Thought Of The Day – Heel/Face Mannerisms
I’m watching a Flair match from 1985 and it got me to thinking:In a lot of Flair matches, you would see him put his feet on the ropes or cheat in some small way. I remember at I think Starrcade 88 he had Luger dead and could have pinned him with one finger on Luger’s chest. Flair threw his feet on the ropes anyway on the pin. That’s something so small and so easy, but it’ll get people to boo you every time.
In short, bad guys cheat. It can be anything, from feet on the ropes to grabbing a rope for extra leverage to hooking some tights to poking in the eye. Any of those little things will get the crowd to boo you because the fans know that some things are just plain cheating. The same is true of good guys: stuff like clean breaks or offering a handshake. As long as it’s not campy, it’ll make it clear who the good guys is.
My question: who does no one do things like this anymore? They’re so simple but they’re guaranteed heel heat. Is that too complicated for them?
I know you aren’t a big fan of the company, but I think Ring of Honor does this very well with the code of honor. With that one handshake (or lack there of) at the start of a match, the face/heel dynamic is set for anyone who has never seen any of the men competing before.
Yeah I know but I’d like it a bit more natural than having a graphic on the screen saying “Code of Honor: YES”.
I agree with that. They used to actually show the handshakes, but I guess they are showing the “tale of the tape” instead of that. They still show it on DVDs though.