Orton, Edge, & Jericho. Has There Ever Been A Better Top 3 Heel Set In A Promotion?

[PlayTheGame]

All three of these amazing heels have really been the core of the WWE as of late IMO. The thread title pretty much says it all. Has there ever been a better set of 3 top heels that were better than this current set that the WWE has right now? I really cannot think of 3 heels that were all in the same company at the same time that had the heel power that all 3 of these men possess right now. I mean, think about it, all 3 of these guys even have different reasons WHY they're amazing heels, which is just icing on the cake (Jericho thinks he's better than everyone else, and loves to show it; Orton is cocky, arrogant, and fairly psychotic and violent; Edge is a cheater, plain and simple).

So, has a company (or the WWE in a different era) ever had a better top 3 heels than the WWE has right now with Orton, Edge, & Jericho?

 

[thewrestlinghero]

i agree these are the top 3 heels in this day age that a company has ever had they are all a different types of heel have they all have there own reasons to why they are that character unlike colin delaney when he was in the company

 

[wolfpack22]

I think the only time they were 3 better heels in one company was back in wcw during the nWo take over. At that time the business had never seen such heels. Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall were the best thing WCW had at the time, and the funny thing is fans kinda liked their anti establishment theme but backstage is where they really were thee 3 top heels.

 

[PlayTheGame]

I think the only time they were 3 better heels in one company was back in wcw during the nWo take over. At that time the business had never seen such heels. Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall were the best thing WCW had at the time, and the funny thing is fans kinda liked their anti establishment theme but backstage is where they really were thee 3 top heels.

I see where you're coming from, and I'm not neccessarily disagreeing with you, but I'd just like to point out that all of those guys were in the same stable, building off of each other's heat/heel power (altho I know they were all great heels anyway), whereas Orton/Jericho/Edge have all became great heels in a short period of time all by themselves based on their own ability/ableness/charisma, etc etc.

 

[y2j930]

Chris Jericho is hands down the best wrestler in the world today, no lie. He has everything, the total package. Randy Orton has improved vastly on both in-ring and mic abilities. Seriously he was not all that impressive when he first debuted but he is now as great as his Dad, maybe even better. He used to be so robotic on the mic(Jericho even joked about it in his return in 07) but now he is so good, not as good as Jericho though. Edge has always been the stand out star of E&C to me, just like I thought Matt was in Team Extreme. He was, just like Jericho, the total package. He had it made and still has it made in the WWE as one of Vince's fav's. I loved his betrayl of Benoit(Oh no I said the "B" word!!!!!), how he became completeley psychotic and obsseive over the WHC, it was good stuff. But all in all, yeah these guys are keeping the ratings up right now.

WHOLE FUCKIN' SHOW​

 

[NSL]

Edge, Orton, and Jericho are an amazing group of heels, but I wouldn't say they're the best all-time. In one faction alone, you have Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.

The Four Horsemen are the greatest faction in wrestling history, and no one can deny their in-ring ability. They may not have been as flashy as the WWE trio, but they were definitely bigger and better heels.

 

[Kyphael]

Didn't Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect and Ravishing Rick Rude all tenure in the WWF during the same time? They were all heels and great at it. The only difference is, most of them weren't former world champions, mostly due to Hogan, whereas Jericho, Edge and Orton have all been multiple world champions so their stock goes up, I guess.

 

[Mr. TM]

I think the trio listed are three incredible heels who were able all to rise into the top of the WWE and become some of the best heels. Edge did it with Vickie Guerrero, using the Ol power in the pocket. Orton did it with his strength in numbers, using his Legacy to take out the power on Raw. Jericho did it by slaughtering a fan favorite and attacking the fans. Three different paths to great heels. Could they however do it without the Brand split. It is hard to get three legit huge heels if there was only one show.

 

[godsmackfan82]

they are the best 3 heels ever at one time but still back in the early 90's sgt slaughter drew 10 times as much heat as them combined

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I can think of plenty, just from WWE alone.

1990: Rick Rude, Randy Savage & Curt Henning
1992: Ric Flair, Jake Roberts & Nailz
1994: Yokozuna, Owen Hart & The Evil Undertaker


Am I joking about Nailz & The Evil Undertaker? Nope, because Nailz beating the shit out of the Bossman is way more memorable than Orton kicking people. Same with the Evil Undertaker angle.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I can think of plenty, just from WWE alone.

1990: Rick Rude, Randy Savage & Curt Henning
1992: Ric Flair, Jake Roberts & Nailz
1994: Yokozuna, Owen Hart & The Evil Undertaker


Am I joking about Nailz & The Evil Undertaker? Nope, because Nailz beating the shit out of the Bossman is way more memorable than Orton kicking people. Same with the Evil Undertaker angle.

I would switch it to:

1990- Ravishing Rick Rude, Macho King Randy Savage, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase.


Three of the top heels not just of a particular time period ... but of All Time.


The heat Sgt. Slaughter drew during the Iraq War angle would put someone like Jericho or Edge to shame. Slaughter was actually getting death threats.


WWE has some awesome heels right now, no doubt about it. But I could pick out a couple other time periods when I can think of the company having some better ones.

Edge bores me a little. Mostly because they insist on shoving him down everyone's throats. You would have thought they learned their lesson with Triple H, but evidently not. He does throw out some real smartass comments every so once in a while, though.

How anyone can say that Jericho is a good heel at the moment, is truly beyond me. Again, I can only chalk it up to Jericho marks, who blindly follow the rest of the sheep to the slaughterhouse. I haven't seen a more bland, boring person on the mic in probably decades ... than Chris Jericho. You come out. You wear a suit. You say the same three phrases over and over again. You repeat all your promos. And his fans think it's the best thing they've ever heard.

And before anyone says anything, yes I know it is his gimmick to be the opposite of Y2J. I get it. But when you essentially try to act like you are as "exciting as watching paint dry" ... you still are as "exciting as watching paint dry". It's boring.

A) Put a little more emotion in your voice, and quit sounding so monotone, every time you cut a promo and ...

B) Vary your sound bites more frequently.


Ever hear of these phrases before?

1) "I am the best wrestler in the world today. I am the very best at what I do."

2) "I am the 2008 Wrestler of the year."

3) "These people are nothing, but liars and hypocrites."

Sound familiar? They should. These generic soundbites have been used in every promo he's had since turning heel. Real original.

 

[McFoley]

PlayTheGame, I gotta agree. As much as smarks like to hate on this era of wrestling, those are among three of the best heels of all time. They are all awesome on the mic and in the ring.

This leads me to an interesting idea, though. As good as each of these heels are, none of them draw huge heat (they draw pretty big heat compared to current heels, but not compared to the best of all time), but none of the faces they are up against are truly huge either, as far as the pop that they get. What I am getting at is a "chicken or the egg?" scenario. Does the ultimate responsibility lay on the heels for drawing the heat or on the faces for going against them? Or for the heels for going against the faces that stood up to the heels...etc? Or maybe it is somewhat independent: faces and heels can get heat on their own. What do you guys think?

 

[david703]

I think this is the WWE's Heel Era. NWO was the greatest assembly of heels ever and that will be tough to surpass. The Main Event Mafia is a fraction of what the NWO was.

Back to WWE Edge and Jericho are at another level of greatness. Randy Orton and JBL are fantastic. The faces have no personality in the WWE, infact I'm the opposite, when someone turns heel I love them more. It seems they can go out and let loose. MVP and Kennedy were great heels and wtf are they supposed to be now? Kennedy comes out and advertises his wack movie, MVP doesn't talk anymore and puts on a mediocre wrestling match and wins. Let's not even talk about what they did to Cena.. i'm still bitter about Cena

 

[Queers and Steers]

way more memorable!? ur joking right? orton will go down as one of the greatest ever! and him kickin ppl in the head is what issued in his era of destruction! i mean as an heel he beat the two top heels in the game at mania! he won the rumble and now after he beats hhh again he will have beatenthe biggest face in the game as well as took out the whole mac family! what exactly did nailz do again? besides that jercho is amazing fans hate his guts he is great in the ring and fantastic on the mic! especially with all of the random stuff he calls the fans every week! an edge is the only person that held all of the old titles and has held all of the current titles hes fantastic hes contraversial, hes an great wrestler(even though he doesnt get to show it like he did as an face!) he point blank is a big match winner whos resume is about as good as it comes! so these three heels are without an doubt as good as it gets!!! But oi think theres four amazing heels!JBL is fantastic!!!

 

[Shocky]

There have been better heel combination, but probably not as strong as on the main event level that we see now. As been stated before, the triumverant of DiBiase, Rude and Perfect is freaking amazing, along with Piper, Orton, and Orndorff around Mania 1, or even Piper, Sheik and one of those two guys.

The problem with Orton and Jericho is they are identicial when it comes to their mic abilities. Edge can be an asshole,a nd not speak in monotone, which says something to the strength of his character. Jericho and Orton you could probably switch roles and people wouldn't know the difference.

 

[Kyphael]

...wasn't Undertaker kind of always evil? I'm not sure burying people alive and putting their souls to rest ever fell in the "good" category.

 

[f_roEDGE]

thank you. THANK YOU!!!

You see, whenever I tell anybody about these three, people shun them. I don't know why. But Edge, Jericho and Orton are my three favs in WWE right now. Edge and Jericho have always been at the top of my list, with Orton's new persona putting him on my list as well. They are the top 3 heels in the business, and they will before years to come.

The problem with Orton and Jericho is they are identicial when it comes to their mic abilities. Edge can be an asshole, and not speak in monotone, which says something to the strength of his character. Jericho and Orton you could probably switch roles and people wouldn't know the difference.

They are different in many ways. Orton is an man on the brink of insanity, whose primary goal is to show the world how good he is. However, he cannot control his emotions and lets his rage get the best of him.

Jericho is a man out for himself. Unlike Orton, he isn't crazy. Unlike Orton, he isn't out for the fans. His monotone voice has nothing to do with his mic abilities, but his non-charismatic character. Jericho is quite possibly second-best on the mic in wrestling history (behind The Rock). Shockmaster, did you start watching wrestling like...yesterday??

My fav wrestler of all-time is Edge, but even I know Jericho has better mic skills.

Plus, Orton is getting better on the mic. Give him time.

 

[The_Predator_Since_1993]

I think these three Orton Edge and Jericho are potentially the best top 3 heel set in a promotion.

We have Randy Orton who is on a role as of late. His violent rebellious nature with some degree of pyschopathic behaviour makes him one of if not the best heel at the moment with him leading his own group Legacy has them in the spotlight on Raw leading up to Wrestlemania 25 and hes surely only going to get more vicious in the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania with the angle he's currently in with Triple H and the Mcmahons.

We have Edge who I feel was brilliant with his rivalry with the Undertaker leading up to Summerslam last year where he displayed that sinister pyschotic side of him. But at the moment he's playing the ultimate oppurtunist riole again which i believe he does a great job of and I feel with his most likely rivalry with John Cena leading up to Wrestlemania we are gonna see Edge hopefully play the role of that manipulative psychotic side of him to intense the feud between him and Cena as these two have good chemistry and can put on great matches.

The we have Chris Jericho who is probably the best in the world at the moment and as a heel is brilliant as he got fans trying to fight him while hes in traffic. Jericho plays that heel which is arrogant and ruthless when given the chance. Although he does come out each week and sort of give the same speech he is just trying to get under the fans skin thus showing his arrogant disrespectful views and the fact is him saying hes the best in the world at the moment is true.

So to finish it off this is probably the best top 3 set heel in a promotion. People have mentioned that other wrestlers like Ric Flair and Rick Rude SGT Slaughter etc have been the best heels cause of the reactions they have got from the crowds but the crowd is what contributes to the reaction and todays wwe crowd is mainly children and I don't think these children are gonna be sending death threats to the heels like Slaughter got.

 

[realblackhart]

I think the only time they were 3 better heels in one company was back in wcw during the nWo take over. At that time the business had never seen such heels. Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall were the best thing WCW had at the time, and the funny thing is fans kinda liked their anti establishment theme but backstage is where they really were thee 3 top heels.

Edge, Orton, and Jericho are an amazing group of heels, but I wouldn't say they're the best all-time. In one faction alone, you have Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.

The Four Horsemen are the greatest faction in wrestling history, and no one can deny their in-ring ability. They may not have been as flashy as the WWE trio, but they were definitely bigger and better heels.

I can think of plenty, just from WWE alone.

1990: Rick Rude, Randy Savage & Curt Henning
1992: Ric Flair, Jake Roberts & Nailz
1994: Yokozuna, Owen Hart & The Evil Undertaker

First things first, I agree that Randy, Jericho, and Edge (OJE) are the best heels now in the company. the NWO and the Horsemen are both stables. He didn't say Priceless, Jericho, and Edge. He said Orton, Jericho, and Edge. These 3 guys seperatley draw more heat than the beginning of the NWO, and eventually they will be hated more than the Horsemen. I'm not slapping history in the face as the Horsemen are probably or arguably the best stable in the history of pro-wrestling but Orton hitting Vince and Steph and Shane is drawing him a lot of heat. His demeaner and attitude make him hated. When Austin attacked Vince, he was loved. Orton has this arrogant feel to him, different from Jericho and Edge, that makes him hatable. The NWO and the Horsemen were heels as groups but these 3 guys are hated individually.

Now Rick Rude, Randy Savage & Curt Henning, all of these except for Savage were not main eventers, even though they should have been. Rick Rude was hated but wasn't detested, same goes for Mr. Perfect. Both of these also had a narcisistic feel to them. Savage on the other hand was hated as heel but heck so was Jake the Snake who is mentioned as well. Savage has memorable feuds with Hogan but I don't think he did enough to be hated the way the trio is hated now. Jake the Snake's heel turn was good especially when he was on the mic. His King cobra's attack on Savage was special but Jake wasn't a heel long enough. Flair was great as a face, and great as a heel, he is a legend, no more needs to be said. Nailz was not in the WWF long enough to be hated like OJE. Yokozuna was hated by the fans as the foreign heel but Muhammad Hassan has him beat in that department. Heck if we are going to list guys, throw in Bob Backland too. You guys also said Owen Hart? ok, now we are pushing it. I love Owen and always have, even when he was a heel and he was a good one but even with his most memorable heel feuds like with Brett he cannot hold a candle to this OJE.

The only guy that comes to mind as someone who made the best out of being a heel is Freddie Blasse you pencilneck geek, lol, J/k. The only one in my mind was Ted Dibiase, he bought everybody out. His gimmick worked very well at getting raw heat from the fans. His ability to almost always pay his way out of trouble made him a great heel.

I think that if these 3 guys remain heels for a little while longer they defiantelty could be 3 of the best heels in the business. All of three of them are great wrestlers, have great mic skills and are former world champions. Edge uses Vickie to get him what he wants, he always seems to come out of nowhere and get the gold. His victories with the help of Vickie make him a great heel. Even w/o Vickie Edge is unpredictable. Jericho's mic skills are enough to get him that honor. He is a great communicator with the fans. As a face he is loved but as a heel he can use his expanded vocabulary, and attitude to piss off the fans. If that is not enough his ability to wrestle better than almost anybody in the WWE (IMO he is the best) and being a heel makes the fans loath him. Orton like Edge is crazy, but Orton uses his group to get what he wants like Flair did with the Horsemen. But even solo, Orton does enough to get heat from the fans. His attacks on the Mcmahon family has united the fans in wanting HHH to destroy him. In the end, OJE's egos make them the best heels in the WWE.

 

[Ben-Phillips]

I think this might be the best possible set of heels in wrestling, ever. I mean, other than those three, you still have people like Vickie who draws absolutely ridiculous amounts of heat. Knox is getting better and surely hopefully will have some big heel role in the future. Kane isn't bad, but he isn't really generating heat or pop at the moment. Big Show was a good heel, as are Miz n' Morrison. I think this might be the best heel spread of all-time. Surely, the faces aren't quite what they were.... But they're not bad.

 

[wolvdog316]

this thread shows the ages of our fellow posters. Nobody above 20 could say with a straight face that these three guys are even CLOSE to being the best 3 heels in History. Rude Savage and MDM are classic.

They NEVER got cheered when they were heels. They made the faces look like a MILLION bucks. Could any of the 3 have a good cage match with Warrior? Maybe Jericho, not sure. Then you have Sheik, Piper, Orton, Paul, A LOT more heat

Then the horsemen. When they attacked Dusty and "broke" his ankle that was classic.

But to be fair to the current trio, the crowds aren't filled with drunken 20's year old men any more. Lot of kids there. All you got to do is pretend to cheat and you got heat. And Orton kicking McMahon, yeah wow, That was awesome. Too bad EVERYBODY kicks the crap out of VInce.

 

[Dale B]

They are the 3 Top Heels because they are the Only Heels in the Company ! As for Legacy, Dump Rhodes and put Shane O Mac in His Spot !

 

[jellmoo]

I don't think I could disagree more. There have been many eras where absolutely dynamite heels were working the business.

Edge has a lot of potential, but the big problem is that the majority of the heat he gets is from Vicki. She is essentially a more over heel than Edge is. I thought we were going to see something interesting last year when Edge snapped before his Hell in a Cell with 'Taker, but he's gone back to the sniveling Edge.

Jericho had a great feud with Shawn Michaels, no doubt. He's redefined his character nicely and I think ge draws great heat. However, he hasn't been able to capture that level of greatness since the HBK feud, even when he was holding the title.

Orton... sigh... I really don't quite get the circle jerk that the IWC has for Orton right now (the amount of sig files with sweaty pictures of the guy is a little disturbing). Sure he's good, if not great. He has the right look and is capitalizing on the push he's receiving. However, his mic skills while good, are not great. I can... tell... where he is... going... to insert that Orton... pause. His in ring ability is above average, but he still uses too many rest spots.

So sure, we are blessed with 3 guys that can draw heat. But tp say the best trio ever? That's a big stretch, a very big stretch. Too many eras had great heel combos as well. My favorite being Sgt Slaughter, Undertaker and Randy Savage. While it didn't last all that long, it was booked perfectly and each man really owned their role.

Also consider that there wasn't as much opportunity for heels to really shine before the brand split. Nowadays wrestlers have more exposure and camera time. In previous years they made do with limited exposure and a certain feeding to Hogan.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

this thread shows the ages of our fellow posters. Nobody above 20 could say with a straight face that these three guys are even CLOSE to being the best 3 heels in History. Rude Savage and MDM are classic.

They NEVER got cheered when they were heels. They made the faces look like a MILLION bucks. Could any of the 3 have a good cage match with Warrior? Maybe Jericho, not sure. Then you have Sheik, Piper, Orton, Paul, A LOT more heat

Then the horsemen. When they attacked Dusty and "broke" his ankle that was classic.

But to be fair to the current trio, the crowds aren't filled with drunken 20's year old men any more. Lot of kids there. All you got to do is pretend to cheat and you got heat. And Orton kicking McMahon, yeah wow, That was awesome. Too bad EVERYBODY kicks the crap out of VInce.

I agree that threads like this show the ages of our posters. Anyone who watched wrestling since the 80's and even early 90's would chuckle at the mere thought that people like Jericho, Orton, or Edge would be considered the Greatest Heels of All Time. To his credit, Edge may be getting there, as I would rank him somewhere in the Top 30 Heels of All Time.

But I'll pick one Heel from the above list, and let's compare him to Jericho, Edge, or Orton. That Heel is the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. To today's fans, I'm sorry, but none of those guys can touch Dibiase.

And notice where as Dibiase does have his catchphrases like "Everybody has a price ...", "nickel and dimers" etc. He doesn't say the same soundbites in every single one of his promos ... or rely on Generic heat like Chris Jericho, in order to get over.

The Million Dollar Man spending his day on Thanksgiving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77-sEPa-rw

Dibiase purchases Hercules
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOv12veSyeg

Dibiase purchases the WWF Title from Andre the Giant, after substituting Ref Dave Hebner for his Twin Brother, Earl Hebner. Listen to the heat in the arena when Andre gives the title to Dibiase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n1YxjRJu6Q

Dibiase gets a simple paper cut counting his money. How does he expect to be pampered?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUaqI8zkBgM


You just can't touch Heels that are his caliber. You have a guy that truly takes pleasure and great delight in embarrassing and humiliating people to prove his theory that "Everybody has a price for the Million Dollar Man". Truly one of the nastiest characters in wrestling.

 

[The Magic Taco]

Well I think that the three of them are exceptionally good at what they do, and even though I prefer it when they are faces (so they can get more clean wins), they just have a knack for pissing people off. But still, I don't think that Edge would be as big a heel as he is now if it weren't for Vickie Guerrero. The way she draws heat is amazing, and Edge just being in her presence heightens his heel reputation.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that they are they greatest heels of all time (as I am 15 and wasn't alive to see many other heels at work), but they still do a great job, and then they back it up with their in ring ability.