10 Wrestling Heels That Were Pure Chickensh*t
From Sami Zayn to Ric Flair: The yellow bellies seeking gold around their waists.
The chickensh*t heel is an enduring staple of wrestling storytelling, as crucial to wrestling’s dark side as the patriotic face is to its light. The lasting power of the character type is because few things are more hateable than a snivelling little coward who stands for the exact opposite of wrestling's big, honourable babyfaces, though many ended up winning crowds over with their performances.
The best craven characters often don’t even have to get physical to be pelted with boos, or in the case of legendary performers bottles, cans, or anything to hand. Crowd reaction is key to the trope’s success.
One of the most frustrating wimp tactics is a hallmark of house show, sees a heel champion interrupting a challenger with the promise of a title shot, before retracting it, and mocking the audience’s deflated excitement. This and other cowardly acts help make the gimmick.
When anything becomes a trope, by the nature of such a label, elements associated with it become cliché. At best becoming predictable, at worst damaging everything in its orbit. However, when tropes are embraced by talented individuals, they are elevated to new and unique heights...
10. Sami Zayn
Our fallen former Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayne made the tired cowardly heel trope fresh and amusing and all he got was that damn t-shirt.
Zayn wormed his way to his initial championship, becoming then Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura’s mouthpiece, and scoring the pin in a 3-on-1 handicap title defence against Braun Strowman. Due to outside interference, Zayn retained against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 36. However, he was stripped of the championship when he opted against competing due to the pandemic.
When he returned, Zayn stated his claim on Jeff Hardy’s Intercontinental Championship. However, he didn’t want a fair fight for it. Eventually, in a Triple Threat ladder match, Zayn used innovative cowardice and two sets of handcuffs to become the sole Intercontinental Champion.
Zayn reverted to classic cowardice and repeatedly retained his championship via count out during title defences against Apollo Crews, Bryan, and Big E. However, on SmackDown 25 December 2020, Zayn faced Big E in a lumberjack match. Unable to use his most favoured trick, he fell victim to a Big Ending, losing his championship.