Sticking to its theatricality, the WWE stage has its own sets of villains and heroes, the bad guys and the good. In wrestling, they’re called heels and babyfaces respectively. Over the years, the anti-hero has made itself quite relevant giving us some of the most important characters in recent history.
But sometimes the villain is far more interesting than the babyface.
Sometimes they have a far better story, much depth than the hero the audience is supposed to cheer/pop for.
And as kayfabe has been broken bit by bit in the past years, writing a full-fledged heel and face has become a difficult task. We are getting more and more ambiguous characters.
Here are the 5 times heels who have out- popped the babyfaces-
#5 Triple H
Taking a page out of this year’s events, Triple H returned at the Royal Rumble and it was quite clear he was still The Game, the authority figure, the heel. He was welcomed by the audience who still loathed Roman Reigns and his category as ‘The Chosen One.’
Reigns has been experiencing such divisive reactions because of everything we know about what management thinks about him and how they’re building him up to be the next face of the company.
So, when Reigns was eliminated by Triple H, the audience leapt, being ecstatic with joy. The heel had eliminated a babyface and that had become a celebratory moment.
Given this reaction and many in the past, Roman Reigns is now, as the company says, not a good guy or a bad guy. He’s just ‘The’ guy
#4 Brock Lesnar
Given Cena’s history of being Superman has not really gone down well with many fans. His character has polarized the audience for years. So, it’s no shock that there are ‘Let’s Go cena’ and ‘Cena sucks’ chants. But still, even with those chants the audience are still reacting to John Cena and only John Cena. There have been a few who have actually been able to make the audience rabidly support and cheer them and just plain jeer Cena.
Brock Lesnar is one of them. Lesnar is also an anomaly- A once in a lifetime kind of a superstar whose mere presence is enough for business to pick up.
So, at SummerSlam, Heyman and Lesnar were out to savagely destroy the face that runs the place and there was nothing heroic or cheerful about that. But the audience loved the demolition that Lesnar unraveled and were pleasantly surprised when he went on to squash Cena.
#3 Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler as a heel was a far fetched thought when he broke out as a heel with bleach blonde hair and then began calling himself ‘#Heel.’
Ziggler fashioned himself after many memorable heels from the past. Like Mr. Perfect, Ric Flair and HBK. But he was just too good for the audience to keep jeering him. The way he sold his opponents’ moves to his fleeting moments with almost achieving championship glory, Ziggler, to the audience had become one of those superstars who deserved to be in the main event but was just not getting a break.
Until he scratched and clawed his way to the top of the ladder and won the Money in the Bank. He was cheered all the way to the build up of the match and after and rabidly being called out to come and cash in his contract after WrestleMania 29. Del Rio was the valiant babyface who kept fighting despite a storyline knee injury but the audience did not care about that at all.
They were just focusing with bated breath for Ziggler to get his moment. And they were just all too happy when he finally did.
#2 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
The NWO had a very dismal run in the WWE, but one of the most memorable interactions they had was with The Rock. This led to Hulk Hogan returning to the ring and facing The Rock at WrestleMania 18. In a match that darn well stole the show, Hogan walked out in Toronto, Canada getting a hero’s welcome.
The Rock, one of the greatest most popular superstars ever, waned in that comparison. The reaction to Hogan was pure elation. They cheered absolutely everything he did. Just go back and watch them react to him hulking up. This wasn’t a technical classic as far as wrestling goes, but this was a spectacle on the biggest stage of them all. And after all these years, the audience still cared so, so, so much about the man who once asked them to say their prayers and take their vitamins.
#1 CM Punk
John Cena’s status as a polarizing force has already been mentioned. He’s had many great feuds, many great matches, many great promos, many great opponents.And then there was Punk.
Cena, for sure, has had many great feuds, many great matches, but only one true great rivalry. CM Punk vs John Cena is one rivalry that deserved to be a WrestleMania caliber main event. This rivalry gave rise to the anti-hero named CM Punk and it finally showed that Cena was not invincible.
It all began with a promo on June 27, 2011 and the heel Punk was instantly a cult hero. He returned to such a welcome at Boston after his suspension was overturned. This was a heel getting that reaction in the hometown of the babyface.
This would lead us to the night Punk won the WWE Championship at Chicago, making MITB as a PPV a success and making him The Cult of Personality.
