The Monster Heel

[TheTheDude]

It has often said that the Monster Heel is pretty much a dead spectacle in wrestling today, due to the size disparities between wrestlers being much less than in the days of Andre. Brock Lesnar was probably the last to pull it off competently, but even he needed a Spike Dudley to destroy.

Yes I know in women's wrestling its still quite possible, but it usually ends lackluster. Gail Kim being the one to finally bead Awesome Kong? Beth Phoenix losing to a stripper?

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but I think that the monster heel could be pulled off, but it would have to be switched from its traditional role. Get a normal sized dude, either a Japanese wrestler or somebody in a mask, and have them no sell everything.

 

[bookerman]

A monster heel is quite a possible scenario, even in this day and age, however he/she should be more than a grunt to make it work. It should be someone intelligent that has more of a character and personality instead of just being an unstoppable force. The days of managers dragging around incoherent monsters are dead. Matt Morgan is a good example of how a monster heel could work (not saying that he has realized his potential at all), at least on paper. I don't think it's possible in WWE anymore, because if you're above 6ft. 6 inches, you're either undead or ******ed, or god forbid, even both. Abyss is another good example, although not excellent, however I could buy some psychopath decimating half the roster, who just happens to be a damn monster as well.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Monster Heels seem to be mandatorily put into some kind of undefeated streak for months only to have them face a ME'er who is either HHH, Cena or Taker, and they then end it, and the guy sinks faster than a cement balloon. There have been instances where the guy that beats them isn't one of those three, or even a ME'er, but usually, that's the pattern it follows.

Umaga had a massive long winning streak and would be considered a 'Monster Heel'. He even beat BOTH HHH and HBK during that run and he even beat Cena (didn't he? I can't quite remember), and then got beat by Cena 2 PPVs in a row, and that was it. Push done, midcard forever, see in you the unemployment line, see you in the obituaries.

Vladimir Kozlov had a massive Monster Push in 2008, only to get pinned during an EC match, and then lose immediately again to HBK on Raw, and what have they done with him since? He became Regal's lackey (used as the less dominant one compared with Zeke Jackson despite Zeke having done absolutely nothing up until then), and now he's Santino's tag partner in tag team jobberville. Why have him spend six months bashing HHH and Jeff Hardy over and over, even pinning the Undertaker CLEAN on SD, and putting him in contention for World title matches, if you're going to put him back there and never really use him ever?

Lesnar's is an example of someone who literally worked through the entire roster near enough, and even won the Title while maintaining his streak, only to be beaten by BIG SHOW of all people! But Lesnar was actually allowed to stay in the ME, where as those other two guys were thrown on the scrapheap as soon as they lost a match near enough.

I bet Sheamus is thanking his lucky stars he didn't get thrown in another Jamie Noble fued after he lost the WWE title the first time.

Can the monster heel concept work today? Sure it can, i just gave three examples, the only reason the first two examples failed is because after their first losses, these guys started losing on a regular basis, and then never beat anyone significant again, whereas Lesnar continued to destroy everyone.

The answer is, don't job them out relentlessly just as the crowd are beginning to accept them, purely because they were booked to lose one match.