Did Brian Pillman's "Loose Cannon" character ruin the modern heels of today?

[It's...Baylariat!]

I'll give a quick synopsis of Brian Pillman's loose cannon character. Basically, the man work shooted most of his promos, wrestled stiff, and was just a nut job who managed to 'break someone's arm' using a chair. Instead of being sort of comical and bumbling about his ways, he was a man who was hell bent on making people suffer because he was suffering. He was bat shit crazy. And was a heel.

I ask this question because I've noticed a pattern in the heels of today. In order to be one, you have to be nuts, a bully, and cut bitter, mean promos. Now, the heels of yesteryear were not as nutty. They still bullied and managed to cut some mean spirited promos, but for the most part, the heels of old were cowards who depended on someone else or cheating to get over. Edge was the closest to being an Old School heel. He cheated, blamed everyone else except himself for his shortcomings, managed to cheat and take short cuts whenever he could, and be downright sneaky. He wasn't really 'dangerous' as much as he was 'sneaky'. That's what a heel should be.

Sheamus is the anti-Old School heel. Doesn't cheat, doesn't sneak around. He's a bully who beats up random people. Randy Orton shares old school heel qualities by having Legacy do his dirty work, being a coward by not fighting fair, and blaming others for his mistakes, but he still has that 'loose cannon' personality with his mood disorder. If he'd just be his old self and do those heel things, he'd be a great heel and possibly a huge draw. It's hard to take someone seriously when someone makes faces like he's a serial killer.

So, with that being said. Did Brian Pillman's character ruin the heels of today? Did he HELP them? Would the Old School heel work in today's wrestling? Would PILLMAN's character work today?

 

[ali'scomin]

I'd say Pillman's character would work fine today but it has to be done by the right person. The old school heel will always work because nobody wants to cheer for a pussy, remember when MVP was a heel and tried to get out of all those Matt hardy challenges? He was fun to hate. For someone to pull off what Pillman did at this day and age they have to have a great deal of credibility and make people think "Oh shit, this guy finally lost it".

The new guys now look at guys like Pillman as a template and try fit themselves in, what they dont realize is that everything doesn't work for everyone.

 

[The Con Volt]

HAHAHA I love my how response to the honky tonk man vs. tommy rich post gave you the idea for this TL. So obviously I must agree with you. The loose cannon character was enticing as a one off type of thing, but clearly, the reach of "Pillmans got a gun" is the framework of 90% of modern heels. Yes, I'll agree that Edge tried his best to kick it old school, and it works beautifully. He became one of the most hated heels of the century so far. Go figure

 

[phlewfy]

No, I don't think Brian Pillman's "Loose Cannon" role has been a negative influence on the heels of today. Nor do I think he has helped them. I think that Brian Pillman was a very unique talent who played a unique character with his "Loose Cannon" role. No one has really duplicated the "Loose Cannon" with the same kind of gusto that Pillman did it with. There was just something about Pillman that made him believable as the out of control madman that he played. There is no doubt in my mind that Pillman could get over today as the "Loose Cannon." He was just that special of a talent in my mind.

With all that being said, I believe there are some so-called old school heels performing out there today. I have to go to TNA because they have a couple.

1) I think that Eric Young is a perfect example of an old school heel in today's wrestling. Eric Young is not a big guy, he doesn't act like a madman these days, and he certainly is not going to bully anyone by himself. He is however a coward in many ways. He cheats, he cons, he lies, and he schemes just like the some of the great heels of yesteryear.(Million Dollar Man comes to mind) Eric Young has proven to be a downright sneaky son of a bitch. I immediately think of how he won the Legends/Global championship as the work of an old school heel. I hope he continues to be the conniving, lying, and cheating leader of the World Elite for awhile.

2)I will stay in the World Elite and look at the British Invasion as an old school-esque heel tag team. They wrestle decently enough to get by on talent, but they almost always cheat to win. That is a hallmark of a great heel tag team. With their arrogant British gimmick they can be annoying as hell, which only makes them stronger heels. They have Big Rob, who while lame as hell acts as a manager type, by interfering in matches. Many of the classic heels were accompanied by a manager or valet type. Maybe the British Invasion aren't totally old school, but I think they are close.

Yes, there are a lot of lame heels out there right now. In my opinion Sheamus is a boring, standard, modern day, heel. He comes out and bullies people and is supposed to be considered a badass, but I just don't buy it. This seems to happen to a lot of guys in the WWE. Kozlov and Snitzky are two more examples of the way WWE's heels just are not that compelling as characters. Many of the older heels had something that made their characters compelling. Whatever it is either most guys don't have it or aren't allowed to explore their characters enough to let it come out. Sadly I think we will be doomed to see boring, cardboard, charisma-less heels in the WWE for years to come.

 

[jmt225]

Brian Pillman wasn’t enough of a “Main Player”, so to speak, to leave a legacy that determines the way heels are played today. I think you have to give credit to Steve Austin, for all that kind of stuff.

Besides, Pillman really played someone who was insane and a ticking timebomb; there was nothing “cool” about him. However, Austin, and perhaps you could say The Rock as well, were VERY “cool” heels, who didn’t back down from fights and there was nothing “cowardly” about their characters. That played a much larger impact on today’s heel than Pillman, because at the end of the day… Pillman was still a sneaky little pussy in that ring. He was a classic heel, just with a bit of “shootness” in his promos and such. Today’s heels though, for the most part, come off as tough and to use the word again, “cool”. Austin and Rock started that, while HHH and his Evolution carried it over into this generation of wrestlers.

Pillman deserves no credit for WWE’s heels of today being shit.

 

[theviolentmessiah]

I think Pillman helped the heels of today, I personally despite the old feel you've described. Pillman was a hated heel, but he was still a gifted athlete, he could still win matches on his own merit. Heels shouldnt all be down trodden and under rated, Nigel McGuinness' title run, and especially his matches against Tyler Black, showed how a heel should be in today's age. They may cheat and coward out, but they're still wrestlers and in the end we should be kept waiting to see who's better and hope the face can overcome the odds, not expect the face to win all the time forever except for cheating.

 

[Toroc102]

I think the Loose Cannon gimmick was just Paul Heyman and Pillman working together to create something new and different but its not like his character didn't have any precedent. I feel like Randy Savage may have been a big influence on Pillman, because he was always seemed to be something of a loose canon himself.

I don't think he should have any influence(well he shouldn't have solely negative influence)on todays heels. Any character can still work in todays era, you just have to tweak certain things to make it work. I think John Cena's face charcter would work so much better if he talked about respect, hustle, loyalty, all that a lot less. Edge was obviously able to pull off a real old school heel charcter very well, while also putting his own spin on it. I don't count Sheamus or Kozlov as a modern heel, they are good examples of your monster heels who have been around forever, like your Bundies, Earthquakes, Yoko's, Vader's. Their is precedent in todays stars all over the place in history, you just have to look for it(well except for D/X I've enevr seen anything like them before).

Pillman did a god job of adapting to the times, and that is what todays wrestlers should take away from him, not just try to replicate some formerly successful gimmicks.

 

[King Douche]

I do not think so at all. As no one is frankly doing the stuff Brian Pillman did during that time in pro wrestling. Now Randy Orton of course has his mental disorder thing going on in his viper gimmick, but quite frankly he is boring. I mean Orton was great as the legend killer, he had stuff going on, but ever since he became this viper thing he has been stale on the mic and in the ring.

As for Sheamus he is a good heel so far, I like his tough guy attiude and beating people the hell up who get in his way and talk shit to him ala Santino on RAW last week. Edge is another great heel who is very old skool. He cheats, blames others for his lose and tries to do whatever he can to become World Champion. Truly the best heel in the buisness today or one of the best.

As for Pillman having na influence on heels today, no way but the only heel who has come close to his crazyness is indeed Randy Orton, but he sucks as being a crazy guy and he is not even crazy at all. In other words he is not beleivable as being crazy. Its so bad its not even funny. WWE should have him go back to being this cocky, arrogant legend killer persona.