The Heel Report 8.10.12: Indy Invasion

Each Week there are ten places, with points out of ten awarded based on these positions. These points are then added to a rolling chart that will continue each week to show who is wrestling’s overall top heel.

This is a place where the heels of wrestling can be praised for all the hard work they do trying to get us all to hate them, so without further ado let’s get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten

1st Place: C.M. Punk

Heel Punk is in full force and despite getting socked by the Big Show at the end of Raw the WWE champion is back to being in focus on the WWE’s flagship show. I like how they managed to work Punk not getting a main event match as the champion as part of the storyline where AJ was sticking it to Punk, rather than it just being poor booking. And despite not having a main event match he did manage to get a clean victory over a guy who got the better of him over and over again when he was the leader of the S.E.S. Picking up a pin over a returning Rey Mysterio may seem like the standard for the WWE champion, but at this point you can’t take anything like this for granted so I am still counting it as quite a surprise, at least in that Punk won completely clean, although that certainly plays into the idea that Punk isn’t really a true heel yet in his in-ring actions, although he clearly is in how he tried to suck up to AJ, not to mention his constant cheap shots on major faces that are questionable at best. The whole C.M. Punk situation, just like this time last year when I began the report, begs the question of what truly makes a guy a heel? Does he have to resort to dirty tactics in the ring to win matches, or are his intentions that dictate his alignment, or perhaps it is their audience reaction? But if this last one were the case then in certain arenas John Cena would be the biggest heel of them all and he’s not appearing on the chart every week, and when Christian delivered a thumb to the eye of the Miz on last week’s Raw it didn’t make him a heel, so in-ring actions aren’t always a clear indication of alignment. Then you have Sheamus this week, who technically committed a number of felonies against a man who did nothing to him this week so far, how is that not the actions of a heel? Basically it all comes down to a general feeling you get from the broadcast, not so much the intentions of the individual, but the intentions of the guys behind the scenes that are conveying a story, and in those terms Punk is clearly being put across as a guy who is at least questionable, and in this PG climate questionable is tantamount to evildoer, blame the children.

2nd Place: Daniel Bryan

Yes that’s right, the two indie darlings are finally top of the heel chart together, it had to happen eventually. One good thing about being a heel is that the whole argument over size and whatever is mostly negated as, to me at least, it is much more about acting and any mismatching can be overcome through nefarious means. Although having said that when you look at Bryan’s in-ring actions you realise that he almost never cheats, he is completely over as a heel through his mic work and never makes a point of cheating, despite his lack of size, which is interesting. I think in the long run this will make Bryan a more credible main eventer, but in the short term it will probably leave traditionalists asking ‘why the midget is in the ring?’ While I certainly get the idea that wrestlers being larger than life helps viewers fulfil a questionable masculine fantasy and makes them feel like they are watching ‘the pinnacle of masculine perfection’, and also that this over-exaggerated size is a wrestling trademark, but really why does it have to be? We get the same entertainment value and feelings of amazement and pride in the human body when we see athletic displays in matches so really the whole size thing is something for non-skilled athletes to fall back on. Just look at Cena, his main claim to fame are his feats of strength, but a more talented technical or high-flying wrestler like Bryan doesn’t need these feats to impress an audience. I’m not saying that we should get rid of the big men in wrestling, but that either is fine as long as the skill is present, and we all know that big men without any actual wrestling talent are mostly terrible, such as the Great Khali, only rarely displaying feats that make us ‘ohh’ and ‘ahh’. A final point based off of the idea that guys like Punk and Bryan shouldn’t be the focus of the WWE due to their size is that it is directly due to their size and realistic build that they can connect with an audience as being ‘just like us’, they can still be idols and not be 7″ tall. Also just look at interviews with Punk on news shows, anchors who were expecting some muscle-bound simpleton are surprised and taken aback, which if nothing else makes the guys more memorable, the fact that they ‘don’t look like a professional wrestler’ stands out, and that is no bad thing.

3rd Place: Alberto Del Rio

The Mexican Aristocrat has already lost a little bit of his aggressive new demeanour after last week and was made to look like a bit of a chump on both Smackdown, when he ate an RKO from the Viper, and on Raw when Sheamus hijacked his car and got no comeuppance whatsoever. My general theory here is that Orton will be added into Del Rio’s match with Sheamus at Summerslam to give him something to do, unless he somehow gets into a feud with the returning Wade Barrett, which could easily happen given the two men’s histories. Two triple threats for the title seems a bit strange but it could work quite well, despite in some ways taking away any ‘big match’ feel from either defence as for the most part triple threat matches are filler unless the three men involved have really built up a storyline together as to why they all need to fight for the title at the same time. Despite Del Rio’s slight loss of presence he did manage not to lose one match and win another and that gives him some pretty decent momentum, at least in theory, and gets him into third place on the chart.

4th Place: Dolph Ziggler

Mr. Money in the Bank was able to show off much more this week in a match on both Smackdown and Raw. While one of those matches might have featured a rare victory from Alex Riley it was clear that Ziggler was dominant throughout. I’m really looking forward to the confrontation between Ziggler and Jericho at Summerslam as it should be an excellent affair if given the proper time and no doubt Jericho will let Ziggler go over on his way to the world heavyweight title. Also if Sheamus is indeed involved in a match with Orton and Del Rio he might just find himself in a weak enough position to be beaten for the title, the only problem is that if the world title match is the first on the card then this can’t happen. So basically it could all be down to the booking of the event as to whether Ziggler walks out as champion or not, which you could argue is a major flaw in this new idea of having a briefcase for each of the titles; a guy who has a match later on in the card is unlikely to cash in the case beforehand on a downed challenger, although that’s not to say it can’t ever happen, or that this can’t be used to the WWE’s advantage. After all you could make a match all the more important by making it for the title. Imagine if Ziggler cashes in and beats Sheamus, potentially injuring him in some way and certainly taking him out for the night, then backstage Ziggler is bragging about being the new champion when Booker T comes along and makes his match with Jericho for the World title. If Ziggler then wins he has had his first successful title defence, looks strong and Sheamus is still protected for when he is ready for his rematch. Now this is all fantasy booking but it certainly works for the most part, but we’ll just have to wait and see as to how things really go down.

5th Place: The Big Show

The Big Show had a questionable week and it really depends on whether you think that finishing strong at the end of a show is more important than actually winning matches. I know that Orton is a major player in the WWE, but still he is coming back from his second wellness violation and has faced off against two of the men competing for the major titles of the company and has been protected in both matches, RKOing both men respectively after the match. Still Show did KO Punk and Cena to top off the latest three hour Raw and at least looked like he might have some shot at walking away with the title at Summerslam. Personally if for some reason Punk can’t keep the title I’d definitely like for Show to have one last run with the belt for a few months before the title inevitably goes back to Punk when he faces the Rock at the Royal Rumble, anything else just wouldn’t make sense at this point. Punk will be champion at the Rumble, it’s just a question now of whether the WWE want to give him that long of a title reign up until that point, if they did then it would certainly get him over enough to go on to face SCSA at Wrestlemania.

6th Place: Damien Sandow

Another week and another merciless attack on the Funkasaurus by the Intellectual Saviour of the Unwashed Masses. Some people have been comparing Sandow to The Genius and the similarities are obvious, but was he ever really this vicious? And did you really ever believe that he could have a main event run like Sandow is already showing he is capable of? Plus guys have been using the same kind of gimmick as those who went before them since forever and just because one came before the other doesn’t mean that it is better or in any way superior to the ones that come after it, it’s all about how you do it yourself. At some point this will actually have to lead to a match but for now it is just fine that these men are kept apart as building things up to a PPV-level match can do nothing but good things for either man. I think another reviewer called it right when they said that it will probably be Sandow vs. Clay on the Summerslam pre-show, which sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Some

7th Place: Madison Rayne

The Queen Bee could be on her way to winning her fourth Knockouts title as she became the number one contender this week after beating three of the best that her division has to offer. What makes it all the better is that for the second week in a row she won her match through her nefarious wiles by clouding the mind of the besotted and bewildered senior referee. Her relationship with Earl is certainly paying off for her, but can it lead her all the way to the title?

8th Place: Antonio Cesaro

A nice win against the United States champion on Smackdown marks the second time that Cesaro has accomplished the feat and still he does not even have the mere mention of a title match somewhere down the line to show for it. The WWE really needs to stop being lazy and start to lay down some solid ground rules for why guys should be given title shots. This isn’t a restrictive action, in fact it is the exact opposite as being given boundaries to work with can really help a creative mind come up with things, and the more definition a division has , the strong it will be, at least in theory. Cesaro needs to face Santino for the title, and win, so that he can start bringing some prestige back to the belt.

9th Place: The Miz

Speaking of adding prestige to a title, or taking it away in this case, the Miz was part of the winning team in his tag match on Smackdown but managed to lose clean to Kane on Raw in a terribly arbitrary match that really hurt the IC champion and didn’t really do anything for the Big Red Monster. The frustrating thing about this is that it really didn’t need to happen, and even if you had the match there are many different ways that you could have ended things. The my obvious way that comes to mind is for Miz to put up the same fight against Kane that he did but then reverse the chokeslam and flee the ring, refusing to fight anymore. Kane looks strong and the Miz keeps up his heel heat while being protected from actually having to eat the pin in the middle of the ring. I honestly believe that the Miz could be a great IC champion, but he needs to be given the right opponents and the right opportunities to do so.

10th Place: Cody Rhodes

From a man struggling to add prestige to a faltering title to the man who claimed he would restore said title’s prestige in the first place. Cody has been pretty quiet as of late, mainly appearing on the chart this week for his win against Justin Gabriel on Superstars. Still the son of the American Dream might have caught a break seeing as how his old rival Booker T is now the Smackdown general manager. You have to believe that the two will continue to bump heads and that these actions will keep Cody in the spotlight, whether he wins or loses his matches during this time. What I would love to see happen here is a heel underdog story going into the Rumble. Have Booker put Cody in first and then have him beat the odds and go on to defeat a still dominant Sheamus at Wrestlemania, it would be a great heel-underdog story and you could easily pull a double turn with both men or at least turn Cody face once he wins the title, either way he would get a major boost from being put in such a position and it would really jumpstart his main event career, but then where would that leave Sheamus? With a year-long title run and a memorable feud that could be extended over a six month period, that’s where.

(Week 53):

1. Daniel Bryan (242)

2. Cody Rhodes (215)

3. Robert Roode (210)

4. Alberto Del Rio (201)

5. Mark Henry (181)

6. The Miz (141)

7. Dolph Ziggler (133)

8. Bully Ray (130)

9. Chris Jericho (125)

10. Big Show (99)

The Wright View:

The Return of Kelly Kelly

I’ll start off by saying that I was never a fan of Torrie Wilson, and Kelly Kelly is a poor man’s version of Kelly Kelly, so it’s no wonder that I lose all interest as soon as the ‘so plastic they named her twice’ diva comes through the curtain. Honestly with the Bellas gone, Eve busy and KK seemingly moving on to greener pastures I was really hoping that the divas division would be moving away from the whole ‘models who can’t really wrestle’ theme. There are a number of skills, and still attractive, women in WWE developmental who are just waiting to get their shot, and with Beth, Natalya and Tamina still kicking about you could really put on some great matches in the coming years as these new divas continue to grow.

Now I know this was only one appearance and apparently she is not coming back full time, but the mere presence of someone like Kelly Kelly is in my opinion harmful to the division. Kelly Kelly is the ultimate cheap pop, you are guaranteed a reaction every time she comes out because she is the all American girl, but beyond this reaction there is really no substance or entertainment value there. But because she gets that cheap pop the WWE will always see her as a major focus and as such not allow anyone else to really take the spotlight, this is the same problem that the WWE has had with John Cena. They can’t build any new major stars because Cena will always be seen as the main attraction despite his limited skills.

Having a good surface reaction is great and it’s certainly better than no reaction at all, but when you put more focus onto guys who have all the basics down and can put on a good show then the reaction will come and it will be a more lasting thing, you won’t have a huge section of your audience looking at the top star in your product and ridiculing you for their apparent lack of skills. What I’m trying to say is that people like Cena and Kelly Kelly make the WWE lazy, and it leaves them desperate for the initial reaction over any real substance, which is why you are seeing guys like Lesnar and Rock returning and taking the spotlight despite their lack of actual commitment to the product, it is a short lived hype and while it is in some ways cool to see it will be hard to say what the WWE has really achieved in the long term once they go away.

An example would be Coke and Pepsi, it’s well documented that when Pepsi came onto the market Coke was scared by the sheer number of their customers that were switching over to this new brand. They wanted to know what the secret was, and if customers really preferred Pepsi over Coke. They held numerous blind taste tests and each time people would prefer Pepsi over Coke, so Coke decided to change their product and brought out New Coke, which was made to taste more like Pepsi. Now surely making your product more like the rival that everyone seems to prefer would work since you are drawing on your customers’ loyalty to your brand but giving them what they apparently want as well, right? Wrong, New Coke was a flop and it wasn’t long before Coke had to switch back to their old formula and bring it out as Coke Classic.

Now what does this have to do with the Cena-Kelly Kelly situation you ask? Well the reason that people would more often than not pick Pepsi in the blind taste tests, even if they were lifelong Coke drinkers, is because Pepsi is much sweeter than Coke and when you have one sip it tastes better, one sip. But when drinking a whole glass, Coke drinkers thought that the Pepsi taste was too sweet and sickly, that is why New Coke just didn’t work. Today while Pepsi is a huge company, Coke is still king, and that is because quality wins out overall against the initial cheap pop, and to try to compromise quality for the cheap pop is a terrible idea. And so the WWE reliance on Kelly Kelly over someone with actual wrestling skill like Beth Phoenix is a bad move and it is why the Divas of Doom angle from last year was such a flop when it could have been awesome and revitalised the division.

Chris Jericho On Commentary

After that rant these next three are going to be much, much shorter. Jericho on commentary this week proves that you need to have some new blood in the commentary booth and current to semi-retired wrestlers are the way to go. JBL had his moments and I still believe that Edge could be an invaluable addition to the Raw or Smackdown commentary team. Booker T was a oddball choice that somehow worked in small doses as Black Snow in TNA but I am quite glad he is gone from the position on Smackdown as while he was humorous in some regards, he took focus away from the in-ring talent. Jericho on commentary was witty, drew attention to the match at hand and seriously worked to put both Ziggler and Alex Riley over, and it worked. People ask what is missing from today’s WWE and I think one of the biggest things is that the commentary teams, at least in terms of Michael Cole and King, do more to put themselves over than any active wrestlers on the roster. I honestly can’t see why the WWE doesn’t take more chances to put guys like Punk and Jericho on commentary, who clearly can talk and do the job and could be involved in some interesting angles while at the same time putting the guys in the ring over through their comments and interactions.

AW

Somehow the man with the microphone managed to survive his comments from last week and is still toting the headset in the Prime Time Players’ matches at ringside. What’s more the guy loves to distract people with items of clothing, throwing a shoe last week and his jacket this time, the guy could be a serious force for entertainment in the WWE, as long as he knows how to go up to the line but never past it.

Damien Sandow Against Dancing

Just a quick note here, Sandow said that he was against dancing in citing why he attacked Brodus Clay, but the fact is that dancing in general is a huge part of intellectual life and wouldn’t be something someone the stature of Sandow would look down upon. Now maybe if he had been more specific and cited the type of dancing or music then he might have had a point, although this might not be all that PC, but then when has the WWE really cared about that?

Cheap Pops:

Ryan Byers does the research so you don’t have to on Ask 411

Gavin Napier gives his crazy opinions when he ranks the Top 10 Wrestling Madmen

Michael Weyer gives a history of the finisher inShining a Spotlight

Joseph Lee runs down the top ten Universal Horror Movies in A Bloody Good Time

And finally the 411 staff rate ’em again in The Wrestler of the Week

Ricardo Rodrigez on Raw – Along with Del Rio changing into his ring gear mid-way up the ramp you also had Ricardo scamper out and deliver his introduction in a rushed fashion as if he really wasn’t prepared for doing so and had no idea that his talents would be called upon this evening. Of course why the pair turned up at all when they weren’t actually booked for a match is another story.

That’s all for this week, Hardcore Justice is just round the corner and I’m sure that there will be some more TNA faces on the chart to appease all you rabid TNA fan boys out there. But if Aries, Storm, Anderson, RVD, Tessmacher, King and Chavo win their respective matches and the heels don’t get enough time to really ply their craft then don’t blame me! We’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out, for now though this is James Wright signing off.