Comments on: The Heel Report – Week 3

By: James Wright

James Wright — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:45:09 +0000

It’s one of those things, when TNA throw a match together I say; ‘oh that’s good, not every one of their matches has to be about storyline, sometimes we can just enjoy some wrestling, where winning is the only incentive.’ Then when WWE put Ortiz against Jeff Hardy in what seemed to be a thrown together match I said; ‘WTF! Wow, WWE has really let itself down having this match for no reason.’

It feels like a double standard but it’s not. WWE have set themselves up so that all of their matches do revolve directly around their storylines, so if we see a match outside of this it doesn’t seem to fit. They also know this and that’s why it couldn’t just be Ortiz vs Hardy, they had to turn Ortiz into a heel. It can never just be about match to match competition in the WWE, there has to be a running theme. In some ways that is a good thing but it also means that WWE creative have to be just that and at the moment they are not. That is why we see terribly booked matches like Morrison teaming up with Cryme Tyme, it makes no sense! Their rivalry on WWE.com was such a big thing!

Although I think WWE will win out in the end and be better for sticking with their time tested method of having every match count to something I think that while the creative team is in such a shambles, TNA will get higher and higher until we have another WCW-WWE on our hands. Which of course will motivate the McMahons and we should see some good writing and another attitude era. Things move in cycles, we will just have to wait awhile before this happens that’s all.

By: Keelan Balderson

Keelan Balderson — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:01:32 +0000

I agree that is what TNA are doing, blurring the lines between heel or face, but in my eyes that’s not what wrestling is, nor how you sell tickets and get people behind a character. The fact that Vince Russo is no Joss Whedon, David Chase or Kurt Sutter also hurts. They know how to write characters that we love and hate at the same time.

By: James Wright

James Wright — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:29:44 +0000

I agree with you Dorkstar, WWE is going through a very bad patch creatively and they need to pull their act together. Ironically this is why I only do the heel report on the WWE.

I have already covered this in a previous heel report but I will say again that TNA is far superior to WWE, especially at the moment. However since they do have better writers and a more complicated storyline doing a heel report with TNA in mind would be difficult since the lines are not as clear. The one thing the WWE does right (from a face-heel POV) is try to cram a wrestler’s position as face or heel down our throats, making it much easier to judge. Plus TNA still only has one show and as such not everyone gets to participate each week, even if they are major stars. This would be unfair and so I’d rather have someone in TNA like Kurt Angle, the greatest wrestler in the world, not on the chart than have them coming behind someone like Mark Henry due to lack of airtime.

Oh and I know I said this before but again ‘The Beautiful People’ are teh best heel divas ever. Ever!

By: dorkstar

dorkstar — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:47:23 +0000

you know, I thought the Ortiz heel turn was VERY week. There was no drama in it. He just did the job to Jeff Hardy. It’s a prime example of a heel turn, without a push of any kind. Then he had a tag match with “the worlds greatest tag team”, another job. The same goes with Charlie Haas. He just takes a few months off and shows up with Shelton. WTF? This is just bad writing.
is it because they just have no faith in midcards or are they trying to bring back squash jobbers like Steve Lombardi and the Brooklyn Brawler. It would go with their “let’s treat all wrestling fans like their ten years old” movement.
you say nothing about TNA. Kurt Angle, Beautiful People, the new dramatic turn of Mick Foley get no mention. You have a great column but I have to say… Try to expand. WWE isn’t the only game in town. TNA could be better. I just don’t think we should be spoonfed this kids shit anymore.