Is there any wrestler in the entire industry who hasn’t taken turns as both face and heel?
My knee-jerk reaction to this is to say John Cena, but I think he was a bit heelish in his debut and his early years before he became “JOHN CENA! (cue the music).”
I’ll also defer to the historians on this one, but I believe Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat never played heel.
Maybe the Bushwhackers?
I mentioned Honky Tonk Man earlier, was he ever a face? Was Ted DiBiase (also mentioned above as a good guy in real life)?
Was Ultimate Warrior ever really a heel? Not sure he was a face, either, he was just kind of his own thing.
Jimmy Hellwig was a legend in his own mind. In 1993 he legally changed his name to one word, “Warrior”, he self-published a comic book starring himself, sold “motivational posters” and he took up motivational speaking of a somewhat Conservative bent, saying things like “queering doesn’t make the world work”.
George “The Animal” Steele - generally gets mentioned as an articulate and educated fellow. He was a teacher and wrestling coach before getting into the business. He was a heel most of his career before turning babyface near the end of it.
Hulk Hogan, mentioned above, deserves another mention. From personal experience I can tell you he was a Grade A cad IRL.
From an older thread:
The Bushwackers were a nasty heel team as the New Zealand Kiwis and then The Sheepherders before coming to the WWF.
(found that old thread looking for the Paterson quote - go Google)
Rey Mysterio almost never went heel; he had a brief run as an arguable tweener with The Filthy Animals in WCW.
The Bushwhackers were known as The Sheepherders and were violent heels in multile territories. Their matches were usually bloody, and they worked a series of barbed wire cage matches against The Fantastics in UWF (Watts).
Honky, aka Wayne Ferris worked babyface early on in Memphis, I think. Dibiase was a lead babyface and a lead heel at different times in MidSouth/UWF and Georgia prior to going to WWF.
Warrior and Sting were a heel tag team in Memphis and UWF. Watts fired Warrior, but split the team and kept Sting.
This is funny because not even a few hours after I asked this question, I listened to a podcast which mentioned how scary they were in the territories as heels.
Years back, some of my students worked out at a Boston-are gym with Matt Bloom, who wrestled under several names (Albert, Lord Tensai, A-Train, etc.) and was generally a heel. They said he was very friendly, helpful, explained some of the equipment and spotted for them. One anecdote, that that as you will.
They also met John Cena and said he was a funny, humble guy. This was early 2000’s, before he was JOHN CENA.
How about Meng? Supposedly the toughest man in all of wrestling, but also reported to be a very kind and family-focused man.
Are “face” and “babyface” interchangeable terms to describe the same character type? Or is a “babyface” like even more of a “face”?
Face is just a shortened version of babyface - interchangeable.
Apparently, Shawn Michaels was as much of an asshole IRL as he appeared on TV, even though he was perhaps the biggest babyface around for most of his career.
I’ve heard babyface be used as a pejorative for an ostensible “face” whom the fans disliked, typically one they feel gets an undeserved push.
There was this one kid, Something Maivia who was pushed like hell, and sucked donkey balls. Wonder what happened to him? Probably ended up in Hollywood making forgettable movies, he was handsome, I’ll give him that.
Dibiase and Warrior both got their start in the NWA Mid South area, where Bill Watts was head booker. I remember Dibiase as a rookie, and he was a face until his UWF days, where he wore black gloves and alternated between face and heel. He pretty much stayed heel as the Million Dollar Man.
At the beginning of his career, Warrior was paired up with Sting in Mid South as heel Road Warrior knockoffs called the Blade Runners. He then went solo as the Dingo Warrior, but turned face and ultimately became Ultimate Warrior in WWF.
Not intended to be a political shot, but Donald Trump? The wrestlers who worked with him were surprised that he was affable and willing to take bumps; and I read this well after his interaction with the WWE was finished and well before he began his Presidential journey.
Who has always been face? Let me think…
Tommy Dreamer, ECW/WWE, was always the lovable jock and frequent victim of the bad guys as far as I can remember. Some midcarders never really developed enough of a personality to be considered heel or face, but I think Sam Houston was always a face. I don’t think Japanese wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger was ever a heel, but I could be wrong.
Fabulous Moolah was a bad guy in the ring. Outside the ring, she was the nicest, sweetest person you can imagine. But behind the scenes, she was a calculating business woman. This article isn’t really about Moolah, but it’s about one of her wrestlers. It’s a long article, but offers some alternate insights into Moolah herself.
Da Crusher (Reggie Lisowski) was a heel everywhere except his home town Milwaukee. There he was quite well thought of, outside the ring.
That was back in the NWA days.
Regards,
Shodan