Warning: Long NoFate style post coming up.
If you're cheering the heel because you simply want to do the opposite of what is expected of you (which, by default, means you boo faces for no reason other than to be different...and NOT that you cheer some and boo some) then no, that's wrong.
But should you cheer a heel in general? You have every right to.
We're supposed to suspend our disbelief and assume that these guys are the real people that we're currently being presented with, correct? Theoretically, we're supposed to believe that the Boogeyman is from "the bottomless pit", are we not? Theoretically, we're supposed to believe that Orton has IED and that Shawn Michaels just rebounded from financial difficulties, right? And theoretically, we're supposed to assume that whenever a heel turns face and a face turns heel, that that's who they REALLY are as a person.
Well, I'm allowed to like what people in the world I like. If we're supposed to take their roles as "Edge is this type of a guy. If you met him on the street, he would spear you if it meant he could get ahead of you in the line at Pizza Hut"...and if I'm a fan of that type of person, why wouldn't I cheer him? So what if he's doing bad things to a face. If I don't like the type of person the face is, then I'd be happy that he's doing stuff to that person.
Example: I find it very annoying when I come across a person that tries to make me feel like I'm worse than Hitler because I don't go out and volunteer to help save the rain forest. Is saving the rain forest a good thing to do? Yes. Is it ethically something that is admirable? Yes. Would that person be a face? Yes. But to me, that's annoying as hell, so if a heel Umaga came and gave them a Samoan Spike, I'd think "YEAH!"
You have every right in the world to cheer ANY wrestler for being any type of character because you're allowed to like and dislike people. HOWEVER...if you're booing a face because WWE wants you to like him and you just want to be rebellious, that's wrong. Similarly, if you're cheering a heel because WWE doesn't want you to, and you just want to be rebellious, that's wrong. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the performance of the wrestler or the product itself. Its just you trying to be a tough guy/girl. That's the equivalent of going to watch a comedian do stand-up and instead of listening to their jokes and cheering/booing according to whether or not you think its funny, you simply boo because you want to stand out and do something out of the ordinary.
On the issue of "if you think a heel is doing a good job portraying his character, you should boo him"....yes. But actually sit down and think about that for a second instead of just repeating it. If a heel is doing a good job, he should be making you hate him and you should be booing anyway. It shouldn't be a conscious effort. I shouldn't listen to Jericho and say "wow, he's doing a good job at making it seem like he's a bad guy. I'm thoroughly entertained. To make him feel good, I'm going to boo him. Boo." I should just think to myself "oh what an asshole, calling me a hypocrite. Boo!" because remember...suspension of disbelief. If John Cena was doing a good enough job, I would be happy to see him win and I'd just cheer out of a gut reaction, because his character would be someone that I wanted to see win.
See, that's the differentiating factor that nobody wants to really look at. They think "heel is entertaining = I should boo him / face is entertaining = I should cheer him", which is EXACTLY the same thing that those people are criticizing - you know, "smarks", the people that cheer or boo because of looking at the people as performers instead of as their characters. Person X cheering Orton because they like "Randy Orton the performer" rather than "Randy Orton the character" is exactly the same thing as Person Y cheering John Cena because they like "John Cena the hard worker backstage that they know the WWE would like them to cheer" as opposed to "John Cena the character".
