A Analysis of Heels and Faces, Going Beyond Cheers and Boos

Hello B/R! AKD has another article coming your way and its on Heels and Faces of the WWE.

Its a no brainer that Heels get the heat and are supposed to be hated along with the way they taunt the fans and the dirty deeds they commit to reach victory. Its also obvious that faces are loved by the fans and get applauded even in the mist of defeat.

Faces overcome the odds to win and love to thank the fans... well, for being fans.

Most times faces don't have a deeply developed character and are like "Supermen" who just want to the do the right thing and the fans are their inspiration. The heels are mostly likely the ones who are better developed and have motives behind every action and tells the fans that nothing will stop him/her as they are being booed.

What else is there besides the obvious?

The faces gives us the impression (well at least myself) that they are extremely naive and or gullible. Granted some people are taken by surprise but somethings are so obvious. Take Batista for example.

In my eyes he is not developed that well and his only drive is the fans and winning the championship. He is a muscle head. At Survivor Series 08' he tried to pin Cody Rhodes following a Batista Bomb in the traditional elimination match after Orton blind tagged Rhodes. The ref told him that Rhodes isn't the legal man. Batista stands there like a barbarian drooling as his brain is working double overtime trying to understand the ref.

He stands there for about seven seconds with his facial expression equivalent to "Duhhhh". Did he forget Orton was in the match. Then he gets RKO'ed loses the match and cannot believe what had just transpired.

Now take the newly reinvented Chris Jericho. He is no doubt more developed and his feud with HBK is a prime example. He states that HBK is a back stabber and he is continuously praised whereas Jericho himself gets booed for doing the right thing. He accuses the fans of being hypocrites and retires his Y2J persona because he no longer wishes to entertain the fans but wants to be recognized as an elite superstar and not a goof ball.

That man won superstar of the year for a reason.

John Cena is the Clark Kent of the WWE. On a side note, I'm not trashing any superstar just talking based on observation. When Cena feuded with Orton he must have not been aware of what Orton could do? He was furious after Orton punted Cena Sr.

First of all, didn't he not see what Orton had done to legends? The man has no limits. Edge had also attacked Cena's father in his own home to boot so why put your father in danger again? Then they are shocked and digusted by what has happened afterwards.

Randy Orton transformation has been magnificent. WWE developed him greatly and he has motive and reason behind every action. We are able to get into the shoes of Orton and understand where he is coming from unlike Cena or Batista. (again i'm not bashing them).

We understand his Legend Killer gimmick, we understood he wanted to be a prominent figure, we understood that Evolution's betrayal kept him up at night and was a turning point in his career. Why face some one when you could just punt them?

For heels, it is not about honor or respect; its about reaching the top at any means necessary. That also includes any casualties along the way...just look at Edge.

To get back on topic there are drastic differences between heel and face development.

I may be wrong sometimes, but look at Stone Cold Steve Austin. In my eyes as well as the eyes of many, he is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever grace the WWE ring. His character wasn't that great though. He was a beer drinking redneck who gave stunners...well for the sake of it.

His character didn't have deep development and only had a motive when Vince McMahon attacked, insulted, or fired him....heck McMahon was what drove him most. Not to say he did poorly because he didn't its just his character had no depth.

The Heels are the ones who seemed more focused. They spend little to no time interacting with the fans when they make their way to the ring and use the ring to their advantage. Using ropes, removing turnbuckles etc.. we know its cheating, but if you look at it they are the more intelligent wrestlers.

They are first to react to a sudden change in the match e.g. the ref gets knocked out. While faces tend to look like they're lost waiting or a backup ref, Heels look to capitalize on the opportunity and pounce on their prey whether it means using foreign objects or not.

I'm not accusing anyone of anything because I have stated these are observations and it seems like the faces just don't learn their lessons, aren't that smart, and aren't developed like the heels. I know this isn't always the case and at the end of day it is entertainment.