Natural Born Heels in the WWE Today
Pete Dunne
We kick start today's blog post off with one of the men that originally inspired me to write this person in the first place. When I saw that post talking about natural born heels in wrestling Pete Dunne was the first name I thought of an scanned the list to see if that person had included him, actually they didn't... and straight away I knew I had to include him in mine. When you think about some of the best heels we are watching on our screens right now Pete Dunne is right up there. A young up and comer, at only twenty three Pete Dunne has a long long way to go in his career and his future looks to be very very bright but already he has shown himself to be a tremendous all round worker and his character work is right up there with some of the best. As a hardcore wrestling fan I've been aware of Dunne's work for a while watching him and reading articles about his work across the British wrestling scene but it was earlier this year that the rest of the world was introduced to the now champion. Back in January the WWE hosted the WWE United Kingdom championship tournament. A two night tournament that saw several of the best talents in the British wrestling scene look to become the first ever WWE United Kingdom champion. The event was a true success and one of the biggest success stories to come out of it was Pete Dunne. While he didn't walk away with the championship come the end he made the biggest impression. A natural born heel, Dunne worked the camera like a man who has been doing this for decades. He knew exactly how to taunt both his opponents and the fans. Looking straight ahead, Dunne had that constant irritated face. Focused and determined to get the Pete made everything about him and he took it upon himself to turn heads. Everything from his facial expressions to the way he walked down to the ring and wrestled screamed top heel. He not only got under our skin and the man standing opposite him but NXT general manager and fellow Brit William Regal. The exchanged between the two highlighted Dunne as the ruthless, carefree bad guy, cocky, arrogant and full of confidence, Dunne will amazing in the ring proves to be a real dick every single time the camera is on him and its amazing. He's one of not many heels who has a move set that works with his character and it's brilliant. He manages to get a pop every single time he's music hits making him feel like such a huge star but throughout a match his character means we all favor the baby face opponent standing opposite Dunne. As I mentioned earlier, Dunne is a man that understands his character and has perfected it and his role down a t. So young and so early into this stage of his career and he already has it nailed, big things are to come for Dunne as I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he's working even bigger matches, storyline's and feuds and he's listed as the best heel in wrestling today.
Sasha Banks
Up next we have the only women that will be featuring in part one of this post (more is to come trust me), Sasha Banks. Now, I know she isn't currently working as a heel and there are a number of current female superstars working as heels that could have featured in this list (Alexa Bliss a big time favorite) but honestly, when I was taking my notes for this blog post Banks was one of the very first names I thought of and I just had to include her. I've been watching Sasha Banks for a few years now and honestly I can say that I enjoy her work as a heel far more than her baby face stuff. While she is sill owning it as one of the leading faces in the women's divison today working fantastic matches and being apart of the best feuds and storyline's in the divison there is one question that remains firmly in my head whenever Banks is on my screen "when is she turning heel?". Its something I have wanted to see for what seems like forever and every time I think we are getting closer to just that it appears I'm wrong. Sasha's baby face run has been okay. She's remained a fan favourite, it's clear she is amazingly talented but if you look back at what we were seeing from her in NXT it doesn't half compare to the character work we are getting from her now. Sure she still has fans rooting for her and she always will, she's that damn good as an in ring performer but I've grown bored of what we are seeing from her now. Sasha always manages to make anything work, she feels like a star but it's her Boss character that has always elevated her to the next level. When she first arrived in NXT the smiley little baby face she portrayed was boring and lacked originality, the moment she turned heel it automatically looked as though she was more comfortable and as we saw her Boss character developer she became a huge star. Everything came so easy for her in this role. She used fellow superstars such as Summer Rae and Charlotte to elevate herself to the next level, she manipulated Becky Lynch and walked out of NXT Takeover as NXT women's champion, and every time she stepped in the ring she made sure everyone knew who the Boss really was. Banks captivated an audience entertaining the "Sasha's ratchet chants" and bullying and intimidating her opponents. From mocking Ric Flair during her feud with Charlotte and creating a T-Shirt design identical Charlotte's to making an eight year old girl cry twice during a thirty minuet iron man match. Sure you could appreciate Banks's in ring skills but it was impossible to like her. She was cunning, manipulative, a boss and everyone knew it. Sasha Banks to control and honestly I miss that side of her character Everything came so easy and natural to her and right now, watching her baby face run it feels kind of... forced and far from as effortless as what we saw her do during he heel run. Hopefully a turn is on its way and we get that Sasha Banks I personally love back on our screens.
Baron Corbin
If there is one thing I'm noticing about this post very quickly its how much i get to talk about my favorites. While they're all total bad guys or at least shine the brightest while playing a heel I gotta say I enjoy watching them all and so it will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following me for a while to see Baron Corbin up next. I know people still have mixed opinions on Corbin but in all honesty it adds to the reason why he is apart of today's blog post. Throughout ninety nine percent of his WWE career Corbin has worked as a heel. Why? Because it comes so damn natural to him. Looking at this list there are guys and girls that can adapt and make a baby face run work for a while, Corbin however, I honestly think would struggle in such a role and I don't believe I would enjoy watching as a baby face. He's one of not many heels today who pick up a heel reaction week in and week out from live audiences and has a genuine negative vibe. He comes across like an actual wanker and again it's brilliant. He's convincing in everything he does from his promo's where he claims all he cares about is fighting and earning money to his in ring work where he makes you believe he genuinely will seriously hurt you. Since joining the main roster almost two years ago Corbin has worked on developing and improving his character and while he still has a while to go he's getting there. Right now he is without shadow of a doubt one of the best heels on the Smackdown LIVE roster leaving fans honestly frustrated at him and developing a disliking towards him taking out and mocking fan favorites including the likes of John Cena, AJ Styles and Tye Dillinger. This is a man that really doesn't care what anyone thinks and what makes this better is how real it feels. Online he still portrays himself as the bad guy, with his twitter full of harsh comebacks to hate messages and tweets to fellow superstars and while it hasn't landed him in the best position it adds to the legit feel of he's character and its brilliant!
Kevin Owens
Up next we have a man I'm sure you were all expecting to see feature in today's blog post, the one and only, Kevin Owens. To be honest, this post wouldn't have been complete without him would it? Without a shadow of a doubt one of the best heels to grace the WWE over the past decade, Owens has been killing it as one of the top bad guys in wrestling for quite some time now and he's WWE run so far has elevated him right to the top. Spending one match as a baby face since signing with the WWE it's hard to remember what a nice Kevin Owens looks like of if there is even is one (although he's twitter suggests otherwise). Everything Owens does screams perfection and honestly I can't really fault anything he has done since arriving in the WWE. I've always enjoyed watching Owens regardless of what role he has way before he even joined the WWE but the past few years my love for him has increased and my respect for just how well he works he's character also has increased massively. On he's debut night Owens made a huge impact not only in his first ever NXT match but in the main event where he shockingly turned on former best friend Sami Zayn in what remains one of my favourite NXT moments of all time. In what was a totally shocking moment Owens had us all up on our feet furious. In that one second he turned on Zayn who of course was the biggest baby face in NXT Owens became the biggest heel in NXT and its history. Their story would go onto become iconic and one I would love going back to. Completely dominant, Owens took control and brought out the passion in fans. We loved watching what he could do in the ring but he's dominance was something we hadn't seen in NXT before and no liked who Owens was. He's a monster heel and the more we have seen of him over the years the more we have seen just how natural it comes to him. His character over the past couple of years has developed even more and the dark humor, snide comments, sarcasm, attitude and sass (yes sass) has made him a favourite amongst fans around the world however, it's moments like the festival of friendship, his feud with Sami Zayn, and current story with Shane McMahon that remind us why he's such an unlikable character at times. It comes so easy and natural to Owens and not a thing ever feels forced or fake. An entertaining character and a brilliant modern day heel.
The Miz
And finally, of course we have The Miz. I mean... come on, you can't be having any kind of conversation about heels in the world of pro wrestling without including the Miz. In my opinion one of the best and the most natural heels in all of wrestling the current Intercontinental champion (as I'm writing this ) will go down in history as one of the best heels of this generations I'm confident on that one. An interesting career, the Miz had had many ups and downs but he has now found himself in the best possible position and I can honestly say this is the most I have enjoyed his work. I've always
And there we have it, that is the list! As I mentioned in the intro and throughout the post I am planning on doing a few other parts to this post including a women's special, NXT special, and outside the WWE version so keep an eye out for those. For now however, you can check out any recent blog posts by clicking the link bellow and you can let me know what you thought of today's blog post and who you would include in this list by leaving a comment or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.
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