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The Only True Heel Wrestlers of the Last 25 years? (1990-2015)?

3K views 30 replies 26 participants last post by  VinnieVegasFan 
#1 · (Edited)
What defines a true heel is bad guy tactics. Traits such as but no limited to cheating, low blows, heel promos, cowardly acts, bullying, sneak attacks, etc. What ultimately pegs a real heel is the ability to garner heat regardless of how "cool" or "bad ass" they are. This is the reason why, as much as I loved heel Stone Cold, I do not include him on this list.

Honorable mention: Big Boss Man - heel moments: feeding Al Snow his own dog, ruining Big Show's dad's funeral

Edge - The Ultimate Opportunist: A very unique character. He had typical heel moves but what elevated him into an original heel was his character relying on surprises and, no pun intend, seizing the opportunity. Whenever I would be swayed into liking him, he would always piss me off with some surprise. For instance, when he beat Mr. Kennedy for the case I was on his boat. Then he cashed in on the Undertaker and the kid at heart just wanted to kick his ass.
Most heel moments:
-con-chairto on Ric Flair
-cashing in on John Cena and Undertaker
-losing the WWE title and winning the world title in the same night
-entering the triple threat in place of an injured Jeff Hardy at Survivor Series 2008
-stealing Lita from Kane

Undertaker - Lord of Darkness: How do you make a guy the biggest heel in the company? Give him a good feud with the biggest babyface. 1998 he confused the fuck out of fans by being heel one day and face the next. It was obvious he was heading towards the turn but not the way they did it. Not to mention the Ministry was probably the coolest faction of the time.
Most heel moments:
-hanging Big Boss Man
-sacrificing Stephanie
-kidnapping Ryan Shamrock
-The line on SmackDown 8/26/99 "If I lose, everybody loses." Best line of his career
-sacrificing Dennis Knight

Randy Orton - Legend Killer/The Viper: The ultimate scumbag. I'm just going to list his heel moments to explain it all
Most heel moments: Legend Killer
-RKOing Stacy Keibler
-spitting on Mick Foley and brutally attacking him so many times
-telling Carlito that his girlfriend (Trish Stratus) was a bitch and that nobody cared about her retiring
-attacking Hogan while simultaneously trying to get with his daughter
-telling Shelton Benjamin that he's uppity and "that's the problem with you people"
-setting the casket on fire with Undertaker in it
-crashing a car with Undertaker in it
-sneak attacking Undertaker and hitting him with several chairs and an urn
Most heel moments:The Viper
-telling Kelly Kelly that their night together wasn't memorable and he used her
-the many punts to the head
-kissing Stephanie in front of HHH
-the several ambushes and beatdowns from Legacy
 
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#3 ·
If it weren't for the "wrestlers", Mr McMahon would and should be on that list.

You should include Triple H as well, and here's some things he did;
- Married a drugged up bride-to-be Stephanie McMahon
- Orchestrated Rikishi to run over Austin
- Unmasked Kane
- Retired Mick Foley (albeit for just over a month)
- Formed Evolution
- Turned heel to stop Daniel Bryan keeping the WWEWHC
 
#14 ·
If we take Mr Mcmahon/non wrestlers out of the equation and only talk wwe, I'd give the best performance to that amazing, ultra fast metamorphosis Eddie Guerrero made from with Bryan most over face act post AE to being one of the most hated pretty much off the back of one damn promo that I think is one of the best in company history with Rey's mask. No asterisk or conditions to succeed before hand ala Hassan with his gimmick or HHH aligning with the Mcmahons, pure use of facial expressions, perfect calculated pacing with an extra snap on every move, cold eyes and just talent. If wrestlers were recognized by the academy, Eddie if you know the workings of wrestling would've deserved some real consideration that year. That series with Mysterio in ring speaking was off the charts too. I would have to give shoutouts to Rated R Superstar Edge, Hollywood Rock, when on HHH and Taker as well.

For longevity heel, HHH is the only option being a great heel from 99-01, playing an awesome role of oblivious but controlling heel to the fall of Evolution, in particular Batista's great solo rise, and again putting in some premium work as the main antagonist to Daniel Bryan in that great story. Yes, Hunter is abit black eyed by that awful, just awful "HHH show" run of 03-most of 04 (not entirely his fault), and post Bryan the authority angle has really dragged on (I blame most of that on booking and Steph's abysmal performances personally), but for those highs, gotta go with HHH. Edge was absolutely on fire for a few years, but just a few years. JBL had imo. the last great wwe title run for one great year, and that great work bled over one more year, but that is it. Honest Man Jericho was ace, but only 2 years. Bret Only had his 97. Actually, Michaels could be in the mix longevity speaking. Michaels early half of 90s style of heel was solid, late 90s douchebag Shawn was great and even that little 05 heel stint produced some solid stuff as did that not fully heel but heelish period where Michaels character was obsessed with beating the Undertaker.



"true heel"/most hated? Without a doubt Hassan and JBL. As money as Jericho was in his stretch, he had his sections of fanfare, HHH had some fan support, after fucking Matt Hardy's girlfriend on live television ( a genious heel move), Edge had too much of a cool factor to be universally hated, not everyone bought into Bret Hart's heel run since he spent so much time as the valiant face, people wanted to cheer Rock, Taker too badass, Obviously the stuff Austin was doing in 96-early half of 97 got cheered out the wazoo. JBL I never remember getting cheered and could get heat in any building and Hassan in his short term getting heel despite really being the victim got insane hatred to the point where the freaking network threatened to throw SD off the air from Hassan being a victim of really unfortunate yet unforseen timing. Hell, kayfabe speaking, the character united the heel/face line briefly.
 
#19 ·
:trips of course.

JBL was excellent as well, but I found with JBL that after a certain point (like...January 2005), he became a tad tiresome. Maybe its because it was months upon months of the same stuff, whereas Trips had periods where he was the top heel, but not champion. Plus, there were some really crappy matches in JBL's run. Started with a high note when he beat Eddie, and then against crappy matches against Taker, Booker T, Big Show and Angle. Hunter had just a terrific year for matches in 2000 on top of being an incredible heel.

Of course, Hogan deserves a mention as well, since his heel turn is probably the most significant. However, there were a LOT of bad matches and the nWo concept really got fucked up when like...half the roster joined them. But as a heel, he was still great.
 
#24 ·
Yeah but for the definition I put, it was guys who garnered nearly unanimous boos. When you're a heel, your ultimate job is to make the crowd boo you not cheer you because of how cool you are. HBK and Hogan got a good amount of cheers in their heel runs
 
#28 ·
Hassan is tricky because 95% of his heat came from the fact he self identified as Arab-American. He occasionally did minor shit like grab the ropes but beside that it was nuclear from the moment his music hit. Hassan himself did next to nothing to garner it.
 
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