Easier to debut as: Heel or Face?

[Rusty]

Simple question, in your honest opinion is it easier for a brand new WWE Superstar to debut as a babyface or as a heel?

We've had some good debuts over the past few years. We've had undefeated streaks (CM Punk, Umaga, Vladimir Kozlov). We've had losing streaks (Armando Estrada), at least I think it was a losing streak but I could be wrong on that. But this thread is to discuss whether it is easier to debut as a face or heel in order to get over with the crowd.

Guys like Umaga and Kozlov got over very well as heels and haven't been a proper babyface since then. On the other side, CM Punk got way over with the fans quite easily as a babyface on ECW. But also, many have failed to get over with the role they are first given, so they needed a gimmick change or a face/heel turn in order to succeed in getting over with the fans.

John Cena, Batista, Cody Rhodes, The Big Show (2008) and many others all failed to get over initially with the role they were given, so all 4 superstars needed a face or heel turn in order to get the fans behind them (or to boo them). 3 of those 4 are main eventers today, and the other one is considered the future of the company.

So in your opinion, is it better for the superstar to first debut as a face or a heel? Please list detailed opinions for your responses.

 

[klunderbunker]

Right now, heel. When I went to a show about a month ago, I saw the FCW Champion Eric Escobar wrestle. He cut a heel promo before the match. It was one of the worst I've ever seen and the match was just as bad. He lost to Kizarny and got booed all the way to the back. Was it because he was supposed to be a heel? Or was it because it was cheap heat as if to say we don't care what you did, we don't like you. It's easy to get people to boo you, but it's far harder to get people to like you.

 

[RealDealOdin]

i agree its way easier to get boo than get cheered by the fans.
its easy thing to say in the mic that the city in wich take place the event sucks and stuff like that

 

[Yrrab]

I think it depends on who you're debuting against and some other factors. Say you debut against JBL and you're a 5'10 190 lbs guy. I'd bet fans would cheer a bit if you got in some decent offense.

But I think coming in as a heel/face is probably equally challenging. As Klunder said, it's pretty hard to get fans to boo you for a valid reason, other than being they just don't give a shit about you. Anyone can do that.

 

[Spunky]

I was listening to an interview with MR. Kennedy last week, And the very same question popped up, And he said excatly what I thought.

Heel, It's easy to get people that dont know you to hate you, You give them a look, Or say the slightest thing, And they are all over you. As a face you are usually told to go out and pump your fist's, Slap hand's of the crowd, Smile, And they just sit there thinking "Who is this guy? Why the hell should we cheer for you? We dont know you"

And he's right, How long does it takes for us to usually hate a guy that has just debuted? about thirty second's after his music hit's, There is so many thing's you can do on the way to the to the ring, Like, Fake a handshake with someone, Fake a slap to the face, Take a sign off someone, Act cocky. And that's on the way to the ring. A face? slap hand's? point to the crowd?

So i'd say it's easier as a heel to get people behind you/Booing you.

 

[Khalifa]

Heel easy. When you are first introduced people don't know you unless you follow OVW or FCW etc etc. So this first of gives you no cheers at all. You can not suddenly get over with the fans when you debut. It's impossible. Where as if you are introduced as a heel you can instantly get heat. For example you can come out tease the hometowns football team or basketball team then tease there hometown hero ( e.g. John Cena at Boston etc). So You can easily can heat your first night but you cant get cheers your first night unless you do something amazing.

 

[Blade]

Gotta be heel. Apparently these days, you don't even need english to be a heel Umaga, Khali, Kozlov...
Just come in and kick some hugely over face's ass and the people will boo you. It's alot easier to make people hate you than like you, it takes time and effort and appealing to everyone to make you a face. Wanna be a heel in WWE? Beat up The Undertaker and face him in a gimmick match.

 

[Queers and Steers]

i really think its easier for heels because as previously stated its easy to get boos. i mean not every body can be a cm punk or a Koffi Kingston. its not that hard to be an koslov.


i think e will be better off in the long run i honestly see hi,m winning the main event next year Punk has a following a great look and a unique wrestling move set 3 things that real wrestling fans love

 

[brm9893]

CM Punk was a unique situation. He debuted in ECW in a very smart arena (Hammerstein, I believe), and instantly had the crowd chanting his name. ECW had given him a vignette or two leading up to the event, so WWE had to take notice when a nobody with a promo was rocking the building.

Ultimately, I think it may have actually hurt him. Expectations soared high & led to a belabored ECW Title reign, then an early World Title reign. A slower build probably would have led to a healthier first year.

I know...I know...he won the titles. But is he really better off long-term?

 

[Uncle Bagwell]

it dusnt matter if u debut as a heel or face becuz aftr that the fans decide were u go from there.if they continue to boo a supposed "face" then he will be turned in2 a heel and vice versa, i mean obviously 4 ppl lyk umaga and snitsky those kinds of wreslters its already goin 2 work 4 them as heels b4 a fan see's them if u get me they jus hav that mean nasty look about them so it wud take a hell of alot 4 the fans to turn them in2 faces

 

[oilergk]

I'm going to have to say heel. Chris Jericho said in his book that it was much easier to be a heel because all you initially need to do is walk to the ring with a sneer and a cocky strut and you should get some boos. It also seems really hard to debut as a good face without seeming like you're desperate for attention.

 

[horsemen4ver]

It is easier to debut as a heel than a face. Really all you do is talk bad about all the face characters, tell people your better than they are, and do some sneaky moves inside the ring to get the crowd round up. I dont know about all you guys but if someone said they were better than me that would get me pretty mad.

 

[Milkyway!]

I would think it is easier to come out as a heel. Look at Umaga, I INSTANTLY hated him. Why? Look at his debut. He came out trashed ric flair in a matter of seconds. Then Armando just said Umanga was better than flair, the croud was booing their guts out. How much easier could it be?

Take Koslov, he simply beat on people, that meant nothing. Said he was the best, didn't get much heat. Until he trashed on Jeff Hardy, and said he wanted more of a challenge, then he got heat. This leads me to believe that the higher up your oponet is, if you squash them, and simply talk some trash on the mic. That the croud gives heat. But could this work as a face too? Just imagine if someone built like lashley, came out and pulverized Koslov, and said he was tired of seeing his crap. Would it work?

 

[Attack]

I definitely think it is easier to debut as a heel. First of all, it follows the age old rule that it is easier to get people to hate you than to like you. It's much easier for a fan to say, "I don't like this guy" than to say "I love this guy" after only seeing the guys debut match. Also, if a wrestler isn't very good in his debut, it'll make the hardcore fans hate him just for being a bad wrestler (Like Khali and Kozlov), and if the new wrestler is a heel, it will seem like he's getting over with the crowd while in actuality, the crowd just doesn't like his wrestling ability.

 

[SavageTaker]

I'm going to say heel if you have really good promo skills starting off.What a debuting heel could do is get on the microphone and say things like:"you fans should be gracious that you will even see me wrestle," or maybe even "im just doing this for the money seeing how you fans dont deserve the most talented and charismatic wrestler in not only this brand but this company."I think something along those lines will get you booed immediately but that wrestler has to say his promos normally like chris jericho does, without screaming because that makes you seem desperate.Also they have to make it sound like cocky heel manner so the fans get the feeling that this person is saying they are better than us.then that wrestler would have to go up against someone smaller than them like a rey mysterio.they could get even more boo's by bullying their opponent seeing how over rey is.also they could hit some big power moves which will get the fans to get off their seats and boo you immediately,that would be the defining moment to see if you would make a good heel because your not getting cheap heel heat.

 

[Crush1]

Without a doubt a heel. Because as a heel you're options are limitless you can do whatever you want to make the crowd hate you. Bash their hometown (Angle) insult them (Jericho) make fun of their hero (Edge) Smile like you're the best in the world (Swagger) Say you're better looking (Rude) and much more. If you have the look you and the voice it should be no problem to get over. But being a face and trying to get over is much harder. Because you have to have something special that makes people like you and if you don't have that IT factor people will get bored and the wrestlers get the Boring chants. So its definetely a heel.

 

[Showtime]

I think it's much easier to start out a heel, but I contest that it's easier to develop into a strong face than it is to develop into a strong heel. In today's wrestling, anybody who debuts can be a heel. As long as your big, and either cocky or don't say much, you'll immediately be a heel. Just look at Knox, Umaga, and Kozlov. Combined, the three might've spoken 20 english words in there careers, but in their young careers they've had strong debuts as heels. If the crowd doesn't know who you are and you haven't been around for 10 or 15 years, then you can almost automatically become a heel unless you have that "it" factor that makes the crowd want to cheer you, ala Punk and Bourne and Kingston. The crowd is very pro history and cheers to some degree everybody who's been with the company for a while. It's getting harder and harder to keep good heels heels because the fans these days respect wrestlers more and decidedly will cheer for whoever they feel they want to. This is leading to more guys getting mixed cheers and more wrestlers who are heels receiving equal amounts of cheers. Look at Big Shows heel run when he first returned, and Jericho and Kane's when they first ran in 2008. Show had to be turned face cause the crowd loved him way too much and Kane and especially Jericho still received large amounts of cheers even after they started attacking fan loved favourites Mysterio and HBK.

The fans are what is making it hard for good heels to still remain booed. Look at the two top heels, Orton and Edge. They are playing their characters so well that in some cities they are getting cheered for it. True, Edge is now entering that territory where he's been around long enough that the fans might start cheering for him any way, but that doesn't explain Orton, who hasn't been around long enough to get the same level of respect we reserve for guys like HHH, HBK and Taker, yet he's been cheered fair amounts, even more humourous, he's probably gotten more cheers as a heel than he ever did during his face run. Cena, on the other hand, since 2004 has been pushed down our throats faster and harder than hot dogs are at a hot dog eating competition and up until his recent string of injuries which made us all realize we all did like him, he was on the receiving end of as many boos as cheers. And that could very well be because he was still new, he hadn't reached that level of fan respect that again, HHH, HBK, and Taker have.

So in short, I believe it's much easier to debut a heel, but if you want to remain one, you have to be very good at it. Otherwise, if you last 10+ years, there's a better chance you'll make a good career as a face than a heel. That's how it appears to be now in today's WWE.

 

[Ben-Phillips]

Honestly, what people haven't been discussing is, the gimmick! I doubt you'll show up with some preppy good-boy gimmick and do everything by the rules and cleanly and get boo'd. If you show up and you're some ruthless psychopath, sure, you'll get boo'd... Unless you're Randy Orton. Lol. The point is, it depends on who you debut against, how you debut, with a promo or a random action. I don't know exactly what else to say. If you had a Chris Benoit-esque gimmick, you can just show up and kick ass, but if you're like Chris Jericho and just show up calling the fans hypocrites and blame them for each and every problem in your career, what do you think will happen?

What I'm saying is, look at how Booker T debuted in WWE. He got a HUGE pop, when he interfered at King of the Ring, but when Lesnar interferes in a little unimportant match up, he gets boo'd.

 

[Starchild]

Definitely has to be a heel. Getting heat is not nearly as hard. The fans will be if you're a good heel, or if they just don't like you. Either way you are doing your job and getting heat. The only time it's a bad situation is when the fans don't react or chant boring. A face, on the other hand, has to make the fans like them. And no matter how much they try, sometimes people will still boo. Look at Cena and Batista as the best examples of this. They are the top 2 faces in the company...akin to what Austin and Rock were to their era...and the fans just don't like them getting stuffed down their throat so you can normally here some boos with the cheers, and sometimes even moreso. If they were heel, they were probably just be booed completely and it'd be easier.

Let's look at someone I think fits the bill for this...Vickie Guerrero. Imo, she is god-awful and does a terrible job, and she should be written off television. But she gets mega heat so Vince likes that and keeps her. It's not because she's a good heel, it's because she's terrible and they hate her. But heat is heat, so Vince is gonna stick with it.

 

[NSL]

Heel. Easily. Like everyone else has said, it's easier as a fan to hate someone, than like them.

Another reason it's easier to debut as a heel, is because you're most likely wrestling a veteran first; someone who knows how to be a face, and put young guys over. Once you're a heel for a short while, and start to learn how to play the crowd, it would be easier to be a face.

The Attitude Era also made it a lot easier to be a heel. It made it much more easier to be cheered as a heel, and booed as a face. Now, younger talent can worry about just learning the in-ring stuff, and letting their gimmick come to them, instead of trying to be something they clearly are not.

 

[rowdy ruben]

id say heel. its much easier to get someone to hate u then love u. unless ur an establish performer from roh, tna, original ecw or former wwe star then u can get away with being a face

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I guess it depends on the person. Some people just make a better face than they do heel. Look at a guy like Kofi Kingston. He came into ECW as a face and it just came off natural. For all we know he could be a prick but he just seemed to fit as a face. While we can't say that he wouldn't have been as sucessful as he is now as a heel, but personally I think he would have got lost as a heel.

But in the end I would say it would be harder to be a face, since some people just are not crowd friendly or people the crowd would like to cheer for. But heel is hard too, because you have to give off enough arrogance or "evilness" to be hated. So many guys have debut as a heel and just don't get any reaction because there either poor at what they are doing or just not hateable enough.

So again both are harder in different ways, but I think it's easier to be hated then to be loved and adored.

 

[supergav67]

I guess a typical great WWE match is a popular good guy against an extremely loathed baddie. (so next week on raw its John Cena Vs Vickie Guerrero-Im sorry)
During the Attitude era,All the top Superstars Rock.Austin.H. were considered GreY so heel/face turns were easier.Any actor will tell you ,baddies have all the best lines ,& wot better way for an audience to let off steam more & a newcomer to get across better than being a panto villian.
.,Ive always assumed it must be hard to be a good guy in wrestling when your job description is basically cramming another guys head in "entertainingly".

 

[GameOver]

Heel is always the easiest to get over, all ya have to do is say something dirogatory or act cocky and most hate ya.

Being liked is alot harder to keep up unless you are really funny, can put on a great match or are master of the cheap pop "Thumbs up". Hence why alot of superstars prefer the heel route

But yeah lots of things are still grey. but that goes with the territory it's hard to be a "Good Guy" who always acts on the side of honour etc. when your job discripition is to beat the crap out of someone b4 they do it to you.

Saying that who can remeber Jessie Ventura's famous catchphrase.

Win if ya can, Lose if ya must, But always cheat
or "Do to others b4 they ever have a chance to do to you"
That's the American way and the WWE way.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

It's far easier to debut as a heel. As a heel wrestler, to get a negative (boooooo!) reaction, you simply have to be a bastard. Be arrogant, jaw with the crowd, do whatever to get booed. You see, to be an effective heel in a debut, you simply have to be disliked. That's easy.

To be a face, on the other hand, you have to be both liked AND respected. Wrestling fans are not quick to dole out the feel goods in a debut match. Furthermore, a face wrestler runs the risk of being called boring or losing interest if they work a pure face match and are devoid of charisma.

I'll make one exception - if you are a high flyer who is able and permitted to pull off high spots, then it's easier to be a face. Evan Bourne isn't oozing charisma, but he can do some visually impressive ariel moves which always get the crowd going.