Hello Internet, and welcome to another edition of The Trebor Mint, and also a start of a new series of columns, which I like to call The Perfect Series. Now these aren’t a series of columns about Mr Perfect Curt Henning, as I have read some amazing ones about him over my time reading columns and feel all that needs to be said has been said. Not that he won’t be mentioned in these, as it would be ridiculous not too. Nor are they a series of columns, which are perfectly written, as there are few people that can do that. Instead these columns will be a series of columns in which I will give my interpretation of the perfect form of a part of wrestling.
The first in the series is The Perfect Heel; there has been a few men throughout the years that have been called the perfect heel. Ted DeBias, Curt Henning, HHH, Ric Flair even Vince McMahon, but what is it that these guys have that make them so good at this character.
The first and could be most major part of the Heel gimmick is cockiness otherwise known as arrogance. All heel wrestlers have it in their characters. They feel and even know that they are the best and everyone should know it. This isn’t just while speaking; it should be apparent from the moment they appear out from the back. They should be able to just stand in the ring and with a few small, but important movements and expressions get the crowd to hate them and their arrogance. It is normally most apparent in the walk to the ring, a good heel will hardly ever need to run to the ring, they will nearly always walk out. There are three wrestlers who exemplify(ed) this throughout their careers, Curt Henning, Ric Flair and William Regal. Curt just carried himself better than many ever will or ever could, when he walked to the ring he strutted, he has the towel which he threw and caught in the ring he stood there and made you feel insignificant, well he did for me.
Ric Flair was the same as Curt coming out to his music wearing the robe, he knew he was royalty even from a young age. Regal maybe a surprise choice for many but throughout his career that I have seen he has perfected the stereotypical heel. I will come to stereotypes later on but Regal always stood there as if he knew he was better than you. All these men could just stand in the ring breath in and just move their head from side to side looking at the crowd and would get booed. It take a special type of character to do that.
While being able to carry yourself is a heel trait there only so much you can do before you need to speak, and one thing a perfect heel wrestler needs to be is articulate. You can’t bumble your way through a promo or interview you need to be able to speak and make every word you say be like a dagger in someone’s heart. HHH promos although long winded are something special, he pauses between words, he lets the crowd chant, he’s patient. A good heel doesn’t even need to say anything controversial to get the crowd to hate their promo. A perfect heel should be able to stand there and just say “Hello, the reason I am here tonight is to address all you fans!” Something quite innocent, but the tone of their voice will send chills down the spine of many people that the booing will follow.
The promo is also a way to get across my next point, the ability to turn a situation. In the promo the perfect heel should make you hate them, the best way is to turn a situation into a way they were screwed. Rikishi was an abysmal heel, his heel turn was possibly the worst choice in history, a good heel would have come out saying it was him that ran over Austin, but he didn’t run over Austin, Austin got in his way. He was casually driving through the arena car park and Austin ran out in front of him. Everyone knows that wasn’t true, but hell it’s a better way to gain even more heel heat than the way Rikishi did it. The perfect heel will also make you believe that if they do something it is right, but if a face does it is wrong. For the first time in a long while I saw this on RAW this week, with the whole power in numbers story line. Flair and Batista made you feel that what Jericho, Maven, Benoit and Orton were doing was wrong, even though it’s what Evolution has always done.
While in the ring the perfect heel, shouldn’t just wrestler, he should wrestle dirty, he should cheat and do whatever he can to win a match. This can come in the simplest for of a thumb to the eye, or the more complicated for of a foreign object hidden in his shorts. They should be able to cheat right in front of the referee, without the referee knowing, and not just in singles matches. Edge and Christian were great at the heel way of wrestling in a tag team. They used all of the old dirty tricks, and some new ones. Not only did they use these cheating techniques but they made them flow. The perfect heel wrestler should be able to make cheating look as smooth as the final of the Olympic wrestling. If cheating looks forced then it isn’t realistic, but if it looks as natural as doing a clothesline of getting someone in a headlock then the wrestler has perfected cheating.
The final core part of the perfect heel in my opinion is the ability to switch between Face and Heel in an instant. This can bring the ultimate Heel reaction, where they seem to have turned face then at the most unexpected time they turn show their true roots. This is one thing Vince McMahon has mastered, he can come out smelling of roses, then with a few choice words turn the crowd into a riot of hatred. It brings around such an amazing reaction especially if built up correctly that it can be the difference between heel and super heel.
While speaking of what I think make up the perfect heel, I feel there is one major thing that should be noted. As has been shown with Rikishi and other stars there is no easy way to turn someone heel, you can get someone hated but to be a good heel you need more than crowd hatred. The one way of turning someone heel that I personally hate as it has been done wrong so many time is the stereotype and mostly the racial stereotype. Wrestling organisation seem to thing that if you turn someone anti American then they will be a good heel. This isn’t true, it never has been true. As I said earlier only Regal has really perfected the stereotype gimmick, and that is because he has done it for so long. Even back in WCW the man has perfected it. I haven’t personally seen cocky Englishman done better in my opinion. I worry for the new racial gimmick is trying to do, as the promo I saw this week, but we’ll see how that plays out.
I’m not going to tell you who the perfect he is in my opinion as I’m not sure as there are so many candidates I’m still making my mind up. What I do ask is that you my reader take the time out only a couple of minutes to think and tell me who you think it is. I’m not expecting great essays on them but if you want to you can just, who you think is the perfect heel. Send your answers to thetrebormint@hotmail.com and the results will come in the next edition The Perfect Face.
This has been The Trebor Mint, whether you agree with me, love me hate me, or just want to view your opinion and of course answer my simple question, send me and email to thetrebormint@hotmail.com
Have a Nice Day!!!
