Heel Report – Week 16

As a fan I have always been naturally drawn to cheering for heels and booing faces, now maybe I have the WWE backwards but it just seems to me that heels are far more entertaining to watch, so I have decided to showcase the heels of the WWE in all their cheating and underhanded glory with this weekly heel report.

This week’s top ten:

1st Place: Randy Orton

Another week on top for the Viper, the new points system is being good to the man who seems to hold some sway backstage. With building momentum and no deductions Orton gets the full ten points and now just has to get past Cena at Summerslam to continue his reign as WWE champion. (10/10 points)

2nd Place: Ezekiel Jackson

A nice set up for a face, then heel turn gets big Zeek all the way up to second place on the chart. A new place in an ECW faction also ensures that the muscle-bound bull will be around for at least a little while longer. Only question is will he appear on the chart again? (9/10 points)

3rd Place: William Regal

A nice move from ECW newcomer to dangerous number one contender, and faction leader for the distinguished English gent. Regal managed to take out the ECW champ without any real injury done to himself, but does that mean that he can take the title away from Christian at Backlash? (8/10 points)

4th Place: Vladimir Koslov

The Russian mauler is the last of the new ECW faction to appear on the chart. A benefit all-round for the trio as the ECW champ found himself out in the cold and with no one to help him in the unfriendly Land of Extreme. As far as I’m concerned things can only get better for the new team. (7/10 points)

5th Place: C.M. Punk

Punk seems to be falling fast in the new chart as week after week he bangs heads with the Extreme Idiot and never escaping completely unscathed. A couple of Twist of Fates stop the Straight-Edge superstar from being in his usual place in the top three, but a title win at Summerslam would almost certainly bring him back to his normal position as one of the lead heels in the WWE. (6/10 points)

6th Place: Dolph Ziggler

With nothing stopping his momentum and a win over Mysterio a couple of nights before Summerslam give Ziggler a place on the chart after a couple of weeks absence. Ziggler seems to thrive in tag matches and gets his heel persona across nicely from the apron, too bad about his commentary skills though. (5/10 points)

7th Place: Chris Jericho

An F-U (the WWE will probably change it back soon anyway now that they appear to be going back on their ‘PG’ rating) and a 619 send Jericho plummeting to seventh place in the chart as he plays second seat to both the Cena-Orton and the Dolph-Rey feuds. It seems tagging with Big Show may be an interesting idea but not something that helps Jericho’s main event status. (4/10 points)

8th Place: Mike Knox

The second appearance in a row for the world’s beardiest man. Getting disqualified against Finlay does nothing to hurt his heel momentum as a rough powerhouse. Hopefully there won’t be too many more segments with him wearing glasses though as it makes him look like a University lecturer who chooses to lead an alternative lifestyle and it gives me horrible flashbacks. (3/10 points)

9th Place: Kane

Another week of this terrible storyline, which serves to diminish Kane’s character even further, means that the Spooked Scarlet Baby can only muster two points on the chart. Hopefully the WWE is building to a triumphant victory at Summerslam for the former monster, but I doubt it. (2/10 points)

10th Place: Abraham Washington

Last place goes to Mr. Washington who persists in having his painfully unfunny and pointless talk show on ECW. This guy reminds me of Cena in that he seems to be trying to be charismatic and engaging like the Rock, albeit in a negative heel way, but it all just comes off scripted and false. (1/10 points)

Overall top ten:

* 1st Place – Chris Jericho: 141/160

*2nd Place – Randy Orton: 97/160

*3rd Place – The Miz: 78/160

*4th Place – Dolph Ziggler: 78/160

*5th Place – C.M. Punk: 71/160

*6th Place – Edge: 69/160

*7th Place – Jack Swagger: 61/160

*8th Place – The Big Show: 32/160

*9th Place – Zack Ryder: 23/160

*10th Place – Tyson Kidd: 20/160

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: Matt Hardy as a Face

Possibly one of the worst, least explained Face turns since…well since Shelton Benjamin a couple of weeks ago (who went against Tyler Rex this week, another Face, you could feel the fan confusion). It all seems to be just because they didn’t know what to do with the Hardy situation and wanted a replacement for Jeff if and when he leaves. Matt was actually quite interesting as a heel at first, I wonder if he will be as a face? Personally I’m still hoping it’s all a big ploy and Matt is going to turn on Jeff again, cementing him as a heel with the kiddie crowd for years to come, chants of; “You screwed Jeff!” following him about wherever he goes. When Matt first appeared as the special enforcer I was hoping it might become a triple threat TLC, which would have been interesting. Knowing the WWE, no interesting or original storylines will come from Hardy’s return and best case scenario; Jeff won’t be seen again for a few more years until he is mature enough not to clap himself and start his own chants that his eight year old sheep in arm bands bleat along to.

Face the Facts: No One

That’s right, I didn’t see any Faces that impressed me this week, please feel free to correct me if you saw something you liked but even the Santino skit seemed dull and lifeless to me this week. I suppose objectively the Hardy Boyz getting back together AGAIN would count but like DX it just seems a bit old and desperate. Oh and if anyone says Goldust I’m going to quit this column, why is he still with the company?! All seems a bit ‘dusty’ to me.

On the Rise: Orton’s attack on Freddy Prinze Jr.

I thought this was actually decent work by Orton as it reinforced his ‘I will attack anybody’ mentality, yes it is like Austin in a way, but it seems to me that Orton’s is more for the youth of today as it is less justified than Austin’s. Instead of sticking it to the boss it’s a more aggressive rebellion against authority that won’t give you your own way. It’s more selfish and more heel-ish, the only thing is that in having this character Orton will suffer as a face I think as his actions will have to start being justified, completely under-cutting the very point of his actions being unjust and uncompromising. The crowning moment of that segment was the high-pitched squeal of a fan pleading “Get up Freddy!” in desperation. Crowd participation at its best.

Flat-Footed: The Superstars line-up

Usually I’m pleasantly surprised by the Superstars matches, small amount of storyline and good wrestling. This week there was no storyline and very little decent wrestling. It just felt a little bit too watered down this week. The WWE has a problem with seeing what works and then taking it too far, thinking that the more they do it the better it will be, case in point; John Cena, pushing him and pushing him until half the fans loath him. Hopefully the show will be back to normal next week.

Crossing the Line: Taz’s commentary work

Actually a negative this week, along with Morgan’s confusing actions this was a weak point in the broadcast. I was actually looking forward to MEM Taz taking to the mic for some solid heel commentary, but in a terrible move Taz decided to basically act like a face. No idea why TNA thought this would be a good idea when Don West was just getting his heel commentator act down and fans have been complaining about a lack of heel commentators. I’m hoping TNA management will swallow their pride, admit they were wrong and take the decision back next week.

Bit of a letdown in terms of heel work on all shows apart from ECW this week where a new faction has formed and Matt Striker was as entertaining as always. Hopefully Summerslam will be better.

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