good when it is good. Outside of that, wrestling is just 'movez' and star ratings, which is basically impossible to maintain with a fanbase across a whole card or even at the top of the card without getting everyone hella hurt. I'm with old man Ross on that one...

Think:
- Savage sneak-attacking Steamboat with the bell.
- Ric Flair period (the fact that he was a hoss in the ring just put it over the top when he had someone who could go with him).
- Flair in WWF claiming to have hollered at Liz at some point to piss off Liz-crazy ass Randy Savage. The pics by the pool with the skrawberries! And the embroidered towels!

http://41.media.tumblr.com/c0c2f98cc8e790dca8de8190ae592dc3/tumblr_nt6a39f6f81rg89a6o1_1280.jpg


- Vince trying to 'hold down' Stone Cold.
- Truly heelish Eddie G.
- Corporate Rock.
- Early nWo Hulk Hogan saying 'to hell with your fanhood..you can act like you hate me now, but I'm the reason you ever watched wrestling' and being a chickenshit heel in matches. The way he laid the hell down for Goldberg might still be his best in-ring thing ever even if it all got effed up after.
- 'You have a point but you've gone too far with it'/crybaby/sore loser/Super Canadian Bret Hart.

If there's no solidly bad guys who do bad things in most situations and are tough to beat, why in the hell do we need to see the good guy prevail?

AKA there HAS to be a story or some 'emotional investment'. You're better off having someone to root for and against. And the wrestlers have easier gigs in that situation too.

Instead, older cats like most of us watch shows basically 'knowing' who is going to win and either rolling with it because the guy usually has good matches or hating it because a cat like Cena goes over in 'obvious'/'lazy' ways that 'bury' the heel opponent by making it clear that Cena is just better.

But don't swerve us just swerve us cuz we don't want that either!

It has to be tough for them to book stuff for older folks. You have to keep things going in logical ways. They're clearly trying to wink at us with NXT like 'Look over here! We think we kinda know what you want! Indy/Japan dudes! Matches! Movez! Corny jokes! Stories! Long builds! Likable faces and dastardly heels! But we can't give it to you on the big shows and still keep our casuals and the kids. SOOOOO...here's more Cena kinda being a scumbag as a character and winning via get up outta the blue and doing specials because neon wristbands be sellin and real Cena is good cat who works hella hard'.

I can damn near cry watching Zayn, the NXT girls, and those folks wrestle in big matches. I mean really...I'm not ashamed to say it..I would've straight up cried with tears if Bayley would've lost that big title match to Sasha. And they made it look like she totally could've lost cuz Sasha was throwing it all at her. They did that thing RIGHT and I was all the way in on wanting her to win that match. She's good! And it took her a long time to get to that point! BUT Sasha is good too! And she's had to become a bad person to get to the top. I get it, but I wanted her to lose to a good person who was trying to do it the 'right way'! SIMPLE! I could mark out to the whole story, buy into the match, and be invested in seeing the good person win over the bad person.

Meanwhile, I can just straight up not GAF about Reigns getting jobbed at Survivor Series by a heatless MITB-holding Sheamus and HHH doing the 1998 Vince without the shock value or the 'newness' of having a shady authority figure. I couldn't buy in. I can't believe that Reigns is just gonna not end up champ at some point because the folks in charge want him to be champ even though the folks in charge are the 'shady folks in charge' who don't want him to win. But they keep giving him reasonably straight-forward ways to win the title! I can't buy it!

Remember when Vince got fed up and showed up 'ready' to wrestle Stone Cold with that black beater on? He looked pissed enough to do it. Of course we all knew he was gonna get beat the hell up but still try to cheat his way up on a win. AND IT WAS AWESOME. Because it was heeling done right!

When HHH wrestles to 'put a stop to' some face, we all just tend to hope he doesn't win via being booked to look better than the other dude. That doesn't work.

Jimaveli

>
>>- letting heels cheat. why no more grabbing the trunks for
>the
>>pinfall? why no more doing malicious shit behind the ref's
>>back? vince has all but forgotten how to get real heat on a
>>heel. either that, or he's so overly-concerned about being
>PG
>>and setting a positive example for kids that he's put the
>>clamps on it (jim ross said it's the latter).
>>
>
>
>i'm kind of amazed when i go back and watch old shit. heels
>were cheating all the time, crowds went ballistic, and it
>rarely got old. just little things get heels over in a big
>way. i was watching shawn michaels pull a dude's hair and then
>act all innocent when the ref called him out, only to go right
>back to it. does something like that affect the match in a
>meaningful way? not particularly. could shawn win without
>that? absolutely, and that's why it's fucking hilarious.