Does real heel heat exist anymore?
True heel heat is more than just booing or negative chants during a show. Back in the day heel wrestlers could draw a lot of intense emotion from live crowds. Bar fights, tire slashing, numerous fan altercations ,even had their lives threatened back in the territory days. I’d like to believe that as a fan base we know wrestling is pure entertainment so there isn’t any need to risk jail time over our displeasure with a villainous character but that hasn't always been the case.
In this “Social Media Era” it seems heels would rather be “cool” or “snarky” instead of down right rotten. Dolph Ziggler and his show off heel gimmick was more of a cool gimmick than anything else, whereas Damien Sandow was snarky as the Intellectual Savior of the Masses. Top heels in today’s WWE are cheered and have a lot of fan support. There’s no better display of this type of heel than Bray Wyatt. From the moment his entrance begins fans are behind him. The pitch black arena is instantly brought to life with fans shining their lights as the Wyatt Family walks the aisle. He has the whole world in his hand is sung out loudly by the masses in Bray’s honor. For all intents and purpose Bray is a heel that is why he attacks the good guys (currently Chris Jericho) to maintain his heel status. Nothing, not even the attacks can keep the fans from cheering him at the start of a promo.
There have been times in recent history where true heel heat has been achieved. The debut of the NEXUS, stunning the live crowd and attacking John Cena and tearing up ringside left fans in a silent horror. Mark Henry trolled the fans with what we thought was a heartfelt retirement speech. Admit it, Henry had you fooled! The night after Payback when Seth Rollins turned traitor on The Shield, Seth had red hot heat. How could he align himself with HHH and Evolution and betray his Shield brethren? On every social media site, Ambrose and Reigns fans wanted Rollins' head on a spike. Sadly that heat has died down a bit. Don’t get me wrong, there's a lot of fuel on the storyline, Seth is just not as hated as he was on that night. The last wrestler to hold true heel heat for a lengthy amount of time was young ”"Legend Killer” the one and only Randy Orton. Orton's done every horrible deed you could think of from low blows to spitting in Hall of Famers faces. He's even gone so far as to punt Stephanie McMahon! There is nothing more disgusting than a man putting his hands on a woman.
With the help of HHH and Orton there is a chance that Seth Rollins can be that low down dirty bastard that we all love to hate. We also have Rusev, Wade Barrett (GET WELL SOON), The Miz and one BO Dallas to add to the roster, so fans don’t just sit on your hands, voice your displeasure boo them out the arena. We may never see the territory days of heel heat return (let’s not go to jail people), but let’s let the bad guys be bad guys again.
Follow Me on Twitter at @BigJonDaLegend
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