Welcome to the Heel Report, a weekly breakdown of the best heels in professional wrestling right now. Each week the heels will be ranked out of ten and then those numbers will go on to form the rolling chart that continues each week. This is a place to evaluate and praise the ‘baddies’ of wrestling in their efforts to make us boo them mercilessly so let’s show them some love and get on with the report!
Weekly Top Ten:
10: The Usos
The new heel attitude of the Usos has been great so far and this week they used it to get one over on Chad Gable in a singles match on Smackdown.
9: The Miz & Maryse
Even without his title the Miz is still a force to be reckoned with on Smackdown, at this point it is hard to agree who has benefitted the most from the brand split, but there is a good argument for it being the once irrelevant Miz.
8: Bobby Roode
While I would have liked to have seen more of the Glorious 10, the move for Roode to abandon Dillinger in the ring against Sanity makes a lot of sense and they should now have quite a fun rivalry, the only problem is that I have no idea who to root for!
7: Bo Dallas
Oh god no he went full Bo, you never go full Bo! Somehow getting arrested has allowed Dallas to tap into a much more intense persona, which led him this week to not only get a win over Neville on Raw, but also to attack his once firm friend Curtis Axel. Fore shame!
6: Mike Bennett & Maria
The Bennetts technically had a terrible week, what with the Miracle’s loss to Cody and Maria’s loss of her position as queen of the knockouts. However the two have got such a stranglehold on Impact that even in losing they usually accumulate enough points so as to make it at least some way up the chart. I am still waiting for Bennett to wow me since making it to TNA, and I continue to wait.
5: Rusev & Lana
This other power couple did much better that the last as they used their partnership to absolutely destroy Roman Reigns before their matchup at Hell in a Cell. I still have no real interest in this rivalry but you can’t say that it hasn’t helped get at least some of the fans on Roman’s side. Ideally the WWE wouldn’t have to work around having their top chosen guys actually be cheered, but since they do I guess this is where we are, at least for now.
4: Sanity
Once again NXT proves that it is the most solid programming in WWE. The debut of Sanity was way better than anything I was expecting. Not only did they look dominant in destroying Tye Dillinger, but he was also obviously just a side causality and the focus for him will shift to Roode, rather than bogging either side down. Tye didn’t look too weak since he was betrayed and set upon by four people, and the entire group looked brutal. The post-match attack by Nikki Cross was pretty cool, but the reveal of Eric Young legitimately blew me away, I was wondering what they had done with him and I am glad they had a plan. Other guys like Aries and Roode can come in on their own, but at some point you can’t just have a whole roster of guys from other companies who mostly trade off that as singles competitors, because eventually they will have to lose, or else no new stars are made. Reintroducing Young this way means he can get over without following that same path, and with any luck we will have another Wyatts on our hands, just you know, better since they will hopefully not be misused by the main roster.
3: The Wyatt Family
Speaking of the Wyatt Family, they actually managed to have a successful week by winning the main event tag match on Smackdown. Wyatt against Orton might look like a mismatch on paper but this could actually be a really good rivalry if Wyatt is booked as being on the same level as Orton. Luckily so far that has been the case as he scored the pin over the Viper both here and at No Mercy, but will this continue?
2: AJ Styles
The champ is here, and this week he got completely screwed, but at the same time managed to look like a complete pro while doing it. Styles was the real hero in this feel good moment, but also managed to come off like a real heel in terms of his character, so it all worked out for the best. It is still hard to see if Ambrose is really the right model to be a face at this point. He certainly works in the Steve Austin role, but is that what audiences still respond to? It is possible that the WWE need to find a completely new style of baby face to truly lead us into the new era, unfortunately I have no real idea of who or what that is at this point.
1: Owens & Jericho
The dynamic duo were at it again, while I like the interactions between Jericho and Owens I have a certain wish that they were knocking about when WWE did more strange promos and videos for characters rather than just putting them in the ring for twenty minutes. I bet they would have a lot of fun on the streets and interacting with people, as well as the more elaborate backstage skits that used to take place. Still there interactions are fun and the whole list thing definitely hasn’t gotten old yet.
I’m glad that the triple threat match between Jericho, Rollins and Owens isn’t taking place at Hell in a Cell, because it means that they can still keep the two men together no matter what goes down in the end. While neither man needs a partner, there is always time for Owens to operate as the champion on his own and Jericho has always done well when he has somebody to bounce off. The only real problem with the two teaming together is that there is little chance outside of a non-Raw PPV week knocking them off the top of the chart when their heel powers combine!
Rolling Chart – Week Forty
1st Place: Kevin Owens (281) (-)
2nd Place: Chris Jericho (185) (-)
3rd Place: The Miz & Maryse (138) (-)
4th Place: Maria & Mike Bennett (131) (+1)
5th Place: Charlotte (127) (-1)
6th Place: AJ Styles (111) (-)
7th Place: Matt Hardy (101) (-)
8th Place: Bobby Lashley (84) (-)
9th Place: Seth Rollins (81) (-)
10th Place: The Club (74) (-)
That’s all for this week, the rumours that the Sasha-Charlotte Hell in a Cell match will go on last is interesting, and there is some warrant in it. The only person who is suffering in this is Kevin Owens, since when he had a title match in NXT it was also pushed down the card to make way for the women, and in that case the rivalry really was on a bigger level. In this case I think it is debatable at best and there has been a lot less actual emotional weight behind the rivalry between Banks and Flair, sure they have swapped the title a couple of times, but what does that really mean. On the other hand I think they should be given the chance to deliver in a PPV main event and now is as good a time as any.
Agree with the rankings? Disagree? Who was your favourite heel of the week? Whatever the case, leave comment down below and come back next week for another dose of heel-ly goodness and for now this is James Wright signing off.
