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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2011 16:29:40 GMT -5
A text a buddy of mine just sent me inspired this post. He thinks that Sgt. Slaughter is the greatest heel of all time. I have to disagree.
I think Slaughter was more of a situation that was due to the right gimmick at the right time. I know he drew a lot of heat, to the point of death threats but you have to consider the time it happened in. With the war going on and all, of course he was going to draw heat.
I wouldn't hesitate to say that if you took someone and made them a Bin Laden supporter today, that they would have not experienced the same amount of heat.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think it was smart, good business to draw on that when they did with Slaughter but in my opinion the top heels are those that are able to draw natural heat and make you hate them, not you hate them due to circumstances.
So I thought I'd ask, who do you consider the top heels in the business?
Ric Flair
Nick Bockwinkle
Chris Jericho
Triple H
Those are the names that come to mind for me. I expect some of you to say Hogan, but I think he was more of a right time, right place kind of guy. I wont deny he drew a lot of heat, but it stemmed from him being such an over baby face that no one expected to turn. I wouldn't credit it nearly as much to him just being good at drawing the heat.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jun 5, 2011 16:51:55 GMT -5
Flair 100% for me.... because even though you hated his ass,you loved his style and his promo's....
an incident early in his career gives hints to his mastery of ring/promo psychology,and the ability to generate REAL heat:
after he broke his back in the plane crash,he had a LOT of sympathy going for him in the southern wrestling territories...
on his first day back in the studio, they had a whole bunch of people cheering him,welcoming him back,and Gordon Solie presented him with a big bag of get well card's from fans all over the country,a ton of cards... he looked at them,smiled,said "That's nice." ,and took the cards and threw them all in the trash! he then did a classic Flair promo saying the only get-well wishes he wanted were from Farrah Fawcett and Brit Ekland and all the other Hollywood women who wanted a piece of the Nature Boy!
he immediately went from cheers to the most hated man in the NWA....
THAT is real heat,not cheap heat...
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Post by Bartman on Jun 5, 2011 16:52:11 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase, and Vince McMahon I'd add to that list as well.
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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2011 17:10:50 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase, and Vince McMahon I'd add to that list as well. Good additions. I always think of Ted kicking that ball when the kid almost won the money from him. |
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Post by Rule 30 on Jun 5, 2011 17:19:19 GMT -5
The Dudley Boys in ECW. Two words: Holy  . |
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Post by theimmortal on Jun 5, 2011 18:12:45 GMT -5
If you consider situations and cheap heat...It really really is hard not to put Sgt Slaughter in that top spot. However, I can also see where its meant on more of an everyday performance level. With that, my top 3 would be Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and Hollywood Hogan.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jun 5, 2011 18:27:45 GMT -5
i was taking it in the context of a Great Heel being someone who not only is good/great in the ring and on the mic, but is also able to generate heat over a decent period of time and with multiple opponents and feuds..... not too many of them i can think of off hand...
Ric Flair
Roddy Piper
Hollywood Hogan
Goldust
Ted Dibiase
Andre The Giant
Randy Savage
Nick Bockwinkle
Chris Jericho
Triple H
...pretty much everyone already listed...
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Post by wyleecyotee on Jun 5, 2011 18:31:18 GMT -5
For me JBL is in the top 10 of my list (my heel list only goes back about 1985 though). At a time when I knew all about wrestling and appreciated the heels for what they did, I hated JBL.
It wasn't until after he lost the belt that I started to like him and realised how much I enjoyed his reign purely because I watched to see him loose it. The best heel? No. But he got a great deal of heat in 2004/5.
HHH is up there too along with Vince. HHH was great at being the dominant heel that could stand up to the top dogs of the Rock, Taker and Austin. In the midst of the build to Wrestlemania 17, The Rock vs. Austin after Austin won the Royal Rumble, HHH beat Stone Cold in a fantastic 2/3 falls match. Great end to the feud and HHH coming out on top was one of my most hated moments in wrestling history then.
Vince just knew how to piss people off, fantastic on the mic to get people to absolutely hate the man.
But from what I have heard about Flair in his prime, he is one of the great heels.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jun 5, 2011 18:44:00 GMT -5
Sgt. Slaughter was THE hottest heel - for a limited time....
he returned in August of 1990 ,but didn't adopt the "Iraqi Sympathizer" angle until the fall.....
by September of 1991 his heat was fading fast enough for Vince to desperately turn him face again with the whole "I want my country back!!" promo's...
so he was the hottest heel in wrestling for maybe 8 months or so,from Jan. 1991 with his World Title win til SummerSlam 1991,when the feud with Hogan was finally put to rest....and i can even argue whether he actually WAS the #1 heel in the WWF that summer considering you had the Undertaker coming on super strong and massively over,and then the depravity of Jake Roberts,who was "training" the Ultimate Warrior about the darkside for his feud with Taker,only to turn on him an ally himself with Taker...
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Post by cordless2016 on Jun 5, 2011 19:10:50 GMT -5
Bret Hart in 1997 had a ton of heat for his "Anti-American" gimmick. American's couldn't stand him.
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Post by mikey1974 on Jun 5, 2011 19:11:40 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase, and Vince McMahon I'd add to that list as well. Good additions. I always think of Ted kicking that ball when the kid almost won the money from him. |
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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2011 19:26:36 GMT -5
i was taking it in the context of a Great Heel being someone who not only is good/great in the ring and on the mic, but is also able to generate heat over a decent period of time and with multiple opponents and feuds..... not too many of them i can think of off hand... Ric Flair Roddy Piper Hollywood Hogan Goldust Ted Dibiase Andre The Giant Randy Savage Nick Bockwinkle Chris Jericho Triple H ...pretty much everyone already listed... Yeah, you definitely got where I was coming from. Almost anyone can ride on cheap heat, right place right time. It takes a real good heel to be consistent in the role. EDIT: I would also have to say Jerry Lawler was always a fantastic heel. And I'm not just talking his WWF/E career. I wish there was more footage from his memphis run on youtube. He's always been great at the insults but I'm talking stuff about his just outlandish meanness that he could pull out. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2011 19:31:30 GMT -5
Not the greatest, but some props have to be given to Vickie
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Post by mikey1974 on Jun 5, 2011 19:54:22 GMT -5
i was taking it in the context of a Great Heel being someone who not only is good/great in the ring and on the mic, but is also able to generate heat over a decent period of time and with multiple opponents and feuds..... not too many of them i can think of off hand... Ric Flair Roddy Piper Hollywood Hogan Goldust Ted Dibiase Andre The Giant Randy Savage Nick Bockwinkle Chris Jericho Triple H ...pretty much everyone already listed... Yeah, you definitely got where I was coming from. Almost anyone can ride on cheap heat, right place right time. It takes a real good heel to be consistent in the role. EDIT: I would also have to say Jerry Lawler was always a fantastic heel. And I'm not just talking his WWF/E career. I wish there was more footage from his memphis run on youtube. He's always been great at the insults but I'm talking stuff about his just outlandish meanness that he could pull out. i loved his insults to the crowd at KOTR 1996.... |
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Post by theimmortal on Jun 5, 2011 20:28:38 GMT -5
Anything anti-American always gets heat. Its cheap heat but still heat. Sheik, Slaughter, Hart, Hassan, Volkoff and lots lots more.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2011 20:32:39 GMT -5
Shane Douglas in ECW, especially the heat he got regarding Gary Wolfe.
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Post by markallenkellner on Jun 5, 2011 20:35:34 GMT -5
Roddy Piper
Vince McMahon
Jake Roberts
Andy Kaufman
Ric Flair
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2011 20:52:47 GMT -5
triple h
vince mc mahon
chris jericho
the rock
cm punk
and jeff hardy in tna.
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Post by Brad on Jun 5, 2011 23:35:12 GMT -5
Yeah, you definitely got where I was coming from. Almost anyone can ride on cheap heat, right place right time. It takes a real good heel to be consistent in the role. EDIT: I would also have to say Jerry Lawler was always a fantastic heel. And I'm not just talking his WWF/E career. I wish there was more footage from his memphis run on youtube. He's always been great at the insults but I'm talking stuff about his just outlandish meanness that he could pull out. i loved his insults to the crowd at KOTR 1996.... This is off subject but I just have to say. People give Lawler a lot of crap on these boards but he's by far the coolest wrestler I've ever met. I've had encounters with him more than once over the years and he's always a class act. He remembers me by name every time he sees me. I have to credit that to my mom though, when I was about 3 years old she went on and on to him about how nuts I was about him and I guess it just stuck. One instance I can think of, memphis wrestling was doing a show in my town one night and they were having problems getting the cage up for the main event so there was a delay. I decided to get up and go over to the dressing room door (small venue) I asked the security guy to go tell Jerry that I was out there (told him my name) well of course he looked at me like I was nuts, Lawler was already working for WWF by the time. But I eventually talked the guy into going and telling him, I swore if he acted like he didn't know me I'd go about my business. I promise you, 2 minutes later Jerry walked out with a big grin on his face. He stood and talked to me for a good 15 minutes. Anyway... like I said, way off topic but I just wanted to share that. Lawler is a good guy. |
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Jun 6, 2011 2:30:56 GMT -5
Sgt. Slaughter wasn't the greatest anything.
If I had to pick one guy, it would be Bobby Heenan. He was a magnet for boos and it projected to every guy he ever managed. Crowds never seemed to get tired of the babyfaces beating up on him.
It's hard to give the nod to one guy, however. Four other people stick out in my mind as having the extra-special ability to get the crowds riled up.
Andy Kaufman- He was one of the first people to blur the line between wrestling and reality. People in Hollywood hated him. Wrestling fans in Memphis were ready to string him up.
Abdullah the Butcher- In the 60s and 70s, when heels were truly loathed, Abby would incite crowds to near-riots. He would incapacitate and bloody the babyfaces to the point where the crowd thought he had legitimately gone crazy. As a result, extra security was a regular part of Abby matches. He was also assaulted on several occasions by fans.
New Jack- He, Mustafa, and Jim Cornette stirred up a hornets' nest in the early 90s with racially inflammatory angles. He got picketed by the NAACP and the KKK. Later on, he legitimately stabbed another wrestler and almost beat a 70+ year old wrestler to death during a show.
Shawn Michaels- Watch his European title win over The British Bulldog in England. Watch The Montreal Screwjob. By the end of '97, crowds were peppering the ring with trash (sometimes dangerous things like batteries) whereever he went. To say he was hated would be an understatement.
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