Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2010 17:56:12 GMT -5
Last week on Raw, Melina slapped complacent Divas champ Natalya and walked away. This week, Melina attempted to slap her again and got repelled, but instead of being chased off like Cowardly Heel #53253, ended up backing off with a smile.
Last week on Raw, CM Punk attacked arrogant main eventer John Cena for seemingly no reason with a steel chair and then attacked him with another steel chair on Smackdown later on. Last night he cut a promo on Cena to explain, and then attacked Cena again after Nexus, et al, and now Punk's at the helm of the Nexus angle.
Both turns are really weird to me. Two people who are pretty over as faces suddenly stand up to people who are larger and stronger than them and take the fight to them rather than just backing off in traditional "cowardly heel" fashion. That is, these are not your ordinary heel turns, no matter how abrupt they were. Instead of getting booed for slapping Natalya, Melina basically got a free pass from the crowd and then got cheered (sort of; the crowd was dead for most of the night but there were were actually way more cheers for her than boos) when she pinned Gail last night. Punk too got some cheers from the audience last night during his promo against Cena, especially when he mentions all the guys Cena retired, and how Cena's full of hot air, etc. Was he correct? That's subjective. But he actually got sympathy for this, even though he's playing the outspoken, snarky dickwad heel. He tells off Cena and gets cheered rather than booed.
Thing is, they're basically having both heels turn heel by doing the things that got them over as faces anyway. Punk's character has always had anti-establishment undertones, he arguably reached his apogee in popularity by playing the ultra-destructive rebel, and he almost instantly endeared himself to fans after he went to the commentary booth. Melina originally did a slow-burn face turn by repeatedly attacking the larger and stronger Beth Phoenix week after week after week, despite being the "jealous" character in that feud.
I'm not going to come up with some contrived theory on why these angles are happening simultaneously (probably just lazy booking or whatever) but I just find it incredibly odd that they're doing something eerily similar in two different divisions at the exact same time.
Last week on Raw, CM Punk attacked arrogant main eventer John Cena for seemingly no reason with a steel chair and then attacked him with another steel chair on Smackdown later on. Last night he cut a promo on Cena to explain, and then attacked Cena again after Nexus, et al, and now Punk's at the helm of the Nexus angle.
Both turns are really weird to me. Two people who are pretty over as faces suddenly stand up to people who are larger and stronger than them and take the fight to them rather than just backing off in traditional "cowardly heel" fashion. That is, these are not your ordinary heel turns, no matter how abrupt they were. Instead of getting booed for slapping Natalya, Melina basically got a free pass from the crowd and then got cheered (sort of; the crowd was dead for most of the night but there were were actually way more cheers for her than boos) when she pinned Gail last night. Punk too got some cheers from the audience last night during his promo against Cena, especially when he mentions all the guys Cena retired, and how Cena's full of hot air, etc. Was he correct? That's subjective. But he actually got sympathy for this, even though he's playing the outspoken, snarky dickwad heel. He tells off Cena and gets cheered rather than booed.
Thing is, they're basically having both heels turn heel by doing the things that got them over as faces anyway. Punk's character has always had anti-establishment undertones, he arguably reached his apogee in popularity by playing the ultra-destructive rebel, and he almost instantly endeared himself to fans after he went to the commentary booth. Melina originally did a slow-burn face turn by repeatedly attacking the larger and stronger Beth Phoenix week after week after week, despite being the "jealous" character in that feud.
I'm not going to come up with some contrived theory on why these angles are happening simultaneously (probably just lazy booking or whatever) but I just find it incredibly odd that they're doing something eerily similar in two different divisions at the exact same time.