The Heel Report: 07.29.13: Flashing and Cashing (in)

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, after 100 weeks naming the reigning wrestler a ‘Heel Centurion’.

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 (or in other words the smarkiest chart of smarkdom ever to smark), so without further ado let’s get on with the report…

1st Place: Bully Ray

The heel champ Bully Ray was on top form this week, showing how he can make a crowd hate him even when he is basically the best thing going in the company at this point. Of course later in the night he went on to lose his title to Chris Sabin, but never the less he was the most captivating heel of the week and I don’t doubt that he will manage to win his title back before too long. I’m still not sure why TNA gave the belt to Sabin, I get that cashing in the X Division belt should mean something and that giving him the title could do for him what it did last year for Austin Aries but still this makes it the second year that TNA has had a seemingly fool-proof plan of having a long-reigning heel champ, a clear contender in mind to face and defeat them at Bound for Glory after a long chase, and more than half way along the road they then pull a switch like this and leave everyone wondering what they are thinking. Sure being unpredictable is an interesting trait, but there is something to be said about predictability when you are running with a sure thing. The whole Bully vs. AJ Styles thing could still go down, but I am sceptical and hoping that we won’t be getting Hogan vs. Bully instead, I won’t hold my breath.

2nd Place: The Wyatt Family

In what was a pretty slow week the Wyatts didn’t actually even appear on Raw, however they did make an appearance on Main Event, taking out Justin Gabriel and 3MB in the process. Not only did Bray Wyatt deliver another great promo in his hillbilly-prophet style, but they also left the four men in a pile in the middle of the ring, which sent quite a statement in itself. If Bray can hold his own against Kane when it finally comes to their implied match at Summerslam this team could easily have just as good a year as the Shield has.

3rd Place: Ryback

Ryback has turned a corner in his character development and is now being portrayed as a big bully, someone who preys on the weak and enjoys the suffering of others, which in my view is better than someone who is just hungry all the time. After squashing the Brooklyn Brawler in his hometown, Big Hungry went on to sneak attack a weakened Chris Jericho, taking him out for the foreseeable future, and then proceeded on Raw to wrestle Daniel Bryan and end the show by putting the number one contender through a table and accepting a challenge from the WWE champ for a tables match next week.

4th Place: Curtis Axel

Axel managed to defend and retain his title against Chris Jericho, that being Jericho’s last benevolent act before biting the big one at the hands of Ryback. If the IC title actually functioned as more than just a prop right now than this might actually mean something, as it is; meh.

5th Place: Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman is gradually becoming a key staple of WWE television and I couldn’t be happier, whether it be appearing ‘live via satellite’ to jab at Punk, or threatening mid card talent on Miz TV, Heyman adds something to the proceedings and I am really hoping that the WWE manages to keep him around for a substantial time to come.

6th Place: Damien Sandow

After a good year followed by some floundering towards the end, much like Antonio Cesaro, Sandow finally has some direction and it is already paying off. His job on commentary was stellar and I can only imagine that now with an actual rivalry to work with his character will continue to improve.

7th Place: Leo Kruger

While to many NXT exists in a different universe from the WWE proper it is in fact pretty much the best place to see good wrestling across the divisions, and while the names may not all yet be known, they are worth paying attention to, as they really are the future of the WWE. This week Leo Kruger beat both Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro, yes you read that right, to become the number one contender for the NXT title. Kruger is an interesting character as a South African headhunter and he looks to me like he could be the next HHH, just a feeling I get about the guy. Watch out for him.

8th Place: Fandango

The dancing man has lost his shine as of late in terms of winning matches, however at the same time if you look at the people he is losing to and how he loses it becomes clear that he is not in the doghouse, instead he is being made to look like he belongs at a certain level, and he does. When you look at how the WWE handled Sandow and Cesaro; giving them wins when they first started but not over guys who actually mattered, and then running out of steam with them when creative had nothing for them, sending them down to relative jobber status when they finally started losing, I am glad that they are trying a different approach with Curtis, as these two talented men prove that feeding jobbers to new stars really only helps up to a certain point, substance of character is more important in the end.

9th Place: Antonio Cesaro

Speaking of Cesaro, he had a great match with Daniel Bryan on Raw and is looking to get out of his slump proper, although he still isn’t exactly winning matches and rocketing up the pecking order, but he is proving to be another guy that people want to see, at least those in the IWC, and while that doesn’t mean too much immediately, it usually indicates that a guy will get a push three years down the line, so that is something.

10th Place: Mickie James

The final place goes to the Knockouts champ, who is on a tear at the moment in terms of being a female heel champ. It makes me wonder why the WWE never turned Mickie back to being a heel after her initial change. The coinciding of AJ and Mickie in the development of their respective roles is starting to put me in the mind of wanting to see the two square off. It has been a long time since when asked the question ‘If you could see competitors in TNA and the WWE square off against each other, who would you want to see?’ you could answer with the name of two female competitors, but right now I would love it if the two were thrown together, just to watch the sparks fly.

(Week 002)

1. Damien Sandow (13)

2. Curtis Axel (12)

3. Bray Wyatt (10)

4. Bully Ray (10)

5. AJ Lee (10)

6. Paul Heyman (9)

7. Ryback (8)

8. Fandango (6)

9. Alberto Del Rio (4)

10. Leo Kruger (4)

Heel Centurions: