2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I was thinking of great heels in the past. Who would you say is the best of all-time?

 

Ric Flair comes to mind, of course. Not sure anyone was as effective in that role for as long as he was.
So does Hulk Hogan, circa 1996-98. People pelted the ring with garbage during the weekly nWo beatdowns early in their run.
And I'm sure Baron or somebody will pull out an obscure name from 1970s Japanese wrestling no one has ever heard of

For an off-the-wall answer, I'll go with John Cena. He's become a heel by steadfastly refusing to become one. No matter what he does, half the audience hates him. It's an odd dynamic.
He's like the inverse of 1980s Ric Flair, where Flair was cheered by the "smart" and local fans in the South and booed by the innocent traditional fans. Cena is booed by the modern smarks and cheered by the innocent young fans. Even if he never does a traditional heel turn, he's got a lot of traditional heel qualities.

 

Too many great ones to think of. Remembering the last guy that I watched on YouTube, the Original Sheik comes first to mind. The guy was ahead of his tIme in many ways,and his character was unreal.

 

Rick Rude got tremendous heat as a true heel.

 

I usually like when they interject logic into a storyline, but I was a little disappointed when Rollins accurately pointed out that he's better off with Ambrose in the MITB match so he doesn't sneak up and cost him the briefcase. I was thinking it'd be a fun twist on the match if they had a not-included Ambrose do a run-in at the end, climb the ladder and steal the briefcase, then essentially hold it hostage.

 

Rowdy Roddy Piper. So loud and cutting with his remarks. When they tried to make him a babyface after he broke up a real assault in the parking lot, it didn't work.

 

I don't know if/how Shield guys don't win the two MITB matches if Reigns take the world title. Looking at the briefcase match it's hard to imagine that Rollins or Ambrose doesn't win. I suppose Barrett would be a dark horse, but otherwise I don't see the others coming out on top.

Not sure if they're ready to put the belt on Reigns but the signs seem to be pointing that way. Orton and Kane are kind of recycled Authority, Cena is Cena and Reigns seems more ready than Cesaro or Bray. Del Rio and Sheamus seem hopeless. Almost has to be Reigns or Cena....or Orton.

 

Rollins prevents Reigns from winning.

Cena wins.

 

Keep in mind, whoever wins will be set up in a program with Lesnar going into SummerSlam.

 

After thinking it over some more, I've compiled a list of some of the greatest. I left out the ones that have already been mentioned.

Mr. McMahon - Yeah, it may seem like a cheap answer giving the head boss, but man, did he become an amazing heel character in 1998. When it comes to the point where you don't know where the character ends and the real person begins, you're doing something right.

Jake Roberts - Preferably during his Trust Me days. The stunts Roberts pulled during this time period is my favorite heel work ever. It's not just being a psychotic instigator, but also all of the sick pleasure Roberts took in making Elizabeth and Randy's life a living hell. Loved it all.

Ted DiBiase - It's a classic gimmick that will work until the end of time. A man so rich that he cons good people into degrading themselves in front of everyone for cash that he may or may not even pay them. The cocky heels are a group of people that are easily hatable regardless of the year. After all, isn't the stereotypical Republican basically just playing the Million Dollar Man character?

Jimmy Hart - I'm going to list Hart above the other managers simply because of the megaphone. It was bad enough that he was amazingly obnoxious, but then to increase the volume of his high pitch shrill throughout every match? Hart was a guy that was easy to make people want to see something bad happen to him.

 

Not necessarily immediately. There's one PPV before SummerSlam. Could see them having Reigns grab one belt and Orton the other. Then they have a unifying match at Battleground and the winner of that ends up vs. Lesnar at SummerSlam.

 

Splitting the titles, then reunifying them, then having the winner spit them up to Lesnar in around two months seems to be too much chaos, and it diminishes whatever cache the unified title has

My guess: Cena wins, then Lesnar gets his job back at SS (or wins, gets the shit kicked out of him in the process, then immediately loses to whoever holds the MITB briefcase (Rollins? Barrett?)

It'd be nice if they could make a new belt already to signify both (or retire Goldie)