Crockerinho

Wrestling Moderator

The whole thing with Carlito running from Cena got me thinking about the way cowardly heels are booked. Sure, him running made Cena look like a real tough guy, but where does it leave Carlito? He's such a fighter that he can't stand up to Cena & runs from him?

So when it comes to putting people over. Ric Flair made a career out of "being able to drag a match out of a broom". He'd go up aginst jobbers from the local town & come away still champ by the skin of his teeth. He always made the other guy look like he was coming within inches of winning the title & scoring a massive upset, week after week. Yet he was still regarded as a strong champion.

Compare this to Jericho's run as champ. Again, the heel that's struggling to hold on to the title, yet Jericho comes out of the whole thing with no credibility because he struggles to retain in every match until he loses the strap.

Just wanting your thoughts on why Flair could do it without losing credibiltiy, but Jericho couldn't. Or how the cowardly heel card can be played without making a good wrestler like Carlito look like a total chump.

Dr. Giganto

I understand your point, but I think Carlito's injury played into this one. I doubt Survivor Series wouldve been booked the way it was if he was healthy.

I think part of it is the "old school" WWE way of thinking. We all hate the guy who's all talk, but then backs down when it comes time to fight, or only fights when there's people there to have his back. Back in the day, WWE could play up on that, because of kayfabe. It was like "Oh, look at the Mountie, he says he's all big and tough, but without his stun gun, he's a wimp". And it worked, because we thought the characters were real people (at least I did, when i was a kid).

Things have changed now, but sometimes WWE reverts back to that old mindset

Steveo

I think a champ like HHH works the best. He talks shit like a pro and then when it comes time for the match he finds a way to always win. HHH always comes ready to fight. The problem here is that at some point in time a guy like that has to lose or else we get bored with him. A guy who always runs and needs backup is the guy we pay to see really get fucked up at some point. Christian is another good example of the type that runs away and needs backup. I think these guys make better heels than say like a Brock Lesnar or HHH becuase we know the face can win against Carlito and Christian but going in against like Lesnar the face is usually the underdog.