411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.15.07: Week 41

Each writer chooses three wrestlers from any promotion and each wrestler gets a vote attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 3
3rd – 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 five vote getters get a points value for their ranking which looks something like this…

1st – 15
2nd – 10
3rd – 5
4th – 3
5th – 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!

Ryan Byers
1) Great Khali
Laugh all you want, but Khali is once again positioned as an unbeatable monster at the top of the WWE card after a few months of being deemed so terrible that he couldn’t even be put in the ring. Not only that, but now he also has the opportunity to do his shtick on the most important of WWE’s three brands, Monday Night Raw. Elsewhere, Christian won the NWA Title and Kurt Angle won the number one contendership to that belt . . . though I have a hard time saying that either man had the best week in wrestling when they’re both headed in to a feud that would barely look credible on the Raw midcard. Way to make yourselves look second rate, TNA!

2) Christian Cage
3) Kurt Angle

SAT
1) Christian Cage
Cage gets the top slot from me because he manages to win the NWA Title for the second time. I decided to go with Kurt Angle in the second slot because he won the 30 minute iron man match and I went with Chris Sabin in the third slot for his X-Division Title win.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Chris Sabin

B-RAD
1) Christian Cage
Winning a world title to me always puts you in wrestler of the week contention. I totally thought Sting was going to win the belt back but I was wrong. Kurt Angle gets the #2 spot as he won the Iron Man Match to get the #1 Contendership for the NWA Championship. Mr. Kennedy rounds out the top three for his match with Benoit this week and securing his #1 Contendership for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Mr. Kennedy

Stuart Carapola
1) Christian Cage
He became World Champion this weekend, what other qualification to you need to be number one? Kurt Angle wins the rubber match against Samoa Joe and becomes #1 contender to boot, and Chris Sabin beat two of the best workers in North America to win the X-Division Title. This was undoubtedly TNA’s week.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Chris Sabin

ARI
1) Christian Cage
I will point out how on the money I was in my roundtable prediction. Then I will give two thumbs up to the Creepy Little Bastard–who was never pinned or submitted to lose HIS title in the first place–getting back what was rightfully his. Good job Cage. Kurt Angle takes the rubber match in a hard work effort in the 30 minute Iron-man match. It was well paced and done just about as well as could be hoped for. Samoa Joe hung right with him and had a great promo–the man is absolutely firing on all cylinders right now with his in ring work and his promos, although there is a huge question mark about where he goes next after losing the series to Angle.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Samoa Joe

Jeff Small
1) Christian Cage
He finally gets to pin Sting albeit many months after it truly matter. Then again, this win gives him his 2nd TNA Championship in under a year while logical booking would have just given him a win. So kudos Christian for getting back to the top of the mountain.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Hardcore Holly

Zac Calhoun
1) Christian Cage
When Christian lost the title for the first time, I was pretty convinced he was done with the NWA title scene. Thank goodness I was wrong, because he’s definitely earned his spot. The line between a one-time champ and a two-time champ is fine but very important; this definitely makes his wrestler of the week.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Mr. Kennedy

JT~!
1) Christian Cage
So my boy takes the top heel spot in TNA while beating the two previous champions in order to win the belt he – himself – didn’t lose in the first place… WHILE by default finding himself now in a feud with arguably the promotions top name. Can’t really have a better week than that.

2) Kurt Angle
3) Ken Kennedy

Samuel Berman
1) Christian Cage
Cage wins the NWA Heavyweight Title, outlasting the last two titleholders on his way to victory, so he’s a no-brainer for the top spot this week. Sabin, who by the way is awesome as a heel, gets his X-Division title back so he’s number two. As an aside, with both Cage and Sabin winning back titles that they probably didn’t need to lose in the first place on the same show, is there something to be said for TNA having misfired in its booking plans? Seriously, Sabin-to-AJ-to-Daniels-to-Sabin? Did AJ and Daniels need the belt to break up the team? Couldn’t Sabin have just kept the belt and started to be a jackass to turn and then AJ and Daniels would have just done something else? Am I the only one who thinks about this stuff? I digress. Oh, and I’m giving Shelley the third spot over Angle because I think the whole PCS thing has been really fun and Angle looked like a wuss tapping out right after the bell. I understand that the idea is to keep Joe strong, but if you really want him to look strong then why not have him, you know, WIN THE MATCH?

2) Chris Sabin
3) Alex Shelley

Mathew Sforcina
1) Christian Cage
Yeah, just read what everyone else has said above. Really, this was inevitable once he had Tomko back. Now, bring Trish back in…

2) Kurt Angle
3) Mr. Kennedy

Arnold Furious
1) Christian Cage
Winning the world title is good enough for wrestler of the week. Even in a week where Angle & Joe are going at it. Some love goes out to Mr. Kennedy for his continuing improvement on Smackdown. He won himself a title shot this week as well as defeating Chris Benoit for the second week running in a good match.

2) Mr. Kennedy
3) Kurt Angle

Mike Bauer
1) Kurt Angle
This is really tough this week as I probably could go all the way down to a Top 6 or 7. But foe the top spot, I am going Kurt Angle. Not only is now the #1 contender for the NWA World Title, but he won is what clearly appears to the match of he night. The two Chris’s (Cage and Sabin) take two and three for their title wins. But I have to add on any other week Hardcore Holly and Ken Kennedy would be on my list.

2) Christian Cage
3) Chris Sabin

Larry Csonka
1) Christian Cage
Christian Cage wins the NWA Title for a 2nd time, something most thought would never happen. While he may just be a transitional champion, he won the title and earned the top spot from me. Joe and Angle battled in the third match of their series, and this time under Iron Man Rules. A damn fine match, so good I have to give both guys credit. Finally Chris Sabin won the TNA X-Title against Daniels and Lynn. They had a very good match and I for one enjoyed it.

2) Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe
3) Chris Sabin

THE WINNERS!