JBL, Orton or Jericho? Who's Raw's top heel?

[HeartBreakKid]

Who is Monday Night Raw's top heel?

The three obvious choices would be Jericho, JBL, or the returning Randy Orton. However, JBL's chracter as of late has been stale and doesn't quite compare to the other two choices. So that leaves Orton or Jericho.

Before Orton's injury it was clear that he was the top heel in the game. People wanted to see him loose because his brash, arrogant character really forced you to love to hate him. He had the swagger, and the confidence that seemed to be taking him to the next level. In the past few weeks his character has been apperaring in and out of Raw shows and PPV's. He has locked in on a feud with a top face in CM Punk and seems to be on a unrelenting quest to regain championship gold. It is hard to argue that he won't be the top heel again once he returns to full time action.

However, during Orton's injury another heel emerged. Jerichos feud with Shawn Michaels, who has been one of the top face's in the game for over a decade now, has been the best of 2008 and really developed his character. His don't give a damn attitude really makes you want to hate him. He turned his back on the fans and cares about nothign but himself. The new persona has really taken off and with the WHC around his waist it hard to argue Jericho is not the top heel of Raw if not the whole company right now.

so you decide is it Orton or Jericho? and give reasons why

Personally my vote goes to Jericho right now until Orton can relinquish him of the belt.

 

[JackAttack]

Your right, until Orton gets back in the game, I can't really choose him. Not only that, but Jericho has simply been a great heel lately. I hope he continues to feud with other guys like Batista, because his feud with Shawn could grow stale if it goes on any longer.

It doen't seem like Jericho's character as a heel can grow if he continues to feud with HBK.

 

[Checkmate]

Breaking it down-

Talk the talk - Jericho > JBL > Orton

Walk the walk - Orton > Jericho > JBL

Overall - Jericho > Orton > JBL

Right now, with the current push and gimmick (or lack there of) of Jericho, I don't see Orton passing him as top heel.

Orton strikes me as more of a heel that walks the line of tweener. He does Heelish actions for personal gain and to prove he is the best, which tweeners also can do.

Jericho does Heelish actions more because he can. Everything he does genuinely seems plotted out and evil. Orton does so more in the moment; less planning involved. In court, this would be the difference between Murder and Manslaughter.

JBL on the other hand doesn't seem as threatning. Maybe it's just because he doesn't ever get over, or maybe its all the whining he does. Sure, he talks a good game, but never wins to back it up. Jericho talks of beating the rock and austin, Orton of becoming youngest WHC, and JBL of his long title reign. However, Jericho and Orton are still winning now, while JBL is not. This makes the difference to me.

So I'd say Jericho as #1, closely followed by Orton, with JBL a mile or so behind.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Great question. Santino didn't rate the list, eh? Bummer.

It's Jericho, but Orton even being considered for this question despite his lengthy absence from competing shows you just how much heat he's got. The guy is that good. I hate his guts, and I repsect the hell outta him because he does his job so well. His promos have made me clap, but he's still a great cocky heel.

Jericho is an excellent top heel, but as much as I like him, he's not a show stopping heel like Edge. And if we're discussing top heels, I'd be remiss to say that we're doing Kane and Team Priceless a disservice by not even bringing them up. Who says a great heel tag team can't be a show's top heel?

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Well, since Orton's out of business for a small remainder of time, Jericho being the World Heavyweight Champion and an active competitor leaves pickins pretty slim for Orton. I think Orton is the better heel of the two. Y2J's heel speeches can get pretty repetitive after a while, although Orton's have that quality as well, it just works better coming outta Orton.

Would Jericho have surfaced as one of the best heels of the year without Orton's injury? I doubt it. Orton was good enough of a heel not to necessitate another great heel on Raw. But he got injured, so...with his injury, Jericho quickly surpassed him. But once he returns and things are done right, Orton will beat Jericho quickly if Jericho doesn't add some nuances to his character.

 

[Straight_Edge_Mystic]

Go, Jericho, Go!!! Currently, it's Jericho. He's great in the ring and even better on the mic. His presence is enough to make us hate him, but the way he plays the heel is interesting. He's taken the things that a face would fight against and is fighting against them as a heel. A righteous bad guy, now that is cool. I have no idea what Orton is right now. Sometimes I want to cheer him, sometimes I want to boo him. I realize he is a heel, but the way he's doing doesn't make me loathe him as mush as I did before the injury. And JBL, he should just retire already, he's completely lost it, says the same thing and does the same thing night in and night out. He's become pathetic and lame and a joke of a heel. I don't rank him in any top anything categories.

With Jericho and Orton as the heels, what will their feud look like when it happens?

 

[Sticky]

JBL has got a terrible gimmick and i never really liked it to start with, i liked him more as a commentator on Smackdown! with Cole, good times. Now WWE directs Jericho's character as sort of more serious and losing his joking style of gimmick and at recent house show Jericho's got more heat than many heels at the shows. Orton's still injuried and until he comes back fully active when i consider Jericho the top heel on RAW at the moment.

 

[roujinziro]

JBL is a joke. After the CHL segment a few weeks back I couldn't take the guy seriously anymore. Orton is starting to play the gray area tweener. He's getting in everyone's faces, people are starting to cheer and boo him. I thought he said he didn't want to be a "cool heel." So that leaves Jericho as the top heel, and I hope he stays that way for a while.

 

[Mr. TM]

Great question. Santino didn't rate the list, eh? Bummer.

Santino is obviously the number one, but I think this is for the lesser heels, like Jericho, Orton, JBL, Kane, and Priceless.

Anyways, Jericho is the best heel right now. He makes a great champion, hes great on the mic, impressive in the ring, and makes the faces fearful and revengeful more than any other heel can. Orton and JBL could make fun of Eddie Guerrero's death, but be less of a heel than Jericho. Orton can punt people in the head, JBL can wrap people's necks in cable, but people will remember Jericho for his destructive ways. I am excited for Orton and Cena to come back though, it would be nice to see some new feuds shaping up with the selection of heels we have.

 

[Harthan]

Everyone got to the Santino jokes before me. Aww.

Anyway, I choose Orton. Talking promos, Orton cuts a mean one. Jericho is great at promos too, but some of his longer winded rants can get boring. Orton has never bored me during a promo, and he's a brilliant storyteller. He can throw down a great promo paired up with just about anyone he gets paired up with.

In ring work, there's nothing that even needs to be said about Orton. He's brilliant. Every match he has is just pure money. It's never boring to watch Orton, and he has one of the best finishers around. The RKO is the perfect heel finisher; quick and lethal.

It seems like Orton may be walking the line between heel and tweener, but I think he tends to get cheered only over lesser heels. I think there's some heels the audience hates because they're boring, aka JBL, and some they hate because they're a dynamic storyteller, aka Orton. I think if you play them off against each other, the audience just chooses the guy who isn't boring, like Orton. So when Orton dissed JBL, he got cheered. When he talks about Shawn Michaels or Batista, he gets booed.

Orton is just all around awesome. It's not to detract from Jericho, but Orton just beats him out by a thin margin. You're never bored when you watch Orton, and he's a guy you love to hate. He has top notch ring work and promos, and can be as vile and despicable as anyone out there. He got PWI #1 this year, and deserved it completely.

I still feel Orton deserves to be called best, even though he is injured. It's only fair to judge both men at their best.

 

[Marquis]

Jericho hands down. Even befor his injury Orton was not as great as a heel as Jericho. Orton is not even a heel in my eyes just a tweener. He just talks shit and is arrogant and wins most of his matches clean no big difference between him and Batista. In his legend killer days he was a heel but not now.

Now Jericho in my eyes is what a heel should be. Lying,scheming,and cheating even if doesn't have to. He goes on the mic and claims he's pure and never does anything wrong and says we are the ones who are not pure and tainted while obviously being a hypocrite genius. Acting like a coward for anything unless the odds are in his favor. All of this in my eyes is what a heel should be and that's why Jericho gets my vote hands down.

 

[JackAttack]

Jericho hands down. Even befor his injury Orton was not as great as a heel as Jericho. Orton is not even a heel in my eyes just a tweener. He just talks shit and is arrogant and wins most of his matches clean no big difference between him and Batista. In his legend killer days he was a heel but not now.

Now Jericho in my eyes is what a heel should be. Lying,scheming,and cheating even if doesn't have to. He goes on the mic and claims he's pure and never does anything wrong and says we are the ones who are not pure and tainted while obviously being a hypocrite genius. Acting like a coward for anything unless the odds are in his favor. All of this in my eyes is what a heel should be and that's why Jericho gets my vote hands down.

Orton did do most those things. He cheated in all of his matches with Cena, he schemed with other heels, and boasts about his greatness everytime he is on the mic. He is a good heel, but right now, at this moment, Jericho is simply hotter.

 

[Richard]

Without a shadow of a doubt, it's Chris Jericho.

Randy Orton is a great heel though, Chris Jericho is just superior to Randy Orton when it comes to playing a character, which is what they are supposed to be doing.

The only area which I think Orton could be just a little better than Jericho is in the ring, other then that, Orton can't touch Jericho.

Chris Jericho's promos are gold, each and every one of them. They are unique. Chris Jericho only has to point out facts and he gets booed, no exaggerations. Randy Orton's promos are so boring, it's just him shouting about how he was the youngest Worlds Champion ever and how he will get it back and in that monotonous, robotic, Randy Orton voice just makes it that much harder to listen to.

J.B.L, while he gets heat, he should not be called the top heel because his in ring skills suck, his promos are boring, he should just go back to commentating.

 

[reanimat3d]

While Jericho has clearly evolved into one of the greater heels this business has seen (personally he's still my favourite wrestler), I still personally think that Orton is the better heel of the two.
Orton commands respect from other heels and the faces & fans still dispise him. The way he wins matches, the way he speaks & slithers around confrontation is classic heel tactics. When things aren't going Randy's way, he's furious like a Cobra that's been kicked out of the sun. And the RKO is awesome.

Sure Jericho is the best heel currently, but once Orton is back in full form there'll be no stopping him.

 

[Tim]

Jericho definately at the moment, but it is a bit unfair to judge these guys with Orton injured at the moment. And why is JBL even in the poll? He is not a bigger heel than these two.

Jeicho is one of the best on the mic ever. He can talk serious, he can talk funny, he can talk however the hell you want him to. He just has natural talent. Orton can cut pretty good promos, but all too often he starts to bore me. Wrestling ability, they are both about the same. I love watching both of these guys wrestle, and they can put on a good match with a wide rango of people. I can't choose who's better wrestling-wise.

Jericho at the moment is a downright heel. You can see it whenever he comes out. But Orton, he's practically a tweener at the moment. The crowd loves him, but they also love to hate him, they're not really sure whether to boo or cheer. If Orton was a fully fledged heel, then it would be a lot closer, but as of now Orton is walking the line. You can't really classify him as a heel at the moment, which is why Jericho is a better heel.

 

[LMaruko]

Ar this point in time, hands down; Jericho. Orton was an awesome heel back when HE was WHC with Cena playing his part against Orton as an awesome face, and I would believe that Orton was one of the greatest heels of all time. JBL... was a great heel as well, but like I myself had posted in a thread before, JBL's whiny act is old and stale. Good for someone to hate you, but not the best.

However, if you place both of them on a scale and weigh Jericho now, and Orton's heel run with Cena, Orton stacks against Jericho. Mind you, Orton had taken out Cena's dad, along with a lot of WWE legends giving him the moniker "The Legend Killer," and Jericho took out Michael's wife in a similar fashion, Orton sticks out a little more (for me) simply because there was more tension, drama, and emotion between Orton and Cena. Jericho and Michaels have had a great feud as of late, with and without the WHC involved, but I don't think it has been intense enough. Of course, I haven't been watching RAW since the show before No Mercy, so maybe I am missing a lot of action packed nights of RAW is Jericho.

But right now, best heel on RAW (yeah I am kinda disappointed Santino didn't make the list, but maybe in time Santino will fill all of our hearts with loving to hate the funny Italian Canadian) hands down is Jericho. He's involved with a major storyline and a long running feud with Michaels, whereas Orton is just commanding and giving orders to other new second generarion superstars, where I thought DiBiase was a leader, and this "taking orders" crap puts him as a follower now.

Maybe when Orton comes back, we'll have Jericho and Orton play with a storyline together and see how that turns out.

 

[Milkyway!]

this shouldnt even be a question, out of the three, obviously, jericho, ortan is a tweener atm, so no, you cant vote him....JBL is just a main event jobber, he beats on midcarders, and loses when hes in the main event, reminds me of mark henry before h went to ecw.. jericho, is what the kidds coming up and into the business need to watch, but getting on to my point just as IC25 said, none of these men are the best heels...not while santino is on the show, the best heel ever to live, is santino. santino is the basic heel, win by just barely getting by, he holds the IC championship as the world championship everyday...he plays th heel part perfectly..hes wrestling like a perfect heel, with the help of beth, this man will break the HONKAMETER and more...hands down, the best heel raw his, is santino marrela (spelling on that last name?)

 

[Slyfox696]

It's a tough call really. As said before, before his injury, Randy Orton was clearly the top heel on Raw. He was on fire, the WWE Champion, and drawing great heat. However, the longer he's been out, the more face heat he seems to be generating. He seems to be getting the "cool heel" face pops from fans.

During Orton's absence, Chris Jericho has gone from bland face midcarder, to super impressive heel. I might would even argue that Jericho's heeling has surpassed Orton's, even when Orton was active.

JBL is always a heat magnet, but right now, he's just not the big main-event draw.


Overall, I have to go with Jericho, just due to the fact he's a popular smark favorite who's able to get booed by ALL fans.

 

[SilentMassacre]

I'm gonna have to save Y2J in this one, Orton's kind of borderlining heel/face, JBL is still garnering the same hatred as he ever was, but Y2J is like.. great at portraying the bad guy, when has he ever failed at it?

 

[Khalifa]

i would like to say orton but it has to be jericho. i have stated before that he is just so good at what he does e.g. mic,in ring skills being a heel, being a face. I wont be surprised if he is once again the most dominate heel in teh business at one point.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

Chris Jericho is by far the top heel on RAW if not the whole WWE. During Jericho's 9 year on-and-off WWE career, he's switched from heel and face way too much and it seems that he will be a heel for quite long. Even when he was a heel previously he didn't get nearly as much heat as he does now.

Randy Orton even as the WWE Champion didn't get as much heel heat as Jericho is now. When Orton is fully healed and returns to the ring, he will have a lot of work to do to get to Jericho's level as the top heel in WWE.

J.B.L. on the other hand has the most heat in his career when he had his 9 month WWE Championship reign in 2004. At this point, J.B.L. doesn't get HEEL HEAT, he just has hatred from the fans. Maybe another championship reign could elevate his ''heel-ism'', but at this point he can't hold a candle to Jericho.

 

[Rusty]

This is a fairly tough choice in my opinion. All 3 are great heels on Raw and are all entertaining in their different ways. I don't think one truly stands out as being Raw's top heel. JBL is a good heel. He has been a heel for a long time now, and is still booed by the fans every single week. He often receives the most heel heat on a fairly consistent basis. But I think he receives most of his heat because the fans truly dispise him. They know his matches are boring and the only thing he is decent at is his mic skills. He is just the heel you want to boo as he never does anything that the fans want to see. He is a good heel by my book, but being hated in general is different to proper heel heat.

Randy Orton is my personal favourite heel, but that doesn't mean he is Raw's top heel. Since returning, it seems as if the fans are starting to cheer him as he is very entertaining as much as people want to deny it. He puts on consistant matches and is fairly good on the mic. He isn't truly hated by the fans, but gets booed simply because of the way his character is booked. That is what makes a good heel. But since is he starting to receive a significant amount of cheers by the fans as of late, I can't consider him as Raw's #1 top heel. He is definately up there, but just not at the top right now.

Chris Jericho has only been a heel for a few months, but he has been successful so far. Feuding with Shawn Michaels instantly gives almost anyone heel heat. He punched his wife in the face and almost made Shawn 'retire'. Sure, the booking should be praised for that, but Jericho played his role very well especially with his magnificent mic skills during that feud. His facial expressions and tone of voice are perfect for a heel. He isn't the typical cocky heel, he is a unique but smart heel that usually gets booed for pointing out the facts. He is very over with the fans at the present moment and I believe Jericoh is Raw's top heel today.

Overall though, all 3 are great heels in their own unique way. JBL is just hated by everyone in the arena, Randy Orton is hated for what he does and who he attacks. But Jericho is adored by the fans, but manages to gain a large amount of heel heat on a regular basis. Therefore, Chris Jericho is the greatest heel on Raw right now.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I'm not going to take JBL into consideration for this. His mic work is excellent but he hasn't really had anything to actually say in months. It's just been, I'm JBL give me a title shot. Yawn!

Orton unfortunately is very much the same. If he were still killing legends then i'd say he was the best heel, but he's just yapping on about the title over and over and that's it. Yes he punted Punk, yes he's screwing around with Priceless, but he's also ranting at the heels.

Jericho is punching women, hiding behind proteges (until now), causing severe injuries, manipulating the GM for his best interests, and trying to eliminate any threats to his title reign, while putting on decent matches and delivering excellent promos.

The other two are managing to do very well in the talk department, but JBL isn't acting lke a real heel i.e. backstage attacks etc and Orton isn't wrestling like one but it's obvious why.

I don't really think it fair to compare them when they aren't doing the same things. Jericho is the only one who's been in a long standing fued lately, JBL has been jobbing and Orton's been talking. when they're all in a fued like Jericho's at the same time, then i'd comapre them, but it's highly unlikely you'll get 3 fueds like HBK/Jericho going on at the same time in the current WWE.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

While like it's been said you can't really compare right now since Orton is 100% active, but taking both at their peak times I still say Orton is on top.

JBL, although he is amazing on the mic and get's great heat, is obviously just a top jobber to the stars. Also I think people are just annoyed and bored of him and that's why they boo him. If he was champ I think the ratings would slide more.

Jericho has truly transformed himself greatly. I do give HBK some credit since he added the emotion factor that HBK has with the fans to make Jericho even more hateable but Jericho get's most of the credit. He was able to go from his former heel character which was a comedy heel and transform into a heel that people really hate. Jericho is on top form and the best he's been.

But Orton still in my eyes is at top, but that soon will probably change. I have a feeling they are going to water Orton down and keep him tween so he doesn't outshine Jericho. Orton is a natural heat grabber just because he comes off cocky without trying. During his feuds with Cena, Hardy, HBK, RVD, and while he was "killing legends" he got massive heat and showcase his true skills. I say Orton was the top heel but you can't really compare until he is fully healed and only if he stay's a heel and not go tweener/face.

 

[Miko]

JBL is in my opinion one of the most underrated workers on the roster, the guy gets great heat and I am not bored during his matches, I have never been bored during a JBL match. He is a good candidate for RAW's top heel. He plays his role so amazingly well that people really do despise him, as a kid I despised the heel Stone Cold Steve Austin but I payed money to see him get his arse kicked.

I'd still have to give the edge to Jericho who has been on fire since his return, in my opinion when you judge a top face/heel you have to look at their current success etc. and at the moment Jericho is the World Champion and the only people on the roster he hasnt beaten are John Cena and Batista, he is by far the most credible heel on RAW. He also gets more heat than Randy Orton (even during his title run) or JBL.

When Orton returns he can try to catch up with Jericho but I really think he's gonna struggle to match Jericho's heel ability at the moment.