Professional Wrestling is fixed.  95% of the people that go see the stuff live have accepted that fact.  So if it has predetermined outcomes, why do people cheer and boo for the participants?  A “Bad Guy” aka a heel, and a “Good Guy” aka a babyface act very differently to get crowd reaction.

The Good Guy

The good guys are usually wholesome looking athletes who speak well and smile too much.  The prototype “good guy” is smart enough when using a microphone, to include the fans as some sort of special unit that is paramount to their success.  They either downplay a bad guy or credit the fans for support to get a response.

Sgt. Slaughter (above) used the patriotic angle to ride the “good guy” wave for years.  By carrying an American flag into the ring while your Iranian opponent waits for you, a cheer or two should be heard.  The chants of “USA, USA, USA”, usually start a few times during the match to support the face.

Hulk Hogan used his great physique and some line about taking your vitamins and saying your prayers to seem wholesome.  His allegiance of fans were even called “Hulkamaniacs“.  This was really the first time that merchandising and storylines became more important than the action to take place in the ring.  Hogan was the master at working a crowd during a match.  After the match, he would crank his wrist clockwise a few times and put it up to his ear for more approval.

Today’s wrestlers are different “good guys”.  The storylines, not the personalities, more dictate who should be cheered and who should be booed.  As Randy Orton was climbing the rungs on his last championship run, he gave a woman the RKO and kicked Vince McMahon seemingly unconscious.  This would thrust Triple H into instant hero status.

The Bad Guy

Wrestlers are categorized as bad guys for several reasons.  Anti-patriotic usually is the easiest angle to sell.  The Iron Shiek was never a good guy for a reason.  His accent was not an act, he was actually an Iranian amateur wrestler.  What put Shiek over the top was his ability to criticize America and say that his country was #1.

A good heel knows how to piss the audience off.  Whether it be by cheating to win, insulting audience members every week, or just acting real dark, bad guys have the harder challenge in my opinion. 

A good heel was someone like George “The Animal” Steele.  Steele’s character was dark and mysterious.  No one could seem to control or communicate with him.  He always had a foreign object in his trunks and was a master at acting challenged.  The green tongue, the abundant body hair, and the look in his eyes elicited fear from some.  Steele would later magically learn a few words from the teaching of Dr. Papoofnick and fall in love with Miss Elizabeth, but for most of his career, he was Uber villain.

In today’s wrestling, the heel is someone who is cowardly, has allies, and can just talk in a different tongue.  Chris Jericho does a good job, blaming the hypocrite fans for his recent attitude problems.  Freddie Blassie also used to do well with his “pencil-knecked geeks” references to the audience.

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