Undertaker: Face or Heel?

[GrandSword]

Now that Taker's career is winding down, what have been your favourite side of the Deadman?

I would probably be in the minority, butt, I prefer him as a heel. His stuff when he was in the Ministry, the top heel against Austin, was great as he was always dominant, but to be a heel at the same time, just broke a few moulds.

What does everyone else prefer?

 

[I Heart Cena]

I'm with you 100%. My favourite Taker was Ministry of Darkness Taker. Where he is truly evil, and maybe Satanic. I like when he was about to sacrifice Austin, and all the Latin chants.

I hated that he joined forces with Shane to join the "corporate ministry". Big FAIL of an angle there. It made him look weak being 2nd fiddle to Shane. They shoulda let the MoD wipe out the Corporation, then feud with DX.

 

[Shotaro]

I love heel taker, much more enjoyable and a lot more aspects of his character to put to good use, it's a shame he's not well enough to be around long enough to be a heel again

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

I prefer Undertaker as a heel. "Big Evil" gimmick is my favorite Undertaker gimmick. Undertaker became a realistic badass heel. I liked his fueds with Hulk Hogan, Triple- H etc.

Undertaker did awesome promos during the badass gimmick. He also introduced MMA moves into his moveset during that time. In my opinion thats the best Undertaker gimmick as it was much closer to reality.

[YOUTUBE]1GcPypgY0l4[/YOUTUBE]


Not a big fan of "Supernatural" gimmicks.

 

[avi01]

Undertaker has not been heel very often in his career but when he did, he was excellent. 99, the look itself was fantastic, the ultimate heel. And everything he did that year, nobody could even come close to him as the top heel of the company. And 2002, big evil, another great run and he did very good in implementing the that bad guy psychology into the matches, just take his match vs. Ric Flair at wrestlemania 18 for example. That being said, he is a character that has done very well as a face also..I guess that`s because he never really talks like superman and has evolved over the years...people never gets sick of him.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I always liked him as a heel. That isn't to say I dislike him as a face I just prefer him as a heel. I think his move set and look is better suited for a heel. The chokeslam and Tombstone seem like heel moves to me.

That said, a couple years back he reached this point where he was always going to get a good amount of cheers. Sometimes you have stupid crowds, like last week when they gave him the What chants, but he reached that stage where he has been in the business for so long and done so much he is always gonna be cheered. Taker could start punting babies and Tombstoning cripples and choke slamming Pandas and he could still get cheers as long as he did the throat slash and tongue out

 

[AndThat'sTheBottomLine]

Undertaker has not been heel very often in his career but when he did, he was excellent. 99, the look itself was fantastic, the ultimate heel. And everything he did that year, nobody could even come close to him as the top heel of the company. And 2002, big evil, another great run and he did very good in implementing the that bad guy psychology into the matches, just take his match vs. Ric Flair at wrestlemania 18 for example. That being said, he is a character that has done very well as a face also..I guess that`s because he never really talks like superman and has evolved over the years...people never gets sick of him.

Actually he was introduced as a heel and stayed that way for a couple of years. Then he became a face and stayed that way until his Ministry of Darkness gimmick which is my all-time favorite gimmick. I love him as a heel but like it has been said he's at that level in his career where he won't be booed unless the crowd is as stupid as last weeks where one guy kept yelling "You Suck!" during the Undertakers promo. That guy should be bitch slapped for that. But a majority of people won't boo Taker. He'd be the most loved heel ever LMAO. but seriously I'd love to see him retire as a heel but I like him as face to so I'm fine with him as is.

Undertaker fan for life!

 

[BigThunder]

He won my heart when he locked the Ultimate Warrior in an airtight casket... which explains much about the Warrior's subsequent behavior. At this point, Taker is Taker. His career is drawing to a close, so he really doesn't need to be reinvented at this point, just celebrated. He took one of the cheeziest gimmicks in wrestling history and made it a legend, so that when he went American badass and the federation tried so hard to force it on the fans, they demanded the dead man back. What else can you say?

And for "whating" him, Minneapolis lost the right to host RAW for the next five years. Sorry boys.

 

[Last Outlaw]

I love heel taker, much more enjoyable and a lot more aspects of his character to put to good use, it's a shame he's not well enough to be around long enough to be a heel again

I don't think he can be a heel just because nobody will boo him. He's way too legendary and respected for somebody to boo him (Minneapolis crowd aside). Really, the only time he's been booed in the past 8 years is for a couple of seconds when his gong hit the night Shawn Michaels announced retirement but that crowd quickly came to their senses right after.

 

[Shotaro]

I don't think he can be a heel just because nobody will boo him. He's way too legendary and respected for somebody to boo him (Minneapolis crowd aside). Really, the only time he's been booed in the past 8 years is for a couple of seconds when his gong hit the night Shawn Michaels announced retirement but that crowd quickly came to their senses right after.

I think IF he were able to come back for a prolonged amount of time and IF he were to be a "ministry of darkness" level heel again he could do it. Bigger faces have turned heel who were face for pretty much ALL of their career. I agree it will not happen, I as simply lamenting that fact since as a heel he is bloody brilliant.

 

[Saeros]

My personal favourite was when he was more of a Tweener. Not a face, Not a heel. Mid 1998 like. Before he completely turned on Austin and was possibly in league with Kane. The aura and Mystique around that was perfect i thought. And it really enhanced Takers character for what was to come in 1999.

 

[trashboy]

The Ministry days is definitely the best version of Undertaker I have ever seen. He was so dark and evil, it was great. His cheesy lines were awesome. I even loved the stable he formed, even though they were all jobbers. Man, I miss that Undertaker. He was great. And the theme he used at the time, is his best entrance theme ever.

One of his best lines ever... "Where to Stephanie?" My friends and I still laugh and joke about that one to this day.

 

[Midgetmania619]

Now that Taker's career is winding down, what have been your favourite side of the Deadman?

I would probably be in the minority, butt, I prefer him as a heel. His stuff when he was in the Ministry, the top heel against Austin, was great as he was always dominant, but to be a heel at the same time, just broke a few moulds.

What does everyone else prefer?

Considering Taker's role was only ever defined by his promos and segments, it's agreeable that Taker has technically always been a Heel.

Think realistically: what aspect is nice, kind, good, etc, of a 'dead man' (zombie) who brutalises his opponents and uses intimidation tactics and fear to play mind games with his opponents?

Think of the Orton vs Taker 2005 feud. Now, just imagine Taker was the Heel. Imagine that Taker started the whole feud, thus Orton's actions were justifiable. You can take that entire feud, although with 2 or so small changes, and have Undertaker appear as the Heel (despite doing the same thing).

 

[Wrestlemania 20-0]

like i said Saeros Undertaker is the only guy in this world, it's just an tweener and he has no dominance in his gimmick,he exploited all faces he has.
He is like mister jekyll when he is ABA and Hyde when he is Ministry.

 

[Jackal960]

Undertaker is one of the most difficult wrestler to put on one side. He is a heel, a natural heel. But the problem is, he is a heel that you want to be on your side. He is such a dominant force, you would want him to go after the bad guys. That's why he is actually a face, a anti hero, a guy from the dark side who helps the good guys against evil.

 

[RicSpade]

I personally like Undertaker in the ministry because of the headgames they let him play during the attitude era. The early 90's taker while dominant didn't really come into his own until around Wrestlemania 11. The biker gimmick was interesting, but it just didn't click for me because your taking the deadman and making him human... His return at Wm XX was good to me, but his resurrection with Paul Bearer I think made him lackluster for me, and I liked him as a face once he cemented him the first time, felt like we went back to corny gimmicks with the whole Light in the Urn Kane thing, and now to have him face HBK 2 years running then Triple H it made me believe in the deadman again. So really in the earlier days I loved Taker as a heel it was believable, but now Taker is like an Austin your getting cheered no matter what you do because your a living legend.

 

[Twocenter]

For me, Ministry of Darkness holds the first spot followed by The Big Evil.

In 1998/9, it was very unlikely to have a gimmick of Gothic vampires aligning themselves but they did and to my surprise it stood out. I liked his tenure here. He was evil and demented. All those sacrifices. All those evil ceremonies. All those Latin rites. All those promos breaking the fourth wall. I was and am obsessed with MOD. I even took this gimmick as the first gimmick of my RP. Lol

Big Evil was another incarnation I liked about the Deadman. He was more badass than he was when he was the American Bad-Ass. He used to insult the fans and the wrestlers. His feud and matches with Ric Flair, Triple H and Hogan were memorable. I laugh whenever I see the Ric Flair vs Undertaker match back again as he insults a man on the first row. It was good.

 

[midgensa]

I loved Taker as a heel ... so I guess the OP is not in the minority.

I am not one of those guys who always likes the heel persona better (though it tends to be the case) but with Taker I really enjoyed his runs in the Ministry and as Big Evil. He also had some early heel runs that worked.

With his gimmick it made him more believable when he was just a mean bad ass. I definitely enjoyed those runs and would not even mind seeing him as the leader of a heel stable again down the stretch of his career.