Cutting Promos
Episode 4 of Heels Season 1 begins with trouble brewing for Wild Bill. In fact, after a meeting regarding a brand new design for a title belt, a very public stunt onboard an airplane sees him suspended from his job – at least for the time being. While his sponsors play damage control, Bill’s manager advises him to hold a press conference. A house fire over at Jack’s place forces him to use his quick thinking to use a fire extinguisher to put the flames out. Firefighters believe that it could well be squirrels chewing through the wires, and Staci isn’t prepared to sit on a ticking timebomb if that’s the case. In fact, she wants to get a job before things get ugly – especially given the amount of money it’s going to cost to rewire the entire house on the back of this. Well, Jack is confident that he’s got a killer idea – which includes a viral social media campaign to digitize old DWL highlights. He intends to use Eddie, his sponsor, to get behind this whole idea but Eddie has other ideas. He’s concerned about the money and investment needed for this. While Willie thanks Eddie, Jack is hotheaded and struggles to hold back his anger. Back at the league, Bobby speaks to Crystal and tries to help form a brand new gimmick for himself. He’s unsure on the best way forward, and the weird mishmash of rap and country doesn’t work with Bobby’s persona. In fact, Crystal decides to work on the nostalgia factor, using Bobby’s mullet and bubbly demeanor to create “Bobby ’85.” Bobby works really well as a face, and he’s incredibly grateful to Crystal for her help. He’s determined to tell Jack that she’s the reason for this, although actually she agrees to change it so it’s just Bobby without the 85. One of the big talking points here though comes from Ace and his heel turn. Ace is completely against it of course, but both Jack and Bill see the potential this could have for his career. After a very public display out in a snooker hall, with Bill antagonizing a pool player, Ace heads back home to enjoy a family dinner. Bill meanwhile, receives the news that he’s been let go from the company. And after some pretty harsh words to Willie, ultimately sees him kicked out and thrown into a motel to fend for himself. Given what we found out about Ace and Jack’s father last episode, Carol is still torn up about this and believes the man is “burning in hell for all eternity.” When the two brothers leave the dinner table, it has an inadvertent reaction of bringing them both closer together. In fact, the pair end up reminiscing about the past, with Jack eventually allowing his brother to actually use some ideas to produce some decent promotional material. And what a promo it is. Fans of wrestling may remember that insane stint between Booker T and Stone Cold back in 2002, where the pair wrestled around a supermarket. Well, Bobby and Ace end up trading blows through a car wash and gas station, ending with Ace hitting them both with a double clothesline. On the back of this, Ace actually starts to come around to the idea of being a heel, “It’s fun playing the bad guy.” He retorts after the promo. The line between in-ring and real life starts to blur further when Ace spies Bobby and Crystal wrestling together on the trampoline. The pangs of jealousy ultimately see him key Bobby’s car, a move that’s only made worse by Crystal’s earlier rejection for them to celebrate together. As Ace struggles to keep his emotions in check, Wild Bill starts to spiral out of control. At the motel he’s a complete state, drinking heavily and ultimately standing atop the roof and screaming at the top of his lungs, reiterating that he’s Wild Bill.
The Episode Review
Heels has been such a solid drama and this week’s episode only exemplifies that further. The whole brotherly feud has taken on an extra dimension here, worked off the back of last week’s hot-headed confrontation, and actually sees Jack ease up and allow Ace some creative control. This show has always been about the brothers and the way they handle the ill hand they’ve been dealt. Now though, it seems like they’re getting the cards aligned in the right order. Interestingly though, the in-ring feud between Ace and Bobby takes on an extra dimension outside the ring. With Crystal and Bobby spending a lot more time together, Crystal sees what a good guy Bobby actually is. Whether there’s actually any romantic feelings between them remains to be seen but Ace is convinced there is. This is enough for him to start holding onto that built up anger, and I’f imagine we’ll see that explode in the ring in devastating ways across the upcoming chapters. Seeing Ace’s promo play out prior to this though was absolutely brilliant, and really well filmed too. The lack of in-ring action certainly doesn’t dampen the drama here though, as the attention turns to Wild Bill’s annoyance at his sponsors turning a belt into a gimmick. One can’t help but be reminded of that utterly atrocious heavyweight belt John Cena had for many years at WWE and it seems this show has drawn some influences from that. Unlike the stale, watered down feel of Raw or Smackdown, this drama feels much more akin to NXT or AEW, with solid storytelling, some great in-ring action and memorable characters to work with. Whether this one can pull it out the bag and deliver a show-stopping main event remains to be seen. For now though, this is one show you don’t want to miss.
