Future Endeavors 6/11 Power Poll: Tough Enough to the Top

TE winner and top of the power poll
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 Bro Rocca, PizzaBodySlam. I will list the top ten, and then post and comment on my ballot. Here goes:

1. Andy Leavine (Last week: NR)
2. R-Truth (1)
3. Christian (5)
4. Randy Orton (3)
5. Alex Riley (2)
6. John Cena (NR)
7. Booker T (NR)
8. The Miz (NR)
9. Daniel Bryan (6)
10. Sin Cara (8)

And now, my ballot:

1. Andy Leavine - I know I didn't watch Tough Enough, but hey, this is as good a consolation prize for him getting slapped and Stunnered in his first action as an official WWE wrestler.

2. Christian - He finally turned heel, keeping Sheamus from winning the World Championship and walloping Randy Orton with it after the match. Big waves for a guy who's been the focus of Smackdown for the better part of two months now.

3. YAMATO - He made it out of the weekend as the Open the Freedom Gate Champion, which given how infrequent title switches happen in DGUSA may not be impressive, but then again, he did defeat the English Jumping Bean PAC.

4. R-Truth - Despite the inappropriate wardrobe choice, he was again on fire Monday. My favorite was when he accused Obama of wanting to throw him off a boat. Must be stumping for Republican support.

5. Booker T - NOSTALGIA!

6. Alex Riley - Three weeks, and his push isn't derailed. They just might be serious about him.

7. John Cena - Stock John Ce... wait, wrong wrestler for a stock ranking. Okay.

8. The Miz - Yes, I did vote for all the members in the main event tag match on RAW. Why do you ask?

9. Johnny Gargano - He traded wins with Austin Aries, getting the win in the stable war over him. Also, he's the whole shebang.

10. Evan Bourne - DIRECT BENEFICIARY OF NOSTALGIA!

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!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Enter the Dragon

Still the Champ

- Dragon Gate USA had a triple-shot of shows this weekend, culminating in an iPPV last night that had feed problems. Feed problems suck, but Gabe Sapolsky is making good on the customer dissatisfaction by throwing in a free viewing of their Open the Southern Gate show along with any purchase of last night's show on demand. This is how companies should operate. Anyway, the first night of action in Revere, MA, on Frriday was headlined by an Open the United Gate Championship defense by PAC and Masato Yoshino over YAMATO and Akira Tozawa. Saturday night's show on Long Island didn't have any title matches, but saw Ricochet defeating PAC and Rich Swann in what probably was a breathtaking spotfest of the main event. Last night's show looked pretty loaded. The Dirty Ugly Fucks of Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon took out Masaaki Mochizuki and Susumu Yokosuka, and the Ronin stable defeated the Blood Warriors group in an elimination match, with Johnny Gargano getting the final elimination on Austin Aries (giving him a receipt from Friday night's singles match where Aries was victorious). In the main event, PAC was unsuccessful in his attempt to corner the market in American DG gold, as YAMATO retained his Open the Freedom Gate Championship.

- Apparently, Mick Foley's exit from TNA on Thursday's show was more shoot than they let on at the time. According to several news outlets, and according to Foley's Twitter itself, he's out of TNA after "trying to change the creative process" and all that other jazz. While the fact that all the usual suspects are reporting this as news lends credence to it being real news, I am still suspect at the timing of it, ESPECIALLY given that Vince Russo has never met a worked shoot he didn't like. That being said, if Foley shows up on RAW in three months, then I'll readily admit that I was wrong, but I can't shake the nagging feeling that this is some elaborate work. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to your discretion, I suppose.

- Betty George, the first wife of wrestling icon and WWE Hall of Famer Gorgeous George, passed away Friday at the age of 98. Wow, 98, that's a hell of a run. Regardless though, I wish my sincerest condolences to her family and friends.

- Finally, this isn't so much wrestling news as it's site news, but I'm rebooting all the features on the blog. The Six Packs, the Best Move Ever, Know Your Indie Wrestlers... they're all going to start over again. What does that mean? Eh, just that I'll be repeating topics and such. But yeah, so if you see a repeat for any feature, you know now why, so at least I can point you to a warning rather than you going "BLOGGER Y U NO HAVE ORIGINAL TOPICS FOR FEATURES?"

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!