No PPVs this week so the heels of TNA and the WWE have to battle it out without any special bonus points for appearing on a big show. Still with Destination X just around the corner and the WW E building towards their Money in the Bank PPV I’m sure there has been plenty of opportunities for the top heels in professional wrestling to shine, while others, justifiably or not, fall flat on their faces. Still enough of this generic filler, let’s get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Alberto Del Rio (10/10)

A nice show of aggression from the number one contender this week in an attempt to make him look more like a legitimate threat to the world champion more than simply being another filler opponent in an attempt to make the champion look credible. Still I have to give it to the WWE, by putting Sheamus up against lower rank guys and only putting him against Jericho and Orton in a four-way match they are avoiding having another Cena on their hands where people start thinking how there is no way he should still be champion. So far I am buying that Sheamus has been able to remain on top. Del Rio though has at least been ab le to save face after his absence from No Way Out by taking out Sin Cara on Raw and then slamming the Celtic Warrior with the hood of his car multiple times to bloody the Great White champion. Not only that but he was dominant enough to steal the top spot on the chart, the only question is will his gained momentum continue into next week.

2nd Place: Robert Roode (9/10)

The TNA world champion made his presence felt this week by attacking and mocking an injured Chris Sabin and then trying to intimidate and attack his challenger this Sunday; Austin Aries. Of course his plan slightly backfired and he ended up receiving a title shot to the face, but he still made the most of his time until he was flat on his back. Roode is learning well how to pace himself and is keeping his matches selective, and mostly for the title, which is good since it makes him look like a fighting champion while also not exposing him to too much unnecessary risk. Roode’s only real problem now is that once he takes out Aries at Destination X he won’t really have anyone else who he hasn’t already beat.

3rd Place: Daniel Bryan (8/10)

Next up is the world’s biggest ‘yes man’, who has somehow almost become an overnight main eventer to the level of what took C.M. Punk years. To say that Bryan isn’t a main event attraction would have to ignore the fact that since becoming champion he has been involved in a title match at every PPV, which is no mean feat. Something interesting is that as Bryan goes along he is getting more and more weasely as a heel. When Punk was a heel he never really sucked up all that much, whereas Bryan has started to pander to both Vicky and AJ in attempts to get what he wants, at least in terms of women he is becoming a massive slimeball, which as a heel, isn’t such a bad thing.

4th Place: The Big Show (7/10)

Despite his loss No Way Out, Big Show seems to still be going along strong, beating Kane like it was nothing and Eliminating Cena from the GM Battle Royal on Smackdown. I’m surprised that no other opponents are being added to the WWE MitB match as four men, two being larger and heavier and Cena not exactly being a high-flyer, will surely find it hard to pull off the type of match that you would expect from a MitB ladder match. Basically this match looks to just be another vehicle to get Cena to the title, but maybe Big Show could surprise us, he certainly would be the most interesting guy to give the briefcase to. Of course what would be awesome is if Cena won and then was the first man to cash the case in and not win the title, it would break the precedence and Cena really doesn’t need to have the title again as he certainly thinks that he is above it.

5th Place: Cody Rhodes (6/10)

Proving that in life you can always get a second chance, Cody Rhodes managed to get the monkey that was Christian off his back and qualify for the world title contract MitB match at the same time. It was a bit of a strange combination of counters that led to the Cross Rhodes and the pin for the victory, but a win is a win and it was clean so that has to bode well for the son of the American Dream going into Money in the Bank.

6th Place: Bully Ray (5/10)

Bully Ray did the awesome thing this week of slightly subtly mocking the chump John Cena, coming down to the ring and proclaiming that he has a huge announcement to make that actually has nothing to do with anything outside of himself and therefore is not important at all. Not only that but he also played the lawyer at his own game and won when he showed Joseph Parks the restraining order he had gotten against Abyss, and then to add injury to insult he cheap shotted the alter ego in the back of the head before he left the ring.

7th Place: Chris Jericho (4/10)

This week Jericho gets by on sheer charisma alone as he really didn’t have an end to his match or a point to his promos. He simply said a bunch of old catchphrases and wasn’t even involved in the conclusion to his main event tag match on Raw. Still Jericho is one of those guys who can acquire heel points simply by turning up and smiling so he still finds himself above three other people.

8th Place: Dolph Ziggler (3/10)

While he might have lost a meaningless tag match on Raw he managed to qualify for the MitB match and could possibly soon have a briefcase to back up all his showing off. He also managed to last pretty long in the Smackdown Battle Royal and I seriously think that WWE is at least toying with the idea of turning Ziggler face, which I think would be awesome. Imagine if Rhodes wins the case and beats Sheamus for the title, meanwhile Ziggler has been turned face and growing more popular all the time and then the two meet for the first time over the title, I think they could really put something great together that makes people far less afraid for the future of the WWE.

9th Place: Michael McGillicutty (2/10)

A surprising win in the main event of NXT against Tyson Kidd gets McGillicutty into the chart this week. I think that NXT might have been taped before Kidd’s recent push since it really wouldn’t make sense to book him to lose here. Also he is supposed to be selling the attack by Tensi that happened on Raw so coming back and wrestling the next day doesn’t make too much sense. Of course taped before or not it looks like this is the case, but then again it’s not too bad as barely anyone watches NXT. On the same merit you could question whether or not McGillicutty deserves to be here, but a win is a win and he is here on the chart nevertheless.

10th Place: Kassius Ohno (1/10)

The former Chris Hero comes out with an intense and yet somehow unintentionally comical character. I think it has something to do with having the second name of ‘oh-no’, which is just terrible. Hopefully the guy’s natural talent will shine through and he will survive this lame gimmick.

2012-2013 Season Top Ten: Overall Top Ten:

1st Place: Daniel Bryan (106/140) – 1st Place: The Miz (790/1660)

2nd Place: Alberto Del Rio (73/140) – 2nd Place: Chris Jericho (708/1660)

3rd Place: Chris Jericho (58/140) – 3rd Place: C.M. Punk (666/1660)

4th Place: Robert Roode (54/140) – 4th Place: Cody Rhodes (568/1660)

5th Place: Big Show (51/140) – 5th Place: Dolph Ziggler (470/1660)

6th Place: Bully Ray (45/140) – 6th Place: Alberto Del Rio (468/1660)

7th Place: Cody Rhodes (44/140) – 7th Place: Jack Swagger (426/1660)

8th Place: Kane (41/140) – 8th Place: Wade Barrett (395/1660)

9th Place: Damien Sandow (37/140) – 9th Place: Sheamus (294/1660)

10th Place: Brock Lesnar (29/140) – 10th Place: Mark Henry (254/1660)

(Heel Hall of Fame)

**Heel Report 2010-2011 Winner: The Miz**

**Heel Report 2011-2012 Winner: Cody Rhodes**

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: Kofi Kingston

Now I know that Kofi is technically one half of the tag team champions, but when is the last time that really meant anything anyway? What I am griping about here is the fact that he wasn’t included in any kind of MitB qualifying match when he clearly at least should have been in consideration. I find it kind of concerning that the WWE is happy with letting him stagnate in the tag division while others are getting a shot at getting a shot at the world title. What’s worse is that I’m pretty sure that when the Prime Time Players finally get around to challenging the champs they will take the titles so Kofi won’t even have those to fall back on. Admittedly what could happen is we could get a massively drawn out feud between the two teams and in their back and forth struggles for the titles it could actually restore some prestige and importance to the division, but I’m not holding out too much hope that this will actually happen, although it would really help the WWE with their undercard booking problems as tag team matches for the titles can always spark up an interest as long as the teams involved are established and no one complains when they are not the main event.

Face the Facts: Austin Aries

Despite some speculation I’ve pretty much been convinced that Aries is going to be just another challenger for Roode’s title and doesn’t really have too much of a shot at actually winning the belt. However after how strongly the former (by choice) X Division champion finished Impact on Thursday the fan in me actually thinks that Aries has a shot. A short run to test the waters and to break up Roode’s reign could be a good thing, however on the other hand it could kill all of Aries’ momentum, but then again so will having him lose to Roode unless he does it by a slim margin and then goes right back to competing for the X Division title, but even that would be debatable as to whether or not it would harm Aries’ credibility. Maybe he could narrowly lose at Destination X and then be part of a triple threat or fatal four way at Hardcore Justice, that way he could avoid another real loss and still stay in the title picture while at the same time making room for Storm’s inevitable BFG title shot. That is of course unless TNA just go all crazy and set up something like Aries vs. Hardy for the title and Roode vs. Storm in a non-title match for BFG, admittedly that could work too and those two men are arguably more over with the fans than Roode and Storm, plus the former tag team partners’ match has enough draw even without the title, but who knows for now.

On the Rise: Madison Loves Earl

This was pretty ridiculous. For months TNA has been teasing that Madison Rayne has a crush on someone and they finally revealed that someone to be Earl Hefner. Now while this doesn’t mean all that much and will have no real impact on the product I have to say that I am rather pleasantly surprised, that is because when you look at it, apart from Hefner being exceedingly old (as well as darn lucky!), it all makes sense really. After all Madison has flirted with Earl several times before, admittedly it appeared that she was doing so in order to distract him or win matches, but it’s easily plausible that she could have actually dug him a little as well. Then you also have last week where she was talking to Garrett, his reaction was justified and as a former referee he would have been the guy to ask about Hefner, also it added to the red herring of Devon being in the ring at the same time, who Garrett has been teaming with lately. Basically while this was a minor thing it has been done pretty well and actually makes sense, which for TNA is a big deal and I am happy about it, and for Earl, who has to be overjoyed at this point.

Flat-Footed: Crimson

Wow, from undefeated future of the company to jobber in a couple of months. It seems like turning heel didn’t do any favours for the guy, and he was just starting to get a little interesting as well, which is a shame. Still it makes sense as everyone associated with the guy has left the company and he has lost enough momentum so as to not really mean anything more. This is mostly TNA’s fault of course as they messed about with him and didn’t ever really pull the trigger on his push, which could have been due to injuries or a lack of talent on his part as well. I just wonder if Ryback is a WWE response to TNA trying to recreate a Goldberg as so far WWE is doing a much better job, I’m just sayin’.

That’s all for this week, come back next time to see how the Destination X results have influenced the charts and whether it is Bobby Roode who is on top this time. I hope you enjoyed the report and be sure to check out my other report (hopefully on a Wednesday) on 411mania. For now this is James Wright signing off.