wrestling / Columns
411’s Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column 6.10.08
As regular readers of 411’s Wrestler of the Week feature know, there has been much controversy and discussion in the recent weeks and months about how the staffers of this website vote each week for their top five lists.
Amidst all the controversy, discussion and name calling, there is a point. Up until this point, 411 has not provided much of an adequate explanation for how we make our decisions for this feature, i.e. a rubric for our votes. The absence of explanation had been done previously because every staffer had their own individual ways of judging the wrestler of the week. Some of us vote in a kayfabe sense in terms of wins and losses, some (like Ryan Byers) vote based on who has advanced their career the most. BUT! Each individual staffer who voted has not included such information. This FAQ is the place where we will tell you exactly what and why we vote the way we do each and every week for 411 Wrestler of the Week. Each staffer will give you their frequently watched shows (in order of preferences) and then three factors that they use to derive their votes.
We hope that if anyone has any questions about how a 411 writer voted and why that he or she will look to this list to understand this information.
Ultimately Wrestler of the Week is supposed to be a fun and frivolous feature within 411. Here’s hoping both the staffers and the commentors can keep that in mind.
WotW Voters (listed by alphabetical order)
Mike Bauer
Watches:: 1. RoH 2. ECW (by default) 3. Raw 4. Smackdown 5. All Other Indies + Japan 6. TNA
Judges based on: It is so hard to order it. It really depends. For me, one week a title could be work more than an advancement, pending on both to factor in. Generally, it is like this.
* Career Advancement
* Titles
* Great matches
* Markout Moment
Ari Berenstein
–Watches:: 1. Ring of Honor 2. WWE Raw 3. WWE ECW on SciFi 4. SHIMMER 5. CHIKARA Pro 6. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla 7. Pro Wrestling NOAH
–Judges based on:
* Impressive showings in matches / promos
* Wins and Title Victories / Retentions
* Workrate and excitement
Samuel Berman
–Watches::
1. Ring of Honor 2. Dragon Gate 3. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla 4. CHIKARA 5. Full Impact Pro 6. Pro Wrestling NOAH 7. IWA Mid-South 8. World Wrestling Entertainment – RAW 9. New Japan Pro Wrestling
–Judges based on:
* Non-kayfabe career advancement
* Title wins and retentions
* Priority is always given to Independent and International talent in an effort to spotlight them
Ryan Byers
–Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. SHIMMER 3. CHIKARA 4. WWE Smackdown 5. Ring of Honor 6. WWE ECW 7. PWG 8. Foreign stuff 9. Misc. US Indies
–Judges based on:
* Non-kayfabe career advancement (as opposed to kayfabe career advancement . . . there’s a difference)
* Match/Promo Quality
* Kayfabe importance of accomplishments
* Personal bias towards my favorite wrestlers (at least I’m honest)
Andy Clark
Watches:: 1. WWE, 2. TNA, 3. ROH
Follows:: NOAH, All Japan, New Japan, Dragon Gate, PWG, NWA (major titles), AAA, CMLL (reserves the right to consider results from major shows of lesser promotions i.e. Chikara, UWF, DDT, AWA, IWA-MS)
–Judges based on:
* World Title Victories and/or Major Retentions (3 WWE titles, TNA, 3 major Japanese titles are only belts considered “World Titles”)
* Kayfabe Accomplishment (Singles accomplishments count more than tag team accomplishments and heavyweight accomplishments will almost always count more then lightweight accomplishments)
* Most Entertaining Moment/Match/Promo/Etc. of the Week
Andy Critchell
Watches:: 1. Raw 2. ECW 3. SD 4. Various indy promotions (ROH, Chikara, etc) 5. Impact
Judges based on:
* Who has made the most “noise” in the wrestling world whether by winning, losing, retiring, banging cheerleaders, whatever.
* Who has entertained ME the most
* Who has advanced his/her career the most through accomplishments that I choose to find relevant
* Mike Adamle
Larry Csonka
Watches and Follows:: (In No Particular Order as I watch and follow just about everything regularly through some means) Impact, Raw/SD/ECW, Japan, Mexico, ROH, SHIMMER, Other US Independents
Judges based on:
* Title Victories and Importance to the Person’s Career (both Kayfabe and Non-Kayfabe)
* Match Quality
* Prestige of Title
* Overall Entertainment/Personal Enjoyment
Bayani Domingo
–Watches:: 1. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla 2. WWE Raw 3. TNA 4. Ring of Honor 5. Dragon Gate 6. WWE ECW 7. WWE Smackdown 8. Various Indy’s 9. Other Puro / Lucha 10. NWWL
–Judges based on:
* Magnitude and Impact of Win/Title Victory to Wrestler’s career Kayfabe/Non-Kayfabe
* Prestige of title won or opponent beaten
* Workrate and Match quality
* Match outcome in relation to length/importance of current feud/storyline involved
* Impressions left by seeing an event live or first hand as opposed to reading the results
Stuart James
–Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. WWE SmackDown! 3. ECW on Sci-Fi 4. TNA iMPACT 5. Ring of Honor 6. Shimmer
–Judges based on:
* Career advancement
* Wins and Title Victories / Retentions
* Workrate and excitement
Chris Lansdell
–Watches:: 1. Raw 2. Impact 3. RoH 4. Smackdown 5. SHIMMER
I’ll read everything I can to get results from other feds.
–Judges based on:
* Title wins
* Outstanding matches
* Non-kayfabe career advancement
* Personal markout moments
Shawn S. Lealos
–Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. TNA Impact 3. WWE Smackdown 4. ECW on Sci-Fi 5. Ring of Honor
–Judges based on:
* Match/Promo Quality
* Importance of wrestler’s storyline progress
* Importance of actual wrestler’s achievement
Robert S. Leighty Jr
–Watches:: 1. RAW 2. ECW on Sci-Fi 3. TNA Impact 4. SmackDown
–Judges based on:
* Title Wins/Defenses, Wins/Losses
* Great Matches/Promos
* Overall Entertainment/Personal Enjoyment
Sat
–Watches:: 1. SmackDown 2. RAW 3. Impact 4. ECW 5. Ring of Honor
–Judges based on:
* World Title Victories
* Impressive Wins/Secondary Title Wins
* Workrate/Promos
Mathew Sforcina
–Watches:: 1. Australian Wrestling 2. WWE 3. ROH 4. TNA 5. American Indy
–Judges based on:
* Storytelling, be it angle, match or promo
* Accomplishments, big wins, title victories, achievements.
* Whether they are Victoria or not.
Matt Short
–Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. Major Japanese Promotions 3. Impact 4. Smackdown 5. Ring of Honor 6. ECW 7. Minor Japanese promotions (Dragon Gate, DDT) 8. Major US Promotions
–Judges based on:
*Title wins, successful defenses, tournament wins, winning feuds, specialty matches
*Importance of title to the entire body of wrestling
*Match quality and entertainment value
*Preference to getting more international names out in the field
Jeff Small
–Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. WWE ECW on SciFi 3. WWE Smackdown 4. TNA Impact
–Judges based on:
* PPV Wins and Title Victories
* Impressive showings in matches / Title Retentions
* If Khali wins a match… I mean, workrate
Jeremy Thomas
Watches:: 1. WWE Raw 2. ECW on Sci-Fi 3. WWE SmackDown! 4. TNA Impact 5. Ring of Honor
Follows:: 1. SHIMMER 2. NJPW
–Judges based on:
* Wins and Title Victories or Retentions
* Outstanding work in matches and promos
* Career advancement
JT
–Watches:: 1. WWE RAW 2. WWECW 3. WWE SmackDown! 4. TNA iMPACT
–Follows:: All secondary and/or independent promotions courtesy of the fine 411 staff.
–Judges based on: (depending on circumstances, this could vary)
* Wins / Losses and Title Victories / Retentions / Losings
* Workrate / Impressiveness and Excitement / Entertainment
* Expectations vs. Results
Jarrod Westerfeld
–Watches:: 1.WWE Raw 2.WWE ECW 3.ROH 4.TNA Impact 5.Mixed Puro 6.PWG 7.Chikara
–Judges based on:
* History of company and title lineage and prestige
* Kayfabe achievements
* Entertainment value
