Your Favorite Heel Runs
 

When I ask about favorite heel runs I don't particularly mean the popular or critically acclaimed variety (HHH 2000, HBK and Bret '97, Seth Rollins 2014, etc...), but rather which ones you enjoyed the most because the wrestler turned it up to an 11, and took it so over the top that you just look back and it makes you smile.

I was thinking of a ton of them, but 2 stand out in my mind: Bossman in late '99 (Big Show and Al Snow feuds) and the 2011 R-Truth run were almost magical in their camp and bizarreness, and I have a fonder memory of them than for the "serious" heel runs and turns of higher level guys for whatever reason.

Anybody else have any, and, if so, do you think that WWE could implement something like that today and have a modicum of success with it? At least create memories like runs of the past have?

'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan ftw.

IMO the only wrestler to have played the role of face and heel both perfectly. Even The Rock as a heel never convinced me and Austin as a heel was terrible.

Essentially, it was Hogan's heel turn combined with the NWO angle that really put WCW in the commanding position in the Monday Night Wars etc..

Can't have a discussion about the greatest heels of all time and not mention Hogan.

All the garbage in the ring when he joined Hall and Nash.

Mr. Backlund. Was really pissed when he dropped the title so quickly. He was a great heel and psycho.

Stone Cold was a terrible heel. Stunning Steve Austin was not.

Kerwin White was about to get really good.

Miss the R-Truth heel days :(.

Goldust as a heel back in the day was amazing. Stardust is attempting to get their currently.

I do it all the time, but I feel like I have to mention Doink the Clown as a heel. As a face, he was almost unbearable, but that initial heel run was stuff of legend.

I liked Punk's heel turn against Jeff Hardy in 2009. Jeff had been scratching for the WHC for a while, he FINALLY won, and then Punk came out and took it from him.

All time is definitely Jericho's WCW heel run, was a huge fan of Daniel Bryan's WHC run. WHC Swagger was also surprisingly entertaining. NXT Redemption era Johnny Curtis was fantastic.

Hollywood Rock and Douchebag Batista were both pretty great too actually, if short lived.

Randy Orton's legend killer run was the best. Need more punts to the head.

Dashing / Undashing Cody Rhodes was also hot shit.

Probably Sid at WM13

JBL one of my fave five

Irwin R. Schyster.

I really enjoyed Sgt. Slaughter's heel work in the early 80s in Jim Crockett Promotions.

Him and Don Kernodle were fantastic as a tag team. Their feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood was awesome.

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CM Punk's heel run in 2009 was amazing. I don't even know how to really describe how much I enjoyed it. The initial cash-in, where Punk was relishing in his crappulance as crowds booed, but he hadn't really turned yet; the microphone shot to Jeff Hardy -- this was as close as we would get to the ROH incarnation of CM Punk.

Chris Jericho's complete transformation in 2008 was legendary. It was so complete that Jericho basically forced his way to the World Heavyweight Title. Best defined by an intense rivalry with Shawn Michaels, this was truthfully one of HBK's best programs ever too.

Daniel Bryan's heel run with the World Heavyweight Title was also marvelous. I wasn't on board with Bryan turning heel at first, but I had no clue how much life would come out of him as a performer. He was perfect as a dickbag heel. He made the fucking Big Show sympathetic ("YOU are a BASTARD!"). I personally thought Bryan's run with the Big Gold Belt should have extended past WrestleMania, but if it had, Bryan might have gone down as a legendary heel, but never had that YES! Movement moment.

Hollywood Hogan and Business suit era Jericho.

Hogan mostly because of the turn itself and Jericho because of how well he managed to revamp his entire character by going the more corporate/serious route.

Noid has it spot on.

CM Punk is incredible whatever he does when he's a heel. As is Chris Jericho. Daniel Bryan starting off face but "yes" thing initially making him a heel was glorious.

R-Truth in 2011 was an unexpected surprise. Remember when R-Truth and Miz were running rampant so badly that the entire roster walked out because Triple H was doing a shitty job?

Except for Booker T, who just had to go to the bathroom.

Raven's ECW run was pretty awesome. I kept waiting week after week for Dreamer to finally win.

When Angle first came in, he was a better heel than most guys who had been in the business for a decade. He was incredible.

Cant believe no mention of Mark Henry.

Guy had best world title title run in years. Did more in 3 months than Punk did in 400 days.

Goofy Kurt Angle was amazing.

An older one, but when Rick Martel became "The Model", he played it perfectly and became the character. Think he should have been bigger and was ahead of his time with that one.

As for a weird one, I actually really enjoyed " Marvelous" Marc Mero. He was never a great worker, but played the character really well with his mannerisms and reactions to things.

Christian(after his split from Edge) when he went on his own. He went from goofy ass partner to straight up BOSS. His shit with Jericho and Trish was the shit.

SES CM Punk was so awesome the heat he got at house shows for his Messiah undertones was unbelievable esp in the uber religous south people telling him he was going to hell and that he was the devil and he just soaked it all in must've felt great.

I did also love the "Undashing" chapter in Cody Rhodes' career.

I felt like there was so much life left in that gimmick

"Sable... dis-robe me!"

I'm a big fan of Lance Storm's "hat trick" run in WCW. The jingoistic, borderline racist Canadian with who was every bit as good as he claimed was golden.

Cooperate Rock
Early Outsiders

Eddie's heel turn and feud with Rey in summer 2005, shortly before his untimely passing. RIP. Can't believe this November marks a full decade since that happened. Wonder if the Network will do any kind of program about his life and career...be awesome if they did.

I concur 100% on this one. A forgotten gem of the late 90's.

Favorite Character Ever.

Some of my favorites he retweeted just today...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;Tore his quad? Big deal! I tear my quad all the time! I tore my quad this morning&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KurtAngleQuotes?src=hash">#KurtAngleQuotes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle">@RealKurtAngle</a></p>&mdash; #KingHunter (@hdwz96) <a href="https://twitter.com/hdwz96/status/588828827855511552">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle">@RealKurtAngle</a> &quot;You can prance and you can dance, but when it comes to relations, keep it in your pants!&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KurtAngleQuotes?src=hash">#KurtAngleQuotes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ItsTrue?src=hash">#ItsTrue</a></p>&mdash; Ant Canavan (@AntCanavan) <a href="https://twitter.com/AntCanavan/status/588827396456996864">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle">@RealKurtAngle</a> &quot;I was in the Cub Scouts the Webelos &amp; the Boy Scouts I did them all&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/steveaustinBSR">@steveaustinBSR</a> &quot;What do you mean you did em all&quot; LMAO</p>&mdash; MikeyLikesItzzz (@theunderwanker) <a href="https://twitter.com/theunderwanker/status/588784733863202817">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle">@RealKurtAngle</a> I'm just a sexy kurt, I'll make your ankle hurt</p>&mdash; Kenny Crichton (@KCrichton1991) <a href="https://twitter.com/KCrichton1991/status/588783309439766529">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;First of all, I met your wife once, I didn't even like her! I didn't even find her attractive&quot; - <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle">@RealKurtAngle</a> <a href="http://t.co/Bv3sxHYOJR">pic.twitter.com/Bv3sxHYOJR</a></p>&mdash; Old School Raw (@OldSchoolRaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/OldSchoolRaw/status/588506743077867520">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Crying. Seriously Crying. :rofl:

favorite angle quote "I don't like the black people" LMFAO!

I fucking HATED Justin Credible in ECW. People crap on him because ECW was on its way down, but my God was he ever an obnoxious heel. I thought he was fantastic.

That reminds me Steve Corino the dude was a heat machine for pretty much his entire ECW run.

savage in 89. jake in 91-92. anytime Jericho was heel

Hollywood Rock is one of my favorites. His promo against Hogan before No Way Out where he fakes out Hogan with the handshake and spits in his face was incredible. The Rock Show was also way more entertaining than anything Cena has ever done in his career. I wish he had stayed around in that character awhile longer to put over some more up and comers. As it was, Hurricane and Booker T both got a rub off him, as well as Austin, Goldberg and Hogan.

I loved heel Rhino in ECW. He was just so believably intense and scary and fierce and he was booked so strongly.

Jeff Hardy showed sooooo much promise on that run, epitomized by both the "the fans can hurt for me" promo and that the screw job title match where he a) didn't even bother to change into ring gear b) casually smoked a cig c) took his sweet ass time stretching and smoking said cigarette on his way to a guaranteed win over a thoroughly sofened up Ken Kennedy. A damn shame Jeff screwed Jeff out of a lengthy, strong heel run there.

I don't know if I should count Henning* or not. Most of his WWE tenure, he was supposed to be the quintessential heel, and yet he was one of my favorite wrestlers ever in spite of that. And I always HATED Piper, because after his promos, i'd always be like "MAN, FUCK THAT GUY!" that resonated beyond suspension of disbelief with me, but that's more promo skill than anything he did in particular in heel runs.

One that I feel is kinda overlooked is Takers Big Evil run he was just a bastard during that time period.

Jeff Jarrett as The Chosen One in WCW. Slapnuts.

I completely agree with this.


Bossman's heeldom in 99' (i.e. Al Snow/Pepper, Big Show/Daddy) was also awesome.


Orton's heel run pre Summerslam 2004 was also a beaut, as was Orton's heel run pre Wrestlemania 25. Ironically enough, I believe it was losses to Triple H in both instances that ultimately prevented Orton from really taking that "next level."


I was a huge fan of Santino Marella's IC heel run from back in the day. Still have no idea as to why the WWE screwed him up so terribly after that. The guy was way over, and they turned him into a comedic jobber.


D'Lo Brown's heeldom in 1998 was also great in my opinion. D'Lo was getting MASSIVE heat from the fans, and the fans really dug his character. I think D'Lo Brown could have been a huge star, but the WWE soured on him after the Droz incident (and also when D'Lo apparently openly talked about jumping ship to WCW backstage).




Owen Hart's heeldom in 1998 was also awesome. Everything from his feud with DX, Ken Shamrock, and then tagging with Jarret. Heel Owen was one of my favorite characters of all-time.

A few in my book.

Austin's heel turn at Wrestlemania will always be my favourite moment in human history. Chris Jericho, and then CM Punk when he ruled Nexus.

Some more nominations: Christian w/Tyson Tomko, Kurt Angle's initial heeldom in 1999/2000, Jericho's 'corporate' 2008 heel run, HBK heeldom during Hogan feud, and Hollywood Rock 2003.

I love the Heel HBK during the Hogan promo. His heel promo in Montreal is maybe my favorite promo ever.

Big fan of Edge's heel run when he used his money in the bank cash in on Cena.