Professional wrestling is an art form that is often depicted by the outside world in unfavorable terms. Yet, one thing that nearly all critics would agree upon, is that it is also a profession that would take an enormous amount of talent, both athletically and creatively to be good at. Some professional wrestlers have a gift at getting people in the crowd to cheer them, care about them and love them. The moment their music hits and they step through that curtain the crowd erupts in applause. Others, have a knack for getting everyone in attendance to hate them. They have the ability to crawl under anyone's skin, making fist clinch and faces frown.
Their have been many professional wrestlers over the years that have had the ability to be great at one, but not the other. As a face, they're one of the all time best, but they failed as heel or maybe it was that they were a tremendous heel, but only mediocre as a face. For example Ted Dibiase. He spent his early years as a mediocre babyface, winning the now defunct, never recognized and rarely mentioned WWE North American title. Had he have stayed a babyface, he wouldn't be remembered as the legend he is today. It was turning heel, and becoming the hated
Million Dollar Man that allowed Dibiase to showcase his abilities. He is an example of many who never amounted to much as faces, but became immortal as heels.
Bret Hart, at least in my opinion, would be an example of someone who was a tremendous face, and an at best mediocre heel. Even though he is one of the most beloved wrestlers of all time and in the minds of many the best in ring wrestler of all time, his days of glory were during his face runs. While as a heel in WWE, he seemed to lack the passion and the realism that he had as a face. His words as a face were genuine and sincere, yet forced and scripted as a heel. He seemed very comfortable and in place as a face, and very uncomfortable and out of place as a heel. In WCW, it was even worse. Bret is one of many wrestlers, who shined beautiful and bright as a face, and turned dull as a heel.
So who are the wrestlers who had the ability to make the fans love them as much as they hated them or make the fans hate them as much as they loved them? There have been many. Here are 10 of my favorites.
 |
| 10. Hulk Hogan |
It almost seems like cheating. If you count the AWA years, the WWE years and the WCW years altogether Hulk Hogan was the most loved and popular professional wrestler from 1981 to 1996. That's 15 years, of being millions of people's favorite wrestler. It'd be like Jesus joining forces with the devil. That is how serious fans took it, when Hogan turned heel. There will never be another heel turn as effective. Nothing will ever duplicate it. That's why it almost seems unfair to put him on this list. He had to work his ass off to develop the Hulk Hogan character that everyone loved. And because he was so loved, it made being a heel easy. All he had to do was leg drop Randy Savage. That's it. He didn't have to say or do anything else. That alone ripped the hearts out of Hulkamaniacs all over the world. The greatest thing WCW ever did.
 |
| 9. Razor Ramon |
Annoying, arrogant and obnoxious, when Razor Ramon first came to the WWE in 1992, he was easy to dislike and boo. Fans didn't like him and Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) often had him in the top 5 or higher for their monthly "least favorite wrestler" lists. He posed an immediate threat to Bret Hart's world title and his sneak attacks on Randy Savage, during Savage's matches with Ric Flair drew a ton of heat. Yet a short time later, Ted Dibiase and IRS began making fun of him and "The Bad Guy" soon became a good guy. What's funny, is that his persona didn't change much. He was still arrogant and obnoxious, only he was that way to heel wrestlers and not to face wrestlers or the fans. His energy level was contagious and fans easily gravitated to him. While he never held the WWE world's title, he helped to elevate the WWE's popularity by becoming one of their greatest intercontinental champions ever, and holding the title multiple times. While WCW used his heeling skills to full advantage, it would have been interesting to have seen him get turned on by his fellow NWO members and seek revenge. It seems an interesting angle that WCW missed the boat on, that could have worked, especially when considering his face skills.
 |
8. Bob Backlund
|
Wholesome, good natured, kind, friendly, honest and true, Bob Backlund was every grandma's and grandpa's favorite wrestler. A little too tame for some, but most loved him, admired him, respected him and looked up to him. He was the type of role model that parents were more than happy to see their kid plopped down in front of the TV watching. He took what could be the violent world of professional wrestling and gave it the touch of respectability and dignity that it needed to appeal to older fans. If you watch wrestling matches from Backlund's heyday throughout the late 70's through the mid 80's, you'll notice a lot of 60 plus year olds in the audience. He was the flavor of Andy Griffith that made them hand over their retirement money, to get a seat at the show. He didn't seem like he had an ounce of meanness or indecency within him. The idea that he could even entertain the idea of being a heel seemed astronomical. Yet, he did it and he did it well. The over the top, strict, crazy and rude
Mr. Backlund character that would snap and injure people with his infamous cross face chicken wing, was an immediate heel that the fans loved to see get beat up. Many who doubted whether Backlund had it in him to be a heel or not, later commented that they thought he was more excited and interesting as a heel, than he was as a face.
 |
| 7. Rowdy Roddy Piper |
Ole Hot Rod. When it comes to the story of the first Wrestlemania and what made it a success, Hulk Hogan's name is always the first to come up. He was the face of the company, the man everyone in the area came to see. The man everyone watching on Pay-per-view had sat down to watch. You know the other name that had just as much to do with Wrestlemania being a success as did Hogan's? Rowdy Roddy Piper. Not to make too many more Christian references, but a Jesus is only as good as his devil, when it comes to drawing crowds and Piper was the man the fans came to watch get beat by Hogan. They hated him and they handed their money over and they eagerly sat in their seats praying that Hogan would get his hands on him. Two years later, in a feud with Adrian Adonis, Piper would turn face and soon become as loved as he was hated. Piper proved that when you pour energy, love, passion and charisma as you can into it, that the fans are going to respond. What made Piper so great, as both a heel and as a face was his emotion.
 |
6. Shawn Michaels
|
Regardless of the type of person he is in real life Shawn Michaels is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Good person or bad person in the real world, there's no doubt that in the world of professional wrestling, face or heel, he makes the top 10 list regardless of who's writing the article. As a Rocker with tag team partner Marty Jannetty, everyone in the audience loved him. The girls, young and old loved him for his boyish good looks. The guys loved him cause he was a party animal and the kids loved his cause he was colorful, exciting and fun. When he turned on Jannetty and became the heartbreak kid, every girl wanted to slap him and every guy wanted to jump the railing and deck him right between the eyes. Then when it was time to turn face again, he went right back to being a heartthrob for the ladies, a man's man with the guys and the fun, lovable character for the kids. Then when he became heel again, he somehow managed to be even more irritating than he had been as the heartbreak kid. He was never mediocre during anytime of his career. People either absolutely loved him or they outright loathed him. With Shawn, there was never an in between.
 |
| 5. Doink The Clown |
Most heel wrestlers simply annoy, irritate and anger fans. Few downright scare them. Doink did. When his eerie music began to play, the smiles on the faces of boys and girls quickly turned to frowns as they grabbed for their parents and held on tight. He'd even make a few cry every now and again. His character was so real, so believably evil that kids were changing the channel when he came on the TV. Many parents didn't let their kids watch horror films, out of fear that it'd give them nightmares. Doink was no different and that's probably why his heel run was cut prematurely and he turned face. Now he was a better heel, but his face fun was still pretty successful. How he was able to go from the clown that made kids cower and cry, into the face that made the laugh and smile was nothing short of impressive. For most people clowns are either entities of phobia or triggers of laughter. Doink was able to capture the essence of both with impeccability.
 |
4. Jerry "The King" Lawler
|
In other parts of the world, the debate on the most popular wrestler of all time will forever wage between Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, the Rock and a handful of others. In the state of Tennessee, in particularly in the cities of Memphis and Nashville, the most popular wrestler is without question
Jerry The King Lawler. It is said, that even during his first run as WWE heavyweight champion, that Hogan found himself being out-cheered by Lawler when he wrestled against him in Memphis. If you ever want to hear a loud pop, find video of Lawler wrestling from the 80's and you'll hear cheers that are deafening. Yet, when he went to WWE in the early 90's, he rightfully earned "most hated wrestler of the year" in PWI's 1993 rankings. Somehow or another, even though fans had to have seen his behavior on WWE television, he was still cheered as a fan favorite in Tennessee for years. It took a long time after his initial heel turn in WWE, before he turned heel in the volunteer state. It's a shame that most professional wrestling fans only seem to know, care and pay attention to things that happened in nationally televised wrestling promotions, because overall, heel and face, Lawler was one of the best.
 |
3. Goldust
|
One of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, Goldust was immensely popular as both a heel and as a face. When he first came to the WWE in 1995, he pushed the envelope and he pushed it hard. Even if you weren't homophobic, he shoved a gay, creepy, perverted persona uncomfortably into your face as hard as he could. As a result, fans absolutely hated the guy and WWE did a great job of building up the tension as he mowed through Marty Jannetty, Bam Bam Bigelow and Razor Ramon for the intercontinental championship. Fans wanted to see him get his brains bashed in and he escaped one beating after another through cheating or sly cleverness. When Roddy Piper and Ahmed Johnson finally gave him the beating he deserved, fans went ballistic with pleasure. A short time later, he began a feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the fans went from wanting to see him get his ass kicked, to wanting to see him kick ass. He soon became a fan favorite and fans were cheering him just as loudly as they had been booing him.
 |
| 2. Jake "The Snake" Roberts |
He could be a heel on Monday, turn face Tuesday, turn back to a heel on Wednesday and then back to a face on Thursday. Friday he could be a heel again, take the weekend off and easily come back on Monday as a face. That's how good he was. Throughout his WWE career, he had many runs as both a face and as a heel. One would think as many times as he turned that fans would have stopped forgiving him after a while and stopped cheering him as a face. Yet, when you're that good, as mentioned before, you could change from face to heel, heel to face on a daily basis and still get over with the fans. People through around the word psychology in the world of professional wrestling, like raindrops in a storm. Yet few are able to capture the meaning of the word in the way Roberts was. He understood how to get into the minds of people and into their hearts. How to draw emotion in the fans. They may like another wrestler, but when Jake was a face, they loved him. They may dislike another wrestler, but when Jake was a heel, they hated him. Only one wrestler that could do it better.....
 |
1. Randy Savage
|
Intensity, passion and emotion. Randy Savage had it all. He could draw huge crowds as a heel and he could draw huge crowds as a face. Whether they came to see him cause they loved him or they came to see him cause they hated him, the fans came to see Randy Savage. His initial heel run in the mid 80's, saw him the top heel in the WWE. He quickly turned that into a late 80's run as the WWE's top face, the first face may it be added that the WWE trusted to hold the world's title instead of Hogan. Then, he turned around and became a top heel again in the early 90's, only to turn face again a short time later. Fans often point to his match with Ricky Steamboat as being the all time greatest match, and it certainly is in contention. It should also be noted that he had the best match at Wrestlemania VII (against The Ultimate Warrior) and Wrestlemania VIII (against Ric Flair) as well. Heel or face, he could be used in any which way, to draw a ton of money. Few may have been better faces and few may have been better heels, but when combining the two, Randy Savage takes a backseat to no one.
