Why do young heels work better?

[Dowdsy McDowds]

First off, I'm going off of my experience with the WWE which started in the late 90s.

I was watching Smackdown and Striker, Cole and Matthews were calling the Kofi - Ziggler match and mentioned how The Miz has put 'his generation' on notice by winning the big one. Now before him, the last new-comer to get the gold was Seamus, a fellow heel.
Thinking back further, Angle, HHH, Rock, Jericho (borderline) and others have won their first 'big one' when they were both young and heels. Of course there have been exceptions as there always are, but the heel route seems like the far better tried and tested route.

Any ideas on why this is? Or not as the case may be

 

[Ultra Awesome]

That's actually an easy answer. The reason that is is because Heels just have a broader amount of things that they can say to prove their point. They are the bad guys; They have the oppurtunity to cheat, tell everyone they suck, tell everyone how superior they are, whine, etc, etc. They could pretty much make everything they say on the mc be based upon, "I'm better than all of you" and make it work.

Whereas a face is different. A face cannot do all the things that a heel can do. Faces have to play the good guy; meaning, they have to abide by the rules, play fair, make the crowd cheer for them. Something that is not so easy to accomplish unless you go for cheap pops.

Being a heel is a much easier role to play than a face is. Heels make people hate them; faces make people like them. However, the irony here, is that nowadays, more people tend to like heels better than they do faces.

 

[brighamosity]

I think young heels work better because older, more experienced wrestlers may have a large fan following. People like Jericho, Orton, Kane, etc. will have a following regardless of their alignment.

 

[Vee Dub Represent]

I think its just easier to get a crowd reaction established if you are a heel. When the crowd doesnt have a clue who you are, being a good guy isnt going to work for you unless you are funny or can put on a crazy good match, neither of which really gets you a lot of success in the WWE right of the bat. However there are many more angles you can play to get a crowd reaction as a heel, such as cockiness, arrogance, being a douchebag, beating the shit out of smaller people, feeling entitled to a position etc that make the crowd hate you alot easier and can be played better by wrestlers who may have less personality. Then when you do turn they care alot more and its easier to get a crowd to react to good guy traits.

 

[RicSpade]

Honestly I think its because those young athletes that you are referring to had something people didn't like about them that got them over as a heel when they were younger, The Rock was shoved down our throats for over a year as Rocky Maivia that as Rocky he was hated so being himself as the rock he was established as a major heel, Jericho was arrogant and goofy.

The reason why a young heel gets over more is mainly because any older talent who come in unless they are a good worker is looked at as crap. Scott Steiner is the best example of this in WWE. But a guy like Finlay, Regal, or Kane who has adapted and shown progression and good work value can be a true old school heel and work, SO really its about work style and telling a style or complete arrogance and working the crowd based on that.

 

[Trill Co$by]

It's just the turn of the century my friend. In the days before the 90s, the best way to bring up a person was to have him as a face and use the heel veteran to push him forward (think Ric Flair and Robert Gibson). Those were the days the common man and the family man took the eyes of the fans and the pretty boys had the tween girls wetting like the girls today when they see Justin Beiber.

The 90s roll around and we get the attitude era, the era where the clean cut boys aren't that interesting anymore. So, they give those clean cut guys the roll of heels (Right to Censor anyone?) while turning the loud mouth, swearing, and beer drinking men face (Stone Cold). Over time, the WWE has managed to mold both pre-90s and post-90s character building and make new stars. It's just all turn of the century really.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Mister Awesome and JACKIE both raise similar and interesting points; with heels being liked and faces rarely getting the same reaction.
I was wondering if the next big break-out face is going to be a real big deal, simply with history being as it is with heel>Champion>face, to switch that around and break with convention could signal that if someone accomplishes this then they are going to be special. If either Morrison or Bryan get/take their chance against The Miz (hey, I'm a dreamer!) then it would be interesting to see how it's handled.

Cheers for the input

 

[ABMorales787]

Young heels work better because they come off as being arrogant, cocky and egotistical. Come on. Nobody picked that one up? With the way young people act these days? It just rolls off the tree that a new guy comes in hyping himself up and letting whatever small achievement they make go up to their head. It's natural.

"Here comes that smug new kid with his douchebag grin thinking he's a big deal because he's younger and better looking". That's the base mentality of so many incoming wrestling figures and even outside of it. In pro wrestling, it's all about the next big thing. "I'm the next big thing. I'm young, good looking and athletic. How could it not be me?" The mentality is simple and effective. Always.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I think it is easier to have a reasoning for something when a guy is a Heel. It can be outlandish, because the character doesn't care what the fans think.

If they have a guy win the title and he doesn't turn out to be a big star, they can chalk his reign up to his sneaky ways or cheating or something. That is always an option.

But I think it is easier to build a Heel for a title run. No matter what happens in his reign, his antics will somehow trigger the crowd to boo him, which is his main job as being Heel.

A guy can be portrayed as so absorbed with capturing the title, that he will do ANYTHING to get it. Whereas a Face can accept losing, and can have a "get em next time" type of attitude or image.

 

[martymcfly]

I think the answer is pretty straightforward and has been touched on by earlier posts. Rookie heels can win matches by cheating, outside interference, or the opponent gets hurt during a match with a knee tweak or ankle twist or something. Rookie faces can only win by straight up talent or occasionally, the amazing/lucky move from out of nowhere (usually a rollup or small package). And therein lies the difficulty: in general, rookies by nature are not supposed to be good yet so if they are going against more established wrestlers in straight, one on one, pure talent based matches they should lose.

However, since heel rookies have more options (cheating), it is a lot easier to push them and get them winning matches. It is a lot harder to push a rookie face in a credible manner.