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Does Jinder getting good heel heat prove that the best way to be a heel is to have fans percieve you are shit?

4K views 57 replies 50 participants last post by  Arsenal79 
#1 ·
I made a thread similar to this some time ago explaining how maybe the best way to be a heel is to either be a bad performer or have fans percieve you as a bad performer. I mean, guys like Eva Marie, Roman Reigns(Gets heel heat),Elias Samson(for a while), The Miz(for a while), Charlotte(a lot of people hated her early last tear) all got great heel heat while the general consensus was that they were either shit performers or they didn't belong on the level they are pushed at. Now that Jinder's joining that class and getting actual good heel heat, should other heels try to do the same?

The problem with this is that over time, no matter how good you are at hiding your heel work people will start to respect you and you will start to gain fans. If it can happen to The Miz, it can happen to anyone. Is there anyway Jinder can avoid this pitfall that so many heels have fallen into?

Also side thread, I want to see the most creative amount of Jinder Mahal nicknames you guys can come up with.

If they bring back King Of The Ring and Jinder wins it they need to start calling him Maharaja Mahal. Just a thought.
 
#3 ·
Unlike Jinder, stars like Miz, Charlotte and Roman are actually talented-uhh, while Eva Marie is hot as hell.

Jinder the Jobber doesn't bring anything to the table, except for some Canadian Punjabis, who are not even Indians-uhh.

Real Indians don't give a shit about Jinder the Jobber.

They care for The Big Dog Roman.

 
#7 ·
I can't fault Jinder grabbing the brass ring. Vince has historically favored muscular big guys. Now Jinder through strenuous training looks the role. His heat derives more from a nationalist angle. Jinder is the outsider, the foreign heel come to take the title from their champion. The SDL crowd responded to Jinder and I honestly think he'd make a more compelling champion than bland face Orton.
 
#36 ·
I can't fault Jinder grabbing the brass ring. Vince has historically favored muscular big guys. Now Jinder through strenuous training looks the role. His heat derives more from a nationalist angle. Jinder is the outsider, the foreign heel come to take the title from their champion. The SDL crowd responded to Jinder and I honestly think he'd make a more compelling champion than bland face Orton.
:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao
 
#10 ·
Did work wonders for Bo Dallas until fans started cheering him eventually.

Reminds me, where is Bo Dallas anyway? I wanna Bolieve!!
 
#11 ·
Unfortunately, that's how it works. It's majorly screwed up the face and heel dynamics, because now you have to suck in order to get booed, but if you put a heel who sucks balls in the main event, nobody wants to watch it and that's even worse, so you're in this fucked up fantasy land where a ruthless monster heel can try to kill a guy and he gets cheered for it because the fans know the guy is a dog shit performer.
 
#16 ·
Not being a smark favourite + stiffing smark hero balor + being percieved as shit + "undeserved" push + being pushed out of nowhere + roiding + bitch tits + being Indian in the USA + wearing a turban + effective heel promos + cheating to beat smark favourite Sami Zayn = HEEEEAAAATTTT!!!
 
#18 · (Edited)
As a shit person yes, as a shit performer no. Jinder belongs on the latter list.

Someone like JBL, Hansen or Rude were great heels because they performed characters who were either legit scary sociopaths or just believably shitty people. As much as you respected them, you couldn't help but hate them. That's what makes good heels.

Jinder has X Pac heat. People boo not because they want to see him get his ass kicked, but because they just want him to gtfo the tv screen.

Another example of a crap heel is the Owens kind, that don't really wanna portray a true heel and instead pander to the fans and collect bonus points with the kewl kids.
 
#19 ·
Jinder got heat because he just fills the quota of "Generic Foreign Heel #234."

Sadly though, it feels like killing the face/heel dynamic makes it that much harder to be booed and hated. Only a few are even able to get this kind of reaction, like Miz, but most heels today have trouble with this. So in a way, being a crappy performer actually does draw heat, because people boo that they suck.
 
#21 · (Edited)
HHH got heat back in the 90s for that exact reason.

Many now consider HHH one of the best heels of all time.

I said it in another thread, too many "heels" nowadays are the indie guys the fans have respect for or the internet fans admire so they're NEVER going to get long term heat. They'll do their best with cheap heat, bashing the town they're in, those in attendance or a likeable face they're up against to get some 10 second heat. Then the next time their theme music hits, boom, pop.

If the internet fans and those in attendance happen to like Kevin Owens, just turn the guy face. He doesn't have to be a conventional face, Austin wasn't, but at least play to the fans. Fans don't like Jinder? Corbin? Reigns? Fucking make them the heels you want to see the faces beat then.

It's not rocket science. Absolutely confuses me that the WWE continue to push people as faces and heels when the reactions they get are the complete opposite.
 
#39 ·
I think you over rate him just to rustle all the anti Jinder smarks here. lol I don't think he's ever going to be great but he's definitely improved in every way he can and he was a lot of fun to watch this week. That mad dash to the limo and popping his head out of the sun room will be something I won't ever forget.

It says alot when they have to go the 'Anti American' route with a talent..
Because it works and it's worked for decades.



I just watched his promo on Smackdown....good lord he's horrible. That's what passes for a "superstar" these days? If that's the case then who the hell cares who the #1 contenders, belt holders, etc are. Because obviously the bar is pretty damn low now.
Nope, he isn't horrible. I know that's your opinion but he did great on Smackdown. More and more haters are starting to warm up to him because he's been consistently good ever since he came to Smackdown.
 
#25 · (Edited)
I'll wait to see what kind of heat he's actually getting down the line. So far it just seems to be foreign mixed with go-away. The issue for me personally is that I wasn't particularly interested in his push until all the faux-marks and haters emerged. It was just spicy enough for me to pay attention. But when it's just exploiting fan racism it makes me not give a shit about watching if there's no real compelling subtext.

I'd also point out that the kind of heat Cena and Roman have been subject to has a shelf life. And not in terms of them personally, but rather more generally. Eventually, fans are going to realise that WWE doesn't give a shit about their opinions, and that'll be the next big dropoff in WWE viewership. If I had to guess, I'd say 5-6 years. By then, the go-away heel will no longer be a thing. Maybe WWE will have transitionned into targeting indy marks even harder than NXT already does, because god knows they aren't going to take the only other option, and put out a smarter product.

I don't know what the shelf life for racist heat is though. It's probably never going away because that's more cyclical than anything else.
 
#27 ·
I can't say an answer for sure at the moment, but I can say this, that dude is in for one hell of a tumble after Randy beats him, one hell of a tumble.
 
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