Current WWE heels stack up with the best ever

Over at PulseWrestling, we discussed the best heel group ever in one wrestling promotion at the same time, the 1988-1990 WWF. Currently in the WWE, heel wrestling is undergoing a renaissance, where there is a current crop that can stand up to that elite WWF group. Let’s look at the current WWE heels.

The WWE has four top heels who are deliver great, effective promos and can deliver in the ring. First, we have Randy Orton. Orton is taking the role of Randy Savage in the past. He’s psychotic, but with a method to his madness. He’s not above using others, but can stand on his own. His matches, unlike Savage’s, aren’t always the favorite of fans, but everything he does has perfect psychology and he makes fans really want to see him get beat. What he does do like Savage is need to consistently commit heinous acts, as the crowd always seems a few moments away from turning him face.

In Ted Dibiase’s role, we have Chris Jericho. The smarmy, better-than-you heel of today doesn’t think he’s great because of money- he just has moral superiority. With that, he’s taken to working with the Big Show, much like Dibiase did with Andre the Giant, and putting on the best, most-believable matches on many cards, with the top promos to boot again, like Dibiase.

Cast as Rick Rude is Edge. He’s far more prone to cheating, but also gets the unenviable task of carrying those the WWE isn’t sure are up to par in the ring and helping them improve. His great skill is how thoroughly he’s hated, much like Rude’s with nary a face-turn to be teased (though that will probably change by Wrestlemania).

Finally, we have CM Punk. Punk is the man who, like Hennig, gets to float throughout the card, losing to top guys, yet making even guys like R-Truth look great before finishing them with his deadly finisher, the GTS.

In terms of monsters, for the past several years, we’ve had The Big Show and Kane. While neither alone can approach an Andre the Giant, together they provided the shows with an intimidating main event wrestler. With Kane now a face, he’s being replaced by Batista, who has been excellent as a cold, killer heel these past few weeks on Smackdown, something continued this week on the program (spoilers here).

Now, the WWE can’t currently match the 1989 WWF’s tag division, with Demolition and The Brainbusters, or Bad News Brown, the under-cards capable badass, but what the WWE can do, is overwhelm them with numbers. An inordinate number of the new WWE talents are natural heels. Whether Cody Rhodes, The Miz, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Zack Ryder, The Hart Dynasty, Drew McIntyre or Sheamus, the WWE is overflowing with new, natural heels who all have at least upper-mid-card talent. Even MVP, who’s been masquerading as a face for the past year, is a true heel. Add in veteran heels like William Regal and the WWE is absolutely stacked in terms of heels competing for pushes.

The WWE doesn’t have as wide a talent base to draw from as the WWF did in 1989, during the waning days of the territories. That merely makes this current golden age more impressive, where the WWE has found four great working heat machines to become their top heels and has a whole plethora of others banging at the door for their opportunity.