Future Endeavors 8/17 Power Poll: Quick Turnaround, This Time!

CHAMPION! ...baaaht, chu already knew that
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Welcome to yet another edition of the Future Endeavors Power Poll, a poll ranking wrestlers on a weekly basis based on how awesomely they performed or were portrayed on a Tuesday-to-Monday cycle. It is voted by a who's-who of wrestling bloggers, including my blogging Khal Bro-go, PizzaBodySlam. I will list the top ten, and then post and comment on my ballot. Here goes:

1. Alberto Del Rio (Last week: NR)
2. CM Punk (1)
3. Randy Orton (5)
4. John Cena (2)
5. Christian (3)
6. Cody Rhodes (NR)
7. Wade Barrett (NR)
8. Daniel Bryan (6)
9. Kevin Nash (NR)
10. Kelly Kelly (NR)

And now, my ballot!

1. Alberto del Rio - Who knew it'd take cashing in Money in the Bank, opening RAW with one of the swarthiest displays of cockery ever and having a legit Match of the Year candidate with Rey Mysterio to knock CM Punk from the top spot?

2. CM Punk - Any other week, "omg Kevin Nash? wtf, I thought he was dead lol" would have landed him at #1.

3. John Cena - He had a tremendous match at SummerSlam, got his foot on the ropes and then when TrollFace asked him "u mad?" he was all like "YEAH I REAL MAD!" In fact, he was way madder at Alberto del Rio for cashing in than the guy who ended up as his victim did.

4. Mark Henry - He won HOSS FIGHT 2K11, so he gets this spot. I'm pretty sure that what he did to Sheamus at the end of that match constituted a wig splitting, don't you think?

5. Jay Lethal - He caused an inception moment between me and Cameron Riley. Oh yeah, and won the ROH TV Title. But yeah, INCEPTION *BRAAAAAAAAHM*

6. Wade Barrett - RED BELLY got some of his mojo back with a win over Daniel Bryan in what was probably the finest match of his career. Yep, the funniest thing I have to say about this is the year-old meme that I created and am the only one to really use. THEY CAN'T ALL BE GOLD.

7. Kelly Kelly - She not only got through her match with Beth Phoenix without embarrassing herself or mortally wounding either herself or her opponent, but she actually looked good. Maybe next, she'll wrestle a 60 minute Iron Woman classic with Akira Hokuto at Differ Ariake? Okay, baby steps.

8. Jack Swagger - Deal with a sandbagging rookie and then afterwards, mack on some cougar action back stage? Pffft, NBD for the All-American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American.

9. Daniel Bryan - Stock Daniel Bryan Ranking ®

10. Nigel McGuinness - He came back to ROH after being used up and spit out by Impact. If he had decapitated broadcast partner Kevin Kelly and put his head on a pike afterwards? He'd have gotten #3 easy.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Mad at Oz

I'm sure he's not too happy with Vinnie Vegas either.

- SummerSlam was last night, and yes, a longer review is forthcoming. Really shorthand results though are these. CM Punk defeated John Cena and was then cashed in upon by Alberto del Rio after Kevin Nash ran in and blindsided Punk afterwards, causing what you see in the picture. Randy Orton defeated Christian to regain the World Heavyweight Championship. Wade Barrett, Mark Henry and Kelly Kelly all won their matches. SURPRISE! six-man to start the show saw Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio and John Morrison defeat del Rio, R-Truth and The Miz. There were also commercials... YES COMMERCIALS ON A PPV FFFFFUUUUUUUU...

- ROH TV tapings were Saturday, and Nigel McGuinness made his return to the company as the color commentator, alongside Kevin Kelly. He teased a return to the ring, saving Eddie Edwards from The House of Truth. Also on the taping slate, El Generico dropped the Television Championship to Jay Lethal.

- NWA Hollywood taped yesterday, and again, I really don't have taping results to post. So why post a bit about it? Err, well... HEY LOOK OVER THERE, IT'S EVE TORRES UNRHYTHMICLY SHAKING HER ASS!

Follow Friday: Jay Lethal

Black Machismo

This week's Follow Friday is in the vein of Macho Week by urging you to follow "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal on Twitter. Lethal, whom you can find @TheLethalJay, may be the world's pre-eminent Macho Man mark, and really, when you're able to get popular playing a tribute gimmick to your favorite wrestler, you know you've done something right. Even if he doesn't have the Macho gimmick to fall back upon, he's still one of the most gifted wrestlers in the world today. Why TNA couldn't find something to do with him, ESPECIALLY after he verbally sparred with Ric Flair the way he did, is beyond me.

Anyway, you can find Lethal going forward in JAPW (where he'd been competing concurrently with TNA anyway) as well as ROH. While you'll have to dig deeper to find him, well, when you do, it'll be in an environment where he'll be given the platform to shine rather than be stuffed away in mothballs. Until then, follow him on Twitter, he's really great to his fans and has some interesting stuff to post now and again.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!