Aight there does seem to be a big age difference in this forum. Now I'm in the middle of all this. I'm 23 years old and I've been watching wrestling since the mid 80s till now. And times are much different now than there were back in the early 90s and mid 80s.
Actually wrestling today is ALOT like it was back in the mid 80's and early 90's. You have over the top gimmicks. Big productions shows. There is a clear line between reality and fantasy. It is marketed and clearly shows that it is for entertainment purposes only, hence why it's billed now as "sports entertainment".
This thread is not some one thought process thread. This is a big question. Hogan was the biggest face and the biggest heel. The NWO turned went way better than anyone could have expected, including Hogan himself. He did a great job at keeping people to hate him. He was the biggest star at that time and he still was making movies. So its like calling him a sellout and he doesn't care at all. He's the man to takeover WCW. And he was going to make you hate him no matter what. I loved to hate Hogan during the NWO. But I also cheer them on occasions. Everyone wanted to see the top faces beat him. Lex Luger won the belt and the crowd goes nuts. Sting wins the world title and the crowd goes wild. Goldberg wins the title from Hogan and the crowd goes INSANE! You love hating Hogan.
Exactly. Hogan helped the chance the face of wrestling in the late 90's. He helped skew the line so much between fantasy and reality that you actually hated him as a person and not just as a character. Not since Joan Collins and Susan Lucci donned their heel personals on there respective dramas, had anyone been able to do that. And definitely not with a male demographic as the prime base. When Hogan went heel, people actually cried and then wanted his head on a pole. From the moment of the leg drop to when he went face again, he was a true villain. Hands down.
But I say Edge is the better heel. From what he has achieve and how he came on to the scene. He was a heel when he first came into the WWE. Although his start in the WWE was a face, he had a heel like persona. And he's always had success as a heel. When Edge & Christian became a heel, they were hated by the fans. Not only were they hated, they back up their hatred with key victories that helped propel their career. Just like the other Edge thread I wrote, Edge is the man.
I would have to say that Edge didn't become a heel as much as he was shoved down our throats as a heel. When he came into the WWF, he was a follower heel, which meant he was just a henchman to a heel. So his heelness was more or less attributed to the figure under which he was aligned, which was The Undertaker and The Corporation. During his time with Christian, Christian was seen as being more believable as a heel in that pairing and played that part when they split. This meant that WWE didn't have confidence in Edge's ability to carry the heel ball on his own.
Think about when he became face again and Christian was on the verge of leaving the company to TNA. Edge was getting any good direction with his character thus, the fans started booing him. Which is why I call Edge the better heel and also one of the greatest ever to become a heel with the exception of Ric Flair. People were tired of Edge and didn't give a damn about him. Edge becoming a heel was a choice he decided to make. And I think it was for the storyline either. For Edge to put on classics like the Triple Threat Ladder Match at WM 2000 and the first two TLC matches, you would think that gets his respect. The fact that he has put on some classic rivalrys as a face, including the war he had with Kurt Angle (Oh yeah, who's the reason that Kurt's bald-headed? Edge) He's actually won a tag team championship with Hogan.
I wouldn't call him a face at that time. Sure, he spent time with Hogan, but he was still trapped in what I like to call the "Chris Harris Zone" to were he was only as over as who he was associated with. If WWE had confidence in him at the time to go above and beyond, they would not have paired him with super-face Hogan to try and elevate him. He still could not float. And even though he took down Angle, he still was not over as a face. People didn't care. Becoming a heel was not a choice as much as it was a desperate cry for help. So they began force feeding Edge's heeldome to us week in and week out. They even had him turn on one of the top faces, Shawn Michaels, to which he only got tepid heat.
Edge did a lot as a good face and to hear the crowd boo him as he was a face. That was all the anger Edge needed. You see I bet you all the marbles in the world, Edge took that personally. As hard as he worked and the matches he put on to get booed. That sunk in on him and all of a sudden Edge is on a rampage. He joins forces with Randy Orton to really make each other look good as heels. Then, being the creative genius and heel he is has his own stable. He pretty much runs Smackdown, even with HHH on there. Then, he did the unthinkable and took out The Undertaker. So that made everyone hate him even more. Now he has the chance to be the biggest heel and get the biggest respect in the WWE. I see him taking a big spot in that Hell in a Cell match. He might even get the victory.
The crowd booed The Rock. The crowd booes alot of faces. And do you know why? Because their attention spans can only take in so much for faces and heels. So WWE decided to over feed us the Edge heel thing. They went the route of showing him as self absorbed and selfish. And they made him whine and cry and pretty much annoyed us into taking him as a heel. It wasn't earned, it was overmarketed. And he still has yet to prove that he can be a top heel at that. For reference, a top heel is someone, who no matter who else is a heel around them, maintains their heel heat. Edge can not do this. So he was moved to Smackdown. And if Triple H ever decided to go back to being a heel, then Edge would have to try the face turn because he could not maintain his own heel heat. Hell, even Vickie Guerrero gets more heel heat than Edge. Hogan would not need such to get over as either face OR heel.
All I'm saying is you can't put Hogan over Edge because they played two different heels. Plus, Hogan is at the fall of his career. Edge is just becoming the legend he's about to become. He will beat HHH for that World Title. Please believe he will. Edge is the best the WWE has now. And he may not be as big as Hogan was in terms of popularity but he will be a way better performer and wrestler than Hogan ever was. And I bet Edge would beat him if they fought now.
I can see how Hogan goes over. Hogan was hated for being Hogan the bad guy. Not Hogan, leader of the NWO. Not Hollywood star Hogan. No. he was hated because it was sacrilegious for his to be anything other than a hero. And people hated themselves for ever having loved him while he was a bad guy. Edge, on the other hand, people could care less about. He could not get over as a face and people didn't go crazy when he became a heel. Hogan was naturally a heel. Edge had to be force fed to the audience for several months in order to get where he is, and that is STILL not to the heel point that Hogan was at. Hogan stands alone as a heel. Edge's heel credibility is only weighed by his associates. Therefore Hogan was a true heel. Edge is not.