Bonjour! This is week 1 of my new hopefully long term series Wrestlers of the Week, Where I will be very bias every week and use these biases to decide who the best wrestler of 15 years ago were!
The Rules are simple
– The evaluation period start and ends on Monday every week (in 2007)
– The higher you rank the more points you get
– You must have won a match this week to be considered for the list.
-Tag teams are typically bunched together unless one is significantly more notable than the other
– The time period is 15 years ago to the day. So since Shimmer happened 15 years ago on July 1st it is taken into account.
People who show up on this list spread across 6 different shows with only one of them being on multiple and they will be ranked on my personal enjoyment of the match (70%) and the significance of their victories (30%).
Honorable mentions!
Kane (For defeating US Champion MVP on Smackdown)
Deuce & Domino (For defeating Cryme Tyme in a short match involving blood)
Don Fujii (For deafting Tetsuhiro Kuroda at a big Dragon Gate event)
Michiyoshi Ohara (For defeating Taka Kunou in a short but fun match at the first IGF event)
10) Naoya Ogawa (IGF)
Naoya Ogawa has earned a spot on this list by having an awesome match with Mark Coleman on the debut IGF show. A match with a lot of hard hitting action and a sick finish, This match was very much worth the watch.
Total Points: 1
9) John Cena (ECW)
WWE champion John Cena earned a spot on this list by having a very good match against brand new ECW champion Johnny Nitro to open up this weeks edition of ECW. After a lot of controversy in the company it was a great first match after to get the crowd hyped up. The mix of defeating a world champion & having a good match Cena has earned 2 points going into this series
Total points: 2
8) Sara Del Rey (Shimmer)
Sara Del Rey earned a spot on this list by successfully defending her Shimmer in a near 30 minute banger against ROH’s Lacey at Shimmer 14. This was Sara’s first title defense since beating Lacey for the belt and looks to have a bright future ahead of her. For now she gets 3 points
Total Points: 3
7) Munenori Sawa (IGF)
Munenori Sawa earned a spot on this list by defeating Yuki Ishikawa in the first ever IGF match in history that ended in a sick ass knock out finish making Sawa look like a badass. Looking forward to see more from him soon!
Total Points: 4
6) Koji Kanemoto (Dragon Gate)
Koji Kanemoto earned a spot on this list by having what was probably the second best singles match of the week defeating Masaaki Mochizuki at Dragon Gate in an amazing match. This involved a lot of dropping eachother on their head and some top tier brawling. Kanemoto earnes a nice 5 points to get this series started!
Total Points: 5
5) Rocky Romero (IGF)
Rocky Romero earned a spot on this list by having probably my favorite singles match of the week. at the debut IGF show. Defeating SUGI under the El Blazer gimmick this was like if shoot style met the New Japan Jr style in the best way possible. I highly recommend this one.
Total Points: 6
4) Chavo Guerrero (Smackdown)
Current WWE Cruiserweight champion Chavo Guerrero earned a spot on this list by having an absolute banger title defense on Smackdown against Funaki & Jamie Noble. This match was so good that the crowd actually broke out into a Chavo chat which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m pretty vocal about my hatred for Chavo but man did he preform his ass off on this show. The day after he found out his best friend committed horrible crimes too Chavo deserves all the credit in the world here and gets 7 points!
Total Points: 7
3) Shingo Takagi (Dragon Gate)
Shingo Takagi earned a spot on this match for being specifically spectacular in a 6 man tag title defense Open The Triangle Gate Title. A lot of super hard hitting action and Shingo getting the pin on Masato Yoshino after almost 20 minutes. This was the best match of the week and I highly recommend checking it out
Total Points: 8
2) CIMA (Dragon Gate)
CIMA earned a spot on this match after getting a huge victory over Jushin Liger to win the Open The Dream Gate Title in the main event of the Kobe festival in a 25+ minute banger match. The win was a very significant win in the career of CIMA and Liger wore his black gear which is super cool. Cima gets a big 9 points this week
Total Points: 9
1) Kurt Angle (TNA & IGF)
Kurt Angle earned a spot on this weeks list by sucsessfully defending his TNA world championship against Christian Cage & Rhino on Impact in a show long banger that featured the most TNA style run in fest ever. He then went on to defeat Brock Lesnar to win the IWGP Third Belt in what would become Brock Lesnar’s final match (Until 2012). By virtue of defending a world title, winning a world title & having bangers while doing both of those Kurt Angle is this weeks Classic Wrestler of the Week
Total Points: 10
