The "funny" heel vs. the "serious" heel.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

(Note: "Sorry, but I can't count "entertaining heel" as an answer. What does that say? )

Personally, I like a balance, but leaning a little toward serious, in the mold of HHH on a good day.

[MGH]

Serious business. The Edge and Ortons of the world.

[Impact Zone's #1 DUMMY...YEAH]

Some of my favorite heel moments have been when guys like Edge and Christian, Jericho, the Dudleys, etc... would rip on the cities they were performing in and/or mock the local sports team(s).

A more recent example would be when Santino mocked NYC because the only team that hadn't choked in their league's playoffs was a team who played in New Jersey (the Giants, obviously).

[Big Daddy Bad Booking]

A balanced heel is awesome. To the point, atagonizes the crowd, and makes the midget look like a loser. YAY!

[4real]

Tough one. I have to say the funny heels cos there's nothing better than making me laugh! Whether it's goofy Kurt, E & C, Santino, 2003 era Cena.

That said though I do mark for both Edge & Orton as well as Ministry Taker and 00 era HHH.

And what about the cocky heels? MVP, Miz, Morrison, Y2J?

[Full Moon]

The greatest heel of all time is Jake "The Snake" Roberts. That is how a heel should be.

However, there needs to be an effective mix of both. Not everybody can be a cold blooded, serious heel. Having cowardly heels/entertaining heels in the mix like Chris Jericho (1998-1999), The Mountie, Bobby Heenan, etc only adds to the fire.

In my opinion, the guy with the best balance of both was Roddy Piper. Nobody else has come close to being so lovable and funny, yet still possessing that killer instinct and vicious side that made you know he could snap and mean business at any minute.

[Pagan Warrior]

Balanced mix of both. But it really depends on the storyline.

[The Ichi]

Edge is a good example of balanced.

[Krimzon]

The best heels can balance it out. Triple H, Ric Flair, Christian Cage, Roddy Piper, Edge, and guys of that nature can find a common ground between "funny" & "serious." If I had to pick one, I'd go with Piper in his day. I mean come on! He smashed a coconut over Snuka's head. Both hilarious and serious at the same time.

[BRAINFADE]

I'm suprised that theguys who like a balanced heel haven't metioned the Rock. He was the perfect balanced heel.

I personally like my heels to be dark. I also agree with Weatherman in that Jake Roberts is the greatest heel ever, with Roddy Piper a close second.

[fes1]

Matt Hardy was fantastic as a heel. "Matt facts" were halarious and Shannon Moore was
never used better than as a "Moore -on" who was a follower of "Mattitude"

[Jeff]

I like em funny

[King of Fighters]

Balanced with a leaning towards funny.

[Full Moon]

Not sure why anyone would choose Matt Hardy over Jake Roberts, or "funny" HHH over Cerebral Assassin HHH, but I guess that's the beauty of wrestling. We all love something different.

[Red Impact]

It really depends on the character/person pulling it off. Few people can pull off the Jake Robert's style serious heel long-term and not get horribly stale (like HHH gets). Few heels can be consistently comical and still manage to be hated. Some do a good mix of both. I like that mix a lot of the time, like when Chris Jericho or the Rock were heel. However, I never found "Funny Heel-Austin" good at all, he was always better as the serious character to me. Kurt Angle could do both pretty well, whereas many of the classic heels (Like Jake Roberts) weren't comical at all.

[Tapout]

The best heels can do everything. The whole job of the heel is to [eventually] make the babyface look good, so if the babyface has a deadly serious, the heel can help get heat by being humorous/cowardly.

Take a look at pretty much all of Flair's heel runs, and for that matter, Kurt Angle's heel runs. They've done dead serious, psycho crazy, and flat-out hilarious many times. That's how it's done.

[spinachchin]

May 19, 2008 12:55:40 GMT -5 MGH said:

Serious business. The Edge and Ortons of the world.

I'd say Edge is more of a balance.

Orton is 100% serious though...so is JBL of 2008, the old JBL would be over the top sometimes

ex. Dressing like Apolo Creed, using antibacterial hand wash stuff after shaking the fan's hands

[Pushed to the Moon]

I enjoyed the deadly serious/badass Austin around 1996/97. Mostly I like arrogant jerks.

[Firearm: Supposed Big Deal]

Some of my favorite heels of all time (Rock, E&C, heel Cena) were hilarious. The only problem with funny heels is--writers will take notice of the crowd reaction and turn them face. E&C, thankfully, were able to avoid this.

Oh yeah, and on the JBL point, you forgot putting a cowboy hat on top of his elaborate neck brace. ;D

[Joekishi]

Ric Flair was the funniest heel of all time, but he could make you laugh your ass off. same with Shawn Michaels.

I also prefer funny Triple H to SERIOUS I AM DER GAME! Triple H.