411’s Wrestler of the Week 10.13.08: Week 28

Welcome to Week 28, Year-FOUR, of 411’s Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview to kick things off as we have some new rules for year four…

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

If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!

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 at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let’s see who wins this week…

The Voting~!
Jeremy Thomas
1) Sting
Sting made it to the top of the TNA mountain by dethroning the man who had previously held it for six months. Another world title reign may not mean as much to Sting as it may to others, but it still makes him the man of the week for becoming champion of the number two promotions in the states.

2) Beer Money: Roode and Storm retained the TNA Tag Team belts against three other teams in a crazy-ass, highly enjoyable match. Beer Money rules the tag teams in TNA, one of only a couple places where the number two guys can claim to own the ‘E in.
3) Jeff Jarrett: Jarrett won his in-ring return at Bound for Glory. The match may have been a bit overbooked in the end–this is TNA after all–but it was a great match that delivered on some high expectations.
4) Triple H
5) Jeff Hardy/Batista

Samuel Berman
1) Masato Yoshino
By defeating Genki Horiguchi, Yoshino once again assumes the role of the Open the Brave Gate Champion. Yoshino is essentially synonymous with the Brave Gate, having now held the strap on three different occasions. In fact, the only other man to hold the belt multiple times was Horiguchi himself. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how Yoshino’s reign will work now that he’s wrestling as a part of the baby face faction World-1 rather than the heelish Muscle Outlaw’z.

2) Chris Jones: A potentially career-making win for FIP’s new Florida Heritage Champion.
3) Kenny King & Jason Blade: Another win over Jay & Mark Briscoe for the FIP Tag Team Champions.
4) Shawn Michaels
5) Sting

Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Sting
He won the TNA World Title for the 3rd straight year at TNA’s biggest show of the year. Easily he gets my vote as Wrestler of the Week. We can debate if it was a smart move or not, but what’s done is done.

2) Sheik Abdul Bashir: He had a successful title defense, and on a personal note I was the only person to pick him in the Round table. So, for making me look good he gets my vote for #2.
3) Beer Money Inc: Another successful title defense in what was a crazy ass brawl nets them a top 3 spot. The booking was great as they let those more familiar with this type of environment do all the damage, and when it was to their benefit they stole the win.
4) Batista
5) Booker T

ARI
1) Batista
Now that he has number one contender status locked and loaded he becomes the main focus on the baby face side as he builds towards challenging Chris Jericho for the WWE Title at Cyber Sunday. Batista was great in the promo that opened Raw and then re-won his title shot against JBL when the deck was stacked against him.

2) Sting: He won the TNA Heavyweight Title from Samoa Joe at Bound For Glory. Wow, Sting winning at Bound For Glory–haven’t seen that one before. Wooopie.
3) Jeff Jarrett: Won the big return match and showed that he still had it.
4) Shawn Michaels
5) The Great Khali

Christi Csonka
1) Sting and Samoa Joe
A really good world title match capped off the Bound for Glory show. Sting may have got the win on Joe, but Joe looked like a killer.

2) Jay Lethal: Won the Steel Asylum Match to earn an X-Division title shot.
3) Beer Money: BEER!
4) Taylor Wilde
5) Jeff Jarrett

Aaron Hubbard
1) Jeff Jarrett
I’m one of those guys that always felt that JJ was underrated. Now, he’s not Shawn Michaels or anything, but he was always solid. But let’s look here…when was the last time JJ had a match? Oh yeah…Sacrifice ’07. So 17 months of ring rust, and JJ goes out and has a heck of a match, one that I think surpassed most people’s expectations, including mine. I would not be surprised if JJ wins the “PWI Inspirational Wrestler of the Year”.

2) Sting: I’m not in the camp that thinks that winning a World Title gives you an automatic #1 spot. Case in point…Muta. However, I hate Muta, and I don’t hate Sting. Sting’s was the first wrestler that I really cared about, and I’ll always have a soft spot for him. But this decision leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I can’t rate him higher than this.
3) Masato Yoshino: It’s no secret that I love Yoshino. Any excuse I have to give him a spot, I’m likely going to take. Winning the OTDG Championship is good enough for me.
4) Big Show
5) Jay Lethal

Jarrod Westerfeld
1) Samoa Joe & Abyss (Tie)
How does one take the kind of bump these man did, Joe at the main event of a pay-per-view show jumping off of a higher level to deliver his running knee strike only to land with a metal guard railing between the legs, and Abyss going through a flaming table with articles of clothing on that apparently were very flammable, and not walk away with bigger pay days for their work than guys like Sting? For whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to turn a blind eye to these sacrifices for this week’s voting. So I’m rocking the boat and voting on different criteria just for these two, because these guys helped provide some serious moments to this pay-per-view while coming on the short end of the booking.

2) Beer Money Inc.: I really thought about bumping these guys especially considering they retained their titles in a match that was not only good, but was sold as being odds they could not overcome as they were far too arrogant for their own good. But second place still gives them enough points to potentially steal up this week.
3) Jay Lethal: An impressive victory over 9 other men in a steel caged environment to gain an opportunity to face the X Division champion at a later time.
4) Masato Yoshino
5) Chris Jones

Andy Clark
1) Sting & Samoa Joe
So normally I would just give props to the man that won a World Title (Sting), but considering he got his ass handed to him by Samoa Joe for the majority of the match it just didn’t seem right. Even though Joe lost the title he still managed to get a pretty substantial rub by being able to dominate Sting as badly as he did in that match.

2) Jeff Jarrett: Was victorious in his return match in one of the biggest matches in TNA’s history on the biggest TNA show of the year. That earns him the second spot in my book.
3) Abyss: Beer Money may have won the Monster’s Ball Match, but the real story of the match was the hellacious flaming table bump Abyss took. That man will do anything for our entertainment. Forget Brother Ray, Mick, THIS guy is stealing your gimmick!
4) Beer Money Inc.
5) Jeff Hardy

Michael Bauer
1) Beer Money
The difference between them retaining the titles and Sting’s win… NO OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE! I have always given clean(er) wins over TNA’s bullshit endings. Beer Money went through hell against three much better teams for the environment they were in and still walked as TNA Tag Champions. And before I get crap for the rest of my picks, I will state the following. The only wrestling I watched this week was ECW, so I didn’t see anything.

2) Kenny King & Jason Blade: They have now beaten the Briscoes twice in a year for the FIP Tag Titles. Not many teams can say that.
3) Chris Jones: Main event win to become the new FIP Heritage Champion. Sammy’s right, that is huge.
4) Masato Yoshino
5) Sting

JT
1) Sting/Samoe Joe
It’s hard not to give the nod to the winner, but the fact is these men put on about the best match they were capable of and Samoa Joe was 50% of that. I’m never the biggest fan of unclean finishes – especially when it comes to TNA due to the overuse – but Kevin Nash’s involvement really didn’t take away from the match. The guys put on a hell of a show to main event TNA’s biggest PPV of the year.

2) Jeff Jarrett: Gets a victory in his return match against the beast Kurt Angle and happens to do so on the biggest show of the year for TNA.
3) Big Dave!: Overcame all the odds that were Chris Jericho as interim GM to secure his shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.
4) Beer Money
5) Masato Yoshino

Matt Short
1) Sting
I don’t know if its the best call in the world, but Sting is your new TNA Champion and that’s good enough for first place.

2) Masato Yoshino: Once again wins Dragon Gate’s Open the Brave Gate Title this week, holding the title more times than anyone else in the company.
3) Abyss: Major kudos for taking the flaming table spot. Because holy shit that was sick.
4) Beer Money
5) Makoto Hashi

Andy Critchell
1) Sting
It’s hard to argue with Sting in the top spot what with his defeat of Joe, finally closing the book on a title run that never seemed to matter. Sting deserves all the praise in the world for his work and dedication to pro wresting in general and TNA in particular.

2) Beer Money – They kept their titles in a hardcore multi team gimmick match in a spot where most teams would have been unable to retain. Obviously TNA has a lot of faith in both guys and that faith seems very well placed.
3) MORRISON – Some people who recap Raw hated that Miz, MORRISON, and Cryme Tyme were jawing at each other during the Kelly Kelly/Jillian match and basically overshadowed it. Not me. Really, did anyone care about that match? No! Were all four of those guys funny? Yes! Who stood out the most? MORRISON, that’s who! He also picked up the pin in the 8-man tag on ECW, which might have been the TV match of the week. Be jealous!
4) Go Shiozaki
5) Batista

Larry Csonka
1) Sting
We can argue booking all day, but Sting wins the title once again at Bound for Glory. Let’s see if he can hold it longer than two weeks this time.

2) Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle: These two had an excellent match that flat out delivered.
3) Samoa Joe: I thought the title match was one of Joe’s best performances in some time.
4) Beer Money (MONEY!)
5) Jay Lethal

THE WINNERS~!

Year-End Rankings Key:

WWE, Raw, ECW and Smackdown 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.

---

**PREVIOUS WINNERS** Year One Winner: Ric Flair Year Two Winner: Samoa Joe Year Three Winner: John Cena