It's proven that wrestlers and even athletes in the general sports world who draw the ire of fans can bring said fans back next time a wrestling/sporting event comes back to town.
They are known as the "heels."
The greatest heels have had that innate ability to draw the fans' thirst to see them get their behinds handed to the next time a wrestling event returns to their town.
Rowdy Roddy Piper had that ability to make fans hate him with a passion with the hope of seeing him get what his. The Nature Boy Ric Flair ditto. A who's who of the greatest villains in professional wrestling history from the late Goregous George to even WWE owner Vince McMahon have had the skill that made fans spend their hard earned money to see their heroes upend the villains.
One of the complaints about the state of professional wrestling today are that there is a shortage of villains who draw that ire of the fans that the bad guys of yesteryear were able to do.
On this past edition of Monday Night Raw, we saw CM Punk take the torch of yesterday's villains and continue the tradition that those before him did by becoming a despicable heel who fans would pay to see lose the WWE Championship.
His alliance with Paul Heyman certainly helps because anytime Heyman speaks on a microphone, fans clamor for him to shut up or for someone to shut him up.
After Punk verbally blasting referee Brad Maddox for not seeing his foot on the rope as he counted the 123 to give John Cena the victory in last week's tag team match, the Second City Saint got into a war of words with both Mick Foley and Cena throughout the show to cement himself as a vile heel.
His way of disrespecting fans and rivals after clamoring for respect of his own makes fans see him as a hypocrite who wants the fans to adore him, but yet, doesn't reciprocate appreciation back makes Punk a bullish heel.
Punk may be the one heel who has gotten 90% of the fans in attendance at WWE live events clamoring for Cena to beat him for the WWE Championship.
The title "Best In The World" may be subject to debate from fans, but if Punk's skill as a vile heel gets Cena over as a babyface then the subject may not be that debatable.
Punk proved Monday night with his disrespect of Foley and belittlement of Cena that he is the torchbearer for a lost tradition in professional wrestling.
He's the one great heel in WWE with the skill to rile up fans and make them want to see someone give him his comeuppance.
Whether it's Cena or a potential new foe like Ryback, who stared down Punk at the end of Monday's Raw after the WWE Champ attacked Foley in the back stage area, fans will want to get behind that person and cheer them on to dethrone Punk.
The art of being a great heel has been lost over the years in wrestling, and Punk has found the lost art and made it into a masterpiece skill.
It's a skill the WWE roster should study the next time Punk speaks on the microphone and draws the ire of fans.
For it's those heat seeking skills that could help them be draw money in a lost-art business.
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