411’s Wrestler of the Week 9.17.13: Year Nine, Week 23

Welcome to YEAR NINE, WEEK 23 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 (although ties and tag teams are allowed) 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) La Sombra
At CMLL’s 80th anniversary event, La Sombra defeated Volador in best of three falls match to take Volador’s mask. He won the main event of a very historical event, and it continues the build of La Sombra as the new big star for the company. He has been money in NJPW, and this victory has to be seen as a huge vote of confidence for his future in CMLL.

2) AJ Styles: Defeated Austin Aries and Magnus in the same night to become the 2013 TNA Bound for Glory Series winner.
3) Bully Ray: Retained the TNA World Title in a great match with Ken Anderson on Impact.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Goldust

JUSTIN WATRY
1) Daniel Bryan
Remember when Chris Jericho defeated Triple H for the WWE Title in April 2000? Yeah, it happened…but didn’t happen. While it may appear Bryan is the new WWE Champion, that entire ‘second referee’ scene tells me it won’t last. Writing this BEFORE Raw, I expect Randy Orton to be handed the belt back Monday night. For this night though, Bryan is the champ again.

2) Ryback: Well, it was obvious that CM Punk was going to get screwed over in some way. I had Matt Morgan pegged as the next “Heyman Guy” here. Ryback works for now. Paul Heyman found a way to weasel out of his beat down, and Big Hungry is back in the spotlight. Best of all? We can stop pretending that Curtis Axel is a top guy.
3) Alberto Del Rio: He kept his World Title despite all the odds stacked against him. Rob Van Dam may have ‘won’ the match, but who is still champion? Not RVD. ADR!
4) AJ Styles
5) Goldust

Jesse Nguyen
1) Daniel Bryan
Yes, there was a ‘fast’ count, but Bryan proved that he could not only beat Randy Orton, but also proved he can be the WWE Champion. I’m sure HHH will have something to say on RAW about the match, maybe even screwing Bryan out of the title for a second time. The point is, Bryan won the match and showed just why he deserves to be a main event superstar.

2) Ryback: Ryback managed to go from backstage bully to the spotlight with one simple move: saving Paul Heyman from the wrath of CM Punk. Of course this means that Punk will only have another target on his path of revenge, but that target is pretty hungry.
3) AJ Styles: Styles defeated both Austin Aries and Magnus in one night to win the Bound for Glory series and receive a TNA World Championship title show at the Bound for Glory Pay per view.
4) The Shield
5) AJ Lee

Ryan Byers
1) La Sombra
CMLL in Mexico is the longest living professional wrestling promotion on the planet, and, this week, they celebrated their EIGHTIETH anniversary by putting on one of the biggest lucha libre shows in several years. The matches that were essentially the co-main events of the show were a hair vs. hair match between veterans Blue Panther and Averno and a tag match between the team of veterans Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero and up-and-comers La Sombra & Volador Jr. in which the losing team would have to wrestle a mask vs. mask match later in the show. Coming out of all of that, the evening concluded with La Sombra beating Volador in best of three falls match to take away his mask. Closing out such a major, historical show with a mask win is huge for the career of Sombra in a CMLL world that is still looking to fill the void left by the departure of Mistico.

2) Ryback: Now a “Paul Heyman guy.” Yes, they managed to find a Paul Heyman guy who is actually a worse, less interesting wrestler than Curtis Axel. I didn’t think that could be done. At least this will probably lead to a renewed push for the Ryback, who has been floundering big time ever since . . . well, about this time last year, actually.
3) Daniel Bryan: Won the WWE Title again, though it seems to be ripe for an overturning on Raw (hopefully not) given that there was a fast count made by a referee who spent most of his career as a wrestler who was told many times he just wasn’t good enough, thereby making him sympathetic to D-Bry’s cause.
4) YAMATO
5) Goldust

Matt O’Connell
1) Daniel Bryan
Aside from a victory over Dean Ambrose on Raw, Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton clean on PPV to win his second WWE championship. Regardless of what happens on Monday, that’s a huge deal. I just rather hope this isn’t indicative of Attitude Era-style truncated title reigns.

2) AJ Styles: The guy won two high-profile matches on Thursday to win the BFG Series and secure himself a championship opportunity at TNA’s biggest show of the year. That’s roughly equivalent to a Royal Rumble win in my book, so AJ Styles occupies my number two slot this week.
3) The Ryback: Seemingly became a Paul Heyman guy, which might do something to get his woefully derailed career back together. They probably should have just painted a ridiculous sword on his torso and hung a sign reading “BROCK” around his neck, though.
4) Dean Ambrose
5) Goldust

Jack McGee
1) AJ Styles
AJ Styles defeated both Austin Aries and Magnus on the No Surrender edition of Impact Wrestling to win the 2013 Bound For Glory Series. Styles will now face off with Bully Ray at the Bound for Glory PPV in October, and looks primed to be the centerpiece of TNA going forward.

2) Bully Ray: Bully Ray defeated Mr. Anderson on the No Surrender edition of Impact Wrestling. Bully not only defended the title successfully, but also took Anderson out in a great post match angle. Do you know who he is?
3) Daniel Bryan: Won the WWE Title at Night of Champions.
4) La Sombra
5) Rey Bucanero & Tama Tonga

THE WINNERS~!

And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…

Daniel Bryan – 23 Votes

Once again, your NEW WWE Champion…

Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week 23…

Daniel Bryan – 159pts.

Dean Ambrose – 67pts.

Seth Rollins – 63pts
Roman Reigns – 63pts

Randy Orton – 47pts

Brock Lesnar – 42pts

CM Punk – 41pts.

AJ Styles – 39pts.
Christian – 39pts.

Chris Sabin – 36pts.

Prince Devitt – 33pts
Curtis Axel – 33pts.

Ryback – 30pts

Mark Henry – 27pts.

Bully Ray – 21pts.
Bray Wyatt – 21pts.

Cody Rhodes – 19pts.

Hiroshi Tanahashi- 15pts.
AJ Lee – 15pts.
John Cena – 15pts.
Austin Aries – 15pts.
Kurt Angle – 15pts.
Dolph Ziggler – 15pts.
Kofi Kingston – 15pts.
Kenta Kobashi – 15pts.
Ricochet – 15pts
Damien Sandow – 15pts.

Michael Elgin – 12pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 12pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 12pts.
Tetsuya Naito – 12pts.
Manik – 12pts.
Luke Harper – 12pts.
Erick Rowan – 12pts.

Alberto Del Rio – 11pts.

James Raideen – 10pts

Johnny Gargano – 9pts.
Jimmy Uso – 9pts.
Jey Uso – 9pts.
Rampage Jackson – 9pts.
Big E. Langston – 9pts.
Abyss – 9pts.
Wade Barrett – 9pts.
The Undertaker – 9pts
YAMATO – 9pts.
Jun Akiyama – 9pts.
Tamohiro Ishii – 9pts.

Mikey Nicholls- 7pt
Shane Haste – 7pt
Rob Van Dam – 7pts.
La Sombra – 7 pts.

Shingo Takagi- 6pts.
Antonio Cesaro – 6pts.
Sami Zayne – 6pts.
Fandango – 6pts.
KENTA – 6pts.
Yoshihiro Takayama – 6pts.
Shelton Benjamin – 6pts.
Jigsaw – 6pts.
The Shard – 6pts.

Jushin Liger – 4pts.
Mickie James – 4pts.

Suwama – 3pts.
John Morrison – 3pts.
Drew Gulak – 3pts.
Jack Swagger – 3pts.
Tito Ortiz – 3pts.
Sting – 3pts.
Hernandez – 3pts.
Chavo Guerrero – 3pts.
Seita Sanada – 3pts.

Magnus – 2pts
Paul Heyman – 2pts

Samoa Joe – 1pt
Bobby Roode – 1pt
Tiger Mask IV – 1pt
CIMA – 1pt
Kota Ibushi – 1pt
Alex Shelley – 1pt
Goldust – 1pt
Candice LaRae – 1pt
Ethan Page – 1pt
Eddie Kingston – 1pt
El Hijo del Perro Aguayo – 1 pt

Year-End Rankings Key:

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.

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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 Year Eight Winner: CM Punk