The Heel Report: 08.15.13: Andre the Giant’s Ghost

This is the Heel Report. A weekly chart spanning from Tuesday’s NXT to next Monday’s Raw, ranking the heels in professional wrestling based on their actions, wins and losses.

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: Dean Ambrose

If you need any further proof of which of the Shield should be the first one to break out and do his own thing then look no further than this week. Ambrose as the US champion has already made the title mean more than it did before he held it. Here he defended the title on NXT against Adrian Neville in a great match that displayed just how commanding of a champion he can be, he picked up the pin in the six-man tag match on Main Event against Mark Henry and the Usos, then on Raw he proclaimed himself the real best in the world and set himself apart despite the group working in tandem throughout the night. I really hope that Ambrose is able to beat RVD at Summerslam as I don’t think it is time for him to be chasing the title yet, also a win against RVD will build upon the list of those who Ambrose has faced and beaten, mostly clean, to retain the title, which could really help make the belt mean something more when it finally does change hands.

2nd Place: Robert Roode

Roode stepped up last week and broke his losing streak in the BFG Series, but this week he took things to a whole other level, costing the leader of the series ten points by getting him disqualified, now I see why TNA let Magnus run away with the series points so much. Not only that but he also joined forces with the Bad Influence in an attempt to rule the series from now on. Not only is this a sort of reunion of Fortune, the faction that should have been the next new Four Horsemen but never was due to all the other factions that TNA decides to throw into the mix at the same time, but it also makes a lot of sense since in the series it is the top four who go into the match to decide the challenger for the TNA title at Bound For Glory. This means that the three men can help each other all the way up to that match and then go for it all once they get there, not needing to turn on each other, having the full understanding of what they are aiming for without any pretences of one man over any other before that time. This also leaves the possibility of all three men being in the match with AJ Styles as the fourth man and winner, which would work quite well and be yet another spin on the history of the men as tag team wrestlers, TNA originals and former members of Fortune.

3rd Place: Rollins & Reigns

I love that the tag team champions have got beef over not having any challengers coming up to Summerslam, and actively gave a general challenge to anyone to come and try to take the belts from them. Despite being pushed aside for the main event angles of the show, the Shield have finally come back to give the titles they hold some meaning, of course they can only do that when the WWE actually give them time to talk and don’t just have them come down every week and get run off just as quickly and that is pretty much all they do for that week. I get that the Shield love to attack people, and that people are wise to it now, but then they should change tactics rather than doing the same thing every week since seriously it barely ever works anymore. Still like Ambrose I really hope that Rollins and Reigns keep their belts at Summerslam since I think there is still a lot of mileage in them as champions, but I am all for them having a tough defence against Henry and Big Show before eventually triumphing, although I don’t so much care if it is actually done clean.

4th Place: Bully Ray

The former TNA champion is still clearly calling all the shots on Impact and is most likely getting his belt back at the Hardcore Justice edition of Impact. I am glad that Bully and the Aces & 8s are actually still a focus, despite Sting making out like taking the title away from the group would be the beginning of the end, although the group itself may be mostly unimpressive I think it is better that they are sticking with what they have devoted so much time to rather than just throwing it all away. I am pretty sceptical about the Bound For Glory pay off though as like last year TNA seem to have laid out a plan from the start for AJ Styles and then have laid it aside to push some new guy, this time in the form of Chris Sabin. A major problem with the AJ thing if it is to go ahead is that he doesn’t really have all that much motivation to go against Bully bar getting the title, which should be a big deal but to me there should also be a ‘payback’ angle as well, and so far no such thing exists.

5th Place: The Bad Influence

The two men that Bobby Roode has teamed up with pulled off their own manipulation of the BFG Series this week, after being placed against each other ‘by the fans’ they proceeded to tease a breakup of the team only to then pull a double count out so that the two secured two points each rather than having either man lose. I am looking forward to seeing what these men can do with Bobby Roode now backing them up, or at least appearing to since it already seems as if this arrangement will mostly be to the benefit of the IT Factor.

6th Place: Alberto Del Rio

The world heavyweight champion lost clean to his challenger this week on Smackdown, which isn’t so good. He also had trouble putting away the returned Kofi Kingston on Raw, although he did actually manage to make him tap out in the end clean so that saves some of his momentum going into Summerslam. It seems like some people are already presuming that Christian is going to fail in his ‘one more match’ but personally I have been presuming that he will actually beat Del Rio since there really seems to be no point to having the Mexican Aristocrat as champion, in fact I’m still not sure why Del Rio retained against Ziggler at Money in the Bank but whatever. I hope that Christian wins the title as I think he could have some great interactions with Damien Sandow during his reign, outside of that I have to say that I’m not really sure where the world title picture will go after this Sunday, hopefully somewhere good that will involve Ziggler or Rhodes in the near future.

7th Place: Bo Dallas

Say what you will, the NXT champion is a heel. I don’t care how he is booked or who he goes against, he clearly is playing up the idea of him being a hated ‘face’ champion like John Cena, although in doing so he crosses the line and is pretty much just a heel, who seems to have a knack for turning his opponents just by them facing off against him, which is both a good and a bad thing. I’m not sure who NXT wants to take the title off of Bo, or when Bo will actually be ready for the main roster for that matter, but he has done a decent job as champion so far, so let the reign continue as far as I am concerned.

8th Place: Summer Rae

It may sound strange but a good part of NXT this week was dedicated to a dance contest between Emma and Summer Rae, and for the most part it actually made sense, and even contributed to the NXT women’s title picture. Summer might have lost the contest, but her attack on Emma after losing secured her a match for the title against Paige, and at this point the NXT women’s title mean more than some of the titles on the main roster so that is a notable achievement.

9th Place: Bray Wyatt

Sitting in his rocking chair the leader of the Wyatt Family has yet to do little more than laugh at Kane’s threat and deliver his finisher to a couple of guys after they were beaten down by his followers. With his impending Ring of Fire match that will all change though and while I don’t think the match should go on too long, I hope that it goes on long enough to properly display Wyatt’s in-ring talents, which everyone who has watched NXT knows that he does indeed have.

10th Place: Mr Anderson

The final beneficiary of Bobby Roode’s new attitude this week was Ken Anderson, who despite receiving a couple of chair shots for his trouble, managed to escape a match with the series leader Magnus, with a DQ victory, and in this game points are points.

(Week 005)

1. Alberto Del Rio (26)

2. AJ Lee (25)

3. Damien Sandow (23)

4. Bray Wyatt (20)

5. Bully Ray (20)

6. Dean Ambrose (16)

7. Robert Roode (14)

8. Ryback (13)

9. Curtis Axel (12)

10. Mickie James (10)

Heel Centurions:

That’s all for this week, Summerslam is just around the corner and while HHH’s insertion into the Bryan vs. Cena match put a damper on things, we should still get one hell of a match, and honestly if Bryan is going to get the belt it would be pretty unlikely that the WWE would want him to do it clean over John Cena, after all how many other ‘bigger’ stars have been unsuccessful in doing so, including the COO, HHH himself. Instead there probably will be controversy and a dusty finish, but when all is said and done it is perhaps even more possible now that Daniel Bryan will come out of the event with the title, so thank heavens for small favours. For now, this is James Wright signing off.