.
John Morrison – 3pts.
Jack Swagger – 3pts.
Sting – 3pts.
Hernandez – 3pts.
Chavo Guerrero – 3pts.
Seita Sanada – 3pts.
Magnus – 2pts
Paul Heyman – 1pt
Cody Rhodes – 1pt
Samoa Joe – 1pt
Tiger Mask IV – 1pt
CIMA – 1pt
Alex Shelley – 1pt
Ethan Page – 1pt
Eddie Kingston – 1pt
La Sombra – 1 pt
El Hijo del Perro Aguayo – 1 pt
WWE 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.
 Year One Winner: Ric Flair
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