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2000 R.S.P-W Awards | Best Heel |
Awards |
Best Heel Award Description: To be given to the person who was the best villain this past year. This person should bring out the fans' wrath. Match quality is not paramount here; this award should be based primarily on how over the wrestler was in the past year. Previous Winners: 1990: Ted DiBiase 1991: Cactus Jack 1992: Jake Roberts 1993: Big Van Vader 1994: Bob Backlund 1995: Big Van Vader 1996: Steve Austin (Ring Master) 1997: Shawn Michaels 1998: Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon) 1999: Triple H **2000**: Triple H 573 first place votes 565 second place votes 554 third place votes 441 53 20 2404 Triple H 42 98 105 1014 Kurt Angle 11 73 78 430 Chris Benoit 5 49 40 252 Jeff Jarrett 8 39 41 239 Eddie Guerrero 4 29 50 207 Lance Storm 10 12 33 152 Steven Richards 4 21 30 143 Scott Steiner 5 14 18 103 Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley 3 11 15 78 Steve Corino 3 11 11 70 Vince McMahon 7 4 7 61 Cima 2 6 7 42 Vince Russo 5 2 3 37 Suwa 3 3 5 34 Dick Togo 1 5 7 34 Tazz 2 5 2 29 Jun Akiyama 1 0 11 27 Christian 2 1 6 25 Justin Credible 0 3 8 25 Edge 1 0 8 21 William Regal 1 1 6 20 Shane McMahon 1 4 1 19 Shinjiro Ohtani 1 3 1 16 Yoshihiro Tajiri 1 0 4 13 Vader 2 0 1 12 Bokujin Ken 1 1 2 12 X-Pac 2 0 0 10 Akira Hokuto 0 3 0 9 Mayumi Ozaki 0 0 4 8 Rikishi 0 0 3 6 Rhino 0 0 3 6 Mima Shimoda 0 0 3 6 Hardcore Holly 1 0 0 5 Trent Acid 1 0 0 5 Masao Orihara 1 0 0 5 Kodo Fuyuki 0 1 1 5 Koji Kanemoto 0 1 1 5 Big Bossman 0 1 0 3 Toshiaki Kawada 0 1 0 3 Sugar Sato 0 1 0 3 Simon Diamond 0 1 0 3 Shane Douglas 0 1 0 3 Ric Flair 0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke 0 1 0 3 Chris Jericho 0 1 0 3 Abismo Negro 0 0 1 2 Takeshi Ono 0 0 1 2 Steven Regal 0 0 1 2 Rob Black 0 0 1 2 Raven 0 0 1 2 Poodle 0 0 1 2 Mike Sanders 0 0 1 2 H (Eiji Ezaki) 0 0 1 2 Cyrus 0 0 1 2 Big Poppa Pump 0 0 1 2 Bauxite Medium 0 0 1 2 Achilles REJECTED 0 2 3 Edge & Christian (ineligible) 0 2 1 Duplicate votes 0 0 4 "Tie" votes 1 0 0 Full Blooded Italians (ineligible) C. JOSEPH HOFFMAN: Russo would have gotten the nod if he had started at the start of the ballot year. But Russo did beat Jarrett because simply, in my opinion, he was not a wrestler and made a terrific non-wrestling asshole (sorry, but I had to say it). HIRO: Triple H is undoubtly the best heel right now. The shortlived 'tweener act didn't even cause a dent to this although he turned heel back again by the time the poll's timeframe closed. Kurt Angle's act could be the heel act of the future, even though he didn't do too much of typical heel stuff. Benoit's Rabid Wolverine act is a good heel act too (giving Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley the headbutt rules!), and now that the R4dicalz have reformed, expect them to be the top heel group in the WWF supplanting RTC and the hopefully forever dead DX. DEAN RASMUSSEN: Suwa is both psychotic and also a GREAT pure rudo in the Fuerza Guerrera mold. Mayumi Ozaki was such a lesbianic psychotic sex kitten in the super psychosexual KAORU feud that she scared me and got me all worked up all at once. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT!? Dick Togo is back and he rules. He even made a couple Onita Pro Main Events almost watchable. BRUNO PULVER: Scott Steiner is the best heel in a business and world title reign is extremely fucking long over due ADAM FROM TORONTO: There's just something about Eddy that makes me want to hit him in the face with a frying pan. ROBERT STRUPP: Again, Triple H was easily the best wrestler all year, and the best heel, with top feuds against Rock, Jericho, Foley and Angle. Angle was the only WWF star to be a heel through the entire voting period, and his rise throughout the year to WWF champion is amazing. Steiner plays the unpredictable psycho very well. This year was short on good heels. Benoit could also be considered, but Hunter, Angle, and Steiner did it for a longer period during the year. BEN WEINER: Not a great year for heels. ALEX GIPSON: Triple H is the best heel I've seen in my eight years in watching wrestling. At a house show I attended in January, the level of hatred that the audience conveyed towards him was unbelievable. Backstage controversy or not, the man is the best at what he does. CHRIS OSTER: Continuation of a LONG trend in this category, as Triple H gets my top vote again. He's done the unthinkable - stayed away from using a catchphrase as a crutch in interviews, and from trying to be "cool" instead of being the asshole the fans boo on sight, and created a truly great heel character. Kurt Angle takes second with one of the most inventive gimmicks in a while...a heel hero! Genius. And, since I can't vote for Edge and Christian as a team, and don't want to single either one out, third goes to Eddie Guerrero, who went back to being the best dickish heel around. EDC: Scott Steiner is a great heel because it comes naturally for him as a Roided out, maniac Monster. Even Russo couldnt screw this one up that badly. JJ is the closest thing to a old school Heel, but you can tell that he doesnt like where he is now. HHH comes in at the bottom below a God Heel, and a Heel that has been doing this longer than he has. DUDICALY2K: BEST HEEL: HHH communicates hatred and asshole-ness like no one has since the days of Ric Flair at 6:05 p.m. on WTBS. Eddy is also a great, great heel in an awful character. Benoit is starting to blossom as a mic-worker. DANIEL HERMAN: No US heel in recent memory has gotten me to hate their character nearly as much as HHH at the beginning of the year. Dick Togo is just great at being evil, as is Poodle. SCOTT W.: Triple H is the greatest heel I have ever seen. He even beats Ric Flair in the department. (To steal from Rick Scaia, "In my own damned personal opinion." Kurt Angle being a legit Amercian Hero and getting booed is a definite second. 3rd, well Vinny Mac always gets a heel vote from me. DONNIE VOMIT: Triple H and Angle are self explanatory. Lance Storm is a great heel in the Jake The Snake mold, really subdued, but still gets fan reaction (no crack, though). MARCUS SPARKS: The RTC would never have worked if it hadn't been for Steven's skill on the microphone and willingness to look like a complete fool from time to time. It's a testament to him the group is hated. Kurt's smarmy facade had developed nicely over the past year, with little or no real impetus for the fans to even consider cheering him. Despite WCW's troubles, "The Chosen One" has truly been one of the best things about WCW week in and week out. JOHN C.: Triple H wins here because of his magnificent work both in the ring and on the microphone allowing himself to be the best heel the business has seen since Ric Flair was in his prime. There's nothing better than an old school heel who backs up his words by kicking ass in the ring and that's exactly what Triple H did. Rounding out the top three are Angle & Benoit who both had good success as main event heels although neither could come close to the standard that Triple H set. GREG NECASTRO: Triple H was born to be hated. JOSEPH MICELI: HHH gets too many pops to be a super-heel TONY LING: Gotta be impressed by the way HHH stepped up his performance, both in the ring and as the #1 heel in wrestling. The McMahon-Helmsley stuff got on my nerves after a while, ESPECIALLY after WM, but it was still a good angle. ANDY P. GOSS: Yeah, I picked Vader. It's a lifetime achievement award more than anything else. Eddie Guerrero's sleazy Latino Heat stuff (wooing Chyna, being in denial, cheating to win) really caught my attention. And Vince Russo the character could have people hating him in a Noo Yawk minit. JON WALTON:WCW did many moronic things this year, but one thing they did right was keep Jeff Jarrett as a top heel. It never ceased to amaze me how much crap Jarrett took for being the solid, old school heel that every federation needs. His work ethic and exceptional heeldom were the only thing that kept WCW interesting for a three month period. MARKUS: Triple H is just doing the best heel schtick to be done in years. The other two I think are two highly under-rated heels, but I dig 'em. JONAH ROSCH: It was tough picking the winner in this category. All three wrestlers have come into their own, especially in being heels. I went with Triple H mostly due to the way that he has been pushed as a heel. Jarrett has been the classic Flair-like heel, and Angle has been the humorous cowardly heel. But it has been Triple-H, who has totally redefined what it means to be a heel that a federation can focus on. Triple-H has been allowed to back up his actions with key PPV victories, and even the marks view him as a significant threat in the ring. That makes him the top heel, in my book. COLIN MORTON: Is Triple H a face or a heel? The slow build to a turn has been going on for months. EDDIE BURKETT: Triple H is THE GAME!!! 'nuff said. JAMES HOWARD: Patriotism is EVIL! It is EVIL EVIL EVIL AND BAD! Or it least, it apparently is if you're *Canadian*. And if there's one person who can pull that off, it's Bret Hart. But Lance Storm does it just as well, and *that*'s something to be commended. Also to be commended is Kurt Angle, who has proven himself to be mankind's last savior of cowardly heel tactics until Jericho gets back around to doing it. And I never would have thought that Triple H wouldn't make my Best Heel list this year, but- "I'd smack you 'cross your face, but it looks like *God* already beat me *to* it!" One line, *one* line, and Tazz became the most hated man on the planet. Call me a sucker for a great Groucho line. :) JUST JEFF: Stevie Richards' transformation from funnyman to serious, "civic-minded" Steven is a stroke of creative genius on the WWF, and a lesson to Russo on how to do a "worked shoot" promo the right way. Kurt Angle's twist on the concept of the American Hero fits very well with today's cynical generation of viewers and fans, to say the least. I wouldn't be surprised if the Censor and the Olympic Hero remain fresh enough for inclusion in next year's poll. But Best Heel still goes to HHH for his contributions to the WWF, and for making the fans hate him for being "that damn good." MAGNOOOS: I really think Mike Sanders should have been nominated in more categories. In my opinion he really saves the Natural Born Thrillers from being a disastrous gimmick. BOB MORRIS: I gave the nod to Kurt Angle here, because his gimmick was so simple, just so effective, and drew massive heel heat for himself quickly. The last person to rise to prominence this quickly was Bill Goldberg in WCW, and a lot of that credit has to go to the fact that Angle's heel schitck was very effective. Hopefully the WWF will keep him as one of the promotion's major players for years to come. SCOTT ZUCKER: SUWA, CIMA, and Dick Togo are my top three heels. All of them are aware of how to get a crowd against them, and they do it with ease. Honorable mention to Eddy Guerrero who was able to get a large crowd reaction when he was injured. JEREMY SORIA: It has to be Triple H, bar none. With the exception of when he was questioning Kurt Angle's sexuality, he never had to resort to cheap tactics to get heat. Kurt Angle's a great heel too. Deep down, you know whatever Kurt Angle says is true. Steven Richards, in his Right To Censor gimmick, has finally found the role for himself. He's the perfect guy to throw the whole censorship issue back in everyone's face. RICK SCAIA: One of the easiest no brainers in this year's voting is making Triple H the Best Heel of the Year. If you need an explanation why, you just weren't watching TV... Jeff Jarrett did his level best to equal HHH's dedication to bastardly behavior in WCW, and gets second on the list. And I'll go with Kurt Angle for #3, if only because it cracks me up that he can get such great heel heat by being relatively clean-cut and truthful in his promos. JEREMY DELINE: If 'Best Heel' means most successful, give it to Triple H. If 'Best Heel' means most heel heat, give it to triple H. If 'Best Heel' means best matches, you could argue a case for triple H. Kurt Angle's character, who developed in leaps and bounds over the year from arrogant 'real' wrestler with an unbeaten streak to slimy homewrecker to cowardly 'I'll-do-anything-to-keep-the-belt-and-credibility-be-damned' champion, really grew on me. Steve Corino's old school heel character was great before he morphed into a face, both for the the mass amounts of blood he spilled from his grotesquely over-scarred forehead, and for his mocking of Dusty Rhodes. NATHAN LONEY: Kurt Angle. Yes, he plays the coward. Yes, he plays the clown. Yes, he's also a great heel. He knows what it takes to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and he does it perfectly. Chris Benoit is almost as good, except he doesn't get the crowd as riled as Angle. Steph Bear gets my third vote, because she works the crowd up as good as Angle. My only question is, "What kind of heat does she draw?" BILL LEHECKA: Triple H's that damn good... at being a heel. While I don't like the way he seems to go over EVERYONE, I do appreciate the heat he generates. Kurt Angle wasn't that type of heel. While Triple H was a bad-ass, Kurt was a meddling prick. Lance Storm was a Canadian Prick. I appreciate all kinds of prickiness. NATE PATRIN: How can Chris Benoit be the best wrestler but not the best heel? Personally, he's just not believably EVIL as a heel as of late. Arrogant? Crowd-baiting? Yeah, but not evil. (Check out the beginning promo of the 11.20.00 RAW against Steve Austin- pops and heat regardless, Austin looked like the bigger asshole to me.) Kurt would also be higher if he learned to get heat without resorting to "your local sports team sucks!" (I mean... 'I'm not the Minnesota Timberwolves of the WWF'? Puh-leeze.) BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Triple H, of course. I mean, has anyone else managed to get the crowd rallying behind TAKA Michinoku's quest for the WWF title? Didn't think so. Kurt Angle is the only real competition, and he gets second. It's amazing how obnoxious he is; it's great when he gets a crowd cheering for him only to kick them right in the face. And he seems to do that with amazing regularity. Steph gets third. She can be amazingly annoying at times, but the crowd just hate her guts. THE TALBOTS: Triple H could contend for best babyface and best heel in the same year. However, his heeldom far surpasses anyone else in the business. There are better babyfaces than Triple H but no one is a better heel. OCTAVIAN: Kurt Angle and Stephen Richards are the break out heels of the year in terms of how quickly the crowd took to hating them. LAWRENCE BENEDETTO: E&C count as one heel if you ask me. TANVIR RAQUIB: VKM plays himself quite well. Eddie Guerrero is an asshole. Triple H Hates All Of You. MIKE PLYLEY: Is there any doubt that Triple H was the best heel of the year? The guy who retired Foley, the heel who walked out of Wrestlemania champion, this guy's done it all. Jarrett gets #2 for being a great non-comical heel, while Kurt was the best of the comical heels and gets #3. TOM CRUZ: Triple H was the guy you wanted to see lose. Not the guy you loved to hate, but the guy you wanted to lose. It took him a while, but once he got over as a heel, he got over huge. Kurt Angle is remarkable in that he's a funny (as in he says funny stuff, not that he acts goofy) heel. In the WWF, if you're funny, you're a face. The fact that he's still a heel speaks volumes about how good he is. Jeff Jarrett is the only person I can think of who comes even close two in terms of heel heat, not to mention the fact that he's the only person I can think of who hasn't randomly flip-flopped between face/heel status under Russo. JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: Triple H just has to get this one as he had a run as probably about the best heel champion since Ric Flair. Kurt Angle is second due to his awesome cheap heat promos. Eddy gets three because he just RULES as EL RUDO~! PHIL PRZYBYLO: Another number one spot for Mr. Helmsley. Part high school bully, part spoiled brat, part heartless bastard, and part badass. Triple H's heeldom is almost an art form. Tazz and Benoit come in second and third. A little touch of old school with these new heels has made the Attitude era more interesting. ROB "R2K" EVANS: Best Heel - Like CRZ sez: HHH is "The New Man." C McMURTRY: Triple H is a rarity in North American pro wrestling in that he appears to actually like being a heel. When he was working as a babyface, it was clear he wasn't as comfortable. While most wrestlers are marks for the pops, HHH seemed to relish in being jeered, which made him work better as a heel to get them. Steve Corino as the old school heel was perfect. It may have been cheap heat, but Corino always got heat nonetheless, and like HHH, he played really well off of the fans reactions. CIMA is another old school, yet effective heel who I can't get enough of. |
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