The heel character is almost always in the wrong and meant to be a generally bad person in the storyline. Fans are to rally behind the babyface due to heels being easily portrayed as the bad guys upon their general actions. However, there is some nuance to this in WWE and beyond when digging deeper into each character.
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Certain wrestlers could be categorized as misunderstood if their characters’ motives have layers to them. A face turn or tweener role will shine a light on how they were as a heel as time goes by. The names in question had more depth beyond being evil and some actually had reasons to act how they did. Each of the following wrestling villains were more misunderstood than anything else.
8 Randy Savage
The Mega Powers tag team and breakup remains one of the most impactful and important storylines in WWE history. Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth were already an established beloved couple when Hulk Hogan joined them to form this dream team.
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Tension started to form when Hogan acted like the leader and acted like his relationship with Elizabeth was equal to Savage’s marriage to her. Savage became a jealous heel, but he was in the right regarding Hogan hogging the spotlight and doing strange things. WWE fans loved Hogan too much to blame him, so Savage became the top villain in the industry at that time.
7 Muhammad Hassan
Muhammad Hassan was a successful heel character, but 90% of his promos should not have been villainized. The character started off as Hassan complaining about the bigotry Arab Americans faced in the United States after 9/11.
Wrestling fans were conditioned to hate anyone that criticized the country and it led to Hassan being a hated villain. There were some moments where Hassan crossed the line with personal insults towards fans or wrestlers, but he was coming from a fair place that was never respected by fans or his peers in kayfabe.
6 Daniel Bryan
WWE turned Daniel Bryan heel in a shocking move when he won the WWE Championship in late 2018. Bryan had returned a hero earlier that year when he came back from retirement to everyone’s joy. However, his heel character made a lot of great points about the things he disliked about wrestling.
Things like marketing, consumerism and various personal beliefs were made by Bryan that could have been better accepted from the audience if he spoke with a different tone. Even the eco-friendly points by Bryan have become discussed in society more as a positive thing rather than him using it as a heel thing.
5 Mankind
One of the best instances of a misunderstood character was Mankind, especially with Mick Foley’s brilliant portrayal. Mankind started off as a sadistic heel that felt like a horror movie villain. However, things started to change during his infamous interview segments with Jim Ross.
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WWE shined a brighter light on Foley’s background when talking about his childhood and showing footage of him backyard wrestling as a teenager. Mankind turned face shortly after due to fans resonating more with the explanation of a tough background causing that persona. The face turn led to Mankind becoming even more popular with the audience rallying behind him.
4 Sting
WCW turning Sting heel was a bold move in 1999 when trying that character shift for the first time. The funny thing is that Sting failed as a heel due to the crowd refusing to boo him. Sting turned heel by cheating Hulk Hogan out of the WCW Championship when both were faces.
Part of the reason that fans refused to boo Sting was that his character had a great point. WCW tried to portray it as Sting going to the dark side, but Hogan cheated him so many times when leading the New World Order. Sting was in the right to do the same to Hogan since there was no love lost there.
3 Trish Stratus
The current heel character of Trish Stratus actually stems from a fair perspective that is coming off misunderstood due to her attacking Becky Lynch. Stratus is in the right when expressing her anger about getting lost in the conversation of all-time great female performers.
The women’s division getting more opportunities sees today’s women being ranked above her, but Trish was the top woman in WWE history easily for many years. Stratus even using the “thank you, Trish” catch phrase shows that her heel character just wants appreciation for her presence in WWE history.
2 CM Punk
Many fans forget that the summer of Punk started with CM Punk playing a heel. Punk entered a feud with John Cena as the bad guy and received the freedom to express frustrations in a worked shoot context. The fans started to have a mixed reaction since Punk had a point to many of them.
WWE felt stagnant for many years, and Punk was the first to talk about the need for change. The face turn didn’t come until the big Money in the Bank match in his hometown of Chicago. Punk returned from his short break after as a babyface that got over as one due to fans feeling he was misunderstood as a heel.
1 Bret Hart
WWE delivered one of their most nuanced storylines ever when Bret Hart turned heel in 1997. The story goes back to the previous months when Bret started his all-time great rivalry with Steve Austin. Hart was the ultimate good guy babyface hero against the rebellious Austin.
Society was changing with anti-heroes like Austin getting cheered for breaking rules and cheating his opponents like Hart. This inspired Bret’s heel turn against United States fans for wronging him first. Hart always won clean matches and tried to be a role model only to be treated poorly but the American fans.
