The heel art lost? I think not

[Kizzani]

I finished reading this statement by the honky tonk man. I haven't decided if it upsets me with the creative department or the Non Wrestling fans.

Being a heel before was easy, you crapped on a hometown crowd (still used to pathetically, Less the New Day before this bullcrap face turn..blah) or you crapped on America and they was a sure fire way of drawing heat. But these new days (no pun intended) Americans hate america, they hate their hometown and have zero pride in anything anymore. This makes it harder for heel personas to do their job.

Then you toss in fear, yes I said fear. No from irate fans but from the outside world, anything done in WWE is taken as real for some reason and you can't do certain things due to the repercussions. Just look at the last 10 years of sorry pathetic parents who have had a child injured or die from wrestling moves and quick to jump and blame WWE, why not blame TNA? ROH? etc etc. Oh well that is simple WWE is the biggest fish and has the most money, why not try and steal, it is so much easier than earning money right Hulk Hogan? Reminds me of the Michael Jackson cases, so sad we have gotten here.

So the WWE has no choice but to limit their heels to weak version of drawing heat, fight the boss, crap on hometown and boring......No wonder people like Bray Wyatt and New Day gain love even though they are being complete douches on TV.

Wrestlers know how to draw heat, but when you tighten those reigns and allow so little to be done, what do you expect. So thanks to all the scum bag lawyers and judges who hate wrestling and have forgotten this is a show, a spectacle and a show that is not different than an action movie.

So unchain the boys and girls, let them be means, let them creative stories. most people hate the Miz, taking a trophy from a little girl was heat that will never recover, I don't care how many figure fours he tries to put on people.

Look at how much attention "Kill yourself" got and still never made it to the air. Why? Simple.....Headlines "WWE promotes suicide". But hey, they wrestling we grew up on is no longer, in 10 years, wrestling matches will have zero contact and they will talk about their feelings with each other.

We are diving fast, fans are leaving left and right. People just are losing interest at an alarming rate. Stop blaming the WWE for your crappy parenting, teach your kids real from fake.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think HTM's comments have become sort of standard operating procedure for much older veterans who either don't want to or simply can't wrap their heads around how much pro wrestling has changed since their day. HTM's peak was during the late 1980s and he may have gotten some heat back in the day but all he'd get today is laughed out of the arena if he debuted in WWE today in his early to mid 30s with his gimmick as an Elvis impersonator. He'd find himself quickly joining the job squad alongside guys like the Social Outcasts, Tyler Breeze and Fandango.

 

[Makaveli31]

No one knows how to be a bad guy anymore and no one knows how to be a good guy and what you have now are just stunt men. You have a five minute match of all stunts as fast as you can go, as much as you can do and try to keep the people from changing the channel on the clicker because like I said before, the TV pays a lot of money. They want ratings and if they have ratings they sell ads, ads cost more if the ratings are higher. It’s a television product now, we were a wrestling show on television. Now it’s a television show that features wrestling. I say that about this other thing that we used to have, it was a football game and it was televised and called the Super Bowl. Now it’s a big television show that features a football game where the Half Time advertisements more people know about those then who is playing in the game and it’s the same thing with wrestling. It’s a TV show called RAW now that’s what it is.
Read more at http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/704935-honky-tonk-man-talks-ric-flair-incident#5zzpRFAr2VFkWMz5.99

I agree 100% about "political correctness" absolutely sucking the life out of pro wrestling. Could you imagine if movies and tv shows were under the same scrutiny as WWE? It would be NOTHING but Disney movies. It is all social media driven. Somebody ALWAYS has a problem with something. You brought up the Ric Flair promo when he said "kill yourself" I can go on YouTube and find THOUSANDS of Flair promo's when he said worse!! C'mon! That's HEAT. The "training bra" promo with Ricky Morton, Saying he's had "more championships than Syxx has had "pieces of of ass". Pure gold. No one could play the heel better than Flair. And all of a sudden he's getting crap for saying some off he cuff?!? In the heat of the moment?!?

That's the problem. EVERYTHING is scripted. I remember Hall saying they to "practice" their promos in front of Vince. Everything sounds the same. No one has their own personality. Back in the day, Honky didn't sound like Rude, Rude didn't sound like Jake, Razor didn't sound like Diesel, Diesel didn't sound like Macho etc....

I think Honky would draw heat today because he knows how to draw heat! No one scripted his promo's for him. He did it himself. It would absolutely work today especially in the PG environment. The 80's weren't all that different in terms of what you could or couldn't do. Honky wouldn't survive the Attitude or Ruthless Aggression Era but I think he would thrive in today's WWE. Without the scripted promo's of course.
I

 

[nwocongo]

All good points. The scripted promos are a big part of a lot of fans hatred/disapproval of certain individuals. Owens does pretty good of being a "traditional" heel in today's landscape he seems to be one of the few guys who can let his personality shine to a certain degree and he's pretty much a tweener at this point for all intensive purposes. Then of course there's Jericho, "Put your phone away you stupid idiot" classic, he's one of the few that can still let out his inner arrogant prick because he's almost one the level of the Rock where the brass trusts him on the mic and he isn't as neutered as the younger guys who are trying to get established.

On the note of of teaching your kids real from fake..that seems like an awful lot of work. Couldn't I just put all the blame on teachers, the kid's peers, and parents of said peers? Maybe I could even become part of a class action lawsuit against the WWE for a botched backyard DDT when I'm asleep on the toilet.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I finished reading this statement by the honky tonk man. I haven't decided if it upsets me with the creative department or the Non Wrestling fans.

Being a heel before was easy, you crapped on a hometown crowd (still used to pathetically, Less the New Day before this bullcrap face turn..blah) or you crapped on America and they was a sure fire way of drawing heat. But these new days (no pun intended) Americans hate america, they hate their hometown and have zero pride in anything anymore. This makes it harder for heel personas to do their job.

Then you toss in fear, yes I said fear. No from irate fans but from the outside world, anything done in WWE is taken as real for some reason and you can't do certain things due to the repercussions. Just look at the last 10 years of sorry pathetic parents who have had a child injured or die from wrestling moves and quick to jump and blame WWE, why not blame TNA? ROH? etc etc. Oh well that is simple WWE is the biggest fish and has the most money, why not try and steal, it is so much easier than earning money right Hulk Hogan? Reminds me of the Michael Jackson cases, so sad we have gotten here.

So the WWE has no choice but to limit their heels to weak version of drawing heat, fight the boss, crap on hometown and boring......No wonder people like Bray Wyatt and New Day gain love even though they are being complete douches on TV.

Wrestlers know how to draw heat, but when you tighten those reigns and allow so little to be done, what do you expect. So thanks to all the scum bag lawyers and judges who hate wrestling and have forgotten this is a show, a spectacle and a show that is not different than an action movie.

So unchain the boys and girls, let them be means, let them creative stories. most people hate the Miz, taking a trophy from a little girl was heat that will never recover, I don't care how many figure fours he tries to put on people.

Look at how much attention "Kill yourself" got and still never made it to the air. Why? Simple.....Headlines "WWE promotes suicide". But hey, they wrestling we grew up on is no longer, in 10 years, wrestling matches will have zero contact and they will talk about their feelings with each other.

We are diving fast, fans are leaving left and right. People just are losing interest at an alarming rate. Stop blaming the WWE for your crappy parenting, teach your kids real from fake.

I think being a heel is lost to some extent. Some is what you say, but I think that there are three other major reasons today for it.

1) The fans trolling Vince:- Fans these days cheer heels and boo faces. Once, the fans used to cheer good guys and boo bad guys. This has happened for two reasons. One, the emergence of the tweener, ambigiuous wrestlers like "Stone Cold" (was considered a face, but acted like a heel) and having flawed faces and cool heels. There is no black or white, only shades of grey.

The second on this point is the fans sticking it to Vince's "choices". The fans boo or cheer because THEY decide who they boo or cheer, and won't let WWE decide who should be booed or not. If someone is an underdog or not utilised, they are cheered (e.g. Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Zach Ryder etc) but if they are pushed to the moon, and are big and large, so don't make a believable underdog then they are booed out of the building (e.g. John Cena, Roman Reigns).

The fans ask for Cena or Roman to go heel. But I bet, within six months of them being a heel, they will be cheered again, because they are now "cool", and the WWE will turn them face again.

2) Most heels don't play "heels". I think a lot of heels don't know how to be a good heel, and generate such heat that even the biggest troll will boo them.

I think a great heel was Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Here is a guy who was a great wrestler, had cool clothing, had a gorgeous woman in tow, yet was booed incessantly. Why? Because, Savage "played" the heel. He cheated to win when he was good enough to win fairly, just because he could. He treated Elizabeth badly, he injured a beloved hero (Ricky Steamboat) in a heinous act. Savage did everything to get his character booed, and it worked. Also, remember when Hulk Hogan went heel at "WCW Halloween Havoc '96"? Hogan said in an interview he got death threats afterwards, and became one of the most booed heels in history. Vince McMahon becoming "Mr McMahon" was also a successful heel who was rightly booed.

These guys did such heinous acts that they were booed, no questions asked. They injured fan favourites, they cheated and lied. They made you hate them.

These days, most wrestlers play cool heels, not hated heels. Only Seth Rollins plays a proper heel, by coming across as a whiny, self-entitled, chickens..t heel. Most others don't deliver like this.

3) Society has changed. In the 80's, faces and heels were well-defined. America was the "good guys", the Russians and Iranians were "bad guys". Good guys smiled, won fairly, and touched fans' hands on the way down to the ring whereas heels cheated (often with managers who distracted the referee). Watch an 80's PPV from the Network, and you can tell the "good guys" and the "bad guys".

But people don't want "good vs evil" anymore. Now, the media and other outlets have put across that no-one is truly good or evil. It is more perception than anything. If you do something truly "heelish" these days, you get attacked on Twitter. In the 80's, someone like "Stone Cold" would have been a hated heel, rather than a cheered face. The goalposts have moved because morality and what people see as good or bad has changed as well.

 

[Bockwinkel's Class]

I think being a heel is lost to some extent. Some is what you say, but I think that there are three other major reasons today for it.

1) The fans trolling Vince:- Fans these days cheer heels and boo faces. Once, the fans used to cheer good guys and boo bad guys. This has happened for two reasons. One, the emergence of the tweener, ambigiuous wrestlers like "Stone Cold" (was considered a face, but acted like a heel) and having flawed faces and cool heels. There is no black or white, only shades of grey.

The second on this point is the fans sticking it to Vince's "choices". The fans boo or cheer because THEY decide who they boo or cheer, and won't let WWE decide who should be booed or not. If someone is an underdog or not utilised, they are cheered (e.g. Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Zach Ryder etc) but if they are pushed to the moon, and are big and large, so don't make a believable underdog then they are booed out of the building (e.g. John Cena, Roman Reigns).

The fans ask for Cena or Roman to go heel. But I bet, within six months of them being a heel, they will be cheered again, because they are now "cool", and the WWE will turn them face again.

2) Most heels don't play "heels". I think a lot of heels don't know how to be a good heel, and generate such heat that even the biggest troll will boo them.

I think a great heel was Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Here is a guy who was a great wrestler, had cool clothing, had a gorgeous woman in tow, yet was booed incessantly. Why? Because, Savage "played" the heel. He cheated to win when he was good enough to win fairly, just because he could. He treated Elizabeth badly, he injured a beloved hero (Ricky Steamboat) in a heinous act. Savage did everything to get his character booed, and it worked. Also, remember when Hulk Hogan went heel at "WCW Halloween Havoc '96"? Hogan said in an interview he got death threats afterwards, and became one of the most booed heels in history. Vince McMahon becoming "Mr McMahon" was also a successful heel who was rightly booed.

These guys did such heinous acts that they were booed, no questions asked. They injured fan favourites, they cheated and lied. They made you hate them.

These days, most wrestlers play cool heels, not hated heels. Only Seth Rollins plays a proper heel, by coming across as a whiny, self-entitled, chickens..t heel. Most others don't deliver like this.

3) Society has changed. In the 80's, faces and heels were well-defined. America was the "good guys", the Russians and Iranians were "bad guys". Good guys smiled, won fairly, and touched fans' hands on the way down to the ring whereas heels cheated (often with managers who distracted the referee). Watch an 80's PPV from the Network, and you can tell the "good guys" and the "bad guys".

But people don't want "good vs evil" anymore. Now, the media and other outlets have put across that no-one is truly good or evil. It is more perception than anything. If you do something truly "heelish" these days, you get attacked on Twitter. In the 80's, someone like "Stone Cold" would have been a hated heel, rather than a cheered face. The goalposts have moved because morality and what people see as good or bad has changed as well.

^^^^^ He gets it. Just to add to this, one of the biggest reasons it's hard to get anyone to play a true heel is merchandise sales: "Cool" heels sell t-shirts and true heels don't. There just isn't a whole lot of incentive to play a true heel. Hell, when Rollins was playing a traditional chicken-shit heel you had smarky types bitching about it because they couldn't cheer him like they could a "cool" heel.

 

[Headman]

It's hard to play a good heel because millennials are a heel generation. They are lazy, egotistical, short cut taking freeloaders so they aren't inclined to boo someone for having those traits as part of their pro wrestling character. So HTM is right about it being a lost art, but I don't think the art would work even if it was rediscovered.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

It's hard to play a good heel because millennials are a heel generation. They are lazy, egotistical, short cut taking freeloaders so they aren't inclined to boo someone for having those traits as part of their pro wrestling character. So HTM is right about it being a lost art, but I don't think the art would work even if it was rediscovered.

It's such a troll type response on a generation when Millennials are currently working more and longer and earning less then the baby boomer generation. And it's the Baby Boomers that have benefited from the post-WWII social programs and squandered the country's prosperity for the upcoming generation.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

I finished reading this statement by the honky tonk man. I haven't decided if it upsets me with the creative department or the Non Wrestling fans.

Being a heel before was easy, you crapped on a hometown crowd (still used to pathetically, Less the New Day before this bullcrap face turn..blah) or you crapped on America and they was a sure fire way of drawing heat. But these new days (no pun intended) Americans hate america, they hate their hometown and have zero pride in anything anymore. This makes it harder for heel personas to do their job.

Then you toss in fear, yes I said fear. No from irate fans but from the outside world, anything done in WWE is taken as real for some reason and you can't do certain things due to the repercussions. Just look at the last 10 years of sorry pathetic parents who have had a child injured or die from wrestling moves and quick to jump and blame WWE, why not blame TNA? ROH? etc etc. Oh well that is simple WWE is the biggest fish and has the most money, why not try and steal, it is so much easier than earning money right Hulk Hogan? Reminds me of the Michael Jackson cases, so sad we have gotten here.

So the WWE has no choice but to limit their heels to weak version of drawing heat, fight the boss, crap on hometown and boring......No wonder people like Bray Wyatt and New Day gain love even though they are being complete douches on TV.

Wrestlers know how to draw heat, but when you tighten those reigns and allow so little to be done, what do you expect. So thanks to all the scum bag lawyers and judges who hate wrestling and have forgotten this is a show, a spectacle and a show that is not different than an action movie.

So unchain the boys and girls, let them be means, let them creative stories. most people hate the Miz, taking a trophy from a little girl was heat that will never recover, I don't care how many figure fours he tries to put on people.

Look at how much attention "Kill yourself" got and still never made it to the air. Why? Simple.....Headlines "WWE promotes suicide". But hey, they wrestling we grew up on is no longer, in 10 years, wrestling matches will have zero contact and they will talk about their feelings with each other.

We are diving fast, fans are leaving left and right. People just are losing interest at an alarming rate. Stop blaming the WWE for your crappy parenting, teach your kids real from fake.

I feel sorry for your family if you have kids. Simply stating 'Teach them real from fake' is a horrible way to teach kids. Are you telling me at no point in your life did you think wrestling was real? Kids get scared at Disney movies, telling them it's just a cartoon doesn't stop the nightmares.

To simply say 'It's not real' does not justify it to a child. For your thinking that it does, explains why shampoo bottles have directions on how to use it. Specifically for people like you.

For the love of god, never have kids!!!!

 

[Headman]

It's such a troll type response on a generation when Millennials are currently working more and longer and earning less then the baby boomer generation. And it's the Baby Boomers that have benefited from the post-WWII social programs and squandered the country's prosperity for the upcoming generation.

It's not a troll response at all. It's a pretty accurate description of the current generation and why classic heel antics don't provoke a negative reaction from them. Somebody isn't going to boo a guy for putting his legs on the ropes for leverage during a pin fall if they're currently trying to protest their way out of paying their student loans while demanding $15 an hour to flip a burger, wipe down a grill and ask "Would you like to make that a combo meal?".

 

[nwocongo]

It's not a troll response at all. It's a pretty accurate description of the current generation and why classic heel antics don't provoke a negative reaction from them. Somebody isn't going to boo a guy for putting his legs on the ropes for leverage during a pin fall if they're currently trying to protest their way out of paying their student loans while demanding $15 an hour to flip a burger, wipe down a grill and ask "Would you like to make that a combo meal?".

Another troll post, it's not so much that it's a "heel generation" it's more the fact that the curtain has now been completely pulled back and EVERYONE knows wrestling is a work, also judging a whole generation based on wrestling fans is very, very stupid.

Just to poke a few holes in your crotchety old fart logic...Why was James Dean over as a baby face biker punk during such a hard working clean cut era Era? Why was Al Pacino over as a ruthless coke dealing babyface in the good old' Reagan days? Rooting for a rebellious heel vs. a cheesy clean cut baby face has always been something that young folks do, has nothing to do with the generation, you probably know that.

Also, if college tuition and basic cost of living (gas, food, children's clothing, diapers) was as high then as it is now, people would have been up in arms for an increase of minimum wage. You show me one time in the history of this nation where the younger generation did not disagree or protest something and I will rescind my accusation of you being a crotchety, curmudgeonly troll.

 

[Headman]

Another troll post, it's not so much that it's a "heel generation" it's more the fact that the curtain has now been completely pulled back and EVERYONE knows wrestling is a work, also judging a whole generation based on wrestling fans is very, very stupid.

Just to poke a few holes in your crotchety old fart logic...Why was James Dean over as a baby face biker punk during such a hard working clean cut era Era? Why was Al Pacino over as a ruthless coke dealing babyface in the good old' Reagan days? Rooting for a rebellious heel vs. a cheesy clean cut baby face has always been something that young folks do, has nothing to do with the generation, you probably know that.

Also, if college tuition and basic cost of living (gas, food, children's clothing, diapers) was as high then as it is now, people would have been up in arms for an increase of minimum wage. You show me one time in the history of this nation where the younger generation did not disagree or protest something and I will rescind my accusation of you being a crotchety, curmudgeonly troll.

Basically what I'm hearing from you is... "Stop insulting me for wanting a free ride!" and "I chose to go to school for a field that produces very few jobs now the government should pay for it!" and suddenly I have no problem being called crotchety by the likes of you.

Back to my point, everyone agrees there is a generational gap between the old timers like HTM and the current wrestling audience. Things that worked then won't work now so they have to discover new ways of performing the heel role. Ways that can get heat from an audience that expects to get it's way 100 percent of the time. The idea that fans in the 80's didn't know it was fake is a myth. Everyone knew it was fake. They just weren't spoiled by the kind of access people have now. This over inflated since of self importance isn't limited to wrestling fans. We've seen two of them in a round about way compare their unwillingness to pay their own student loans with real struggles other generations encountered like ACTUAL civil rights. This is the audience. They're never wrong so if you want their money you're going to have to pander.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Personally i don'T think the heel art is completly lost, i think it's more a think where keyfabe doesn'T exist anymore. I look at the WWE roster right now and i see a lot of guys that are really trying to be affective heels. Guys like Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and to an extent The miz are doing a wonderful job as heel but the problem is that since keyfabe doesn't exist anymore the fans don't believe that these guys are heel because they pretty much tell everybody that they are playing a character.

Back in the day, when you were a heel, you didn'T interact with fans and you played your character in front of the fans 24/7. The fans still knew that wrestling was pretedermine but they got into the show anyway because the wrestlers we're able to pull them in with they're performance.

Now that everything is out in the open, you can do that anymore because fans knows that this works like any other tv shows and these guys are just characters in a show. The wrestlers don't go the extra mile anymore to protect their character because they don't have too anymore. Case in point, kevin owens going to the hospital to see enzo and then posting a photo on instagram. The character of kevin owens would never do that but the real man would and that's sweet and all but how i'm i suppose to believe that this guy is a complete jerk when i just saw a picture of him caring for the well being of another wrestler. I can't and that the main problem with wrestling right now, you can't suspend you disbeleave anymore because the performers don't let you do that anymore.

 

[nwocongo]

Basically what I'm hearing from you is... "Stop insulting me for wanting a free ride!" and "I chose to go to school for a field that produces very few jobs now the government should pay for it!" and suddenly I have no problem being called crotchety by the likes of you.

Back to my point, everyone agrees there is a generational gap between the old timers like HTM and the current wrestling audience. Things that worked then won't work now so they have to discover new ways of performing the heel role. Ways that can get heat from an audience that expects to get it's way 100 percent of the time. The idea that fans in the 80's didn't know it was fake is a myth. Everyone knew it was fake. They just weren't spoiled by the kind of access people have now. This over inflated since of self importance isn't limited to wrestling fans. We've seen two of them in a round about way compare their unwillingness to pay their own student loans with real struggles other generations encountered like ACTUAL civil rights. This is the audience. They're never wrong so if you want their money you're going to have to pander.

1. I don't identify with most people my age, I think most of them are entitled brats, so I'm not in complete disagreement with you and I don't feel personally insulted. You threw out the bait (as crotchety trolls do) and a couple people bit, so you accomplished your goal. Then you glossed over my post and immediately interpretted my words in a way to suit what your narrow mind thinks of people my age. I'll have you know I fully paid off my student loans 2 years ago.

2. The whole generation can't be judged by the worst of the worst. Ex. Was everyone in the late 70's a ****ty white trash Ric Flair groupie? So in short your statement of a "heel generation" is still stupid.

3. I'm still waiting for you to point out a time when young people/college students (or any group of people for that matter)weren't protesting or bitching about something...you conveniently ignored that part. Another classic troll tactic.

4. The old timers of your generation probably thought people who idolized Elvis were amoral, satanic, homosexuals. So basically, crotchety curmudgeons always piss and moan about how terrible and whiny young people of the day are because they don't understand how to cope with changes in society they do not agree with . I'm already disgusted with most 20 something's so I'm sure I will be much much worse of a crotchety curmudgeonly old fuck assuming I live past 40.

Oh and ps. How is the WWE pandering? by sticking with Roman Reigns (which I have no problem with) Vince is basically saying, fuck you I'm still taking your money and I will continue to run my company my way.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Personally i don'T think the heel art is completly lost, i think it's more a think where keyfabe doesn'T exist anymore. I look at the WWE roster right now and i see a lot of guys that are really trying to be affective heels. Guys like Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and to an extent The miz are doing a wonderful job as heel but the problem is that since keyfabe doesn't exist anymore the fans don't believe that these guys are heel because they pretty much tell everybody that they are playing a character.

Back in the day, when you were a heel, you didn'T interact with fans and you played your character in front of the fans 24/7. The fans still knew that wrestling was pretedermine but they got into the show anyway because the wrestlers we're able to pull them in with they're performance.

Now that everything is out in the open, you can do that anymore because fans knows that this works like any other tv shows and these guys are just characters in a show. The wrestlers don't go the extra mile anymore to protect their character because they don't have too anymore. Case in point, kevin owens going to the hospital to see enzo and then posting a photo on instagram. The character of kevin owens would never do that but the real man would and that's sweet and all but how i'm i suppose to believe that this guy is a complete jerk when i just saw a picture of him caring for the well being of another wrestler. I can't and that the main problem with wrestling right now, you can't suspend you disbeleave anymore because the performers don't let you do that anymore.

This "people not living their gimmick" reminds me of something.

In the 70's, when I was growing up, my favourite rock band was KISS. Now, KISS were huge then, and the awesome thing about them, other than their music and shows, was their personas. They wore costumes and make-up.

The thing too was, there was a time where you NEVER saw the men behind the make-up. KISS teased this on their album cover "Unmasked" where it shows a cartoon of someone trying to catch KISS without make-up, and failing every time.

Their personas made KISS seem "otherwordly" and added to their popularity. I guess my love of wrestling and gimmicks came from KISS having costumes and playing "characters".

But then, around the 80's, KISS removed their make-up and showed what they looked like underneath. Their popularity dropped, because now they were just another big-hair band.

My point is, you stopped believing the character because the mystique is gone. Kevin Owens doesn't seem as much of jerk when he shows compassion for another human being, KISS aren't as good without the make-up, Darth Vader wasn't as cool once we saw his backstory, and Santa didn't hold the same excitement when you found out he wasn't real. All these cases are an example of kayfabe being broken.

 

[SmattyG]

My two cents....

I've been watching wrestling for 40 years now. Triple H, Stephanie and The Miz are classic heels. During the Occupy RAW segment, Triple H was as watchable as Daniel Bryan. Steph and Miz walk the fine line between classic heat and fast forward heat.

Owens is a great heel. Just this Monday a line like I didn't ask any of you, I was asking them (Shane & Steph) worked as well as anything. Even Aiden English saying he as going to party like it's 1899 in the days after the death of Prince worked well.

Bully Ray in TNA was a fantastic heel. Jericho is unbelievably good. The art of being a heel is just that - an art. It's up to the performers to convince the audience to boo them.

 

[d_henderson1810]

My two cents....

I've been watching wrestling for 40 years now. Triple H, Stephanie and The Miz are classic heels. During the Occupy RAW segment, Triple H was as watchable as Daniel Bryan. Steph and Miz walk the fine line between classic heat and fast forward heat.

Owens is a great heel. Just this Monday a line like I didn't ask any of you, I was asking them (Shane & Steph) worked as well as anything. Even Aiden English saying he as going to party like it's 1899 in the days after the death of Prince worked well.

Bully Ray in TNA was a fantastic heel. Jericho is unbelievably good. The art of being a heel is just that - an art. It's up to the performers to convince the audience to boo them.

Here is another thing that helps someone play a proper heel.

Take Stephanie McMahon. People boo her because she acts like a spoiled princess on air, but maybe she is a bit like that for real, and just dials it up a bit.

Many of the most successful heels might just be dialling up their natural personality. Edge was looked on as a jerk for stealing Lita off Matt Hardy. So, on air, he took that "inbuilt hate" and dialled it up to 11. Vince, Stephanie and Triple H probably are so effective, because they are already very successful (which the fans already resent) but also act like they are too good for the rest of us. That is why when "everyman" character like "Stone Cold" or Bryan come along, and fight a Vince or Triple H respectively, it really generates excitement. You really want the perceived "face" to beat the suitcase of the "reviled heel".

Maybe the best heels on screen aren't too far removed from their true personalities off-screen, so not as much acting is needed.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

WWEs current number one heel to me is Kevin Owens. He plays a heel so good he could have a feud with Sin Cara for two months straight and still make it watchable.

I don't think the heel art is lost, but it's definitely changed to a degree. Wrestling fans have seen it all and it's up to the heel to create new reactions and make people hate them. Stephanie McMahon has grown to perfect a authority heel figure, the only problem is she's used way too much to the point where her weekly yapping sessions creates channel turning. She has more impact if used less IMO.

The Miz is a pretty good lower card heel, but he really doesn't get big reactions so he's where he should be. Him main eventing Wrestlemania will be his career top.

Rusev, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio are caught in a uninteresting quagmire of heel status. Not much reaction to these three resulting in a failure of a stable and boring belt runs as LON. Rusev may be breaking out and going back to a dominant heel with Lana at his side...(here's hoping)

Seth Rollins character grew to a slimy, cowardly heel. But all that is gone with a bad injury, he'll likely come back as a face now.

Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman are a great heel team. Heyman is a great mouthpiece for The Beast and could sell a match against Brooklyn Brawler and make it a must see event. But they are used sparingly, and that really adds to Brock's charm IMO. Not sure why Paul couldn't manage other wrestlers so we could see him more. One could even argue that they're not heels because of the positive reactions Brock and Paul get.

The New Day (before the face turn). Look at the way New Day evolved into a fantastic heel trio. They worked the fans on the mic and got cheating wins. Eventually they got the biggest reactions on the show.

My only complaint is the lack of shocking face/heel turns the WWE does now-a-days. They don't do it right or not often enough. The big one has been on the backburner for a long time and they need to do it right, I'm talking about John Cena.