Hi, Derrick Cannon here to present the first edition of "Guilty Pleasures," brought to you by TWNPNEWS.com. For today's column I debated doing one dedicated to why fans love to hate on John Cena, however that's been done so many times in so many place. I also debated doing a column on the five sins of wrestling. (I'll touch that one later on so watch out for it.) Instead I decided to do today's column on the five faces who despite what we think should never... EVER... turn heel.Kicking off this look is the Ayatollah of Rock'N'Rolla, the savior himself Chris Jericho. Many of you may be thinking that Derrick Cannon has lost it on the first column. I see it another way. When was Chris Jericho the main focus, and not a jobber to the stars? When was he seen as a threat? One could say he's only been a success as a heel? This may or may not be true. He was the first undisputed Champion of the current era, yet he may have only been in that place as a transitional champ, for Triple H to reign supreme. I was never very fond of this stint of Jericho's. His natural charisma just seems to make it so you just can't hate the guy. His abilities have to get respect. His match against Shawn Michaels was one of the sole highlights of his run as a heel. With all the evidence to the contrary, what makes me think he is a better face then a heel, his first rune as a face in the WWE, especially the title match against the Game. He was on top for fifteen minutes, defeating Triple H for the world title. All of it came crashing down as if nothing ever happened. The title he won in that match was null in void. The truth is I never think he had a fair shot until recently to prove himself as a face. It seems to be working. Currently, his passion is back to where it once was, if he turned heel all of a sudden, the savior promos, which some already claim to be meaningless, really would be just that, meaningless. Chris Jericho proved just tonight that he doesn't need to be a heel to be entertaining, by mocking Jeff Hardy, he did it in a way not to try to destroy him, but to just put him on notice. He didn't have to completely bash Hardy, to get to the bottom of his message on the returning Highlight Reel. The only thing he had to do was be himself, WWE proved tonight why Chris Jericho should be face. He's good at it. This stint may be one of his most successful yet, if you just give him the chance, and the time to prove that he doesn't have to hate on the fans, or his opponents to be memorable.
Number four on this list is a man who also has been a heel who was a very big name on the TNA tag scene. He could soon be coming to the WWE. This man was once called the very future of TNA. TNA then turned this man heel, and he became entirely useless. Chris Harris should have been TNA heavyweight champion. The bad thing is he just can't work as a heel, his whining promos didn't seem to come from the heart, the very essence of what makes a promo great and what gets the creative juices pumping. His partner James Storm was the man we always knew we could hate, he's the character of the team, the man's arrogance and ego was just that big. Harris just didn't have that big of an ego, we always wanted to see him succeed. When TNA turned Harris heel we could hear a pin drop - it just wasn't a good decision. His moment of being nominated to take the PWI "Inspirational Wrestler of the Year" sin the latest King of The Mountain match (Jeff Jarrett) should have been the start of a great run as a face. However Harris was made to look like a complete idiot, by complaining about his spot within the company. Chris Harris had been featured on many shows prior to that, so it just didn't make sense. True TNA management didn't have him in a spot that would suit him(ie upper mid card), however at the time I can see their view point. As I mentioned Harris just didn't have any fire or passion as a heel.
I truly hope that WWE learns from their mistakes. This time it might be ok to go with a blue chipper gimmick for Harris, or at least a gimmick where it mainly focuses on his excellent talent within the wrestling ring.
The third man on the countdown is from TNA who is a heel, he may actually not be the perfect face candidate either, but as a tweener this man is a legitimate bad ass. Samoa Joe can be a heel, he can be a face, the one thing that really matters is he should just be so unstoppable that no one of any role alignment wants to face him. His feud with Kurt Angle showed that Joe shouldn't be a face or a heel he should just fight and win. Joe's boring as a face, and as a heel you want to cheer for him regardless.
He's the first guy I think of when it comes to dominant tweeners in this era of wrestling. Samoa Joe showed in his three way match with AJ and Daniels, he can keep going and going. You can get lost in a Samoa Joe match you just want to watch him because his style of wrestling is so unique. He can connect with so many audiences by being who he is. If he can stay true to his character and avoid any turns to either side someday soon he will be a great champion.
The runner up for faces who should never turn heel is the Undertaker. Like Joe he doesn't necessarily have to be a face either. He needs to be the Creature of the night, he needs to be the Phenom, he needs to have one purpose in mind, and that is to be a heavyweight champion. He had a great run as a heel, but in this stage, he just shouldn't be one, he's earned far too much respect to throw everything away, just in order to relive the glory years. The biggest reason however, is that by turning the Undertaker heel they'd lose a huge portion of fans from any walk of life. One of the main reasons fans attend WWE shows, is to catch the Undertaker. It just wouldn't do any justice to turn him heel.
So who is number one on that list? Well that would be The Champ, John Cena. He's one guy everyone wants to see turn heel but he shouldn't and WWE's making the right decision. As a spokesman to the company, Cena is very invaluable. One of the best things about Cena, is that regardless the reaction of the fans, he can continue business as usual, and walk away giving the fans a brawl they will not soon forget. Love him or hate him, there's an aura on John Cena that just can't be replaced. I feel if they were going to turn Cena heel, that ship may have already sailed. At one time they very easily could have, when he first came to Raw would have been the perfect opportunity, now it's too late.
A corner stone was made this past year, evidently many of you agree with me on the matter, as Cena was voted most popular wrestler of the year. If that doesn't clinch this for current wrestlers who should never turn heel, I don't know what does.
Any ideas, input on this column, or just wanting to chat, my email address is Dcannonite@aol.com. Until next time this has been Derrick Cannon, signing off!