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A somewhat interesting week in the WWE, both titles had some jiggery pokery done in terms of their number one contenders, but it all meant very little in the end. TNA continues to switch around their wrestlers’ alignments every five seconds, and the WWE looks to be giving back some time to its other divisions, so things are kind of looking up, but we’re not out of the woods yet. For now let’s just get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Alberto Del Rio (10/10)

Top of the chart again this week is the WWE champion; Alberto Del Rio. While he might have been outshone on the mic by Punk and Cena he made up for it with his actions in the ring against John Morrison. Say what you want about Del Rio but he has been on a convincing roll as of late, not just winning but winning well. Apart from anything else he ended Raw by smashing a downed John Cena with the title belt, which will always gain you points in my book.

2nd Place: R-Truth (9/10)

The man taken with conspiracies stepped up this week and brought with him a new partner. The Miz and Truth have been waning after their respective stints in the main event, but now they look to at least stop their downwards spiral by pooling their efforts and making a stand against all that is crappy and pointless with the WWE. It’s hard to say who is leading the charge at the moment between the two but I am placing Truth above the Miz at this time simply for his new rap style to go along with his returning entrance music, with a heel sound bite remix.

3rd Place: The Miz (8/10)

While Truth comes above him on the chart The Miz held up his end of the bargain by being just as Awesome, backing up all of Truth’s statements and adding a forceful ’You Suck’ at appropriate moments. The Miz probably feels a little hard done by after being WWE champion and now being reduced to having to team with someone to get over but hopefully it will tide him over until he gets another shot at the main event, if he ever does.

4th Place: Christian (7/10)

Captain Charisma asserts his authority this week and makes sure no one gets a title shot before he does. Of course this Steel Cage match is just a way to end the rivalry before Orton begins his feud with Mark Henry proper but it is something at least. I’m still not sure why they didn’t just announce the match last week though and say that the Battle Royal was to determine who would face the champion at Night of Champions, I suppose they might have been trying to shake things up, instead it just looked like a mess.

5th Place: Kevin Nash (6/10)

Nash makes it into the chart this week for basically being a jerk. I’m really hoping that there is more to this current angle than meets the eye because if it is just one big conspiracy where Triple H turns out to be crooked then we’ll have traded in a cutting edge feud, at least in WWE terms, for something we saw over ten years ago. WWE going all TNA would not be a good thing right now, so hopefully they have something good planned, or at least if it is the Triple H swerve then it better be done very well.

6th Place: Cody Rhodes (5/10)

Rhodes may have not wrestled a match this week but he looked strong on Smackdown, with a short promo before Ted DiBiase’s match, a key interruption in the middle, and decisive action afterwards. It’s unclear as to whether Rhodes will get rid of DiBiase but I for one hope he doesn’t. The angle is good and has some legs, the bookers just need to be consistent in Ted’s winning with the help of Rhodes. Let DiBiase win over lesser guys, but don’t put him up against the World Heavyweight champion a week before a big title defence, there is no way that you can have the champ lose, even unfairly. There seems to be a bit of confusion on Smackdown at the moment, quality matches or not.

7th Place: Maxine (4/10)

The WWE’s newest diva makes it into the chart for a second week in a row since her reappearance on NXT. Maxine is even hotter and more devious than before and her looks and persona could take her far, as long as she plays the role of manager/wrestler that is. She isn’t diabolical in the ring but after the whole NXT 3 experience I think we all have a bit of a bitter taste in our mouths and I think it would be better if she honed her craft in the ring behind the scenes with occasional matches while managing some other wrestler before attempting to become an actual on air diva. Aside from the bad associations with NXT 3 she also would be doing herself a favour simply because the divas division still hasn’t recovered from its slump since taking the name. If she goes down the Trish Stratus route of being a hot manager first before stepping into the ring properly, hopefully when the WWE has a proper woman’s division again, then she might have a decent future within the company.

8th Place: Mark Henry (3/10)

Turnabout is fair play for Sheamus as he leaves the World’s Strongest Man in the dust in their Smackdown main event. Henry getting counted out was a great way to continue this rivalry before Henry goes on to face, most likely, Randy Orton. This way they can have the rubber match on Tuesday and settle things before Night of Champions, almost certainly with Henry coming out on top.

9th Place: Wade Barrett (2/10)

Barrett found a great way to set himself apart this week on Smackdown. Refusing to take part in a squash match because it is beneath him is the perfect way to get yourself noticed and gain some heat by denying the paying audience a chance to see you in action. We already know how good Barrett is in the ring so why prove it, especially against an opponent that serves as no challenge. It’s not a gimmick he can live off of but it certainly has some potential, looking for competition, calling lesser wrestlers beneath him and then giving them the opportunity to prove him wrong. Sure it’s embarrassing for the guys who just turn up to be walked away from, but not any more embarrassing than having a match where you get in zero offence and get your arse handed to you after two minutes.

10th Place: Brotus Clay (1/10)

A man who is not above taking a squash match is Brotus Clay, but to be honest it’s not likely that he would even be mentioned on this report if he didn’t take them. Being big and making a noise is not going to make you a main eventer, at least hopefully it won’t. Then again the Great Khali has been a World Champion so what do I know, but he has also been reduced to the Punjabi Playboy so swings and roundabouts.

2011-2012 Season Top Ten: Overall Top Ten:

1st Place: R-Truth (138/210) – 1st Place: The Miz (666/1210)

2nd Place: The Miz (122/210) – 2nd Place: C.M. Punk (666/1210)

3rd Place: Alberto Del Rio (99/210) – 3rd Place: Chris Jericho (564/1210)

4th Place: Cody Rhodes (95/210) – 4th Place: Jack Swagger (353/1210)

5th Place: C.M. Punk (88/210) – 5th Place: Cody Rhodes (332/1210)

6th Place: Christian (83/210) – 6th Place: Dolph Ziggler (311/1210)

7th Place: Wade Barrett (63/210) – 7th Place: Alberto Del Rio (294/1210)

8th Place: Mark Henry (57/210) – 8th Place: Sheamus (294/1210)

9th Place: Sheamus (51/210) – 9th Place: Wade Barrett (266/1210)

10th Place: Jack Swagger (45/210) – 10th Place: Randy Orton (224/1210)

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: Cena’s T-Shirt Throw

I just want to mention this as probably one of the highlights of the week where a selfless Canadian fan took it upon themselves to let John Cena know that he is still hated by many of his audience. So much so in fact that they don’t even want his t-shirt to sell on eBay. Of course Cena being the trooper that he is simply picked up his shirt, looked for a guy already wearing one, and then threw it in his direction. Some people are wavering on Cena and I can see why, he is putting in a lot more effort to his matches and promos, at least he has been while Punk’s been around. But still it’s all relative, have his actions really raised him to the level where we are comfortable with calling him the top man in the industry today, because I just don’t buy it. Cena is a good worker, no one has ever questioned that, but after years of being told who I should believe is the best in the business I still can’t forgive Cena for all the people he has been put above. It’s not like a real sport where winning means you earned it, at least not in terms of skill.

A real main event face should be able to get the whole audience behind him, despite any in-ring problems. I never liked the Rock in the ring, he had some great matches, but I hated the People’s Elbow like I hate the 5-Knuckle Shuffle. Still the guy was great on the mic and that made the people, including myself, get behind him, unless he was against one of my favourites of course, but then I think that would be the same for anyone.

Cena just doesn’t have the same charisma on the mic, sure he has some, but not enough and too much of it is staged, cheesy, scripted crap and we know it. I’m hoping that Cena stays on top though, if only because if the WWE are doing this whole Triple H swerve it would be great if they started doing some more breaks of kayfabe where Cena is the golden boy, but as a heel. Pushed by the crooked establishment and given title shot after title shot even if he doesn’t deserve it. That would then play into Punk, Truth and the Miz’s recent claims and then all three could be the main faces against the regime. It would be a little like the Immortal swerve in TNA except actually consistent and much better in execution.

Face the Facts: Ezekiel Jackson Lifting The Great Khali

This was one of those moments in the WWE that people remember. A feat of strength like that is akin to when Cena lifted the Big Show for an FU for the first time. I’m not saying that Jackson’s actions will lead to the meteoric rise that Cena’s did, and good job too, but it will certainly gain him some credibility. Jackson isn’t likely to be the Next Big Thing due to his limited skills set, but he certainly could be the next Mark Henry, and since in this current decade the WWE hand out title shots to anyone, he probably won’t have to wait as long as the World’s Strongest Man did to get his.

On the Rise: Kid Kash

I haven’t had anything on TNA here for a long time so it might come as a shock to some of you but regardless of the company a good heel is a good heel. Kash only just got re-hired by the company and he is already making an impact. Even when he is not the main focus he has been grabbing attention any chance he gets and his promo this week after his match was just solid and good stuff. Kash clearly knows what he is doing in the ring and on the mic and while he may be in a company that is running around like a headless chicken it’s better than not being anywhere at all.

Flat-Footed: Heath Slater

This isn’t the same as someone like Drew McIntyre, who would appear here because he is being underused, to be honest Slater is being treated like the jobber he is. But my gripe is with why someone like Chris Masters was let go and Slater has been allowed to stay. That makes no sense to me on all accounts, sure Masters wasn’t the best wrestler around, but he wasn’t bad and he certainly had potential. I honestly can’t see what the WWE thinks Slater is capable of because in my opinion it’s not a lot.

That’s all for this week. Be sure to read my other heel report on the 411 that covers TNA as well as the WWE and runs from Thursday to Tuesday. Despite doing two of these reports a week I seem to be keeping up with things and I don’t cross over too much, especially in the rankings because they are off-set by containing alternating Raws. So if you like what you see here then check it out and of course come back here next week to see how things develop after Tuesday’s super Smackdown and in the lead up to Night of Champions. This is James Wright signing off.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com