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58-585: The Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) was a villainous professional wrestling stable formed in American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), created and led by Chris Jericho and also appeared in AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor (ROH). The group also consisted of Daniel Garcia , Jake Hager , Angelo Parker, Matt Menard , Sammy Guevara , Tay Melo , and Anna Jay A.S. The group frequently made reference to " sports entertainment ",

116-499: A "Barbed Wire Everywhere Deathmatch" . On August 17, after Bryan Danielson defeated Daniel Garcia on a 2 out of 3 falls match, Jericho attacked Danielson from behind but was pulled off by Garcia, who slapped his hand away before Jericho left the ring. On September 4 at All Out , Jericho defeated Danielson after which he celebrated with the entirety of the JAS, minus Garcia. The following week on Dynamite , Garcia defeated Wheeler Yuta for

174-552: A low blow on his distracted opponent. Other heels may act overpowering to their opponents to play up the scrappy underdog success story for the face. Blackpool Combat Club Formed in 2022, the group's original name derived from the town where William Regal—the group's creator and initial manager—began his career. The group was originally a tag team managed by Regal and consisted of Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, who were later joined by Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir, and Pac. Regal and Danielson subsequently left

232-448: A Blood and Guts match following Pac and Takeshita leaving the match. Following their feud with The Elite, at All In on August 27, the BCC teamed with Santana and Ortiz to face Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta) and Orange Cassidy in a Stadium Stampede match, but they lost. At All Out on September 3, Danielson made his return from injury as

290-488: A different public image, such as The Rock 's turn from a clean-cut face to self-absorbed narcissist in the Nation of Domination heel stable, or Tetsuya Naito 's fan rejection of his babyface causing him to drastically form Los Ingobernables de Japon . The term "heel" does not, in itself, describe a typical set of attributes or audience reaction, but simply a wrestler's presentation and booking as an antagonist. Depending on

348-667: A face and defeated Ricky Starks in a No Disqualification Strap match, Castagnoli and Yuta defeated Kingston and Katsuyori Shibata in a tag team match, while at the main event, Moxley was able to win the AEW International Championship from Cassidy. At Grand Slam on September 20, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Kingston in a Winner Takes All match that also put the Strong Openweight Championship on

406-410: A feud with Darby Allin , while forming an alliance with Marina Shafir in the process. On September 7 at All Out, after Danielson retained the title against Jack Perry, Castagnoli and Moxley attacked Danielson while feigning celebration and attempted suffocation with a plastic bag, kicking him out of the group. After turning on Danielson, Moxley took over leadership of the BCC with Pac and Shafir as

464-465: A heel or a face. During his period as the leader of The Ministry of Darkness , he appeared as a priest of the occult in a hooded black robe and literally sat in a throne, often in the shape of the symbol used to represent him. Occasionally, faces who have recently turned from being heels still exhibit characteristics from their heel persona. This occurs due to fans being entertained by a wrestler despite (or because of) their heel persona, often due to

522-412: A losing effort against Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara , and Minoru Suzuki . Later that night, Claudio Castagnoli —who defeated Regal in his final match nine years prior—joined the BCC and made his surprise AEW debut as Danielson's handpicked replacement due to the latter suffering an injury, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. while Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the interim AEW World Championship in

580-406: A month later. Danielson, who was employed by WWE under the ring name Daniel Bryan at the time, defeated Moxley during both matches. In 2011, Moxley signed with WWE and was renamed Dean Ambrose; he wrestled in its development territory , FCW , which later became NXT . He became a successful member of The Shield after his main roster debut, and would wrestle Bryan in various matches throughout

638-414: A nasty or otherwise dangerous look, such as wearing corpse paint over their faces, putting on demonic masks, covering themselves in dark leather and the like. Gorgeous George is regarded as the father of the wrestling gimmick, and by extension the heel gimmick. Starting in the 1940s, he invented an extravagant, flamboyant "pretty boy" gimmick who wore wavy blonde hair, colorful robes and ritzy outfits, and

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696-478: A negative audience reaction despite their portrayal as heroes. An example is Roman Reigns , who in 2018 was a top face in WWE, but got booed in his matches while his opponents got cheered regardless of their status as face or heel, due to perceived favoritism from WWE executives and a lack of character development . Such characters often (but not always) become nudged into becoming villains over time or retooled to present

754-498: A rematch at Forbidden Door . Moxley would lose the championship back to Naito on June 30 at Forbidden Door, subsequently going on hiatus following this loss. That same night, Danielson began his participation in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament with a first round victory over Shingo Takagi . Danielson defeated Pac at Dynamite: Beach Break on July 3, then "Hangman" Adam Page on July 10, to win

812-504: A side. Garcia threw down the hat and told Jericho he didn't take orders from him. Bryan Danielson came down and told Garcia to make his own decision, and offered him a spot in the Blackpool Combat Club . The next week Danielson and Garcia teamed up in a tag team match against Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Jericho and Guevara would win the match following Jericho hitting Garcia with his Ring of Honor World Championship belt. On

870-521: A steel cage match between Omega and Moxley, Omega's manager Don Callis betrayed Omega by stabbing him with a screwdriver and allowing Moxley to win. The Elite (Omega, Page, and The Young Bucks ) challenged the BCC to an Anarchy in the Arena match at the Double or Nothing event on May 28, which the BCC won after assistance by Callis and Konosuke Takeshita , who attacked Omega during the final moments of

928-708: A team with Regal acting as their manager, later being named the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) in honor of the English town where Regal began his career. On the April 8 episode of Rampage , Moxley defeated ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta in a non-title match. After the match, Regal offered Yuta a handshake, and subsequently invited him to join the group, which Yuta accepted. On the May 11 episode of Dynamite , Eddie Kingston and Santana and Ortiz united with

986-400: A ten-man tag team match. Heel (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling , a heel (also known as a rudo in lucha libre ) is a wrestler who portrays a villain , "bad guy", "baddie", "evil-doer", or "rulebreaker", and acts as an antagonist to the faces , who are

1044-507: A term used by WWE , where Jericho wrestled between 1999 and 2018. On March 6 at Revolution , Chris Jericho was defeated by Eddie Kingston. On March 9, Jericho turned heel when he, 2point0 , Daniel Garcia , and Jake Hager attacked Santana and Ortiz, and Kingston. The following week, Jericho stated that the fans and the Inner Circle did not appreciate him and that Eddie Kingston embarrassed him by making him tap out. He then dubbed

1102-418: The angle , heels can act cowardly or overpowering to their opponents. For instance, a "closet champion" in particular is a term for a heel in possession of a title belt who consistently dodges top flight competition and attempts to back down from challenges. Examples include Seth Rollins during his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, Charlotte during her Divas / Raw Women's Championship reign,

1160-559: The heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Not everything a heel wrestler does must be villainous: heels need only to be booed or jeered by the audience to be effective characters, although most truly successful heels embrace other aspects of their devious personalities, such as cheating to win or using foreign objects. "The role of a heel is to get 'heat,' which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior." To gain heat (with boos and jeers from

1218-562: The "in-between" good and evil actions these wrestlers display). WWE has been cited as a company that is doing away with the traditional heel/face format due in part to audiences' willingness to cheer for heels and boo babyfaces. In "local" wrestling (e.g., American wrestling) it was common for the faces to be "local" (e.g., Hulk Hogan , John Cena , and Stone Cold Steve Austin ) and the heels to be portrayed as "foreign" (e.g., Gunther , Alberto Del Rio , Ivan Koloff , The Iron Sheik , Rusev/Miro , Jinder Mahal , and Muhammad Hassan ). In

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1276-454: The 2010s. Both men became successful world champions for WWE before reverting to their respective names after leaving WWE (Moxley in 2019 and Danielson in 2021) with both men joining AEW . During that period, prior to the Blackpool Combat Club's establishment, William Regal was also employed by WWE as a wrestler and general manager for NXT; during this time, he helped to train and teach both Danielson and Moxley, and even feuded with Moxley. On

1334-608: The AEW World Championship. Moxley successfully defended his championship against Powerhouse Hobbs , Ren Narita , and Shota Umino , before being challenged by both Konosuke Takeshita to an Eliminator match at Double or Nothing on May 26, and Evil for Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall . Danielson, meanwhile, joined Team AEW against The Elite for the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing. At

1392-702: The August 21 episode of Dynamite , Castagnoli challenged Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship ; the match ended in a 20-minute time limit draw. On August 25 at All In, Yuta and Castagnoli teamed with Pac in the Four-way London Ladder match for the AEW World Trios Championship , which they won. Later that same night, Danielson defeated Strickland to win the AEW World Championship for

1450-413: The August 24 episode of Dynamite , Moxley quickly defeated lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk to win his record-setting second AEW World Championship, becoming the undisputed AEW World Champion in the process. Danielson was defeated by Jericho at All Out on September 4, while Moxley lost the undisputed championship to Punk, ending his reign at 11 days. On the following episode of Dynamite , Yuta lost

1508-578: The BCC to fight off the Jericho Appreciation Society ( Chris Jericho , Jake Hager , Daniel Garcia , Angelo Parker , and Matt Menard ). At Double or Nothing on May 29, the BCC teamed with Eddie Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz to face the Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena match , but lost. At AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door on June 26, Yuta teamed up with Kingston and Shota Umino in

1566-464: The February 2, 2022 episode of Dynamite , Danielson told Moxley that he wanted to form a tag team, which Moxley accepted on the condition that they wrestle each other first. Danielson was defeated by Moxley at Revolution on March 6, after which the two began brawling. Regal, once a mentor to both men, made his AEW surprise debut to break up the fight and force them to shake hands. The two formed

1624-535: The Honky Tonk Man during his long Intercontinental Championship reign, Tommaso Ciampa during his NXT Championship reign and The IIconics during their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship reign. Brock Lesnar's character in WWE had heel aspects, and was well known for failing to regularly defend his title (especially during his first Universal Championship reign), often only performing on pay-per-view events and not on SmackDown or especially Raw as he

1682-452: The Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing, in which the Jericho Appreciation Society emerged victorious. On June 15 at Road Rager , Jericho defeated Ortiz in a Hair vs. Hair match following interference from former Inner Circle teammate Sammy Guevara , who joined the stable along with his fiancé, Tay Conti . On June 26, 2022, at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door , Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, under

1740-628: The November 25 edition of AEW Rampage, Yuta defeated Shibata to win the record 3-times ROH Pure Championship . On April 12, 2024 at Windy City Riot , Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship , becoming the first wrestler to become a world champion in WWE, AEW, and NJPW, in what NJPW promotes as the "Global Grand Slam Champion". On the April 27 episode of AEW Collision , Castagnoli unsuccessfully challenged Swerve Strickland for

1798-531: The October 12 episode of Dynamite , Garcia would assist Jericho in retaining the ROH World Championship against Danielson, realigning himself with the JAS. There was some brief dissension within the JAS as Jericho was forced to defend the title against Guevara as well as Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson in a four-way match at Full Gear , which Jericho retained. At Final Battle , Parker and Menard defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad ( Cheeseburger and Eli Isom ) on

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1856-561: The ROH Pure Championship to Daniel Garcia, thus ending his reign at 159 days. Moxley and Danielson were inserted in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion as previous champion CM Punk was stripped of the title. At Grand Slam on September 21, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho, while Moxley defeated Danielson in the tournament final to win

1914-500: The ROH Pure Championship. After the match, he showed respect to Yuta and celebrated with Danielson, increasing tensions between Jericho and Garcia. On September 22 during Dynamite: Grand Slam , Jericho defeated Claudio Castagnoli to win the ROH World Championship , marking his overall eighth world title. The following week on Dynamite , Jericho gave Garcia a bucket hat as a peace offering but demanded he picks

1972-463: The audience), heels are often portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner by breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside the bounds of the standards of the match. Others do not (or rarely) break rules, but instead exhibit unlikeable, appalling, and deliberately offensive and demoralizing personality traits such as arrogance, cowardice, or contempt for the audience. Many heels do both, cheating as well as behaving nastily. No matter

2030-613: The event, Moxley pinned Takeshita to win the Eliminator match; however, The Elite defeated Team AEW when Danielson was pinned by Jack Perry . Yuta, who'd been sidelined with an injury since February, returned to action in AEW on the June 5 edition of AEW Dynamite . On June 9 at Dominion, Moxley defeated Evil to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship before being challenged by Tetsuya Naito for

2088-451: The first time. On the following episode of Dynamite on August 28, Danielson announced that as long as he was AEW World Champion, he would remain a full-time AEW wrestler, and that his full-time career would end as soon as he lost the championship. While Danielson and the BCC resumed feuding with The Elite, Moxley, who returned from hiatus on the August 28 episode of Dynamite , initially did not appear with his BCC allies and instead began

2146-568: The line. After the match, Claudio finally shook Eddie's hand after years of animosity between the two, showing a sign of respect and a face turn, while Moxley lost the AEW International Championship to Rey Fénix. On the September 30 edition of AEW Collision, the Blackpool Combat Club turned face when they teamed with FTR and were defeated by Big Bill and Ricky Starks and Aussie Open in an All-Star 8-men tag team match. On

2204-403: The main event. The BCC would then team up again with Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz and avenge their loss to the Jericho Appreciation Society in a Blood and Guts match at the eponymous event . At Death Before Dishonor on July 23, Castagnoli defeated Jonathan Gresham to capture the ROH World Championship , while Yuta successfully defended the ROH Pure Championship against Daniel Garcia. On

2262-537: The match, allowing Wheeler to get the pin on Omega. At Forbidden Door , the BCC teamed with Takeshita and Shota Umino in a losing effort against the team of The Young Bucks, Page, Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii , while Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada by submission, despite suffering an arm injury that sidelined him for 3 months. The Blackpool Combat Club's feud with The Elite ended at Blood & Guts on July 19, where Moxley, Castagnoli and Yuta teamed up with Takeshita and Pac , in another loss to The Elite in

2320-477: The newest additions. On September 25 at Grand Slam, Moxley would defeat Darby Allin with Allin's guaranteed AEW World Championship match on the line. On October 12 at WrestleDream , Moxley defeated Danielson to win the AEW World Championship for the record-setting fourth time and ending Danielson's full-time career. On the November 6 episode of Dynamite , the BCC officially rebranded to the Death Riders,

2378-604: The newest member of the Don Callis Family . Shortly after the formation of JAS, Garcia enjoyed success in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) by cashing in his PWG World Championship opportunity which he earned by winning the Battle of Los Angeles earlier in the year, at Delivering The Goods in May 2022. Garcia went on to defeat Bandido to win the title. At the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles , Garcia

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2436-485: The performer's charisma or charm in playing the role. Certain wrestlers such as Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair gained popularity as faces by using tactics that would typically be associated with heels, while others like Stone Cold Steve Austin , Scott Hall and more recently Becky Lynch displayed heelish behavior during their careers yet got big face reactions, leading them to be marketed as antiheroes . On other occasions, wrestlers who are positioned as faces receive

2494-635: The pre-show while Garcia lost the Pure Championship to Wheeler Yuta and Jericho lost the ROH World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli. On the August 9, 2023, episode of Dynamite , a mandatory meeting for the Jericho Appreciation Society was held after Jericho began interacting with Don Callis and eventually having an intent to join the Don Callis Family with Konosuke Takeshita . Every single member proceeded to walk out on Jericho, with only Sammy being open to returning if Jericho fixes

2552-440: The ropes for leverage while pinning or attacking with a weapon while the referee is looking away), employing dirty tactics such as blatant chokes or raking the eyes , attacking other wrestlers backstage, interfering with other wrestlers' matches, insulting the fans or city they are in (referred to as " cheap heat ") and acting in a haughty or superior manner. More theatrical heels would feature dramatic outfits giving off

2610-487: The situation. In subsequent weeks, the other members remained together as a group without a name, while Sammy and Jericho briefly reformed their tag team, Le Sex Gods, before Guevara challenged Jericho to a match at the 2023 Grand Slam , citing the desire not to be seen in Jericho's shadow. At Grand Slam, Jericho defeated Guevara, but was betrayed by Sammy striking him with a low blow after the match and then being revealed as

2668-403: The stable The stable's gimmick is their serious and violent approach to professional wrestling, viewing extreme violence as the price of doing business and a rite of passage , frequently outnumbering their opponents, going so far as to stab them with screwdrivers or trying to suffocate them with plastic bags, and frequently spilling blood during their matches. On November 6, 2024, the stable

2726-407: The stable as "sports-entertainers" who beat up wrestlers. On the May 11 episode of Dynamite , Kingston along with Santana and Ortiz, united with the Blackpool Combat Club ( William Regal , Bryan Danielson , Jon Moxley , and Wheeler Yuta ) to fight off the Jericho Appreciation Society. The following week, Kingston agreed to team with Moxley and Danielson, along with Santana and Ortiz, to wrestle

2784-408: The sub-unit of "Le Sex Gods" teamed up with Minoru Suzuki to defeat Eddie Kingston , Shota Umino , and Wheeler Yuta . At Blood and Guts on June 29, The JAS were defeated by the Blackpool Combat Club, Santana and Ortiz, and Kingston in a Blood and Guts match. On July 20 at Fyter Fest , Anna Jay joined the stable after attacking Ruby Soho and allowing the JAS to help Jericho defeat Kingston in

2842-465: The three remaining BCC members continued their assault and attacked Dark Order members Evil Uno and Hangman Page , turning the stable fully heel for the first time. Danielson returned on the March 29 episode of Dynamite , seemingly to convince his BCC teammates to stop their attack on Kenny Omega , but he instead joined them in attacking Omega and turned heel. On the May 10 episode of Dynamite , during

2900-473: The tournament and earn a match against Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In . Also on July 10, Castagnoli competed in a Global Glory Four-Way match to earn an AEW International Championship match at All Out, however Pac won the match. On July 31, Danielson addressed speculation on his intentions to wind down his career, declaring that if he failed to win the AEW World Championship from Strickland at All In, he would never wrestle again. On

2958-491: The type of heel, the most important role is that of the antagonist, as heels exist to provide a foil to the face wrestlers. If a given heel is cheered over the face, a promoter may opt to turn that heel to face or the other way around, or to make the wrestler do something even more despicable to encourage heel heat. Some performers display a mixture of both positive and negative character traits. In wrestling terminology, these characters are referred to as tweeners (short hand for

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3016-414: The vacant championship, becoming the first ever three-time AEW World Champion. At Full Gear , Moxley would lose the title to MJF after Regal secretly handed his signature brass knuckles to MJF to punch Moxley with while the referee was distracted, betraying the group and aligning himself with MJF. Just 11 days later, MJF betrayed Regal and severely injured him with the brass knuckles. Following this, it

3074-440: The world of lucha libre wrestling, most rudos are generally known for being brawlers and for using physical moves that emphasize brute strength or size, often having outfits akin to demons , devils , or other tricksters . This is contrasted with most heroic técnicos that are generally known for using moves requiring technical skill, particularly aerial maneuvers . Common heel behavior includes cheating to win (e.g. using

3132-439: Was accompanied by beautiful valets to the ring for his matches. The crowd widely jeered his persona, and came out to his matches in hopes of seeing him defeated. George relished this attention, and exploded into one of the most famous (and hated) heels not only of his era, but of all time. Another example of a dramatic heel is the wrestler The Undertaker , who, on many occasions throughout his career, has switched between portraying

3190-619: Was officially renamed to Death Riders. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley had their first interaction together in December 2007 when Danielson defeated Moxley at Mad-Pro Wrestling's (MPW) Rise Up event in Chillicothe, Ohio . This match was later referred to by Moxley in a February 2022 promo when the two began feuding with each other in AEW. They next met in August 2010 at Heartland Wrestling Association 's (HWA) Road to Destiny event before Moxley challenged Danielson at Dragon Gate USA

3248-456: Was only on a part-time appearance contract with WWE. This sort of behavior supports the intended kayfabe opinion that the face (or faces) the heel is feuding with is actually more deserving of the title than the title-holding heel is. Heels may beg for mercy during a beat down at the hands of faces, even if they have delivered similar beat downs with no mercy. Ric Flair in particular has been well known for begging an opponent off, then hitting

3306-618: Was reported that Regal was set to leave AEW; in-storyline, Regal revealed that he betrayed the BCC to teach them their final lesson, which was to never trust anyone. His last appearance was a pre-taped segment aired on the December 7 episode of Dynamite . Despite Regal’s betrayal and subsequent departure from AEW, the stable kept the “Blackpool” in their name. On the March 8, 2023 episode of Dynamite , Danielson announced that he would be going home to be with his family after his loss to MJF at Revolution . After Castagnoli and Moxley defeated The Dark Order members John Silver and Alex Reynolds ,

3364-565: Was supposed to compete in a six-man tag team match but he refused to team with his partners and said that he only teamed with "sports entertainers", leading to the surprise appearance of JAS in PWG. This marked Jericho's debut in the company, Guevara's return to PWG after a four-year absence, and Menard and Parker's return after a fourteen-year absence. JAS went on to defeat Jonathan Gresham , Kevin Blackwood, Michael Oku, Player Uno and SB Kento in

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