He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)
He rode the line between heel and face depending on where he wrestled. After his NWA title run he turned heavily heel, especially in his feuds with recently face turned Dusty Rhodes. He also stepped up his crazy gimmick which the fans loved.
He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)
Should have mentioned Iron Sheik first. He started as a handsome face. After that he was all heel, taking on the Iron Sheik moniker and shaving his head. As the world changed and wrestlers became known outside of the ring he continued his heel attitude, cursing and insulting anyone and everyone. Until his death fans paid to have him provide a personalized “Fuck you” message. He never turned face after becoming the Iron Sheik. Offhand, I can’t think of another wrestler who was so purely a fan loved heel who stayed a heel till the end of just their career, not even until their death.
Great topic BTW. Wrestling is all about the heels.
He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)
After wrapping up an epic feud with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Jim Cornette gloated about all the teams they beat while defending the US tag titles, then paused a little bit in contemplation. “In fact, the only team we haven’t beat is the World Tag Team Champions, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson. And ya can’t beat anybody if you don’t wrestle them.” Drop grenade, exit stage left.
Subsequently, the ME became “They may be conceited assholes, but they’re our conceited assholes” babyfaces when taking on the 4 Horsemen, who were the NWO of their day.
He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)
When he cut the Pipe Bomb promo against John Cena, he was the heel. Technically, he was still leader of The Nexus when he bested him for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank 2011. But somewhere along the way, he turned face.
New category:
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Out of the two matches Bryan worked at that show, I think this was the better of the two, even though the main event title match had the better feel-good moment.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Stole the show for those who watch WM for good matches. Definitely not a WWF style match for its time.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
It was the mother of all great Wrestlemania matches, overshadowing the main event.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
This one probably doesn’t rate high on many people’s lists, but it’s special for me because it’s the first Wrestlemania I remember watching live, when I was 7 years old and hadn’t yet sussed out that it wasn’t real. In my mind, Sgt. Slaughter’s Iraqi sympathizer gimmick was legit, his being WWF Champion was one of the greatest outrages America had ever suffered, and the real-life outcome of the Gulf War was tied into this match, so Hogan overcoming and beating him for the title was easily the equivalent of V-Day.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Yes, I know, Andre was practically a cripple and Hogan has a small move set, but the hype, the pageantry and the bodyslam became the standard setter for all the following WMs.
Interesting side note: Bobby the Brain Heenan talked about Andre in his book, and said that at one point before their match, Andre considered going over to Hulk’s rolling platform and tipping it over. “With him in it?” replied Heenan. “Yeah,” said Andre. Heenan was on the verge of panicking because it was impossible to stop Andre once he got an idea in his head, but luckily there was too much crowd in the way.
Well Ackchyually, Hogan versus Andre was also WM 3. WM 1 had Hogan and Mr. T versus Piper and Orndorff, and Andre had the $15,000 Body Slam Challenge with a Bobby Heenan-managed Big John Studd. I agree with @TriPolar (which is why I picked that match a few hours earlier 
)
Sorry, don’t know how I did that? Must have been interrupted after starting the post and as usual spending time looking at wrestling web sites and videos before finally replying.
Whether or not it was the very best of all time, it was the very best the WWE had to offer up to that time in or out of the 'Mania, and it set the stage for a future of higher level wrestling.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Not the first ladder match but it certainly was memorable. And it was so good that they copied it again later for Summerslam. Great story, great work by both participants, and it cemented Ramon as the IC Champion.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
It’s a Heel vs Face match where the Face sucker-punches the Heel before the match even begins, and only gets the win by cheating with a handful of tights, but the crowd is on its feet cheering for it — and, in between, Savage sells the hell out of the Figure Four, and Flair’s face is a damn mask of blood, and it’s just high-quality work from start to finish (helped along by a generous dose of Mister Perfect and the lOVEly miss eLIZabETH).
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Cody finished the story. This was one of the best payoffs to a long-term storyline that WWE has ever executed, and the cavalcade of interference essentially turned it into a belated conclusion to most of the major storylines of the Attitude Era.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
The famous double turn.
Best WrestleMania Matches of All-Time
Christ on a stick, those three guys beat the hell out of each other.
Pass. (It was my category.)
The Air Bud Rule
I.e. things that never/almost never happen in wrestling, but logically could
The Air Bud Rule
I.e. things that never/almost never happen in wrestling, but logically could
This was possible in some of the old video games; you could even go all the way to WWF New York. Not so much in real life.
That has happened.
The Air Bud Rule
I.e. things that never/almost never happen in wrestling, but logically could