JBL: "You've Failed Miserably," If Someone Tells You That You're A Good Heel Or Sell A Lot Of Merch

[dh86]

kayfabe ain't coming back.

but really, it was dead a long time ago.

difference is, back in the day, a guy like Macho would go on Arsenio in full kayfabe mode, selling the angles, working the crowd, very soft handshakes all around, knowing full well that the audience wasn't really buying it, but was enjoying the show

guys who supposedly have characters will go on shows today like "Gosh, it's just a great opportunity to be a sport entertainer, I play Fortnite in my free time."

if these old guys want kayfabe back, they need to explain this shyt to the new guys, not talk inside baseball with reporters and the public

handshakes need to get softer

Kayfabe sort of evolved to where the fans that’s left, largely are fans for in ring. Those that are considered good wrestlers are faces and those perceived as poor wrestlers are the heels. Vince McMahon would be able to manipulate this when he was in his 40s and had his finger on the pulse.

 

[Capitol]

My thing is, JBl was a good heel in the sense that I didnt like him and wanted him to lose. But he was an awful heel in the sense that I never wanted to see him on TV and would frequently avoid him. He cant tell me shyt on this subject

 

[AKM-95]

I think y'all are right when you say it's booking issue. But I'll add this WWE has put themselves in a position to were the majority of there Fan base is hardcore fans. They haven't created new fans or booked strong characters that have captured casual fan enough to tune in constantly.

They might catch mania or tune in to see something that has gone viral but outside of that there gone. So now they are stuck with a vocal fan base that they can rarely manipulate. They should have learned that the business needs larger than life stars but they have went too far the other way and due to their revenue I can't see them going the other way for a long time.

 

[Elim Garak]

If this was 15 plus years ago he would be correct. I would love this mentality to return but its dead lol.

 

[DaHNIC82]

Hes right

 

[MartyMcFly]

He’s 1000% right. But the economic realities show the need to sell merch and that’s the problem. That said, as a heel, you can keep that persona on social media. So even if there’s a miz t shirt for you to buy, miz’s twitter or IG should further his character not the guy who plays the character.

 

[Mr. Negative]

I hated this fakkit I swear

what a fukking douche

 

[Ripp]

My thing is, JBl was a good heel in the sense that I didnt like him and wanted him to lose. But he was an awful heel in the sense that I never wanted to see him on TV and would frequently avoid him. He cant tell me shyt on this subject

You're not supposed to want to see heels on tv... you tune in for his opponent to beat him .. so he wasn't an awful heel. He was doing it right

 

[JerseyBoy23]

Kayfabe sort of evolved to where the fans that’s left, largely are fans for in ring. Those that are considered good wrestlers are faces and those perceived as poor wrestlers are the heels. Vince McMahon would be able to manipulate this when he was in his 40s and had his finger on the pulse.

With that said, you reminded me of the time Trips/Ryan Ward had it look like Eva Marie was about to screw Bayley out of the belt. Had Full Sail in the palm of their hands.

 

[DaHNIC82]

The WWE plays a heavy role in the shift.. You had the guys like Cena who got booed out the build everywhere they go and they still kept him as a babyface. This created the domino effect where every heel was eventually cheered because they hated Cena.

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

What really is a heel though in 2018?

Trump is one of the most reviled men in the country and they voted him president and will probably vote for him again. Our favorite comedians are the ones who ridicule innocent people at our expense.

Wrestling archetypes have to reflect the society they exist in

 

[Capitol]

You're not supposed to want to see heels on tv... you tune in for his opponent to beat him .. so he wasn't an awful heel. He was doing it right

Did you read what I said? If he was on the tv i didnt watch it. How is that good for business?

 

[23Barrettcity]

A lot of people think this way, I’ve heard Chris Jericho say this shyt almost verbatim. It’s an outdated mindset though in modern WWE where everybody, even the jobbers, has merch, and everybody has to do PR. Nevermind that you’re handcuffed as to just what you can say or do as a heel, because you can’t piss off sponsors or censorship. Randy Orton mutilating Jeff Hardy’s ear is the most heelish, original act to happen in years, probably mostly because Jeff was willing to do it and it looked a lot worse than it actually was. But JBL wouldn’t have nearly as much clearance to do the kinda shyt that got his heel act over, like kicking Mexicans across the border or causing Eddy Guerrero’s mom to have a worked heart attack these days. He’d probably still get over because he’s seemingly a natural prick who people boo, but I dunno if he gets to the level he was at in 04.

Also, these days the biggest heel thing that you can do is be booked as a chosen one by the company, who creates mega heels by accident (Reigns/Charlotte) without ever actually turning them heel, so the game is just fukked up, in WWE anyway.

The flaw is in all mediums now we have charismatic/interesting bad guys . As long as in the ending the fans want the good guy to win its fine . You have to update with the times, Kevin Owens has pretty much been a heel his entire time in Wwe and sells merch and gets Cheers. Fans realize it’s a work and they will show appreciation for a good performance.

 

[Crimson_Dynamo]

I hated this fakkit I swear

I'm watching this and my grandmother just asked why I looked so mad all of a sudden. I still can't shake off how much I hated his crusty Texas ass.

 

[Legal]

I think what's really different between then and now, aside from the social media element is that turns used to be planned out, timed, and reasoned better. Now, a heel turn constitutes just beating someone up randomly and cutting a promo like a week later referring to the fans as "you people".

What's crazy is that as scummy as it is that they're working Reigns' leukemia into a storyline, Ambrose had the best heel turn in a long time. It had good timing (even if the Reigns thing didn't happen) there was a real build, and it made him look like a shythead.

Non of today's WWE heels get that kind of creative thrown their way. They've become so obsessed with the shades of gray thing that they fukked around and made character alignment basically not matter in the worst possible way.