The following editorial was written by Neil Raymond and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Neil’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @NeilfromNYC
The only strong main event heel on RAW is a part-timer who was last seen 3 months ago. Think about that for a second. Strong heels are a major driving force of a successful wrestling show. Ric Flair in the 1980‘s NWA, the nWo in WCW, etc…
The WWE‘s best periods utilized strong heels as well: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Andre The Giant in the 1980’s; Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart in 1997; Vince McMahon, The Undertaker, Triple H and The Rock in 1998-1999; Kurt Angle on SmackDown! and Triple H on RAW in 2003…
RAW these days is the exact opposite. Among full-timers the top babyfaces are Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins.
The top heels are Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Elias, Jinder Mahal and Baron Corbin.
None of those heels have been booked as being on the same level as Reigns, Lashley, or Braun.
- Jinder has been relegated to an almost comedy like character who can’t beat any of the top guys
- Elias was humiliated by Braun, lost to Rollins, and now is hardly a threat to Reigns or Lashley
- Owens was just not only completely dominated by Braun, but was borderline a comedic character
- Ziggler, while being booked well lately, is not really presented as a threat to Braun, Lashley or Reigns
- McIntyre has the size but is currently Ziggler’s sidekick
- Corbin isn’t even over and just lost to Balor. He lost to No Way Jose recently as well.
This is very seriously hurting the product. The prime example is the Owens/Braun feud. How many fans believed that Owens was in any way a threat to Braun? He was running away from him for weeks in comedic ways, before getting destroyed at Extreme Rules and then getting a “win”. Braun is still a monster, Owens now looks like a joke. Can you imagine Owens coming out to challenge Reigns? Is it believable that he can even last 5 minutes with him at this point? Heels are supposed to be threats that babyfaces struggle to overcome, not comedic characters who are constantly humiliated by the babyface.
Next Page: RAW’s Booking Of Main Event Heels Is Seriously Hurting The Product (cont.)
