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View Full Version : Heel Austin is Underrated


Autobahn
08-01-2011, 05:43 AM
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His heel turn was an uphill battle of sorts, since he was so over as a face before Wrestlemania. But looking back it still had so many good moments. Hard to believe this was 10 years ago this year.

What are everyone else's thoughts on this?

RiX1024
08-01-2011, 05:53 AM
Shocking turn....The Power Trip.....went downhill there.

Londoner
08-01-2011, 06:09 AM
Love looking back on this time, just a shame that Triple H got injured.

Rock Bottom
08-01-2011, 06:42 AM
Yeah, to get over as a heel you usually have to have a face that's just as over as you are. Rock couldn't sustain that, because who else would there be after that, and if it continued to drag out, people would just realize Austin vs. Rock is awesome. Not only that, but they'd have to have made Austin more ridiculous than he was, or people would probably turn on Rock.

I was a bit surprised to see Austin turned, I think the casual fans were "shocked," but it was still Austin. Aligning himself with McMahon could only erase so many awesome stunners and promos. Plus, Austin has a big problem as a heel: he's fucking hilarious. That doesn't get you many boos.

I think aligning with Triple H happened to both get more unnatural heat on Austin as well as make sure Triple H was still a top heel in everyone's eyes. Big mistake IMO.

Underrated? Nah. His effort was there, but it was pretty strange. And it didn't make much sense, even for wrestling.

Supreme Olajuwon
08-01-2011, 07:49 AM
Heel Austin got Spike Dudley and Molly Holly over. If that isn't a great heel, I dunno what is.

Team Sheep
08-01-2011, 08:02 AM
I don't think it was underrated. It started slowly but once he joined the alliance and started being a bully and beating the shit out of the likes of Michael Cole and Scotty 2 Hotty, the fans really started to loathe Austin from what I remember. He did a great job. The best thing was though the night after Survivor Series 2001 he was back as a fan favourite in about 10 minutes after months of hatred. Austin's incredible.

Londoner
08-01-2011, 08:15 AM
I don't think it was underrated. It started slowly but once he joined the alliance and started being a bully and beating the shit out of the likes of Michael Cole and Scotty 2 Hotty, the fans really started to loathe Austin from what I remember. He did a great job. The best thing was though the night after Survivor Series 2001 he was back as a fan favourite in about 10 minutes after months of hatred. Austin's incredible.

You forgot to mention JR alongside Cole/S2H, somehow!

Team Sheep
08-01-2011, 09:40 AM
Lol oh yeah that too.

JimmyMess
08-01-2011, 09:49 AM
I don't think he was underrated as a heel at all. I just think that the fans were behind him so much that when he turned, they just didn't accept it. So he turned it up a notch. I still remember WM 17, and even after siding with McMahon, the chair shots, the beers after, the fans were standing and cheering. I was on my couch still cheering. Stone Cold was OUR guy.

Eventually, he did do a great job. Look at the response when he made that "fake" face turn and hit the entire Alliance with Stunners.

BizarroKing
08-01-2011, 10:34 AM
Ironically I heard Austin originally wanted to be the "most hated wrestler in wwf" after winning the King of The Ring in 96...and that kind of backfired heheh.

Kal-El
08-01-2011, 11:33 AM
Personally I liked heel Austin better. He was hilarious, and I enjoyed the many versions of cheap dirty wins he got.

erickman
08-01-2011, 11:35 AM
Ironically I heard Austin originally wanted to be the "most hated wrestler in wwf" after winning the King of The Ring in 96...and that kind of backfired heheh.

yep 96 was when heels were cool and faces were lame look at nwo

Ruien
08-01-2011, 11:52 AM
Vince needed to step aside from being on the television for heel Austin to actually work. Austin proved countless times that despite Vince he was still able to be the champion, so why all of a sudden did he need/want Vince? Was fairly stupid, should have just went on a streak of being fed up no one helped him out and decided to destroy everyone.

DLVH84
08-01-2011, 01:53 PM
He was always great as a heel. If you look back to his days in USWA and WCW, you can tell that he was a natural heel.

Lock Jaw
08-01-2011, 01:55 PM
I did not care for face Austin at all, but I loved heel Austin.

Rammsteinmad
08-01-2011, 02:02 PM
Heel Austin and Rammsteinmad have something in common.

Lock Jaw
08-01-2011, 02:03 PM
Both like to hug old people.

Hanso Amore
08-01-2011, 02:15 PM
I forgot how much I wanted to suck on Debra's titt-ays

Rammsteinmad
08-01-2011, 02:24 PM
Both like to hug old people.

We're both amazing guitar players. :cool:

XL
08-01-2011, 02:52 PM
Who is Heel Austin underrated by exactly?

Pretty sure 90% of people here loved his run as a heel.

Lock Jaw
08-01-2011, 03:33 PM
Pretty sure 90% of people liked his face run better though.

Mr. Pierre
08-01-2011, 03:51 PM
He did a great job, but there was a huge void. If you're gonna turn Austin heel at the drop of a hat, there should be a fresh babyface that's ready to take the reigns that the audience has been waiting to cheer for.

Instead it was just, "Oh, he's a bad guy now, boo him and cheer on the same old cast of characters."

captaincharismark
08-01-2011, 08:13 PM
There were a couple of reasons I don't think Austin was fully effective as a heel...

1)The fans cheer him regardless of his actions b/c of his attitude. Even though he tried the heel mannerisms, he still seemed like the same character. Most heels are distinquishably different personality wise from their face personas. He did a good job as a heel, but he was still too likeable IMO.

2)Too much focus on his heel run was based on humor rather than seriousness. All his backstage skits and interactions with other wrestlers tended to be hilarious. Not really the reaction you want as a heel. Of course, when even an annoying catchphrase like "What?" catches on, you know you did something wrong.

3)The idea of putting him in the "Two Man Power Trip" tag team with HHH was a horrible idea. I get HHH was drawing massive heat at the time, but none of it helped Austin(as it was clearly intended to). If anything, I wanted to see more focus on Austin's alliance with Vince McMahon. Since it was the main reason for the turn, having him focus on Vince rather than HHH would've been a more sound strategy.

Don't get me wrong, I think he was equally entertaining as a heel, but for the most part it wasn't handled properly. For my tastes though he was far too likeable and too cheesy to be a major heel...

Loose Cannon
08-01-2011, 08:20 PM
loved his heel run in 2001. my fav Austin run ever.

Anybody Thrilla
08-02-2011, 02:25 PM
This theme was the best:

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Anybody Thrilla
08-02-2011, 02:26 PM
Actually, no it wasn't. There was a faster version. GIVE ME A MINUTE HERE...

Anybody Thrilla
08-02-2011, 02:27 PM
Ah, here we go. THIS was the best:

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Battlekat
08-02-2011, 02:36 PM
I personally loved his heel run. I kind of felt like they blew it with Austin/Tazz stuff. I really wish we could have somehow had a ppv match between the two. I loved the promos with him berating molly holly, hugh morrus, raven, etc. Alot of people I knew loved those youtube clips and were never even wrestling fans. As great as the invasion could have been, I actually really enjoyed 2001 as a whole compared to a lot of years in the WWE.

Anybody Thrilla
08-02-2011, 02:41 PM
That one promo where he first started saying "what?" with the whole Alliance in the ring was amazing...from what I remember...which isn't a ton. I just remember cracking up when he was talking to someone (maybe Tazz) and he was like "you lost to X-Pac? What? X-Pac?". Good times.

Optimus Bone 69
08-02-2011, 03:37 PM
He also had his heel goatie

captaincharismark
08-02-2011, 06:23 PM
That one promo where he first started saying "what?" with the whole Alliance in the ring was amazing...from what I remember...which isn't a ton. I just remember cracking up when he was talking to someone (maybe Tazz) and he was like "you lost to X-Pac? What? X-Pac?". Good times.

That was a great promo, but as a heel it isn't the reaction you want. Generally, heels don't start chants in the crowd. Plus, all his heel material seemed to be hilarious rather than serious. Nothing wrong with a funny heel, but it does require seriousness in order to fully get over. His heel turn could've been alot better, though I did enjoy the comedy stuff he did. I guess that's to be expected though, b/c fans liked Austin whether he was heel or face. Thus the reason his heel turn wasn't truly effective...

Anybody Thrilla
08-02-2011, 07:58 PM
Yeah, I'd agree with that.

Emperor Smeat
08-02-2011, 09:11 PM
Austin is one of those wrestlers that I find entertaining regardless if they are a heel, face, or tweener although Heel Austin was great in providing comedic moments in between trying to be evil. Two Man Power Trip might have been the biggest time he was a heel especially with the brutal match against the Hardys and the post-match attack.

Same for Hollywood Rock trying to be a badass heel but then goes into the comedic route when him and Hurricane Helms are arguing between who is a better superhero.