Today i'm doing something different. Today i'm talking about something that bothers me. Not a specific event or person, just a general annoyance that I've been wanting to get off of my chest for a long time.
Heels.
Or, Antagonists. Bad Guys. Not "The bad guy", that's Razor Ramon, and he is great.
And namely, the fact that I don't think that a lot of heels, or antagonists, get the credit they deserve. Now, I may be wrong, but I want to say my piece regardless.
I think that it's safe to say backstage the heels probably DO get the credit they deserve. I'd imagine they must. I mean, if they didn't, we'd never have long term heel title runs would we? What i'm talking about is say, the way heels are removed from TV, like when they retire, or just later in life, or anything really.
I have a few examples i want to mention. So i'll start with the big one. John Cena.
"He's not a true heel" I hear you say... Ok maybe not in the classic sense, but John Cena is arguably the guy who has gotten the biggest heat in the last 5 years or so. I mean, that seems like a pretty safe bet. Maybe Chris Jericho gave him a run for his money... "I am the best in the world at what i do"... damn that was good. Anyway back to Cena for now.
You get all these Cena haters who are ready to just completely trample over anything he does with the "same old sh*t" or the "Cena can't wrestle" crap. Well... the money in the bank Main event dis-proved both of those things... even though they'd already been disproved thousands of times before that.
But I mean think about it. All of those epic matches that Cena has been in... One night Stand 2006 vs RVD, Unforgiven 2006 vs Edge, Wrestlemania 23 vs HBK... oh and MiTB vs CM Punk... No-one can say that Cena had nothing to do with how great those matches are. Basically, you're an idiot if you think Cena sucks.
His character might be a little boring at times, I know there are times where i've wanted to see him snap, but that doesn't make him a bad performer. I know i preferred his old gimmick, i'm sure a lot of people agree, but it doesn't mean he sucks, just because he changed. Shawn Michaels' character changed... HHH's character changed.. and the big one of course, The Undertaker's character has changed a lot over the years, but it doesn't make them bad. What i'm getting at is, Cena is an amazing performer, he knows how to tell stories in the ring, and he draws. He deserves respect for that. Booing him because you want CM Punk to win is one thing, and everyone is of course entitled to their own opinion. This is mine. If you don't like it, then leave a comment and tell me all about it.
But booing him because "he can't wrestle" is ridiculous. I've said it before, but watch his early matches, watch when he was John Cena, the rapper. He can do a lot, for some reason, he doesn't always do everything he can. But the man puts so much of himself into what he does, you can see it when he's talking, when he's wrestling, when he's doing outside of the ring stuff. And also, glimmer of hope, the last few weeks we've been seeing a bit of attitude from Mr Cena, maybe there's a light at the end of the bland tunnel. And i think the biggest thing that makes Cena great, he has the guts to go out into these arenas full of crowds that absolutely hate him for who he is.. That one night stand crowd was brutal, and MiTB wasn't much nicer. As of right now though... he still deserves respect for his work in (and out of) the ring. And if you don't agree, try living a week in his shoes. Then see how you feel.
Edge.
I think Edge was one of the 2 top heels at the end of the attitude era. (Meaning 2005-2007). I mean, the whole Rated-R superstar gimmick was amazing. I remember hating him just about as much as any of the bad guys of that time. With the exception of JBL. But i'll get to him in a minute.
Edge is one of those guys lucky enough to retire on top. Literally, his last match was Wrestlemania, and he won, and he retired as world champion. Not a lot of other guys (or girls) can say that. I can think of one, who i'll get to later as well.
But Edge I think was a sort of victim of the PG era. His Rated-R gimmick never had the same steam once the WWE went PG, and I think because of this people may have forgotten exactly how good he was. The stuff with Undertaker in 2008 was pretty good, I especially liked the Smackdown just before summerslam, where Edge went crazy, after Mick Foley (who made his last appearance on WWE tv that night) challenged him to bring back "the real edge".. but we never got to see it I don't think.
It's a shame too because Edge was amazing. As i said, the only person I could even think that i hated more, was JBL.
Let me be clear, when i say "I hated ____" I don't mean the person, i mean that's how their character made me feel. That to me, is the mark of a true, and great heel. They make you hate them. but want to watch them at the same time. Not that they make you hate them and you want to turn the tv off. Like Michael Cole.
So JBL. If the best heel on RAW was Edge, he was equalled, and possibly bettered by John Bradshaw Layfield.
I remember those matches, the JBL vs Eddie matches.. man especially the Judgement Day 2004 i think it was match.. Eddie took that sick chair shot... I think that really put JBL over as a dude who could do serious damage. But he (JBL) was consistently the best heel on smackdown, and had that massive run as WWE champion, before being beaten by John Cena. But he had so many great moments, yet I don't know that he is thought of as "one of the greats".
He should be.
Remember when he got back in the ring after commentating for a while? He had that really intense feud with Chris Jericho. It was amazing.
But, getting on to the second part of this post.. how did he leave? He was beaten in about 30 seconds by Rey Mysterio, and then had a tantrum in the ring and said "I quit". Now from watching Chris Jericho's dvd I learned something. Remember when Jericho was fired and carried out by like 6 guys? He talked about how that was the best possible way to go out, as a heel. So I can understand the idea of JBL just yelling I quit. But I guess it's more of a personal thing, or my opinion or something, but i don't like people leaving in that way. Bradshaw played it amazingly though, yelling out to the crowd something along the lines of "you're going to be missing me by next week"..
Another example of that, and I think a better example, is Lita. Remember Lita? Most newer fans would probably remember her as "Edge's slutty girlfriend".. I remember her as one of the better female wrestlers I've ever seen. But I wanted to focus on her last appearance, and compare it to the woman she had her greatest rivalry with, Trish Stratus.
Remember how Trish left? She won the Women's title at Unforgiven 2006 (amazing PPV by the way), and retired the next night as champion. She got to leave as the 7 time i think? Women's champion and leave with her head held high. Who could ask for anything better? After all, she'd pioneered what we now know as the "divas division", and been one of the most successful female wrestlers of all time. Right? Compare her career to Lita's career.
Lita was a pioneer in the womens division, especially for high flying moves. The Lita-canrana, the Lita-sault.. She was awesome. She had some amazing matches with Trish too. Sure, later in her career she didn't wrestle as much, but she was still awesome.
What i'm trying to say is that BOTH women had amazing careers, i would say on par with each other, with the exception being that Lita I don't think won as many championships as Trish.
But how did Lita leave? Anyone remember? I do, and still today it pisses me off, and kinda offends me.
The segment started with Cryme Tyme coming out with a box, and proceeding to try to "sell off" Lita's underwear. Lita comes out to regain some of her dignity, and of course fails. and is sung out of the ring, out of the arena, and effectively out of the WWE with "Na na na na... hey hey hey... Goodbye".. Now i understand that a heel is out to get booed. But that was not the way to have one of your most successful wrestlers retire. It was terrible, and a little disgusting honestly. I really wish she had been given a less embarrassing last moment. She deserved it.
It feels like there's a big difference between how the good guys and bad guys are remembered too. I guess that makes sense, but I think there should be a respect for what people have done, regardless of heel/face alignment. Think about it.. JBL and John Cena headlined Wrestlemania 21. Doesn't that mean that JBL is partly responsible for putting John Cena over as the new "guy"... ? I'm sure some people will hate him more if they think about that too much, but JBL should be given as much respect as anyone else. What about before he became JBL.. remember the APA? Awesome stuff.
I don't think that there very many guys today that are on that same level that Edge, or JBL, or, going back a little further, HHH were at as a heel. Or, back a little further still, Shawn Michaels. What have they got today?... CM Punk i don't think can be classified as a true heel anymore, he's kinda transcended that I think, at least for now. Who else is there.. Mark Henry? They're trying really hard with him, but i'm not getting it.. maybe it's a case of the 6th or 7th time, or whatever time this is they've tried to push him, is one time too many. So who else is there? Christian? he's a good heel.. I have to admit when he spit in Randy's face, that was an awesome heel move. But I don't think he's on that .. i guess "super-heel" level. There are some with potential I think. Oh before i go on, The Miz IS definitely the best heel at the moment. I can't stand that guy. That's kinda how i measure how good of a heel I think a guy is. R-Truth? He's got this comedic heel thing going.. which is good for the short term, but to really keep it going he needs that good guy to bounce off, like a John Morrison maybe.
So potential? One name springs to mind. Dolph Ziggler. First of all, and this is just a little thing, but I think he needs a better finisher. pulling someone's head down to the floor.. i dunno, it just doesn't have that Impact i don't think.. But as a character, he's gotta be right up there as one of the best, or at least one with the biggest potential. He kinda reminds me of Rick Rude. I don't think that makes Vickie Guererro Bobby Heenan though. Although as far as heels go, she is another that is right at the top of her game. It's brilliant the way the crowd just completely buys into her gimmick. And she works it so well.
And then there's that strange thing that happens sometimes where the heel becomes cool. It's happened a few times, most notably I would say Austin of course. The double turn that happened at Wrestlemania 13. But there's been some others, Undertaker became a good guy without changing that character at all. CM Punk is another one obviously. DX was a heel group when they started. I'm not talking about heel/face turns, what i'm talking about here is Heel characters that became babyfaces without changing their gimmick. I always found that interesting. I think (and i'm not sure on this) the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom were another one. Just another thought.
So to sum up, people need to remember that when you're hating a heel, that doesn't make him bad. It's quite the opposite. What it means is that they're doing their job well. Just as when you feel good about a good guy, cheer for him, want him to win. And that the guys that you hated so much, were some of the best wrestlers you've ever seen, and gave you the greatest memories. Austin wouldn't have had so many iconic moments without Vince McMahon as the heel. Hogan wouldn't have had so many headlining matches without a heel to bounce off of. Actually.. maybe Hogan would have. he's got that ego thing.
Heels deserve just as much respect, maybe even more so because they have the balls to go out there each night and get booed and antagonise the crowd.
Love them, or hate them, they're doing their job.
Leave me a comment, tell me what you think, but once again this is just my opinion. If you disagree, go suck a lemon.
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