redbower

Give me someone to hate.

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, 08-22-2012 at 10:36 AM (3794 Views)

What do Micheal Cole, Vickie Guerrero, and Paul Heyman have in common?

They are all non-wrestlers who are great at generating heat and making me hate them. This dynamic used to be common in professional wrestling via heel managers. Unfortunately, this type of feud has virtually gone the way of the dodo bird. Cole has went back solely to commentary, Heyman is a short-timer, and Vickie is all but irrelevant right now (not to mention it is harder for male faces in a pg world to give a woman her come-uppance).

I fondly remember these type of feuds being prominent in wrestling years ago. Bobby Heenan cracking on The Big Boss Man's mother, The Von Erik's trying to get their hands on both Skandar Akbar and Gary Hart, and Brother Love's infamous "I Love You," all evoked pure hatred or at the very least a desire for the face to get their hands on the cowardly antagonist.

I understand that Vince isn't interested in bringing back managers. That is all well and fine, but I would love to see him add more long-term and relevent non-wrestling heels to draw heat. Personally, I would turn one of my currently irrellevent interviewers or announcers heel (Josh Matthews possibly).

I feel almost that there is no longer anyone to hate in wrestling. This in my opinion is sad. I have always enjoyed hating (even while appreciating) the heel much more than loving the face. Let me know what you think.

Tags: heat, manager, michael cole, paul heyman, vicki guerrero

Categories: Uncategorized

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Comments

knox - 08-23-2012 11:07 AM
Originally Posted by restholdsrule1

There is very little natural development in WWE at the present. The over reliance on the writing teams means that a natural connection with the audience is not capitalised on. This works for good guys and bad guys. This is made worse by the stop / start pushes and flavour of the month booking that means no one has time to develop as a believable heel or face. If a wrestler doesn't succeed almost straight away with the role assigned to them they are cast aside and quickly forgotten.

To really hate someone they need to win more than they lose. Otherwise a fans desire to see them get what they deserve can't build enough for it to be satisfying when it finally happens.

That was pure brilliant, no better way to put it than this. It is indeed Flavor of the month booking and its been like that since the early 2000s. The WWE tried The Miz, Jack Swagger, Drew McCintyre, Del Rio and all these other guys.

The last true dominant heel that could last for years and years in the same role was Triple H from like 2002-06 and Edge from 2004-10. Other than that, its been hard because the WWE books these guys like robots.

One true formula I always believed in, is building a strong heel that generates heat by making him a super over babyface first. This worked well with Hogan, the biggest hero ever turning heel in 96'. That guy was getting beer thrown at him every night, that was a true heel.

WWE has to turn Cena, Kofi & Mysterio heel. Respectively those 3 have been faces for 9, 4 and 16 years.
ToiletBowl - 08-23-2012 11:27 AM
I've said several times that Vickie is really the only female in the industry that is worth a damn. The women wrestlers are easily replaceable with any random female wrestler, however, Vickie is gold and the most over female in the business. Stephanie could be but she rarely if ever appears on tv.

Ivory during her Right To Censor run was fantastic as well. Everyone loved to boo her.
Cynicism - 08-23-2012 01:27 PM
No one will ever get to the level of Bobby The Brain Heanan IMO, he could make me both laugh and hate him at the same time. Not just as a manager though, probably the best colour commentator of all time. The chances of finding someone good would be increased if they looked mind you