Return of the Monster Heel?

[TheCrusher]

Does WWE need to go back to having monster heels as part of the regular programming? It seems like there are plenty of "obnoxious guy" heels, but are the really getting the heat the shows need?

It used to be, "Here comes Kane, somebody is getting destroyed!" "Poor kid has to wrestle Yokozuna, he's doomed!" Big Show has had some pretty successful monster runs as well. But right now, that element seems to have been shelved until Mark Henry's run. Sheamus could have had a bigger monster run, but they didn't seem to want to stick with it. They pulled the plug on throwing Kozlov with a manager to build his run into something meaningful.

Yes, it's formulaic to have the monster heel tearing the under and midcard to pieces, but it gets heat pretty much every time. And over the long haul it builds to the top face having to face him. Right now, it is hard to buy ANYONE going over Cena and Orton. The drama fades when that is the case. Is there anyone they have on the roster that it would seem like a great accomplishment for either of those guys to beat? But go back and watch Bret Hart vs. Yokuzuna in Wrestlemania X, and there was lots of drama in that storyline. When the ring flooded with all the faces after Bret won, it seemed like we had witnessed a great moment and a Cinderella finish.

The greatest dramas in real sports come from upsets of that magnitude. Ali's close friend Howard Cosell told us, "I fear this is the end of Muhammad Ali, because I don't think there is any way he can beat George Foreman." The result, Ali's win in "The Rumble in the Jungle" becomes the most famous match in boxing history. The "Miracle on Ice"...Jimmy Valvano's NC State beating Houston's "Phi Slamma Jamma"... fantastic drama.

WWE has the ability to shape the drama, but they seem hesitant to build the monster for the face to beat.

I am hoping that the end result of Kane and Big Show taking time off will be at least one of them returning as a good old-fashioned monster. They may have already missed the boat with Wade Barrett or others in that role.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

mark henry is basically a monster heel in wwe right now hes doing good with it but i thought big show had a great run as ecw champ as a monster heel i mean come on he beat down DX by himself many times! if big show came back as a heel and was dominating im good with tht

 

[Allstar]

I think WWE are doing great with mark henrys current monster heel push. He would be a convincing threat to the world title if they keep the ball rolling with him.

I feel the reason that they don't have many big monster heel pushes is that it's hard finding a big guy that can put on a decent entertaining match - remember koslov vs triple h at summerslam? Horrible match!

I see promise in Brodus Clay - he has an awesome look and can move around in the ring plus can cut a good promo if need be.
One other mention would be Mason Ryan. Havnt seen much ring work but the guy is massive!

 

[bfred27]

To me monster heels are just too hard to make these days, and its incredibly difficult to find a monster heel that can actually work a semi decent match. For all the praise Mark Henry gets for his recent run, there is still a large majority of people who just cant stand him. The Great Khali had a similar monster heel push, and the people eventually grew tired of him.

Outside of Kane the last monster heel i enjoyed to watch was Umaga, i remember the first night he showed up and went off the top rope. He played the monster heel role great, and you truly believed that his opponent was truly in trouble against him.

In terms of modern times there really arent that many people who could pull off the gimmick today. Mason Ryan could, but he needs a lot of work and needs to be rebuilt badly after the new nexus. Overall the monster heel is a dieing species and they are just too hard to make and even harder to sustain at this point.

 

[ChiefAlot]

As a few people posted. I also like Henry's push atm. He is doing well. Brodus Clay has a great chance to be a Monster heel. And my last monster heel im DYING to see is Kharma's.

 

[ahoyhoy]

I think the 20 year push towards athletic and technical ability inspired by Bret/Owen and then Michaels, in the WWE at least, means it is much harder to take a monster heel seriously, especially if they have limited wrestling ability. Look at the 5 on the main rosters right now: Kane can wrestle, Big Show and Mark Henry have limited ability but can make it entertaining and Mason Ryan and Great Khali actively disingage the viewer. Andre never had to work weekly televised matches with people as fast as Evan Bourne or as 'unpredictable' as Bryan Danielson etc. It is not to say that he couldn't - Yokozuna certainly made fueds with Bret work and Undertaker has put over every type but it must be harder to find 'monster' body types that can put over their style today.

Then add in their gimmicks: I don't think the monster Kane would work as well in the internet era as it did in 97/98. All you have to do is wiki him to take the juice out of the Undertaker brother storyline. Same with the Big Show as the Giant in WCW. Much of what makes a 'monster heel' is the monster psychology and background and if the wrestler's twitter feed shows he isn't mentally deranged then shiiiiiit... I can arrest reality but can creative and the agents and the other wrestlers keep kayfabe? Can the REST OF THE VIEWING PUBLIC AND INTERNET?

Where I wouldn't be surprised to see the next truly effective monster heel come from is someone like MVP who had been in jail before training to be a wrestler, if only because backstory and information is going to become more and more important in character believability as the future happens.

 

[DD7]

I loved the great khali's monster run a few years back. I for one liked it how nobody on smackdown could stop him. Kane and Batista just got destroyed by him everytime. Then somehow in the end Batista beats khali. It was a good run. I think we need another monster run. Maybe bring back Kane and Big Show as monsters. Then have someone like Wade Barrett save the day rather than Cena or Orton.

 

[TheCrusher]

All-Star: I can't really comment on Brodus Clay. I haven't seen enough of him yet.

Obviously, a super slow guy like Khali or Giant Gonzales doesn't capture the attention of the fans for very long and takes a really good wrestler to carry them in a top of the card match, but those are examples of monster heels that just don't work well at all. Guys like Kane and Show have done it very well, however. Brock Lesnar was great as a monster heel as well. So was Kevin Nash or Sid. Taker is probably the best there has ever been in the role, but his agility at the beginning of his career was just unbelievable for his size. After that, his character was just awesome and his "presence" made him a legend. Can't really count on finding another combination of qualities like that very often.

It does take a certain body type to make a monster heel, no doubt about it. But there are some shortcuts to getting one over. In the build-up, they can do a lot of squash matches. These are easy to do, and while the IWC will whine about workrate and moveset or whatever, the average fan just sees a character that seems unbeatable. The monster heel needs to be able to do his power moves, but a lot of what they do consists of no-selling moves from smaller guys. Then, they need a well-booked match when they are headlining, but it can be done.

The monster heel doesn't need to be great on the mic. That's what managers are for. Some of the best characters in all of wrestling history have been managers who get heels heat from the crowd. Heenan, Hart, Paul Bearer...Heyman was pretty good in his time as well.

The biggest problem I see with monsters is sustainability. Unless you're willing to feed some of the upper card faces to your monster, he has a very limited lifespan. If he squashes Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston, but then falls to Cena the first time they meet, he's basically run his course. That's why I mentioned the Bret Hart and Yokozuna feud. Despite the booking of Hogan to beat Yoko at the end of WM Nine, Yoko had already beaten Bret. At WM Ten, it still felt like it was an uphill battle for Bret. Overall, it was good booking and had a huge payoff due to their patience with it.

Like I said in the original post, it's hard to see a monster heel out of the current bunch of younger guys. They've already made them look weaker than the two top faces. The best bet for the next year or so would be a revitalized Kane or Big Show coming back after the "injury" with a new attitude and a new approach. Maybe neither of these guys would work either. They're not young men and might just not be up to the heavy schedule of matches. But, I think they could do it, since many of the matches would be squashes anyway. I don't think Mark Henry is the answer in the long run, but his short program has been pretty good.

I don't really have all (or maybe any) of the answers, just a lot of probablys and maybes. Right now, it just strikes me that they have booked themselves into a corner where there are too few credible threats to the top dogs. After Orton/Christian all Smackdown really has left is Sheamus. After Punk/Cena Raw has only guys like Miz/Del Rio and that brings us back to the obnoxious guy heel who it just doesn't feel like should be able to beat their strong face. Those guys work, too, but not exclusively.

I forgot about Batista's run as a monster. He was very good in the role and deserves mention as someone who could pull it off in recent years. I wonder if he will ever get over his differences with the creative direction of the WWE and find his way back. Not really sure what all else is going on there, but I'd bet there's something. Anyway, Batista played the role so well you couldn't help but buy it.

 

[GameOver]

I agree, in the past the booking in general was alot more sensible and though there wwere still the same guys at the top otheres were still made to look good too. Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry are perfect examples all were marketed as monster heels most of there careers and itinailly they were exactly that, then they were "re-tooled"and were booked to lose 95% of the time, yet still be in the top 6 contenders all the time. That is bad booking, you can't expect people to believe these guys are really dominant and a serious threat when they lose all the time and look weak doing it.

Kane, goes from impervious to pain, beating the Undertaker 3 straight times and beating Stone Cold in his first title attempt to being a sidekick for DX to losing his mask and any draw factor, to constantly going from face to heel to face several times a month. Finally gets back on track to the title then less then 6 months later he's trying to be the voice of reason stopping Big Show from pummeling someone? WTF???? lol Thats a perfect example of how to kill a monster character

They don't have to win titles, but they should still be winning more often then not, so atleast there's a sense that anyone that goes against them has a serious chance of losing.
would be like anyone going against Cena and Hogan and the booking making it seem like those 2 were always the underdogs yet they never lost as CM Punk said, so that's what got to Cena and Hogan they wanted people to believe they were the underdogs yet they were always on top so were rarely the underdogs.

as for Smackdown, i've said in the past Smackdown has nothing going for it atm it's lost all momentum, Sheamus is heading face which is odd cause there's a lack of serious heels. Orton has become bland and is too goody goody, despite the fact he still talks about his anger management issues. Christian is just bland too atm, i wanted him to win the big one but i dunno he's just not working for me. funny enough Mark Henry is the only legit acting character atm, but he's still boring

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Monster heels are hard to maintain. Part of being a monster is not talking much and just kind of beating people up. That doesn't work as well in today's climate, especially since it's more open that it's fake. Before people bought guys as monster heels because they really felt they were unstoppable. Now you know if they booked Evan Bourne to beat Mark Henry with a pinkie to the nose it'd happen (they wouldn't book it but theoretically it could happen). So instead you have to be more creative. What they're doing with Mark is great, but Mark is very talented. Not everyone can do this sort of thing and have that kind of presense.

 

[Hunted-RKO]

WWE have tried a few monster runs over the years and i think only 2 were succesful.The Great Khali was a complete flop and boring,the guy can hardly walk around the ring i was glad to see batista beat him.Big Shows Monster heel run bk in ECW was great i realy enjoyed that and i also liked big shows other kind of monster heel run just before WM 25 & Mark Henry Is doing quite a good job at the moment but i think when Big Show & Kane return we will see a Big Show Heel Turn.

I think to be a monster heel u dont have to be a WHC u just have to dominate in every match your in and win the matches and totally destroy the mid card/Upper card.But there is no way they will go over Cena because he is some type of superhero so we can scrap that idea.But aint this moment of time its hard to make a monster heel now because it wont be believable because they have buried most of the big guys they have

 

[TheCrusher]

Hunted--my concerns about whether or not they could sustain the monster push are much like yours. If they don't put the monster over Cena (or Orton) the first time they meet, then they can't sustain it. They helped the very talented Sheamus get over by letting him beat Cena at TLC. If they are afraid to put somebody over their top faces, then they are in trouble in the long run.
The best drama comes when the top babyface has the "testicular fortitude" to get in there and do it again and again until they come out on top.