Heel (Wrestling Term)

Extracted Attributes

• Role

  Portrays a villain, bad guy, or antagonist in professional wrestling.

• Purpose

  To elicit negative reactions (boos, jeers) from the audience, known as 'heat'.

• Etymology

  Derived from a slang usage around 1914 meaning 'contemptible person'.

• Common Behaviors

  Cheating, using foreign objects, breaking rules, displaying arrogance, cowardice, or contempt for the audience.

• Modern Adaptation

  Some companies like WWE are doing away with the traditional heel/face format due to audiences' willingness to cheer for heels and boo babyfaces.

• Impact of Internet

  Necessitated a blending of persona and reality for performers.

• Rudo Characteristics

  Brawlers, use physical moves emphasizing brute strength or size, often have outfits akin to demons, devils, or other tricksters.

• Lucha Libre Equivalent

  Rudo

• Historical Portrayal (American Wrestling)

  Often depicted as 'foreign' characters to contrast with local heroes.

Timeline

• The term 'heel' likely derived from a slang usage meaning 'contemptible person'. (Source: Web Search)

  c. 1914

• During the Attitude Era, the Antihero Persona and the modern Heel rose to prominence, exemplified by figures like Stone Cold Steve Austin, marking a departure from classic Baby Face archetypes. (Source: Related Documents)

  c. 1997-2002

Heel (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a heel (also known as a rudo in lucha libre) is a wrestler who portrays a villain, "bad guy", "baddie", "evil-doer", or "rulebreaker", and acts as an antagonist to the faces, who are the heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Not everything a heel wrestler does must be villainous: heels need only to be booed or jeered by the audience to be effective characters, although most truly successful heels embrace other aspects of their devious personalities, such as cheating to win or using foreign objects. "The role of a heel is to get 'heat,' which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior." To gain heat (with boos and jeers from the audience), heels are often portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner by breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside the bounds of the standards of the match. Others do not (or rarely) break rules, but instead exhibit unlikeable, appalling, and deliberately offensive and demoralizing personality traits such as arrogance, cowardice, or contempt for the audience. Many heels do both, cheating as well as behaving nastily. No matter the type of heel, the most important role is that of the antagonist, as heels exist to provide a foil to the face wrestlers. If a given heel is cheered over the face, a promoter may opt to turn that heel to face or the other way around, or to make the wrestler do something even more despicable to encourage heel heat. Some performers display a mixture of both positive and negative character traits. In wrestling terminology, these characters are referred to as tweeners (short hand for the "in-between" good and evil actions these wrestlers display). WWE has been cited as a company that is doing away with the traditional heel/face format due in part to audiences' willingness to cheer for heels and boo babyfaces. In "local" wrestling (e.g., American wrestling) it was common for the faces to be "local" (e.g., Hulk Hogan, John Cena, and Stone Cold Steve Austin) and the heels to be portrayed as "foreign" (e.g., Gunther, Alberto Del Rio, Ivan Koloff, The Iron Sheik, Rusev/Miro, Jinder Mahal, and Muhammad Hassan). In the world of lucha libre wrestling, most rudos are generally known for being brawlers and for using physical moves that emphasize brute strength or size, often having outfits akin to demons, devils, or other tricksters. This is contrasted with most heroic técnicos that are generally known for using moves requiring technical skill, particularly aerial maneuvers.

Web Search Results

• Heel (professional wrestling) - Wikipedia

  In professional wrestling, a heel (also known as a rudo in lucha libre) is a wrestler who portrays a villain, "bad guy", "baddie", "evil-doer", or "rulebreaker", and acts as an antagonist to the faces "Face (professional wrestling)"), who are the heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Not everything a heel wrestler does must be villainous: heels need only to be booed or jeered by the audience to be effective characters, although most truly successful heels embrace other aspects of their [...] Edit links From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Villainous or "bad guy" character in professional wrestling For other meanings, see Heel (disambiguation) "Heel (disambiguation)"). | | [...] Depending on the angle, heels can act cowardly or overpowering to their opponents. For instance, a "closet champion" in particular is a term for a heel in possession of a title belt who consistently dodges top flight competition and attempts to back down from challenges. Examples include Seth Rollins during his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, Charlotte during her Divas/Raw Women's Championship reign, the Honky Tonk Man during his long Intercontinental Championship reign, Tommaso

• Heel - Pro Wrestling Wiki - Fandom

  In wrestling, a heel is a villain character. Heels are portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner, breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside of the bounds of the rules of the match. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are often the "bad guys" in pro wrestling storylines. They are typically opposed by a face (crowd favorite). Some tweeners exhibit heel mannerisms. [...] ### Popular heel Definition: a term in which the fans cheer for a wrestler who competes as a heel. [...] The term "heel" is most likely is derived from a slang usage of the word that first appeared around 1914, meaning "contemptible person". The Spanish term, used in lucha libre, is "rudo".

• What are the origins of the 'face' and 'heel' in pro wrestling ... - Quora

  “ Heel “ “ In wrestling, a heel is a villain character. Heels are portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner, breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside of the bounds of the rules of the match. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are often the "bad guys" in pro wrestling storylines. They are typically opposed by a face (crowd favorite) [...] A heel was a slang term for politely, a contemptible or less politely, arsehole who cheats to win. They’re the bad guys, your Ric Flairs, Vince McMahons, and your Rusevs. Without them you don’t have a show as good. Babyfaces or in Britain, Blue eyes as they were called are the good guys and come from the fact that clean shaven young men tended to be pretty popular and if they were good looking then all the better. [...] It’s the line in the sand between good guys and bad guys. They always exist in people’s mind in every sport, Wrestling is just performative enough to where they have names for it. A heel was a slang term for politely, a contemptible or less politely, arsehole who cheats to win. They’re the bad guys, your Ric Flairs, Vince McMahons, and your Rusevs. Without them you don’t have a show as good.

• The Art of the Heel | Mike Edison - The Baffler

  The “heel,” in the argot of professional wrestling is, simply, the villain. The role of a heel is to get “heat,” which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and pretty much any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior that will get the job done. The best heels, however, do not depend solely on “cheap heat,” such as insulting the crowd, often with racist or sexist taunts. There must be some art to it. As Alfred Hitchcock once said, “The more [...] Unlike in politics, to be a heel in wrestling means to be willing to be hated by everyone. There is no electoral college in wrestling. And therein lies the beating heart of Donald Trump’s all-consuming internal conflict. His biggest fear is not going over as a babyface. But he is a natural heel. In the wrestling ring that is his mind, he is an American hero, but the only reason he ever went over is because he played a decent villain, gleefully firing people on a reality television show. It’s an [...] (B36_054_Edison.html#footnote-008-backlink)To be “over” means being accepted by the crowd, either as a heel or a babyface. To “go over” means winning a match. To “put someone over” means letting them win, often someone who needs a “push,” or otherwise needs to be sold to the audience. 2. Generally speaking, a “gimmick” is a wrestler’s in-ring persona. A “mark” is a gullible wrestling fan, the kind of person who thinks they can win playing a game at a carnival.

• Can someone explain terms like Jobber, Babyface, Heel, etc mean?

  Heel: bad guy. You're supposed to boo this guy. Most wrestlers like playing heels more because they have more freedom. Jobber: a wrestler that "