In
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
, a heel (also known as a ''rudo'' in ''
lucha libre'') is a wrestler who portrays a
villain, "bad guy",
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 pretty much any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior that will get the job done."
To gain
heat
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
(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) and the heels to be portrayed as "foreign" (e.g.,
Alberto Del Rio
José Alberto Rodríguez Chucuan (born 25 May 1977) is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter, sports commentator, and mixed martial artist, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a c ...
,
Ivan Koloff
Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship.
Early life
Perras was ...
,
The Iron Sheik,
Rusev,
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,
devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
s, or other
tricksters. This is contrasted with most heroic
''técnicos'' that are generally known for using moves requiring technical skill, particularly
aerial maneuvers
Aerial may refer to:
Music
* ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush
* ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down
Bands
*Aerial (Canadian band)
*Aerial (Scottish band)
*Aerial (Swedish band)
Performance art
*Aerial silk, ...
.
History
Common heel behavior includes cheating to win (e.g. using the ropes for leverage while
pinning or attacking with
a weapon while the
referee is looking away), employing
dirty tactics such as
blatant chokes or
raking the eyes, attacking other wrestlers backstage, interfering with other wrestlers' matches, insulting the fans or city they are in (referred to as "
cheap heat") and acting in a haughty or superior manner.
[Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p. 117).]
More theatrical heels would feature dramatic outfits giving off a nasty or otherwise dangerous look, such as wearing
corpse paint over their faces, putting on demonic masks, covering themselves in dark leather and the like.
Gorgeous George is regarded as the father of the wrestling gimmick, and by extension the heel gimmick. Starting in the 1940s, he invented an extravagant, flamboyant "pretty boy" gimmick who wore wavy blonde hair, colorful robes and ritzy outfits, and was accompanied by beautiful valets to the ring for his matches. The crowd widely jeered his persona, and came out to his matches in hopes of seeing him defeated.
George relished this attention, and exploded into one of the most famous (and hated) heels not only of his era, but of all time. Another example of a dramatic heel is the wrestler
The Undertaker, who, on many separate occasions throughout his career, has switched between portraying a heel or a face.
During his period as the leader of
The Ministry of Darkness
The Ministry of Darkness was a villainous professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999. Led by The Undertaker, the Ministry was a controversial group with pseudo-witchcraft-themed storylines that included rituals ...
, he appeared as a priest of the
occult in a hooded black robe and literally sat in a throne,
often in the shape of the symbol used to represent him.
Occasionally, faces who have recently turned from being heels still exhibit characteristics from their heel persona.
This occurs due to fans being entertained by a wrestler despite (or because of) their heel persona, often due to the performer's charisma or charm in playing the role. Certain wrestlers such as
Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestler. He was a prominent member of the Guerrero wrestling family, being the son of first-generation wrestler Gory Guerrero. Eddie Guerrero ...
and
Ric Flair gained popularity as faces by using tactics that would typically be associated with heels, while others like
Stone Cold Steve Austin,
Scott Hall and more recently
Becky Lynch displayed heelish behavior during their careers yet got big face reactions, leading them to be marketed as
antiheroes.
On other occasions, wrestlers who are positioned as faces receive a negative audience reaction despite their portrayal as heroes. An example is
Roman Reigns, who in 2018 was a top face in WWE, but got booed in his matches while his opponents got cheered regardless of their status as face or heel, due to
perceived favoritism from WWE executives and a lack of character development. Such characters often (but not always) become nudged into becoming villains over time or retooled to present a different public image, such as
The Rock's turn from a clean-cut face to self-absorbed narcissist in the
Nation of Domination heel stable,
or
Tetsuya Naito's fan rejection of his babyface causing him to drastically form
Los Ingobernables de Japon. The term "heel" does not, in itself, describe a typical set of attributes or audience reaction, but simply a wrestler's presentation and booking as an antagonist.
Depending on the
angle
In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle.
Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...
, 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 Ciampa
Tommaso Whitney (born May 8, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Tommaso Ciampa.
Whitney began his career in 2005, working on several independent pr ...
during his
NXT Championship reign and
The IIconics
The IIconics are an Australian professional wrestling tag team consisting of Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee. They are best known for their time in WWE as The Iconic Duo and later The IIconics, under the individual names of Billie Kay and Peyton ...
during their
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship reign.
Brock Lesnar's character in WWE had heel aspects, and was well known for failing to regularly defend his title (especially during his first
Universal Championship reign), often only performing on pay-per-view events and not on
SmackDown or especially
Raw.
This sort of behavior supports the intended
kayfabe opinion that the face (or faces) the heel is feuding with is actually more deserving of the title than the title-holding heel is. Heels may beg for mercy during a beat down at the hands of faces, even if they have delivered similar beat downs with no mercy.
Ric Flair in particular has been well known for begging an opponent off, then hitting a
low blow on his distracted opponent. Other heels may act overpowering to their opponents to play up the scrappy
underdog success story for the face.
Notes
References
*
*
{{Professional wrestling terms
Professional wrestling slang
es:Anexo:Términos de lucha libre profesional#H
pl:Wrestling#Podział na postacie i style walki