Hey guys hope all is well, Knox here. Today I really wanted to blog on tweeners. Lately I've been watching some classics on demand and I've noticed alot of great tweeners that were worth mention. Not to mention the fact that the WWE have been pulling off this tweener role very well with Daniel Bryan but of course its only a matter of weeks before he goes full heel.

What is a tweener?

For those whom aren't familiar, a tweener is a mix between a babyface (Hero) and a heel (villian). Many of the greats have been able to pull this off to perfection.

I might be missing out on a lot of people so please bare with me. As many of you know I didn't start watching wrestling till I was 5 which was in 1996. Please leave comments and let me know the great stars of the 80s I missed.

The 5 Greatest Tweeners:

5. Cm Punk

I had to put someone from the new school on here. Of course, I'm referring to the "Vegas Shoot" when Cm Punk officially on his own turned himself into a tweener. He officially won over the real fans that he already won over but this is when they began to verbally show their love for Punk as far as ovations go.

This was very interesting because once this shoot happened, everything changed. Punk began to really insult the higher ups in the WWE and laid off of insulting the fans in attendance and at home. That's how I knew he was eventually going to go babyface.

He played this role to perfection. I have a love hate thing with Cm Punk. I'll always hate his ego but the man straight up does his damn job to perfection and he will always have my respect for that.

4. Kane

In my opinion Kane was never truly a heel even from the day he first debuted. Kane was just a guy that so many people were fascinated with and to this day always receives a great pop from the live audience. Lets put this into perspective.

Today he wears a mask and is begging Cena to embrace the hate and these people still cheer him out the building. In my opinion you can put Kane in the top 5 talkers of all time, he really knows how to cut a promo and that's what made him so successful. He isn't your typical big guy. He has a great gimmick and the ability to talk which makes it easy for the fans to love him.

3. Sycho Sid

In the WWF back in 96 & 97 he pretty much tweened. He would cut heel style promos and feud with babyfaces such as the Undertaker but still maintained the crowds respect. Also even as a heel he still gave fans the fist pound hand shake during his entrance. He was one of my favorites and even after being a former WWF Champion, I still consider him one of the most underrated guys. Many companies didn't know how to utilize such a talent as Sid Vicious or whatever you wanna call him.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Yes Yes Yes, easy one right here. Austin was given one of the greatest gimmicks when he finally jumped ship to the WWF. He was given the angry bald guy gimmick. The beer drinking redneck gimmick didn't come around till he finally turned babyface.

As a heel, he pretty muched turned himself face. He drew so much energy from the audience to the point where they literally stopped booing him. I remember his feud back in 97' with Bret Hart. The fans turned on Hart and pretty much made Stone Cold the babyface in that feud and once they had their submission match at Wrestlemania 13, Austin eventually turned full babyface.

Part of what made the fans love Austin as a heel was his heart. Austin wasn't booked like the typical heels are booked today. Austin never backed from any fight and won his matches the right way and just had that dog eat dog mentality. Today's heels are all magazine models that are booked to win every match by cheating and they all whine.

Austin pretty muched tweened later in his career when he screwed the Rock and joined the Corporation. He tweened because the fans wouldn't fall for his heel turn. He was still getting the same huge reaction.

1. Shawn Michaels

I feel like he's a guy that everyone loved from day one. I think around 1997 when he was first turning heel again is when he began to play the tweener role. He did a great job doing it. When he & Triple H first aligned to form DX, they were getting the largest pops of the night but as heels.

They also didn't insult the crowd as much as your typical heel because Vince was smart enough to know that even though they are heels, people love these guys. Also when HBK has to retire and he cut that promo he was actually a heel that turned face in the process.

HBK has been asked to tween alot. Lets not forget when he turned tweener in 2005 to feud with Hogan. He tweened through that because he still shook the fans hands but at the same time his gripe was with the most over babyface of all time Hulk Hogan.

Let's also not forget the fact that HBK has also tweened in preparation for his two consecutive Wrestlemania matches with the Undertaker. Coming from under the chamber and costing Taker the WHC would turn any other ordinary star heel but not with HBK. He played that tweener role well.

Also lets not forget how he tweened against Ric Flair back at Wrestlemania 24. He's also well known for that especially when he compared Ric Flair to "Old Yeller". Man oh man talk about a great angle.

I had to put HBK #1 for the simple fact that he's been asked to tween so many times. Its hard to just up and turn tweener and still maintain that popularity and overall love and respect from the fans. To me, HBK is the definition of a wrestler. He was the greatest at just about every category a wrestler can possibly be associated with.


Honorable Mentions:

Randy Orton

Randy "Macho Man" Savage

Roddy Piper

Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Daniel Bryan


Conclusion:

Hope you all enjoyed this, like I said in the beginning, please leave comments and let me know some names I failed to mention. This is opinionated so I pretty much included the obvious ones or the ones I enjoyed the most.

Thank you all for reading and be safe. Until then.