More important: heel or face?

[Decarow]

I'm about 99% sure someone has created this thread in the past, but I'm doing it anyways.

I think that the heel is more important, and here is why:

Just like in any story, you have to have a protagonist and an antagonist. In most cases, the protagonist is minding their own business when the antagonist gets in the way. The heel has to go out there and make people hate him. He could very easily go out there and bash on the city, but a good heel (no pun intended) develops their character so they don't have to. My favorite example, and one of the best heels, is Eddie Guerrerro in summer 2005. First it comes down to him not being able to beat Rey Mysterio, then it comes down to him blackmailing him, then to him revealing he's really Dominick's father. I HATED him that summer. Not that many heels have made me hate them. But that's what makes a good heel. They don't even need a good face (again, no pun intended). All the face has to do is come in and save the day and they get a pop. Rey Mysterio is one of the most bashed people in the IWC (for some reason, the IWC hates successful wresters...) but people loved him for beating Eddie.

However, you can't have one without the other. You can have the super baby face (Hogan, Cena), where they are on top and heel characters keep getting thrown their way. Cena's first title reign was against: JBL, Christian, Y2J, Angle, HBK, Kane, Carlito, Masters, and Edge. They didn't build much on the heels, rather they built on the face.

Now I would like to know your opinion: Heel vs. Face

 

[Vintage Nick]

In my opinion, both are on the same level of importance. No one likes to see Face vs Face, or Heel vs Heel (unless they're insanely over, like Undertaker/HBK). The faces are the heroes of the business and of the fans, thus why they do things to receive their cheers and praises. The Heels are the villians and resort to doing dirty things such as nut shots, chair shots, using the bottom ropes as leverage, and other things to receive their boo's, hisses, and hatred from the fans of the wrestling business.

 

[Blue Chipper]

Like you said, you can't have one without the other. With that said, a face is easily more important than a heel. Usually, fans want to see the baby face, the good guy, prevail over the heel, or the bad guy. That's what draws, and that's what is entertaining to the fans. They like to see the struggle betwen the antagonist and protagonist, whith the face barely winning. Look in the past, and just observe the overwhelming amount of faces that have been champions and look at the biggest draws: Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Stone Cold, Andre the Giant, Bret Hart, etc. etc. the list literally rolls on with top baby face champions that draw. Sure, a few heels have been draws, and champion, but in the end, the fans want to see the face capture it back, thus they do.

Therefore, I can say with ease that, although faces and heels are both naturally essential, the face is the most important, becasue they are what the fans want to see most of the time. Period.

 

[kirk1986]

i think heel is more important. Anybody can be face but u have to have curisma to be a good heel.like jericho, edge, and orton

 

[Kanye South]

i think heel is more important. Anybody can be face but u have to have curisma to be a good heel.like jericho, edge, and orton

Lowercase letters, I can handle. "Txt talk", I can handle, but before you post, LEARN HOW TO FUCKING SPELL!

Anyways, a face is easily more important. As stated above, faces sell merchandise and tickets. You could have a Face vs. Face match, but it would be awkward to have a Heel vs. Heel match. Most of the legends in this business have been faces. Not to say that heels are unimportant, just that faces are more important.

 

[KANE-A-KNIGHT]

In my opinion, both are on the same level of importance. No one likes to see Face vs Face, or Heel vs Heel (unless they're insanely over, like Undertaker/HBK).

it might just be me but i do like face vs face or heel vs heel it beats the same routine of heel beats down face till they can no longer move but out of know where they hit a few moves maybe a crossbody, the heel will irish whip the face and then bend over for the face to kick then in the heel in the face. then the face will hit a 619 and the match is over.

i definetly prefere a heel the only face i really like at the moment is morrison the rest i like are heel (jericho, ortan, edge)

 

[Wrath]

Both need the other.Without heels there would be no reason to love a face if he has no enemy or without face there would be no reason to hate a heel.It's just like this without Joker and Two Face would someone watched Batman just because he is a good guy and has no enemy?No!Or without Batman would people watch Dark Knight just because Two face and Joker do bad things and there is no one to stand up to them.

It's what wrestling is based on.Fight of GOOD vs BAD.People watch faces to beat heel's asses and watch heels to get their asses beat up by faces.So getting rid of one of them would ruin wrestling business.

 

[mateoontherocks]

Asking this question is tantamount to asking "which is more important: yin or yang?" Faces need to define themselves in contrast to heels, heels need to define themselves in contrast to faces. Neither is more important. If either the face or the heel in a particular feud is not getting over, the feud makes both wrestlers look stupid.

 

[HuskerChuck]

The face sells the tickets and merchandise, but the heel has the much tougher job. I think the heels are more important to the storylines. The more extreme the heel, the better the storyline. The better the storyline, the better both look, but especially the face.

Batista is not a good face, but I'm anticipating a good rivalry with Orton when he comes back. The scene with the char "breaking" his arm was good stuff.

 

[Southwind]

The question didn't pertain to business and merch sales the question asked what was more important in terms of the psychology of wrestling. To me it's pretty simple it's the heel that's more important because the heel does almost all the work during a feud by either gaining a title or taking someone out etc he cuts almost all of the promos and gets most of the attention. The heel has to make people believe he's unstoppable and is ready to start his reign of terror look at Orton's best title reign in 2007-2008.

After he retained at WM 24 he proclaimed the age of Orton was commencing. Fans couldn't believe he won and bought his act and when Triple H beat him at Backlash the fans went crazy mostly due to the great work Orton did.

 

[richjb777]

It depends on how over the heel or Face is. I remember paying money just to see Austin or the Rock finally get to at somebody. I also remember shelling out money to see Ric Flair get beat up by steamboat...it all depends

 

[Kanye South]

Quit bashing him over his spelling. You have no right to talk. You're a friggen John Cena fan. Look at your damn sig and you avatar.

Cena=gay.

What's wrong with being a John Cena fan? How is Cena gay? He gets more pussy in 2 days than you've probably gotten in your whole life. Cena is the hardest working WWE superstar there is today, bar none. Maybe people should learn how to spell before they post. I have all the right to talk. Cena deserves every title and accomplishment he got and is going to get. Why is Cena so "horrible"? Congratulations, man, you win the "Who the fuck are you?" award. Maybe next time, post something relevant to the thread. Consider this a warning, son. This is a forum and last time I checked, it's a fucking free world, so I can be a fan of whoever I damn well please.

And as far as the spelling and grammar issue, people really do need to clean up on that. People are allowed to have their own opinions on issues.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Theyre both as equally important as each other. Yin and Yang baby, Yin and Yang. Sure you can have your Cena vs Lashley, HBK vs Taker, face vs face matches once in a while. Dream matches. That might get the job done once in a while, but at the end of the day, who got Cena and Lashley to that level? Edge, Mr McMahon, The heels. HBK and Taker have ripped through so many heels its hard to count them all.

The converse works the same, heel vs heel might be okay for a month, but at the end of the day, the fans will start cheering for one. Because they need a heel to hate and a face to cheer. We CRAVE a good and an evil. Unfotunately, with more tweeners these days it's hard to get that epic feel of good vs evil. Thats why I love Cena matches. Clear evil, clear good. Summerslam should be great.

On a side note, I have no doubt its more fun to be a heel. As Roddy Piper said to WWE magazine once "Oh you keep your cheers. I'd rather have the crowd hate me. When you have thousands of people shouting '******, ******' at you, it's great, I love it".
I have no doubt being a heel is more fun. You get free reign. If I ever become a wrestler, unlikely with my ribs still being visible from beneath my Sheamus-like skin, I'd love to be a heel. Hell when I wrestle/d my pillow, I still low blow him.

Damn. Still nothing Funny in this post. This post blows.

 

[THE SWAG]

i would have to say heel, for the fact people would pay money to see the heel get his ass kicked instead of the face beating some crappy guy

 

[Slyfox696]

Faces are easily more important. The only role a heel plays is to make the face look good by comparison, not always an easy task, but still not as important as the face. The face is the one that makes people come watch the shows. Even the biggest heel "draw" in wrestling, Ric Flair, didn't make people come watch him, he just gave the local territories top face a great opponent to make fans come watch.

Faces are where the money is out. Heels just make good faces.

OK......OK.OKKKKKK ENOUGH AHAHAHAH HEY! GOOD THREAD, YOU SEE GUYS READ RIGHT HERE WHAT HEELS/FACES ARE ALL ABOUT.

WHO'S MORE IMPORTANT? I WILL RE-EDIT THE QUESTION AND SAY WHO'S THE KEY ELEMENT OF A FEUD SOME WILL SAY THE FACES, SOME THE HEELS, OTHERS SAY THAT BOTH OF THEM, BUT THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE HEELS ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS OF A FEUD. (I HAVE WORKED AS A LOCAL BOOKER IN MY COUNTRY) YOU SEE LET ME EXTEND EXPLAIN THIS.

USUALLY THE BEST "WRESTLER" IS THE HEEL, THE GUY WHO CAN DO IT ALL, WRESTLE (TECHNIQUE), BRAWL, HARDCORE, AND ALL OF THAT STUFF, ALSO I HAVE TO SAY THAT FACES GET HIGHER BECAUSE OF THE HEELS QUALITY, WANT AN EXAMPLE? EASY: EVERYBODY IN 2006 WAS LIKE "WOW JOHN CENA", BUT LET ME INFORM TO ALL THOSE WHO DIDN'T NOTICE IT, CENA LOOKED AS STRONG AND AS GOOD AS HE LOOKED BECAUSE OF EDGE, THE AMAZING JOB OF ANTAGONIST THAT EDGE DID IN '06 GAVE ENABLED CENA TO LOOK LIKE THAT!, THE BEST FEUD CENA HAS EVER HAD WAS AGAINST EDGE PERIOD. DO YOU THINK CENA WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THAT AND WOULD HAVE BEEN WHAT HE IS TODAY WITHOUT THE FEUD WITH EDGE? I DON'T THINK SO.

OTHER IMPORTANT THING HERE IS THAT IF THE HEEL IS WEAK, THE FACE WILL NOT LOOK AS POWERFUL AS HE COULD, BUT IF THE HEEL IS EXTRAORDINARY, THEN THE FACE IS AT HIS PEAK. EX: REY MYSTERIO LOOKS AWESOME NOW IN 2009, WHY? BECAUSE OF CHRIS JERICHO, I WANT TO SAY THAT CHRIS JERICHO IS A SENSATIONAL HEEL AND DID SUCH A PROFESSIONAL AND PERFECT JOB IN HIS MASK VS TITLE FEUD WITH MYSTERIO, ULTIMATELY PUTTING HIM OVER.

SO AS YOU CAN SEE THE HEELS CONTROL THE GAME, OK FACES ARE THE FAN FAVORITES BUT WITHOUT A GOOD HEEL, YOU WILL NOT HAVE SUCH A GOOD FACE.

SOMEONE SAID IN THIS THREAD THAT FACES ARE MORE IMPORTANT BECAUSE THEY SELL MERCHANDISE, AHHAHAHA I JUST LAUGHED AHAHHAHA BECAUSE OK THEY SELL THE T-SHIRTS AND OTHER THINGS, BUT HEY!!!! GOOD NEWS! THEY SELL THEM BECAUSE THE HEELS DO THE JOB OF GETTING THE CROWD'S HATRED SO THE FACES BECOME FACES AND ARE LOVED BY FANS AND THERE COME THE SELLINGS!

FINALLY, HEELS ARE NOT ALL OF COURSE, THE FACES HAVE THERE JOB, CHARISMA AND ALL, BUT THE FACE'S SUCCESS MOST OF THE TIMES DEPEND ON THE HEEL'S QUALITY, REMEMBER THE HEELS PUT THE FACES OVER, AS GOOD AS THE HEEL'S JOB OF MAKING THE FACE LOOK GOOD IS, THEN THE FACE IS GREATER, SIMPLE.

To quote the great Maddox:

That's the distance you'd have to move your pinky in order to not sound like an idiot.

 

[RH23]

They are both equally important. Without a heel, there's no point in cheering for a face; without a face, there's no point in cheering for a heel. I do think that it does take more charisma to be a GOOD heel similar to Edge, Triple H, The Rock, or Chris Jericho just to name a few than to be a face.

 

[Nate DaMac]

RatedRFan, that probably would have been a good post, but you put in all caps, and the AHAHA shit just made you sound like a moron. You do that stupid shit all the time. I actually agree with you, as much as it pains me to say it. Without the heel, the face wouldn't garner so much love. To quote Satan from the South Park movie, "Without evil there can be no good so it must be good to be evil sometimes." It is kind of dumb to discount the face's importance though. The heels usually are the reason for their popularity, but without the draws and the merch sales, the business wouldn't exist.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Faces are easily more important. The only role a heel plays is to make the face look good by comparison, not always an easy task, but still not as important as the face. The face is the one that makes people come watch the shows. Even the biggest heel "draw" in wrestling, Ric Flair, didn't make people come watch him, he just gave the local territories top face a great opponent to make fans come watch.

Faces are where the money is out. Heels just make good faces.

I disagree. Without heels, faces are nothing. What would happen is that every feud in pro wrestling would become a "I'm better than you" or "Give me that title" feud. You would get something much too...vanilla. Is that the right word? I hate using it. But heels are the ones that build the feuds, single-handedly if need be. Look at Jericho vs The legends at this years Wrestlemania. The heel in Jericho dominated that feud and turned it into something that we could actually care about. But it isnt to say that heels are more important at all. Because just as well as Jericho performed, we also wanted to see Rick Steamboat beat the bejeesus out of him.

If you're talking about drawing ability, sure, faces will win that contest easily. But the faces couldn't shape the business or build it without heels in the background. There is no way faces are more important just because of their drawing ability. the only reason they draw is to see them beat the shit out of a heel. There are two pieces of the puzzle there in that respect.

Still cant type anything funny. This post seriously blowed.

 

[Southwind]

I disagree. Without heels, faces are nothing. What would happen is that every feud in pro wrestling would become a "I'm better than you" or "Give me that title" feud. You would get something much too...vanilla. Is that the right word? I hate using it. But heels are the ones that build the feuds, single-handedly if need be.

Your 100% correct heels generally build the feuds and do almost if not all the work in them. Faces just have to pin a dominant heel in any setting and the crowd will pop case and point Mark Henry. Henry was MADE by Randy Orton and the rub he gave him Orton is the best heel today so when Henry pinned Orton the crowd went bananas and thus Mark Henry is in line for a mega face push.