When cutting a promo, what is the best way for a heel wrestler to gain heat?
Wrestlers use different tactics when gaining heat from fans. Many have mastered the art of being a heel, but some don’t always make the cut. There are two main opportunities for a wrestler to show off their “mean streak”. So when given the following two opportunities, what tactics must a wrestler pull off to be a successful heel?
1) During a match -What must he or she do?
2) While cutting a promo – What must he or she say?
1) He should take hellified beatings from babyfaces only to win by a thread while absolutely needing to use ropes or distractions, etc. You really need to be upset that your favorite wrestler put on such a great performance. . .& was beat by a jackass not nearly as capable. . .ala Jeff Jarrett in early TNA
Also have a valet with an annoying voice always helps. . .especially if english isn’t their 1st language.
2) He should seem as overconfident & self-righteous as possible. He must also be a MASTER as justifying every thing he does. No matter how lowdown & dispicable, even at the cost of seeming delusional.
All a heel has to do is disrespect the fans and the location (city) the event is being held in. That usually gets more heat than talking about an opponent.
Diss the state that they’re in. Or diss the crowd.
1) Allow the Wrestler he/she is facing to beat them to a pulp, then sneak in a dirty win or cheat to win. During the match, use dirt tatics, such as taking the padding of the turn buckle, using weapons when the referee isn’t looking or things like that. Cheating i think really annoys people, people hate that and if you cheat to win then you have get the heat. I think having help also allows the heel to generate more heat, or mocking the Wrestler during the match by making fun of their gimmick, move set, ect.
2) As one person said, making fun of the city they are in, that doesn’t always work though. Sure make fun of that city but that only gets ONE city to hate you not the entire audience. It an easy way to get heat so you want to say or do something that will generate real hatred. Attacking a popular Wrestler, look at Edge, he did just that and he was a major heel. I remember reading how Sgt. Slaughter made anti-american promos during the guld war, it was a cheap but very effective way to get heat. I also agree with the first guy, be self righteous, many people (including me) hate that. Being full of yourself but in a ‘bad way’ also generates heat. I think you need to say something that will really offend the fans. Kinda like when Batista said Cena fans are under 15, even though he is a face, he got ALOT of heat for that. Just something that will really strike them and hit them hard. It depends on what you say and how you say it.
I think instead of doing short term things to get hated, do something long term, recently like Vickie Guerero has done. She got boo’d at first, hm okay, but after a while she got boo’d so much she developed that awful catch phrase ‘excuse me’ because the heat was so bad she couldn’t get her words out. Long term is always better than Short Term.
I think today, its alot harder for Wrestlers to be heels, some get cheared anyway – look at Kane. He is meant to be a heel but people still chear anyway.True heels can still do their job though because true heels are screwing the faces out of championships for their own gain and they can often be hated by helping the boss. Its so much harder to get over as a heel, especially after the Attitude Era were people screamed and cheared for the heels.