Howdy ho, everybody! I’m back with another healthy dose of rasslin’ discussion and this week is a bit of a doozy.
You know, after Wrestlemania XXVII took a dump in our collective faces, I was a bit concerned with the state of the company’s storylines. Then we had the draft and my spirits were ever-so-briefly uplifted.
Fast forward to the week after the draft and we have Christian dethroned, Cena and Miz AGAIN, and more Lawler/Cole family goodness.
Sigh.
I’ve been wracking my brain lately, trying to find out why I’ve been so dejected over the state of the company, and I think I’ve discovered the cause.
There are too many damn heels.
The WWE has been trying it’s damnedest to get back to the Attitude Era (in PG, mind you) by having their faces use heelish tactics to get the fans more invested. Even some of the legitimate heels have been cheered for by sections of the audience (such as CM Punk). However, I believe the ‘E has put so much focus on their heels as of late that they’ve forgotten to properly build faces for them to…uh, face.
Let’s look at the rosters for both Raw and Smackdown:
Monday Night Raw Faces
John Cena
Rey Mysterio
Kofi Kingston
Big Show
John Morrison
Jerry Lawler
Santino Marella
Evan Bourne
Monday Night Raw Heels
The Miz
CM Punk
Mason Ryan
David Otunga
Michael McGillicutty
Alberto del Rio
Dolph Ziggler
Drew McIntyre
Jack Swagger
R-Truth
Michael Cole
Smackdown Faces
Randy Orton
Christian
Sin Cara
Daniel Bryan
Kane
Great Khali
Ezekiel Jackson
Smackdown Heels
Cody Rhodes
Mark Henry
Sheamus
Wade Barrett
Justin Gabriel
Heath Slater
Tyson Kidd
It might not look so bad, as there should be slightly more heels than faces on either show (and I haven’t included the superstars who never show up on either show). However, when you take a deeper look at the roster and how it’s used, it looks like this:
On Raw, you have John Cena and Rey Mysterio getting pushed as faces. Morrison is injured and will feud with R-Truth when he returns, and Big Show is busy as Tag Team Champion on both shows. Then you have Kofi Kingston, who is just a placeholder champion as far as I’m concerned. We all know the reason he is United States Champion is to bring a midcard title to Raw. Santino, Bourne, and the other lower card faces are just being used as enhancement talent. We are one week from a PPV and we only have two faces getting storylines in time for Over the Limit.
As for the Raw heels, obviously Miz is still the top heel on the show, but del Rio seems poised to be Cena’s next feud. R-Truth is getting the biggest push of his career. CM Punk is now barely on the show and has taken a back seat to BatisTwo (Mason Ryan), a monster heel who is getting his first real push. Swagger is still getting heat from being involved with Michael Cole, and McIntyre and Ziggler are in a holding pattern. Why? Because there aren’t any built-up faces for them to feud with.
Let’s take a look at Smackdown. Right now, Christian and Randy Orton are the top faces, but it seems that the ‘E may be poised to turn Christian heel. It’s not a guarantee, but if it does happen then Orton will be the only main event level face on the show amidst a bunch of midcard heels. Sin Cara is still coming into his own and won’t get a major feud just yet. Daniel Bryan is the capable jobber workhorse. Kane is just like his Tag Team Champion partner, appearing on both shows with no real direction. Big Zeke seems to be primed for his big face push that he should have received months ago, and Great Khali is just…there.
As for the heel side of things, Sheamus is still getting a decent push, Mark Henry is back to being a heel so that means more TV time for him, Cody Rhodes is at the top of his game as a villain, and Barrett is the Intercontinental Champion with his Corre buddies in tow.
While I am all for the development of heels, as they are the more interesting character dynamic, it appears that there has been too much emphasis on building them up with no credible opponents. The only difference between the two shows is that Raw has legitimate main event-level threats in Punk, Miz, and del Rio; Smackdown has midcarders at best.
The problem here is that with so few established faces, the heels either A) face the same old guys or B) sit around with nothing to do. At this point I’d welcome back Triple H as a full-timer just so he could give the heels something to do, because it’s obvious the company is not showing interest in long-term plans. And if the WWE does indeed have a long-term goal, they’re quite clever at hiding it because all signs point to a disjointed, TNA-like mess.
I have to say that there’s always been at least one show worth watching at any given point in time; now, I’m not so sure. Hotshotting the belt off of Christian just gave us the same old champion in Orton, and nothing on Raw has sparked my interest. Sure, R-Truth may be entertaining on the mic, but he is most certainly not good enough in the ring; hence his lack of matches for the past few weeks. If he ultimately owns Morrison when John returns, it just further cements my belief that there is an overabundance of heel pushes in the WWE.
Sorry for sounding so disgruntled, but I’m quite flustered with the product as of late. No random thoughts this week, so it’s time for….
Cheap Plugs
The King of Cheap Heat, Rhett Davis, is back with another O’Really Report as he discusses the current state of the midcard title scene.
Jonah Kue is back with his take on the latest crop of wrestling news with another Kue’s Korner.
Kelly Floyd has another great Smackdown recap here.
Awesome Aussie Steven Gepp has a great article on emotional investments in wrestling.
Chris Sanders has his latest Rager up, talking about the rebirth of R-Truth.
Finally, Joel Leonard shares his thoughts on the state of Raw and Smackdown in his latest issue of No Chance.
As usual, feel free to leave comments and suggestions below.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
