Why the Art of Being a Heel Seems to be Dying

Is it just me or does it seem like being a heel doesn’t work as well as it used to? It’s not dying so much but it’s just ridiculous how a heel should even get any cheers in the first place. In the WWE and TNA mainly, you see some wrestlers that are supposed to be heels but in some cases get plenty of cheers and it is real noticeable. The same can be said for faces but I’ll save that for another time. Mainly, just want to focus on heels.

Now, for those who are not aware of what a heel is, think of them as villains. In short, people that you have to have a legit reason not to root for them because of doing something wrong. Generally speaking, the art of being a heel is supposed to get the crowd to hate you by wanting you to see them get beaten. Why does it seem to be so hard? Who started this trend? I don’t know who started it but I do recall something about back in 1997. It was with the heel turn of Bret Hart for the United States but for the rest of the world he was a face. Granted, I know this isn’t the first time but it is memorable in that it was different.

What’s going to be done however is a look at some of the best heels in the business. By that, it’s going to be guys who actually can get you to boo them. I’m only picking a few guys that I think stand out as far as great heels. This is not in any particular order so don’t worry about ranking. Chances are, there could be others that you could consider great heels. By a great heel, it has to be someone who doesn’t get cheered by a good majority of the crowd. Mostly it will be involving wrestlers but it may involve some non-wrestlers as well.

Edge: Like him or hate him, he has become a standard heel that can really make you hate him. Ironically it all started in what really seemed to be like an episode of Jerry Springer with Matt Hardy and Lita in the mix. However, he has evolved since then into a Main Event heel and has really stepped it up when called upon. Looking all ready in the last three years, he is a five-time World Champion overall with two WWE Titles and three World Heavyweight Titles. The only thing left on his resume as far as huge accomplishments would be winning the Royal Rumble.

Million Dollar Man: This is a little bit back into the past but he was very good at getting you to hate him. He was rich and always believed everybody had a price. Knowing full well that it was a different time, it was mainly a gimmick about being a rich person that can get people to do whatever they want by paying a price.

Vince McMahon: Early on when he did the whole evil boss persona, you could see people wanting to see him beat up by Austin. He was the perfect villain to counter Austin. They say you need a strong antagonist in order to have a strong protagonist and that seemed to work. He did things to make you want to see Stone Cold come out there and just destroy him every single week.

Rick Rude: This was a guy who got you to hate him with his supreme level of arrogance that made you want to see him get beaten up on a consistent basis. One of his notable rivals would be none other than Jake Roberts. The feud mainly had a battle over the lust of Jake’s legit wife at the time. His highlight at the time was when he became the WWF Intercontinental Champion defeating The Ultimate Warrior. That was the highest he would go and never saw the WWF Title and that may have had something to do with when he came into the company.

Eric Bischoff: Just his name alone just gets enough heat seriously. If you think about it, he’s the one that I believe started this whole evil boss thing before Vince McMahon. That was the first one I can recall when the whole New World Order thing was going on. He joined them and became an instant heel. Even when he returned to wrestling albeit with the WWE, people still booed him out of the building. Doesn’t really need anything involving racism or Anti-American to really get some heat.

There are other wrestlers as well that could fit the bill like HHH or HBK when he was younger of course. If they’re not on the list, that doesn’t mean they were terrible heels, just a case of just a few of them. As far as Davari or Hassan, those would not get on there mainly due to the amount of time involved and plus it was what you call cheap heat.

It just seems that now that being a heel is a lot harder than anyone could ever imagine it being. If you’re someone that’s supposed to get booed but you’re getting cheered, then something’s not right. It doesn’t work that way and it shouldn’t. Don’t think it’s dead but it could be dying as some heels get cheered and it is very noticeable on a consistent basis.