Sheamus Is the Prototype for a New Heel Type That Will Dominate WWE

In wrestlers like Sheamus, the evolution of the WWE heel has produced a new species—an irritant to the Internet Wrestling Community, an affront to the diehards.

The new WWE world champion is part of an in-progress shift, redefining the role of the heel and the heat one generates. In an era where so many fans want to cheer the cool heels and dump on the straight-laced good guys, wrestlers like Sheamus will emerge as the new kings of villainy.  

Sheamus' title reign will be the litmus test to discover just how effective this new heel trope can be, an experiment in whether any heat is good heat.

In the past, fans hated heels because of their actions. Audiences jeered The Four Horseman because they broke Dusty Rhodes' arm. They did the same to Shawn Michaels when he smashed Marty Jannetty's head into a barbershop window.

That was not the case for Sheamus as Survivor Series closed. He floored Roman Reigns and snatched the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from him.

When ESPN's Robert Flores joked about the reaction to Sheamus' win, he wasn't just speaking for himself:

"

When Sheamus wins the #WWETitle #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/lUasc5hXXt

— Robert Flores (@RoFloESPN) November 23, 2015"

The Internet is bursting with fans who felt that way. Much of the grumbling online, much of the dislike pointed his way didn't come as a result of his heel actions.

Many fans simply don't want to see him in the spotlight. Him smashing Reigns in the jaw with a pair of Brogue Kicks to shred the babyface's dreams of being champion wasn't what set fans over the edge. What he stands for did.

He is not an indy darling in the way that Kevin Owens is. He's not a guy with a video game-like move set like Seth Rollins. He's not a fresh face, a wrestler with a great work rate, a guy with swooning teenage female fans or someone the IWC has marked with its stamp of approval.

Sheamus is a man WWE has long backed, a musclebound representation of the status quo. 

Sift through all the NSFW language that pops up when you search "Sheamus sucks" on Twitter. There is more talk about Sheamus as a wrestler than a character.

Many view him as a product of the WWE machine, not a "real" wrestler who paid his dues at Ring of Honor or Japan. Never mind that he cut his teeth in indy promotions in England and Ireland in front of sparse crowds. Perception is more important than reality here.

Giving him the title is like giving all the "smarks" an emphatic middle finger.

Credit: WWE.com

And that may be the pathway to heel heat in the future. With kayfabe a dead entity in many ways, pushing against what the most passionate part of the fanbase wants to see is among the most powerful tools WWE has left in its arsenal.

Had Dean Ambrose turned heel and won at Survivor Series, he would have likely been cheered despite moving over to the dark side. He's an IWC-backed performer unlike The Celtic Warrior. But with Sheamus, there were no cheers mixed in with the boos, there was pure animosity.

As Bill Neville of the New Age Insiders podcast pointed out, Sheamus grabbing the gold initiated a conversation:

"

One thing this Sheamus win did for WWE. It gets thep eople pissed, and it gets the people talking... LIKE WE ALL ARE RIGHT NOW.

— NAI's Bill Neville (@BillNevilleNAI) November 23, 2015"

Would fans have been nearly as passionate had a heel Ambrose won? Would Owens triumphing have sparked the kind of rage that Sheamus did? Probably not.

There's something special about this kind of anti-IWC heel that irks the audience. It's a pattern WWE has experimented with at NXT of late too. Both Baron Corbin and Eva Marie fit that bill.

Corbin is an ex-NFL player who is getting a consistent push from the company higher-ups. He lacks the indy cred that guys like Finn Balor and Apollo Crews boast. He fits the WWE mold in the way that Batista did and Reigns does currently.

And so, it's no surprise that he's often greeted with indignation from fans. 

Corbin has embraced that dislike. He often responds on Twitter, swatting fans away in true heel fashion:

The NXT announcers have done their best to fold this element into his character. They talk of how little Corbin thinks of the fans. They talk about him not caring if he's popular.

A part of his heel persona is that he isn't the kind of performer the IWC prefers. A part of the heat he generates comes from the company pushing him. Every major opportunity he earns is often looked at as one that could have gone to someone more favored by the vehement fans who live and breath wrestling.

And WWE has made it easy for those fans to root against him, as it continues to pit him against the IWC's favorites: Crews, Johnny Gargano, Samoa Joe.

Marie's recent climb up the NXT ladder is a display in the power of this burgeoning heel trope. The NXT audience has welcomed her with thunderous boos. 

She's a model trying to make it in a division increasingly populated by indy-bred performers. She's a green performer who WWE handed opportunities early and often over experienced wrestlers. So when the reality show star then challenged the beloved Bayley, it's not surprising that the crowd rumbled over her speech.

It was hard to hear her. It was clear that these fans, like many others, don't want her anywhere near the title. 

And so expect them to root for Bayley [harder] than they would against anyone else. That match becomes more than just a contest for a title, but a battle for the soul of NXT.

That doesn't happen without someone like Marie in that role. Without a single dastardly deed, she has an arena full of fans passionately rejecting her. WWE will milk that. 

In today's wrestling where legit heat is nearly impossible to create, inspiring push back from the diehards threatens to become the company's go-to method.

It will try to do so on a large scale with Sheamus at the helm. It's a role the powerhouse seems to relish. WWE.com writer Zach Linder tweeted that Sheamus once told him, "I want you guys to hate me."

WWE will soon see how much the fans feel that way. It will discover how much of a difference there really is between "go away" heat and standard heat. It will find out how willing fans are to hate-watch a product, to tune in just to see the guy they despise go down. 

Sheamus is poised to be a pioneer.

The more that he, Marie and Corbin thrive in drawing in angry audiences, the more WWE will turn to this type of heel moving forward. If it's truly animosity and not apathy that's directed his way, we will see reprisals of this role again and again.