Second week in this season and there are some surprises on the chart, most notably that due to their lack of in-ring action, the WWE’s two best heels, i.e. C.M. Punk and the Miz, are still nowhere to be seen. Still it means that the chart is a lot more interesting at the moment and gives some new superstars the chance to shine at the top of the chart for awhile. Also the overall chart is still intact with it’s leaders looking unshakeable in their grasp of the top spots. The only movement so far is that the rising star of Del Rio continues to climb, in both charts, and looks set to rise even higher if a victory at Extreme Rules is on the cards, perhaps it is his destiny? But enough of destiny, let’s deal with some numbers and facts, mixed with some downright spiffing opinions, and get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Ezekiel Jackson (10/10)

The Personification of Domination may stumble over his words but with a clear win over Kofi Kingston and a promo that was at least designed to set him apart from the rest of the group, Ezekiel Jackson gets into the number one spot this week. Things could have gone a little better for Jackson, being in the final four for the Battle Royal on Smackdown would have been a start, still Big Zeke has plenty of time and potential left to truly make his mark on the WWE.

2nd Place: Alberto Del Rio (9/10)

The Mexican Superstar cut a mean promo at the start of Smackdown, but a lack of in-ring action stops him from getting the top spot. Still Del Rio has a legitimate shot at the World title at Extreme Rules and against Christian he has even more of a shot considering how reluctant the WWE has been to give him a major title run. Honestly if the two feuded until Summerslam I wouldn’t be surprised and it would be good to see a fresh rivalry for the World title.

3rd Place: Justin Gabriel (8/10)

The second member of the Corre on the list, and perhaps the more successful one, again only a lack of getting a pinfall victory this week causes him to miss out on the top spot. His betrayal of Wade Barrett to get into the final four of the Battle Royal and using his shoe to topple the mighty Santino means that Gabriel has shown enough in my opinion to deserve his place in third. Gabriel is clearly a keeper as he is selling his heel persona quite well at the moment despite his natural appearance to seem like a face. Still I can easily see him teaming with Kingston as a good guy before the year is out.

4th Place: Brie Bella (7/10)

Now this was a shocker, out of nowhere one of the Bella twins won the divas title, a strange concept since besides their whole twin thing there is basically no appeal to the two. So to let one win the title and possibly expose them to a split and singles career seems to make no sense. I suppose it’s all just filler for now, hate to say it but I really am looking to Tough Enough to provide us with our next batch of half decent female wrestlers, hopefully they will prove themselves in the coming weeks.

5th Place: Heath Slater (6/10)

The third member of the Corre on the chart, a pin over Santino shouldn’t be such a big thing, but at the moment I wouldn’t be surprised if Santino started taking on main eventers and winning. I’m just not sure about Slater though, does anyone really know why the company seems to be so behind him?

6th Place: Dolph Ziggler (5/10)

The Platinum Playboy got a pinfall over the Viper in Raw’s main event this week, sure he was pinned minutes later by the surprise of the week that was R-Truth and his push, but it still means something. Ziggler could do well on Raw, but obviously not before the Miz loses the title, which probably won’t happen unless it’s against Cena, who will probably keep it until Wrestlemania, okay scratch what I said about Ziggler doing well on Raw, at least when it comes to winning the WWE title anyway.

7th Place: Wade Barrett (4/10)

The fourth and final member of the Corre on the chart and yet probably its most talented. I really don’t know what Barrett has done to annoy the company so much, to be fair he is getting exactly the same treatment as others who went through NXT; Daniel Bryan and Kaval especially, clearly talented superstars that are kept down for some reason only known to the WWE itself, mental.

8th Place: Brotus Clay (3/10)

Somehow though that rule doesn’t comply to this next superstar. Brotus Clay did very little that I would actually call impressive last season on NXT and yet here he is constantly getting the opportunity to go against main event level wrestlers on a weekly basis. Perhaps this has something to do with Snoop Dogg’s relationship with the company, if this is the case then I mourn the politics of this business.

9th Place: Michael Cole (2/10)

How the “mighty” have fallen, as the “voice” of the WWE is left in ninth place after being assigned to face Lawler, hopefully for the last time, at Extreme Rules. Although I’m not too sure about this whole tag match thing, that doesn’t sound very promising for Cole’s demise or even a good match. Yawn.

10th Place: Cody Rhodes (1/10)

In last place is the apparently un-dashing Cody Rhodes, who is obviously going to suffer from a Mysterio squash in the near future. What would be cool is if Rey can get one over on Rhodes until Extreme Rules but then pulls out another victory at the PPV, that would give Rhodes a big-match reputation, and if Christian does win the title it might put him in line for a shot at some point soon.

2011-2012 Season Top Ten: Overall Top Ten:

1st Place: Alberto Del Rio (19/10) – 1st Place: C.M. Punk (578/1010)

2nd Place: Ezekiel Jackson (11/10) – 2nd Place: Chris Jericho (564/1010)

3rd Place: Michael Cole (11/10) – 3rd Place: The Miz (546/1010)

4th Place: Justin Gabriel (8/10) – 4th Place: Jack Swagger (315/1010)

5th Place: Ted DiBiase (8/10) – 5th Place: Dolph Ziggler (286/1010)

6th Place: Wade Barrett (7/10) – 6th Place: Sheamus (250/1010)

7th Place: Jack Swagger (7/10) – 7th Place: Cody Rhodes (243/1010)

8th Place: Brie Bella (7/10) – 8th Place: Randy Orton (224/1010)

9th Place: Heath Slater (6/10) – 9th Place: Alberto Del Rio (214/1010)

10th Place: Drew McIntyre (6/10) – 10th Place: Wade Barrett (210/1010)

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: R-Truth Getting a Shot

This makes no sense, the guy goes from fluffing up a major pop that John Cena has to apologise for, not to mention not even being at Wrestlemania, to being in a main event title match at the next PPV. After looking at the sources my sole blame falls onto Melina for influencing John Morrison and making waves to the point where he is clearly being passed over on opportunities. He really needs to get rid of her if she is legitimately costing him title shots. I’m also annoyed because Miz, Morrison and Cena sounds like a good main event due to the history between the Miz and his two opponents, now it’s just Miz vs. Cena again with some miscellaneous punk thrown into the mix. Speaking of which why wasn’t Punk included in the match, and why wasn’t it Ziggler who got the push, it would have been just as good and he deserves it at least as much as R-Truth.

Face the Facts: Team Apple

I don’t care how stupid it was, it made me laugh and laughs in the WWE are few and far between these days. The whole thing was just stupid and the acronym was great, sometimes something so stupid can almost seem clever you know, especially when you throw in a good level of self mocking for good measure. I think it helped that the announcers were saying how stupid the whole thing was and that they lost, because at least it shows that it was not what would be usually acceptable in the WWE, even though basically it is about as good as anything else WWE creative has come up with lately.

On the Rise: Superstars on Commentary

This is basically a way to work in both Edge and the Miz into the report to give them some praise. Edge for the obvious reason of being forced to retire and having given us a great career, the Miz for his commentary this week. Linked to that is Edge’s commentary last week, which was just as good as any of the announcers around at the moment, that would be a great place to see Edge again at some point, perhaps on Raw taking over from Lawler and Cole if they destroy each other at Extreme Rules. I seriously wouldn’t mind seeing Edge and Matthews as the announce team on Raw, I think they could do a good job if Edge starts off as moderate and then works his way up to being a full heel commentator at the end of the year. The Miz is clearly still recovering from his concussion and that is why he hasn’t been in the ring, but in all seriousness he has a good enough mouth to take up a position on the announce booth at some point. I honestly don’t see why the WWE doesn’t just employ them now to do both, look at Punk and how that worked, it sometimes helps storylines and adds a realism to the commentary because the superstar can comment on how the wrestler in the ring was when they faced them. It’s certainly better than hearing the same lines of ‘government mule’, ‘vintage’, and ‘puppies’ shouted out every week, also I like Booker T and William Regal, but so far they are floundering on commentary it has to be said.

Flat-Footed: Michael Cole & Jack Swagger

Cole is here just for being Cole but Swagger is here because of the missed opportunity on Raw. If Swagger had Gutwrenched Cole at the end of that segment he could have had a great face turn and began getting himself some well deserved heat once again. Also it would give Smackdown another sorely needed face and possibly could have led to Lawler vs. Cole in a strap match, which is what I was expecting us to see at an event like Extreme Rules. Damned missed opportunity, that could be it now.

That’s about all for this week, the fall out of Wrestlemania looks to be settling down, and I can’t say ‘and now for the Backlash’ anymore so I guess all that’s left to say is goodbye to the Rated R-Superstar, you will be missed, even though there was a period in your career where I couldn’t stand you as a face, but then you turned heel and everything was right with the world, if only certain Fruity Pebble could have done the same. Farewell to Edge and farewell to another report, for now this is James Wright signing off.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com