Am I Really Rooting For Him Now?
By Tim Boyle (Pics edited in by Ray)

There are some guys on the WWE Roster that I never thought I could see myself rooting for. Some I still can’t imagine ever being a fan of in the future. There’s nothing interesting about Kofi Kingston and I don’t think Chris Masters could ever amount to anything entertaining. He’s got the World Wrestling thing down, but not the Entertainment part. I should never say I could never root for certain guys because there are a enough that I have grown to become a fan of.

1) Dolph Ziggler 
I wasn’t into wrestling during the Spirit Squad days. That’s probably a good thing. I could never root for a cheerleader. They were too mean to me in high school. It was when Dolph came back with his new gimmick that I started to get back into wrestling after a long hiatus. His gimmick was simple, going up to people and introducing himself as Dolph Ziggler. He was the jobber of all jobbers. I remember Jeff Hardy squashing him in a match before Wrestlemania. He was hit with a garbage can! Now with his current gimmick, I love Dolph. He’s so easy to hate but in the way you root for a heel. Vickie Guerrero doesn’t hurt his cause either. I am amazed at how much he has turned around and know that given the chance he can have a good World Title run.

2) Cody Rhodes 
The whole Legacy saga turned me off of WWE. That was the year that I was on board completely with watching and that storyline was a huge turnoff. Cody Rhodes was easily the weakest member of the group. He had no gimmick other than having stick legs and for some reason hanging out with a millionaire’s son. Then like with so many other people in the last few years, he moved to Smackdown. Suddenly he was Dashing Cody Rhodes. A guy so gorgeous he was willing to let you know how to become as dashing as he. I am on the Cody Rhodes bandwagon now. I never thought I would say this, but I want him to have a World Title. He doesn’t oversell nearly as much as he used to and he’s gold on the mic. Perhaps a Cody Rhodes versus Goldust match at Wrestlemania for the World Heavyweight Title? That might be going too far with Goldust there, but I see Cody potentially being involved in a lot of high profile feuds in the upcoming years.

3) Zack Ryder 
Woo! Woo! Woo! I was watching ECW when Zack Ryder came out dressed as a Jersey Shore cast member. What the hell? I know this is the SyFy channel, but really? They’re trying to sell this to me? I bought it! It took a few weeks but I got on the Zack Ryder party bus. He was silly and I’ve never really seen him as a heel. He’s the perfect tweener. I always thought when he was an Edgehead that it was mostly for whoever Edge feuded with to beat. It would go Edge’s opponent would beat Ryder then he’d beat Curt Hawkins then he’d beat them in a handicapped match. Then he’d lose to Edge at the PPV. I thought WWE blew Ryder’s chances by not cashing in at the peak of Jersey Shore popularity. I was wrong. Lets hope WWE does the right thing and pushes a new face that I think could bring in some unlikely fans.

4) CM Punk 
As a mid-card face, CM Punk stinks. He randomly won the tag titles with Kofi Kingston for a month. He won the Intercontinental title off of William Regal only so he could randomly lose it to JBL who then proceeded to randomly lose it in a 6 second match at Wrestlemania to Rey Mysterio. As soon as Punk came out and cashed in his title shot on Jeff Hardy I turned. He was going to become the slick heel from his ROH days. Punk is easily one of my favorite guys. He’s one of those guys who it’s hard to tell if he’s sincere or just reading off of a script. He’s a great worker who almost always puts on the match of the night. I’m glad he’s finally getting the push he deserved. He’s on the cusp of becoming mainstream which could really bolster WWE’s profits. And we know how much they love that!

5) The Miz 
In his tag team days with John Morrison I hate The Miz. He had one of those faces you just have to hate. He wasn’t funny and his gimmick was wearing a bowler’s hat and shorts. He eventually started to get a bit of a push, holding onto the United States title for what seemed like forever. That’s the one title that never seems to switch hands. I don’t necessarily like The Miz now or ever, but I can tolerate him. He’s at least interesting. The thing about it is I think he could have always been this way. He’s not much different than his old character. He just has a chance to feud with people other than Cryme Tyme. I can see The Miz developing a new character in the next few years that makes his current one look absolutely terrible. He’s talented enough to do it. I’ll continue holding out hope.

6) R-Truth 
My least favorite wrestler of all time is R-Truth. His preachy promos on Smackdown before debuting about how he had a rough life but he turned it around made me sick. Deuce N Domino were bad, but this was worse. Everything about R-Truth was terrible. I loved seeing him lose so much. Then a funny thing happened. He turned heel. Like lots of male fans in their 20s, I prefer heels. They’re so much more interesting. R-Truth’s new character is amazing. I can’t even tell if he’s acting or if the real guy is a nutcase. It’s great! He’s funny now and actually has a character with emotions who does things for a reason. He doesn’t help out John Cena for the sake of being a good guy. This is what makes a good entertainer, being more human than a stale character with no real purpose.