The NEW Way WWE Draws Heat (And Why It Needs To Go Away)

Happily - reassuringly - the classic heel is enjoying something in the way of a renaissance.

In 2015, Sasha Banks was a heartless, hand-breaking villain who’d sooner destroy the dreams of a child than show her opponent respect. Chris Jericho was a borderline racist, bloated psychopath in New Japan this year, decrying Tetsuya Naito as a “filthy animal” before making him bleed in what was, crucially, an awesome spectacle. He didn’t trap Naito in an abdominal stretch for ten minutes. He was better than that.

The Miz may reveal the curtain too much in his biting promos, but he sells without abandon in gripping, lengthy matches. Tommaso Ciampa is the ideal wrestling heel for the modern era; the audience to an extent mostly plays along with him because they know he delivers an excellent villain performance. There are no duelling chants in even his best five star matches because the audience knows that booing him only adds to the overwhelmingly brilliant experience.

More so than a decade ago, in which playing the heel was virtually impossible, the audience, encouraged by those who perform so well in this committed restoration of the role, wants to play along. They shouldn’t be played with.

It is possible, in what is now, finally, a post-cool heel era, to antagonise and entertain.

It is time, yet again, for WWE to catch up to the brilliance of its performers.