Dot Net Awards: 2010 Best Heel

Dot Net readers voted on a variety of 2010 awards throughout January and February. The following are the poll results of the Best Heel category.

(1) C.M. Punk: 32 percent
(2) The Miz: 25 percent
(3) Wade Barrett: 9 percent
(4) Chris Jericho: 6 percent
(5) Alberto Del Rio: 5 percent
Others: 23 percent

Chris Shore's Thoughts: Let there be no doubt, The Miz was the hottest and freshest new heel in all of wrestling this year. And CM Punk's mic work and natural charisma make him the best heel in all the land. He is every bit as good as Ric Flair when it comes to getting people over with his heat, and most years he would leapfrog to the top of this list with little or no effort. So I certainly understand why the readers chose him. But this isn't most years.
 
Without a doubt, the best heel of 2010 was Kevin Steen in ROH. His feud with El Generico was the best feud all year, and had that been in front of a WWE size audience, we would be talking about it for ages. Certainly the year long feud with Generico helped him earn this honor, but it wasn't just a booking decision that made him great. This guy brought it to that feud, and even though I only had three weeks of ROH exposure before the Final Battle PPV, his match was the one I was most interesting in seeing. That says a lot. I'm convinced that if more people saw Kevin Steen this year, he would be running away with the voting.

Jason Powell's Thoughts: This was an extremely close voting race between Punk and Miz until the latter pulled away late. They were within fewer than ten votes at one time. Did Punk force the Nexus members to vote for him repeatedly? Okay, probably not.

I like the most of the order that the votes resulted in. Punk brought his act to a new level in 2010, and The Miz shined when he was given the spotlight. Jericho excelled in his heel role that countless guys followed his lead by switching to suits and talking in a similar style.

Barrett was downright awesome in his first year, and I can't blame anyone who voted for him given the way he carried the Nexus angle on his back. As much as I enjoyed Alberto Del Rio's act, I'd give the final spot to Sheamus, who probably would have performed better in the voting had it not been for his push subsiding late last year and fizzling out while voting took place.