The Money is in the Hero

The Money is in the Hero

May 4, 2014

By Ryan Porzl

Professional wrestling is like anything in life in that everyone has their opinions. Probably one of the most well-known and popular opinions among wrestlers, fans, and journalist is that heel (villain) world champions draw more money than babyface (fan favorite) world champions. The thought is fans would rather pay to watch their favorites chase the villains for the World Title across the territory or country then to watch their heroes defend against all comers. I personally disagree with this theory and think the people who believe are absolutely wrong. This article will not only debunk this theory but prove fan favorite world champions are the better choices. Since wrestling is considered "Sports-Entertainment" at times, I think it's only appropriate for me to use sports and entertainment as examples.

The first reason is wrestling feuds are like an action movie. The beginning of the feud has the babyface looking good and showcased a bit like the beginning of a movie. The middle part has the heels and villains starting get the advantage and it's looking bleak. The end has the hero and babyface finally make the comeback and settle the score once and for all with the blow-off match being like the climax of the movie. Nobody plans to invest in a series of movies where the hero loses constantly as the villain takes over the world, maybe beats the villain at the beginning of one of the movies, and then starts losing again immediately with the villain retaking control of the world.

The second reason is the sporting aspect. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have one of the most famous rivalries in Major League Baseball. A lot of Yankee fans don't like the Red Sox and vice versa. But will Yankee fans buy tickets or watch on TV just to watch the Sox lose even it's to another team? No. Will the Sox buy Yankee tickets or watch on TV just to watch the Yankees lose? No. A famous NBA rivalry is the Lakers vs. Celtics. Will the fans of the Lakers watch Celtics games against other teams with the hopes of some other team beating the Celtics? No. Celtics won't do the same with the Lakers. So if sports fans won't watch their team's rivals just to see them get beat then why would wrestling fans go to shows to see villains that they don't like get beat? The argument will likely be something like “Well, they'll keep coming because they want to be there when the hero ultimately wins”. Wrong. Oh, they'll show up at first but after a while, it will be a “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. They'll eventually get tired of the matchmakers games and burn out. Same with movies. People go see Batman movies to watch great movies, action scenes, and Batman smashing the bad guys. They don't go to specifically watch the Joker or some other villain get their ass kicked. Nobody goes to X-Men movies to specifically watch in glee that Magneto's plans were foiled.

The third reason is there is more options for a babyface. Fans will be willing to not only watch babyface vs. heel or good vs. evil but they'll also watch good vs. good. A babyface world champion can stay fresh longer cause there's more opponents for them. Nobody really wants to watch heel vs. heel or evil vs. evil so writers and matchmakers will not have as many options and the champion can get stale. Good example will be in 1987 when Ric Flair was NWA World Champion. By that point, Flair's matches with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff were very stale and his only real opponents that year were Barry Windham and the Garvins. They couldn't put him with other Four Horsemen, they couldn't put him with the UWF guys cause they would work better as invading heels, and they couldn't put him with members of Paul Jones' Army. Now compare that to a babyface holding the title like a Dusty, Nikita, or Barry. They could have rematches with Flair followed by the other Horsemen in Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, and Tully Blanchard. Then they could do matches with Paul Jones' Army including Ivan Koloff, Manny Fernandez, and maybe squeeze Rick Rude in there before he left. Then they could do the UWF guys like Steve Williams, Terry Taylor, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, “Iceman” King Parsons, and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert. Same thing with Lex Luger when he was WCW World Champion in 1991. When they turned him heel, he didn't have many strong options other than Sting, Ricky Steamboat, and Barry Windham. They couldn't put him with the Dangerous Alliance cause they were villains, as well. They couldn't put him with Abdullah the Butcher and Cactus Jack. Vader was frequently making appearances by this point but they couldn't do anything either. So as a result, Luger was stuck with tag team wrestlers like Rick Steiner or wrestlers just getting out of tag teams but have yet to establish themselves as singles competitors like Ron Simmons. Now if Luger was the fan favorite, you could have had matches with all five members of the Dangerous Alliance which featured Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Zbyszko. You also could have had matches with Abdullah, Cactus, Vader, and Windham (if you wanted him to stay a villain). Then you can have him face fan favorites like Sting, Ricky Steamboat, and Ron Simmons (once he was established) occasionally.

The fourth and biggest reason why fan favorite world champions are better than villains and draw more is also the most obvious reason. History has proven it to be true. From the United States to Japan to the United Kingdom to Mexico, almost all the biggest draws were fan favorites. No doubt there have been very successful drawing heels in wrestling. Nick Bockwinkel was a 4 time AWA World Champion between 1975-1987 with his longest reign being 5 years. Harley Race held the NWA World Title 8 times between 1973-1984. Ric Flair held around 20 World Titles between 1981-2000 and dominated the NWA World Title during the 80s. Masahiro Chono was one of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling during the 1990s as a heel. The first Kendo Nagasaki is still one of the biggest names in the history of British wrestling. The nWo is one of the most successful stables in wrestling history. However, the majority of wrestling's biggest names and most successful world champions were usually babyfaces. The United States has Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Japan has Rikidozan, Giant Baba, and Antonio Inoki. England has Big Daddy. Mexico has El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras. These names are some of the biggest names in wrestling history with most even becoming well-known to non-wrestling fans. They all have two things in common. They achieved their biggest fame as fan favorites and rarely, if ever, chased villains for titles. Quite the opposite as they usually won a title in their first shot or two and in many cases hold onto it for years.

Some of these wrestlers and the business achieved their biggest success when they were champions not chasing titles for months or years. Rikidozan never drew money going after titles. He made the most money as a dominating champion and defeating American wrestlers. Because Japanese people thought Rikidozan was Japanese (he was actually North Korean) and he was defeating Americans in the 1950s which was after World War II, Rikidozan became not only a star but a national hero. With World War II still on many minds, Rikidozan actually inspired many Japanese people who needed someone to stand up to Americans. He became so popular that, to this day, two of his matches are two of the top 10 highest rated shows in the history of Japanese TV. Same can be said for one of Rikidozan's proteges Antonio Inoki. Inoki never chased anyone. He made his legend and fame by facing martial artists of different disciplines and defeating them to showcase professional wrestling's superiority. Then there's Bruno Sammartino. Did Bruno draw the most money chasing the title? No. In fact, when he defeated Stan Stasiak to regain the WWWF Championship on December 10, 1973, Stasiak only defeated Pedro Morales for the title nine days earlier. Sammartino didn't chase Stasiak for the title but won it on his first attempt. Sammartino's first reign as WWE Champion went nearly eight years and, to this day, is the longest title reign in wrestling history. The WWF didn't go national in the 1980s by having Hulk Hogan chase the Iron Sheik for the WWF Championship. They had Hogan win the championship in his first shot one month back in the company and had him hold it for four years. Did the WWF regain their success and overtake WCW in the ratings by having “Stone Cold” Steve Austin chase a corporate champion of Vince McMahon's choosing? No, they regained popularity by having Austin win the title and take on anyone Vince would throw at him. Once El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras became fan favorites, their success skyrocketed. They not only were huge in wrestling but became actors who appeared in TV and movies as well as becoming superheroes in comic books.

Most of these big names were dominating champions and rarely chased a belt. Rikidozan won the Japanese Heavyweight Championship in his first shot on December 22, 1954 and never lost the belt as it was abandoned on August 27, 1958 after he won the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. After winning the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on August 27, 1958, Rikidozan would never lose that title either as he held it for five years until it was vacated following his death on December 15, 1963. Giant Baba held the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on three occasions. He won the vacant title by defeating Dick the Bruiser on November 24, 1965 and held it until June 25, 1968 when he lost it to Bobo Brazil.  He regained it two days later on June 27th and held it until December 3, 1970 when he lost it to Gene Kiniski. He then regained it on on December 19th and held it until vacating it when he left the JWA on September 2, 1972. In all, there was 2,474 days between November 24, 1965 to September 2, 1972 and of those 2,474 days, only 18 of those days did not feature Baba as the champion. It didn't even end there for Baba. When he formed All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972, the Pacific Wrestling Federation Championship became the top title. From February 27, 1973 to April 18, 1989 (when the title was unified to become part of the Triple Crown), the title was around for 5,894. Of those 5,894 days, Baba held the title for 3,817 days which is more than half of the belt's tenure. He became the first champion by winning a series of 10 matches on February 27, 1973 and held it until losing it to Tor Kamata on June 1, 1978. After the title changed hands a few more times, Baba regained it by defeating Abdullah the Butcher on February 10, 1979 and would hold it until losing it to Harley Race on October 26, 1982. Baba would win the title a third time on February 11, 1983 and lost it to Stan Hansen on September 8, 1983. He would win it for a fourth and final time on July 31, 1984 and held it until losing it back to Hansen on July 30, 1985.

Antonio Inoki held the NWF Heavyweight Championship four times when that was the top title in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He first won the championship by defeating Johnny Powers on December 10, 1973 and held it until it was vacant on February 12, 1975. After losing a match to Tiger Jeet Singh for the title on March 13, 1975, Inoki quickly regained it on June 26th and held it until losing it to Stan Hansen on February 8, 1980. He would regain it on March 3, 1980 and held it until it was held up in a match against Stan Hansen on April 17, 1981. He would win it a fourth and final time on April 23, 1981 and the title was abandoned afterwards. He also became the first New Japan International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Championship on June 12, 1987 and never lost it in the ring as he was injured and vacated it on May 8, 1988. Bruno Sammartino won his first WWE Championship on May 17, 1963 from Buddy Rogers and held it until January 18, 1971 when he lost it to Ivan Koloff. He regained the title by defeating Stan Stasiak on December 10, 1973 and held it until he lost it to “Superstar” Billy Graham on April 30, 1977. Hulk Hogan won the WWE Championship on January 23, 1984 from the Iron Sheik and held it until losing it to Andre the Giant on February 5, 1988. His second reign ran from April 2, 1989 when he defeated “Macho Man” Randy Savage until April 1, 1990 when he lost it to the Ultimate Warrior. His third reign ran from March 24, 1991 to November 27th. He would win the championship three more times but these were the more dominating reigns. Steve Austin won his first WWE Title on March 29, 1998 and held it until June 28th. His second reign began only a day later on June 29th and it lasted until September 27th. His third reign lasted from March 28th, 1999 to May 23rd. His fourth reign was from June 28th to August 22nd. He would win the title two more times but as a villain. Now while this part was very excessive, it was to prove a point. These wrestlers were mostly fan favorites or babyfaces during these reigns and some of the biggest draws of their time. Do these reigns look short? Do these reigns make you think these wrestlers chased villains for months and months on end for a title? I don't think so.

So all in all, I think these reasons sum up nicely why fan favorite world champions draw the most money over villain champions. Villain champions can be draws at the box office sometimes but the big money comes when the fans see the hero overcome obstacles and win in the end.