Better as face or heel?

[JoeDirt 0]

When it's all said and done and we look back on these wrestlers' careers, would you say they were a better babyface or heel?

 

1) Ric Flair

2) Shawn Michaels

3) Bob Backlund

4) Roddy Piper

5) Jake Roberts

6) Mick Foley

7) Bret Hart

8) Lex Luger

9) The Rock

10) Undertaker

11) Randy Savage

12) Big Show/Giant

 

Might add more later...we'll see how this goes!

[Guest Loss]

1) Ric Flair

 

Face

 

2) Shawn Michaels

 

Heel

 

3) Bob Backlund

 

Heel

 

 

4) Roddy Piper

 

Heel

 

 

5) Jake Roberts

 

Heel

 

6) Mick Foley

 

Heel

 

7) Bret Hart

 

Heel

 

8) Lex Luger

 

Heel

 

9) The Rock

 

Face

 

10) Undertaker

 

Face

 

11) Randy Savage

 

Heel

 

12) Big Show/Giant

 

Face

[Guest netslob]

1) Ric Flair- heel. the measuring stick for all future heels.

 

2) Shawn Michaels- heel. his cocky babyface/icon/Born-Again crap isn't flying.

 

3) Bob Backlund- Heel. but i never seen any of his face work.

 

4) Roddy Piper- Heel. was to heels in the '80's that Hogan was to faces.

 

5) Jake Roberts- Heel. much more entertaining when he was pure evil.

 

6) Mick Foley- Heel. heel Cactus Jack was gold.

 

7) Bret Hart- Face. too bland to be a good heel. did do alright during the anti-America deal, i'll admit, beacuse alot of what he was ranting about is true. but made a better face over-all.

 

8) Lex Luger- heel. just something about him screams "pompous asshole".

 

9) The Rock- heel. same as Luger.

 

10) Undertaker- heel. the "death" gimmick works better for a heel.

 

11) Randy Savage- heel. his misoginyst/jealous schtick (if it WAS schtick) with Liz and Hogan was gold.

 

12) Big Show/Giant- heel. better as a monster who uses his size and brute strength to destroy smaller opponents (whcih is pretty much anyone).

[Guest LooneyTune]

Pretty much everyone on the list minus Bret Hart works better as a heel I think. The Undertaker is over as a face, but his gimmick screams heeldom though.

[tbondrage99 0]

1) Ric Flair - Heel....though I always seem him as a face anyway.... I mean the guy is supposed to be a heel now but I cant see it.

 

2) Shawn Michaels - Heel. Sweet lord whenever hes a face its the same whole Im a good guy and Im insprational so cheer me.....I think he should turn heel and shove his religion in peoples faces.....well more so then he does now. He can say that hes doing what God wants him to do. Yeah I love it!

 

3) Bob Backlund- I never really saw him as a face but I found his heel time quite fun....plus they made the riduclious sounding "Crossface Chicken-Wing" one of the most feared submission holds ever.

 

4) Roddy Piper - I cant see where Hot Rod can go wrong I think hes equally good as a face as he is a heel.

 

5) Jake Roberts - Heel. though I still think hes great as a face as well.

 

6) Mick Foley - Face. I found Foley way more entertaining as a face then I ever did as a heel.

 

7) Bret Hart - This one depends on where your from. If America then theres a better chance that you might think hes a better heel, although still doubtful. If your from anywhere else in the world Canada espically then there is really no comparisson. Face all the way.

 

8) Lex Luger - Luger to me goes into the who gives a fuck file. I didnt care when he was a face and I didnt care when he was a heel. So I guess like Piper hes pretty much equal.

 

9) The Rock - Tough choice but I always liked the Rock a hell of a lot better when he was a heel.

 

10) Undertaker - Another toss up. I love him as a face and a heel equally. I think I might lean towards face with him though.

 

11) Randy Savage - Heel. I always thought that the heel Savage was way better then the face Savage....besides it was the heel Savage who wrestled Hogan at WrestleMania V.

 

12) Big Show/Giant - Heel. Its not even really close.

[Special K 0]

I'm going to try to go about it objectively, not based on crowd reaction.

 

1) Ric Flair

Dastardly tactics and arrogant promos a great heel make. Heel.

 

2) Shawn Michaels

Crazy bumping and his ringwork lends itself to facehood, slightly better on the mic as a heel. I'll go face.

 

3) Bob Backlund

I've only seen him as a crazy heel, which he did very well. Don't know enough to say.

 

4) Roddy Piper

Funny case as he wrestles and works the mic essentially the same whether good or bad. I'll go heel, as he never dropped his heel mannerisms.

 

5) Jake Roberts

Oh, heel for sure. Dark micwork and promos that made him a scary and intimidating heel.

 

6) Mick Foley

Ringwork and micwork are great as both heel and face. Since he was able to convey comedy AND drama as a face, and sine his bumping makes for natural sympathy, I'll give a slight edge to face.

 

7) Bret Hart

Another guy who really doesn't change his ringwork based on his role. Either he's a face who uses his smarts to pick apart bigger smarter heels, or a relentless heel who relentlessly cripple his oppoenent. Just depends on your persepective. His heel micwork is astronomically better than his face micwork, though. Heel.

 

8) Lex Luger

I think he's a horrible face. Gives no reason for me to cheer him. His heel characters were hardly worse, but at least you got why you were supposed to boo, even if you didn't give a flying fuck. Heel, I guess.

 

 

9) The Rock

Wel his face character is essentially just his heel character who doesn't cheat. I'll go heel.

 

10) Undertaker

Sucks as both. I guess I'll say face, just because he seemed successful at it, while his heel turns always tanked.

 

11) Randy Savage

Crazy ass heel.

 

12) Big Show/Giant

Hmm. I'll say face for his natural goofiness, though I don't think he has it as a serious face.

[King Cucaracha 0]

1) Ric Flair- Heel. The ultimate heel.

2) Shawn Michaels- Undecided. His ring work is mroe suited to being the face, his character is pretty similar both ways.

3) Bob Backlund- Heel. More successful as a face, but less...bland.

4) Roddy Piper- Heel. His run with Hogan speaks for itself.

5) Jake Roberts- Heel. Made such a great, sneaky heel. His mic work was suited entirely to being a heel.

6) Mick Foley- Face. Cut his best promos as a heel, but just so entertaining as a heel.

7) Bret Hart- Heel. The anti-USA stuff was the first time he stood out for me as a capable promo guy.

8) Lex Luger- Undecided. More successful as a face, probably a bit more entertaining as a heel

9) The Rock- Face. Seriously, Corporate Rock was pure gold...but his face run was so much more successful and for the most part entertaining.

10) Undertaker- Face. Heel Booger Red never did it for me.

11) Randy Savage- Undecided. About equal.

12) Big Show/Giant- Heel. Never been a big, face Show fan.

[MikeJordan23 0]

1) Ric Flair

2) Shawn Michaels

3) Bob Backlund

4) Roddy Piper

5) Jake Roberts

6) Mick Foley

7) Bret Hart

8) Lex Luger

9) The Rock

10) Undertaker

11) Randy Savage

12) Big Show/Giant

 

Might add more later...we'll see how this goes!

1) Ric Flair - Heel

2) Shawn Michaels - Face

3) Bob Backlund - Heel

4) Roddy Piper - Heel

5) Jake Roberts - Heel

6) Mick Foley - Face

7) Bret Hart - Heel he had someone of his best angles, but he's a natural face

8) Lex Luger - Heel

9) The Rock - Heel

10) Undertaker - Face

11) Randy Savage - Heel

12) Big Show/Giant - Heel

 

Hogan was more entertaining as a heel, then a face to me personally.

[Guest BDC]

1) Ric Flair: one guy who can make heel tactis get cheers. But he's a great heel, no question at all.

 

2) Shawn Michaels: I hated him during the DX era, which I guess I was supposed to. But then again, I just couldn't stand the guy's mannerisms, so I'll go with heel.

 

3) Bob Backlund: Haven't seen enough. Seen highlights of the psycho thing, but I'll refrain on it.

 

4) Roddy Piper: Heel for reasons already stated.

 

5) Jake Roberts: Just listening to the guy in Beyond the Mat, "Take one person in that audience. Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry..." just screams heel.

 

6) Mick Foley: Foley as a heel is great. His ECW work was fantastic, his heel run as Mankind was great. Sure, he's a good face, but I love his heel work.

 

7) Bret Hart: Bret was a great face. I didn't dig the heel thing too much since I hated Shawn the whole time.

 

8) Lex Luger: What sticks out about Luger to me was him being one of the lead faces against the nWo, and I thought he did well with it. Face in that era.

 

9) The Rock: Rock as a heel was frustrating to me, I always thought he could cut loose as a face and do great. Nowadays, he can't do anything without getting cheered.

 

10) Undertaker: Neutral, really. The guy has the scary heel persona, but it's also very cool. I think the best example of how I like the guy was his debut.

 

11) Randy Savage: psychopathic heeldom

 

12) Big Show/Giant: Similar to Luger for face, but a great heel. Let's have him just start ripping through folks and you never have to lose the David and Goliath aspect. He's just gotta, y'know, win to make it credible.

[eiker_ir 0]

1) Ric Flair: heel, the perfect cocky heel, that's why everybody loves him.

 

2) Shawn Michaels: i think he has better matches as a face, but his more entertaining as a heel(DX)

 

3) Bob Backlund: crazy heel is my favorite

 

4) Roddy Piper: whatever, he was the same as heel or face, and he was great at it.

 

5) Jake Roberts: heel, he's promos just worked that way.

 

6) Mick Foley: great at both, but after all this years i can only see Foley as a funny good guy.

 

7) Bret Hart: the eternal face, but his promos were awesome during the Anti-American era.

 

8) Lex Luger: meh, heel i guess.

 

9) The Rock: Hollywood heel Rock was incredibly entertaining.

 

10) Undertaker: i prefer Heel Taker, he was great as a heel during late 2001-early 2002 imo

 

11) Randy Savage: my favorite was heel from around WM 5, but face savage was cool too ooooooooohhhhhh yeaaaaaaah

 

12) Big Show/Giant: heel.

[IWD 0]

1) Ric Flair - heel

2) Shawn Michaels - face

3) Bob Backlund - heel

4) Roddy Piper - heel

5) Jake Roberts - heel

6) Mick Foley - face

7) Bret Hart - face

8) Lex Luger - face

9) The Rock - either

10) Undertaker - heel

11) Randy Savage - either

12) Big Show/Giant - heel

 

Cheers.

[Guest jm29195]

1) Ric Flair- Heel- the best heel of all time

 

 

2) Shawn Michaels- Decent babyface but incredible heel, watch One Night Only!

 

3) Bob Backlund- Psycho Heel

 

4) Roddy Piper- Loose Cannon Heel

 

5) Jake Roberts- Psychological heel

 

6) Mick Foley- Heel when self motivated, otherwise incredible babyface

 

7) Bret Hart- He was a great face, even better in his 97 wwf heel run, and a rubbish wcw heel (imo), best in his wwf heel run with the canadian face heat

 

8) Lex Luger- To arrogant to be a good babyface, better as a narcisstic heel

 

9) The Rock- Good babyface but more entertaining as heel

 

10) Undertaker- Satanic heel- 99, or Respect heel/tweener 01/02/03

 

11) Randy Savage- nwo heel vs DDP

 

12) Big Show/Giant- Heel- giants always work better as heels imo

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

1) Ric Flair - Heel. He's the prototype for half the heels in wrestling today. The other half is Superstar Billy Graham. Kurt Angle is sort of unique.

 

2) Shawn Michaels - Heel. Aside from the Rockers & 1995 he was always crap as a face. His current act is dying.

 

3) Bob Backlund - Heel. He got more heat than anybody else in the mid-90s, save maybe Owen Hart, and I wouldn't even go that far. People outright hated this man in 1994-95.

 

4) Roddy Piper - Heel. He was such a dick, and did his best business as a heel.

 

5) Jake Roberts - Heel. Especially his Trust Me run.

 

6) Mick Foley - Face. He's just too lovable and too much of an underdog to truly hate.

 

7) Bret Hart - Heel. His face character was bland, but was the best out of the mid-90s WWF, purely because of his ringwork. His run in 1997 was astonishing.

 

8) Lex Luger - Heel. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. He was always more about looks than skill. Sounds like a heel to me.

 

9) The Rock - Face. He was ultra-over in 2000 and is a better face wrestler. He was also a great heel, but his best work was as a face. I could see going either way on this one though.

 

10) Undertaker - Face. Definitely face. His gimmick is that he is unstoppable and he just stays by himself unless you go after him first. Bikertaker was a better heel, but not his famous Dead Man gimmick.

 

11) Randy Savage - Heel. He was almost as over as Hogan in 1987, and that's saying a lot.

 

12) Big Show/Giant - Face. He makes a decent monster heel, but he is impressive and charismatic enough that fans react better to him as a face.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

1) Ric Flair

- Heel

2) Shawn Michaels

- Heel

3) Bob Backlund

- Heel

4) Roddy Piper

- Heel

5) Jake Roberts

- Heel

6) Mick Foley

- Heel

7) Bret Hart

- Face

8) Lex Luger

- Heel

9) The Rock

- Heel

10) Undertaker

- Face

11) Randy Savage

- Face

12) Big Show/Giant

- Heel

[Guest Loss]

There are two reasons I called Flair a better face:

 

(1) He's less repetitive, as the match is more based on the style of his opponent when he's being dominated.

 

(2) Most of what he did didn't elicit boos because he was so cool. If a heel gets cheered, he's not doing his job. There's nothing Flair could do to avoid that, because technically he was doing everything right, but he should have been a babyface the majority of his career for this very reason.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Sting is a better heel than face.

[Special K 0]

Sting is a better heel than face.

 

I REALLY hope you're being sarcastic. He, against odds, managed to make a completely goofy, and none to smart character into a monster face. He was an AWFUL heel. His heart clearly wasn't in it, and he never looked intimidating. It was just 'Hey, Sting used a chair last match.' 'Oh well. Let's still cheer him!'

[Betty Houle 0]

Michaels is great as a heel but even greater as a babyface.

 

Flair is a better heel but has often been too loved to be a heel.

[Some Guy 0]

1) Ric Flair - Heel in his prime, Face now.

 

2) Shawn Michaels - Heel, he is just an incredible heel, while his face character is boring.

 

3) Bob Backlund - Heel, I loved Mr. Backlund.

 

4) Roddy Piper - Heel in his prime, face now.

 

5) Jake Roberts - Heel, trust me.

 

6) Mick Foley - Face, the bumps he took made it hard to boo him.

 

7) Bret Hart - Heel, his wrestling style is tailor made for a heel. Look at the babyface matches he's been in (vs. Nash: RR and Sur. Ser. 95, Taker: RR 96, etc...) and he was the one who worked heel.

 

8) Lex Luger - Heel character, face wrestler. As he wasn't a good enough worker to control a match as the heel.

 

9) The Rock - This is tough because he's so good at both, but I'll go with heel because of the awesomness that was his early 2003 heel run.

 

10) Undertaker - Heel.

 

11) Randy Savage - Heel, as a face he got lazy and every match turned in to him getting beat down for the whole thing before making a short comeback and hitting the elbow.

 

12) Big Show/Giant - Face, I guess, although he's not really good at either.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Michaels is great as a heel but even greater as a babyface.

Excuse me...

 

Now... how the hell is Michaels a better face? His look and character scream heel, and as an all around dickhead character, you might actually think he is like that in real life. As a babyface, he just gets on everyones nerves with his lame ass jesus love festing.

 

As a character: MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better as a heel

As a wrestler: he bumps the same either way, so call it a push.

[Some Guy 0]

2) Shawn Michaels - Heel. Sweet lord whenever hes a face its the same whole Im a good guy and Im insprational so cheer me.....I think he should turn heel and shove his religion in peoples faces.....well more so then he does now. He can say that hes doing what God wants him to do. Yeah I love it!

How exactly does he shove his religion in people's faes? Because he wore a shirt with a Bible verse on it at SummerSlam 02? His merchandise has Jesus fish and such on it but other than that I fail to remember him using the ring as his pulpit and preaching the word of God. I'd be willing to bet that non-smarks wouldn't even realize he was born again. I don't even believe in God adn generally am sensitive to people trying to thrust their beliefs upon me but I have no problem with someone expressing their's, especially if it's on something as ignorable as a t-shirt.

 

I think Hogan's face character was far more in your face about thrusting religion on people. "Train, say your prayers, etc..."

[MARTYEWR 0]

1) Ric Flair - Face. I was watching some 80s promos of Flair, and it never ceased to amaze me a lot of the face reaction he got from them, in spite of being a heel. On top of that, as Loss pointed out, he was far less repetitive.

 

2) Shawn Michaels - Heel. His late 1997 run might've kicked his career back into overdrive if he was still healthy. Has never been a great face, and his championship run in 1996 bombed badly.

 

3) Bob Backlund - Face. I know there's much love for his work with Bret Hart in 1994, but Backlund was played a superb scientific wrestler/hero role in the late 70s/early 80s that always got a great reaction from the MSG crowd. Drew great money too. He was able to hide a lot of his heel opponents' weaknesses quite well. As mentioned, had a nice angle with Bret Hart, but any other portion of his WWF heel act falls into the crazy old guy/comedy level.

 

4) Roddy Piper - Heel. Face Piper was bland. Heel Piper did things very unexpectantly. Had great lines in his promos too.

 

5) Jake Roberts - Heel. Much like Piper, as a face, he was bland. Great worker as a heel in the mid 80s. He experienced a nice revival in 1991, although at times his act got tiresome.

 

6) Mick Foley - Face. First, I will say this: I LOVE the ECW promos. Foley gave them to the greatest of his abilities. HOWEVER, even Foley admits that, after one of the anti-hardcore promos he gave, he got cheered quite a bit thanks to the great delivery. This should not happen with a heel. The Cane Dewey promo was superb, but thanks to what Foley said, a lot of people, including the ECW fanbase, cheered him and agreed with what he said. As a face, his character is very easy to tell a story about: the death-defying hard-worker. I don't recall him being booed much as a face (albeit, I admit to not seeing much of his WCW face stuff).

 

7) Bret Hart - Heel. Hart had a bland character as a face, but I thought he was great as heels with Jim Neidhart, and 1997 speaks for itself. Never could get going as a face in WCW.

 

8) Lex Luger - Heel. He had shown the most potential possible as a member of the Four Horsemen, and his run as the Narcissist was fun.

 

9) The Rock - Face. I almost said heel here. The Rock is at his best as a face, but only if he keeps his edge. I thought he was losing his edge in 2002 (explaining the reactions to Hogan and Brock) but regained his "F-U" character again in 2003.

 

10) Undertaker - Face. Was getting face reactions even during his initial heel run. Got cheered during his last heel run, especially after powerbombing Spike Dudley out of the ring. Always gets a noticeable reaction as a face.

 

11) Randy Savage - Heel. Not a bad face, just a far better, killer heel.

 

12) Big Show/Giant - Face. Heel Show is hardly taken seriously, but face Show I think is someone the fans want to get behind, hoping he does eventually become the next Andre.

[Highland 0]

1) Ric Flair: Heel. I cheer for him, but he's still a better heel than face

 

2) Shawn Michaels: Heel. I hate born-again Christian face HBK.

 

3) Bob Backlund: Heel. All I can remember of him is his Mr. Bob Backlund schtik.

 

4) Roddy Piper: Heel. The yin to Hogan's Yang, though I'm tempted to say Savage was a better rival to Hogan.

 

5) Jake Roberts: Heel.

 

6) Mick Foley: Either way. Heel Mankind was awesome, but when he started breaking kafabe and acting goofy, he had to be a face. He was good at that too.

 

7) Bret Hart: Face. I'm biased. Heel run was gold.

 

8) Lex Luger: I don't care.

 

9) The Rock: Face. Awesome either way, but nothing touches face Rock.

 

10) Undertaker: Face. People want to cheer the deadman, or at least used to.

 

11) Randy Savage: Heel. The Macho King was great.

 

12) Big Show/Giant:Heel. He should be crippling his opponents, not taking part in comedy skits.

[Guest Loss]

1) Ric Flair: Heel. I cheer for him, but he's still a better heel than face

Not if you cheer for him he's not.

[Highland 0]

1) Ric Flair: Heel. I cheer for him, but he's still a better heel than face

Not if you cheer for him he's not.

Not necessarily. I like to cheer for heels. I marked when Kevin Nash tossed Rey like a lawn dart, does that make Nash a face? He wasn't at the time.

[Guest HTQ's Personal Bitch]

...

[Special K 0]

It's sort of a hard thing to judge.

 

For example, when Rock was a heel, he was so cool the crowd was DYING for him to turn, and would give him big 'cool heel' pops, until he insulted the home team (why does this still work? Another topic for another time)

 

Once he turned, after a while the crowd would turn on him, though. See: WMs XVII and XVIII.

 

So how do you judge what he's better at doing?

[Nighthawk 0]

I've never actually disliked anyone in wrestling, I've either liked them or not cared one way or another. Does this mean wrestling as a whole is a failure?

[Guest Ray]

I don't know why anyone would say Bret was better as a heel. His body of great matches are almost all face matches.

[Guest Loss]

I've never actually disliked anyone in wrestling, I've either liked them or not cared one way or another. Does this mean wrestling as a whole is a failure?

No. It means you are.

 

Please stay out of the wrestling folders completely. It's blatantly obvious you only come in them to troll.