Forgotten Mega Face/Heel Runs

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

In reading the thread on referee storylines, I got to remembering just how hated Bill Alfonso was in the summer/fall of 1995 in ECW. Like, nowadays people just remember him as the dude with the whistle managing RVD and Sabu but he was THE heel in his role as the PA State Athletic Commission-appointed referee. The whole thing was built beautifully to him taking a chokeslam from 911 and it was never X-Pac/Bossman/"Go away!" heat, it was pure unadulterated "Man, when this guy finally gets it, I HAVE to be at that show!" heel heat.

So who are some other guys/gals/teams that had a brief but shining run as a super face or top heel?

[toodarkmark]

The first one I can think of is how over Rick Steiner was as a babyface when he first left the Varisty Club and won the TV title from Mike Rotunda. He consistently got super loud pops, up there with Sting, and even did a hand puppet thing that used to get a rise from the audience.

It changed completely when Scott came along. I know the mega face status transfered to the brother team, but he had cooled a bit before Scott came a long, and the response he was getting late 88, early 89 was just insane.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Virgil. Yeah, he's been reduced to a joke now, largely all of his own doing, but motherf***er was OVER when he turned on DiBiase. Any wrestler would kill for that pop now.

Maybe it's not a mega run, but that turn really should get more attention. When you consider Virgil was mostly silent, didn't add much really and was just a tackling dummy, that pop was insane.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Zack Ryder in 2011. It might not be forgotten now but when you look at his overall WWE career 10 or 15 years from now most people won't believe how over he was for those few months before WWE went out of their way to kill a potentially huge moneymaker for their company purely out of spite.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Jun 7, 2020 22:32:22 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Virgil. Yeah, he's been reduced to a joke now, largely all of his own doing, but motherf***er was OVER when he turned on DiBiase. Any wrestler would kill for that pop now.

Maybe it's not a mega run, but that turn really should get more attention. When you consider Virgil was mostly silent, didn't add much really and was just a tackling dummy, that pop was insane.

Thank you for mentioning this. I started really getting deep into my fandom around summer and Fall of 1990. The Virgil / DiBiase angle was one of the first that I ever really bought into Hook Line & Sinker. I still don't understand to this day how the WWF got a guy that over and ran with him for less than a year and then just jobbed him out the rest of his run. I realize he wasn't a great wrestler but it's not like the WWF was a work-rate company at the time. I've tried having this conversation with people before but it quickly just turns into LOLVIRGIL.

[67 more]

Jun 8, 2020 2:36:38 GMT -5 XaviersSS2015hair said:

Zack Ryder in 2011. It might not be forgotten now but when you look at his overall WWE career 10 or 15 years from now most people won't believe how over he was for those few months before WWE went out of their way to kill a potentially huge moneymaker for their company purely out of spite.

Grab the brass ring, pal

[Cvslfc123]

Jun 7, 2020 22:32:22 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Virgil. Yeah, he's been reduced to a joke now, largely all of his own doing, but motherf***er was OVER when he turned on DiBiase. Any wrestler would kill for that pop now.

Maybe it's not a mega run, but that turn really should get more attention. When you consider Virgil was mostly silent, didn't add much really and was just a tackling dummy, that pop was insane.

Same with Alex Riley when he turned on The Miz. I went to a show in April 2012, at that point he wasn't on TV as much so he wrestled Dean Ambrose in a dark match before the show. He got one of the biggest pops of the night.

[Deleted]

Enzo and Cass mucking their lives up since the team split sightly dulls the memory as to how one awful wrestler and one mediocre one had the crowd eating out of their hands as a tag team.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Jun 7, 2020 19:23:17 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

In reading the thread on referee storylines, I got to remembering just how hated Bill Alfonso was in the summer/fall of 1995 in ECW. Like, nowadays people just remember him as the dude with the whistle managing RVD and Sabu but he was THE heel in his role as the PA State Athletic Commission-appointed referee. The whole thing was built beautifully to him taking a chokeslam from 911 and it was never X-Pac/Bossman/"Go away!" heat, it was pure unadulterated "Man, when this guy finally gets it, I HAVE to be at that show!" heel heat.

I wanted to see him get beat up when he was Managing Sabu/RVD too!

Dude's face/voice/overall demeanor just made me itch

[thecrusherwi]

Not really a turn, but for how dismissive fans can be of Lex Luger and how often he switched alignments, every time Luger was a babyface in the NWA or WCW the fans got behind him. In 1996-1997, he was as over as anyone in wrestling.

[BorneAgain]

While Edge definitely got booked to be his better in their 2005 feud, what's forgotten about is how over Matt Hardy was after that program, to the point where he was getting significant pops for the next three years no matter his place on the card.

[glorious83]

Rusev. The guy was so over with the whole Rusev Day stuff and only got one world championship match that I can remember. Should have had at least a small run with the title but nope they nipped it in the bud and then saddled him with the awful lashley feud before letting him go.

[James Fabiano]

Fonzie was a bit of both, hated him because he was a big heel but also because he legit annoyed me. So real and X-Pac all in one.

Jimmy Valiant was a middle-upper JCP midcarder who feuded with Dungeon of Doom '85, but the JCP crowd loved him.

Pre-D-Von, pre-tables, etc. etc., dancing/stuttering Bubba Ray Dudley, at leat until the middle of 1996 or so.