10 Most Effective Wrestling Heels Of The 21st Century
1. The Fans
A heel, broadly, is a character in wrestling that generates heat and gets another talent over. There has been no more effective a heel in the 21st century than the audience which views it.
The modern wrestling fan is a loathsome beast, more inclined to throw around a beach ball than take in the painstaking efforts of those they have paid to see. In taking advantage of wrestling's uniquely interactive form in the social media age, fans have become even more a part of it. Fans have hijacked shows and subverted the intention by drowning out the script. The so-called WWE Universe has used their power for good, on occasion; their ceaseless and deafening support of the richly deserving Daniel Bryan altered both the complexion of WrestleMania XXX and, it can be argued, the complexion of the industry itself.
And yet, so obnoxious have they become that they are the primary target of ire. Chants of "CM Punk!" - a happily retired performer - remain an onscreen constant, undermining even internet darlings like Seth Rollins. The wincing, irritating 'What?" chants are still and perhaps always will be pervasive. They have even taken to "catching out" referees by chanting "ten!" during a count out sequence, disregarding the story being told completely. Influential, detestable - the heel role has been subsumed by the audience, the aforementioned masters aside. Whether or not this is a healthy development can be answered by one glaring and uncomfortable truth: The fans don't get their comeuppance.
In that regard, they are sadly, as counterproductive as Stephanie McMahon is - no matter how effective the turn has been.