5 WWE heels who fans love to hate (and what the Superstars really think about their characters)
As fun as it might seem for WWE’s top babyfaces to receive support and adulation from fans, many Superstars have mentioned in out-of-character interviews that they prefer to play the role of a heel.
Steve Austin, for example, cemented his status as one of the best crowd-pleasing Superstars of all time during his run as “Stone Cold” in the Attitude Era, but the Hall of Famer has revealed since retiring that he liked working as a bad guy more than a good guy, hence why he pitched to turn heel at WrestleMania X-7.
Another retired Superstar, Paige, commented in 2014 that she was relieved when she was asked to become a heel, as she felt that her smile came across as false when she appeared in front of live crowds.
In this article, let’s count down five current WWE heels and take a look at what the people behind the characters really think about their villainous personas.
#5. Baron Corbin
Believe it or not, NXT fans actually cheered for Baron Corbin in the early days of his career with the brand.
Before he became the despised figure that he is nowadays on Raw, the former football player would defeat his opponents within 30 seconds in matches on NXT. At the same time, fans in the Full Sail crowd would count along to every second of his matches because they knew he was going to quickly destroy his opponent.
Over time, Corbin transitioned into one of the most hated Superstars in NXT in 2015-16, and he has gone on to become arguably the biggest heel on Raw since moving to the brand from SmackDown Live after WrestleMania 34.
Speaking to Booker T on Heated Conversations during the height of his authority run in 2018, Corbin revealed that he enjoyed having as much promo time as WWE’s top stars and he loved the challenge of getting fans to boo him.
“For the last four weeks I’ve been the first fifteen minutes of Raw, which is crazy — that’s a John Cena spot, that’s a Roman Reigns spot — and I’m doing it. It’s a great opportunity that I love the challenge. I want to be able to do that every single week and fill it. Right now people hate me for it and I love it. They despise that I’m on their TV six or seven times a night and that’s the best thing for me.”