Heels, Tweeners, and Faces...

[ramblinroy682]

How do you make a superstar heel or face? Well, I think there is a tried and tested method for doing this that has been around in wrestling for years. Personally, I believe there are two ways to do this for each persona.

For the heel:
Method 1: Find a guy who is great on the microphone and can really go in the ring. Typically the heel will be able to make the other guy look great. He can sell the moves and take a beating. Then through underhanded tactics he finds a way to win. Typically, the best heels have all used the same material for annoying the audience. In one way or another, they say they are better than you.(better looking, more straight edge, women love me, more athletic, rich, etc.)

Examples: HBK, Flair, Hart, Jericho, CM Punk, Macho Man

Method 2: Find a really big, intimidating guy (more effective put him with a manager) and have him destroy people. This would mean attacking them past the needed point. It also means cheating to win, even when they wouldn’t need to. Typically, their mic skills don’t even have to be the best.

Examples: Andre the Giant, Big Van Vader, Triple H, Scott Steiner, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker.

For the Face:
Method 1: Find a guy who has really great personality, is capable of cutting a great promo, and has a look that people who love to get behind. They don’t have to be great in the ring, but they need to be paired with someone who can carry them in the ring and sell their moves. Typically, they shouldn’t lose unless someone cheats to be them. Something about them has to be marketable.

Examples: Hulk Hogan, John Cena, The Rock, Dusty Rhodes, Sting

Method 2: Find a guy who can really wrestle in the ring. His moves are awesome and his matches make you want to cheer for him. When being booked, they overcome the odds over time despite being smaller, outnumbered, or not willing to cheat. It helps if they are serviceable on the mic, but they can be a bit vanilla personality wise, if they are good enough in the ring.

Examples: Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Ricky Steamboat, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio

Somewhere along the way, a new character was created: The Tweener. I would say the first of this kind was Ric Flair. At some point, the adult males in the crowd thought it would be cool to be like him and began cheering him. HBK became this guy for WWE. Other examples would be Austin, Edge, Christian, RVD, Nash, Hall, HHH, or Mr. Anderson (Kennedy). These guys played the cool guy but cheated to win. The talkers from the heels and faces seem to fall easily into this category. One guy who never seemed to fit the tweener role was Bret Hart. He always stood on either side and never straddled the line. The problem with this is nobody really wants to be a heel anymore. Everybody would rather have a portion of the crowd cheering for them. Vince Russo seems to think that everyone should be this character. Vince McMahon seems to be moving away from this direction. We seem to be seeing more clearly defined roles for his characters making it easy for the kids and adults to know who to cheer for and who to boo. You will always have that group of counter culture who cheers for the villain, but Vince seems to be going back to wrestling roots even if he is dropping the name. TNA added the name, but wants to have all these shades of gray.

I wrote all of this to talk about what TNA could do. If TNA followed the methods I outlined I think they could clearly define some roles in their company, be more successful, and truly make an impact.
What I would like to see from everyone is who you feel could be the real heels and faces in TNA. Where would you put them? How would you divide the line? Would you have any tweeners? For me:

Top Potential Heels:
Morgan (Method 2)
Roode (Method 1)
Gunner (Method 2)
Shelley (Method 1)
Hernandez (Method 2)
Pope (Method 1)
Kaz (Method 1)

Top Potential Faces:
AJ Styles (Method 2)
Angle (Method 2)
Sting (Method 1)
Crimson (Method 1)
Daniels (Method 2)

Tweeners:
Mr. Anderson
James Storm
Samoa Joe

Obviously, you have some guys who aren’t listed. I’d make tag teams out of the leftovers. Some potentially good tag teams could be made. I’d have a few jobbers. And I’d cut some. I think though you have some guys on this list who are capable of either role. Let me know how you’d divide the roster…

 

[Rasha]

I think you're underrating how much TNA is already doing most of these things. All five of the faces you mentioned are in those roles right now. As for the heels, Pope, Gunner, and Hernandez are also clearly-defined. Roode and Kaz just recently turned face, though I agree with you that they're ultimately better as heels and should go back to that somewhere in the not-so-distant future. As for Morgan, he also is better as a heel but one of the most common complaints on these forums is about how often he changes alignments. I'm not saying that's a great reason to keep him a face, but it is something to consider.

As for the tweeners you mentioned, I think Samoa Joe is the only who really fits that role. You can compare him to Kane in a way; just a physically destructive force who can either be loved or hated depending on who he's got in his crosshairs. We saw how ineffective it was when he tried to be a true face in his recent feud with The Pope, so just let him stick to wrestling and make his opponent dictate the crowd reaction.

Mr. Anderson should just go full-out heel. His humor and attitude just don't mesh well with the face role. I often find myself thinking, "so I'm supposed to LIKE this guy?" when he's the "hero" in a feud. That conflict is a problem and it's easily eliminated by just making him the total heel he's meant to be.

James Storm should also stick to the heel role. While he's perfectly adequate as a face, most of his best stuff is heelish. The beer bottle smashes are a big part of his identity and they don't work if he's the face. His "Sorry Bout Your Damn Luck" catchphrase is also much better for a heel character, as it's the blanket excuse for whatever underhanded tactics Storm uses to win.

 

[Stuntz]

You forgot a way to make them a face. Make them the comic relief or as I call them the laughing stock. ie. Santino went from legitimate heel to laughing stock, so hes automatically a face. Another example is Khali when he was a monster heel then they had nowhere else to go with him they started the kiss cam, then bam instant laughing stock face. I hate these type of faces but they are common place in the wrestling entertainment world, and cannot be forgotten.

 

[silrock316]

Not a very good thread. I stopped reading when you basically said HHH and Taker were average on the mic. They are two of the best EVER at it. They both are decent ringwise and seriously were you just dying to start a thread? No duh there is basically the same methods for heels and faces. Everything from being cocky to insulting their local sports teams. Really what is the point of this thread? Next will you tell me th methods to tying shoes?. I'd rather you have asked if it was a good idea to keep someone heel if they always have to cut promos during commerical breaks to get more heat for the taping when commericals end. Talk about bblllaaaannndd.

 

[whoopin' ass]

there is no formula that you can count on. austin should have been a heel his whole career, hogan was supposed to be a heel when he joined wwf and and hbk really shouldn't have gone anywhere if you look at the rockers(great workers but boring personality). something clicks and it works. formulas create issues. look at tna and fortune - the only reason they are face is because they attacked immortal. that's it. that is what turned then face. but if you look at the months before, it makes no sense. if you look at the number of times someone like triple h has turned heel/face, anyone can turn heel or face - no promise it will be successful but put the person in the right situation, and it will work.