"Is that guy face or heel?"

It's a question I ask myself a lot when reading cards, whether in EPW, New ERA, TEAM, A1E, or wherever. There are a lot of faces using heel tactics, and a lot of heels being cool. You get feuds where all the characters involved pass the advantage back and forth between them, setting up a climactic match at a PPV which, in theory, has the fans on the edge of their seat watching two equals.

It just tends to make me switch off though. I'll be honest. There are a lot of characters out there who need a bit of definition when it comes to their characters. Are they face, or heel?

I remember Holzerman once saying he liked Mr Entertainment because he was a nice "old-school" heel - loudmouth, brash, egotistical, cocky, etc. But the one thing I think seperates Mr Entertainment from someone like (to not name efed names) heel HHH is that Mr Entertainment doesn't come across as "cool". He's not likeable.

He's a heel.

Being a heel should be easy - you should be "a liar, cheat, or coward. You can be tough, yes, but primarily you're one of the other three. You have to rely on something from one of those categories to win because you're just not good enough." [Eric Bischoff, Controversy Creates Cash]. But you also must not come across as someone the guys want to be - and that's the failing with a lot of efed heels I've seen. More accurately they're tweeners; having the quick comebacks, the cool lines, the swagger, getting the chicks, etc. They win their matches decisively time after time after time. They're "good enough". They're seen as cool, and cool isn't a heel. Someone who can't back it up without cheating - THAT'S a heel. Someone who patently isn't a nice guy, who isn't 'cool', and is kinda scary - that's a heel.

But if heel is poorly defined in a lot of characters, what's happened to the face? You get babyfaces, who're supposed to be the guy people like, cheating to win matches. They're back-talking, being insulting, attacking people without provocation. They're being more smart-arse. I read a card recently and if I'd been asked to name a single babyface, I couldn't. They were pretty much identical to the heels - unless the matchwriter said "crowd cheer here" I wouldn't have the foggiest.

What should a face actually be? In my mind, a face is the "hero". A face in any match, unless it's a squash, should start out strong, then fall behind for a bit. The bad-guy should cheat to gain this advantage, but the face MUST look weak for part of the match. Then have a comeback, getting the crowd involved. The heel can then cheat to win.

But away from a match, I think where a lot of faces fall down is they try to be "cool". They try to not be overshadowed by anyone on the card - they go out drinking, sexing it up, whatever. But they're missing what being the face is - being the hero, the rolemodel. You don't need to be a cartoon character good-guy to be a face. "The Dragon" has often been called a really good babyface because he gets the crowd going, but you wouldn't call him cool. Bret Hart was another one - his work ethic got him over as a good guy. Being sporting got him over. Leaving it all in the ring got him over. I don't think as a face I ever saw Bret strike the first blow outside the ring, just retaliate.

Being the face is harder than being the heel. You need a good heel opposite you to be a good face, and there aren't that many good heels. If you look at some matches I've had, I've changed Brown to be a heel just for the RP session to give my opponent something to bounce off of, because otherwise it's going to be a dull match. I don't think it needs to be "Grr, I am big scary man, you puny man" from the heel. But something which doesn't end up as "Yo' mamma", which I see pretty much everywhere. I think Chip Friendly and Richard Farnswirth have the right idea with heels, actually - and JA and Big Dog are two of the best babyfaces around. But outside those four, the roles are so poorly defined in most characters it's hard to spot who's who.

So, is your character a heel? Have him cheat. Have him lie. Have him not able to win the big match without cheating! Have him look weak in the ring. It makes for a better match. And if your character's a face, try taking the "real-life" edge off a little. Don't have him drink a beer during his promo, or doing drugs - have him stop for a chat with a young fan. Show him as a role-model. Then find a good heel, and start a feud where the heel's stolen the kids glasses or something, and see what you can get out of it. If you can do it without being corny or slipping out from the face/heel dynamic, then I think your ability to write well defined faces or heels will be that much greater.

That, and I'll know who to root for.