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34-530: Makai Club ( 魔界倶楽部 , Makai Kurabu ) , originally Puroresu Kessha Makai Club ( プロレス結社魔界倶楽部 , Puroresu Kessha Makai Kurabu , Pro Wrestling Association Hell Club) , was a villainous professional wrestling stable that competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling . It was led by Tadao Yasuda and managed by Kantaro Hoshino , and its gimmick was that of a group of mixed martial arts fighters and pro wrestlers who worshipped Antonio Inoki as

68-549: 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 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

102-522: 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. Enson Inoue Born and raised in Hawaii , he has resided in Japan since the 1990s. He is sometimes known by the moniker " Yamatodamashii ," a Japanese phrase meaning "the spirit of ancient Japan." His brother, Egan Inoue , is also a martial artist and

136-488: 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

170-525: A dramatic heel is the wrestler The Undertaker , who, on many occasions throughout his career, has switched between portraying 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

204-603: A few more title shots afterwards. On July 9, 2003, Makai #4 and #5 challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie for the IWGP Tag Team Championship , but came up short. On July 13, Yasuda challenged Takayama for the NWF Heavyweight Championship, but he also came up short. Yasuda and Shibata, who abandoned his Makai #4 profile, entered the 2003 G1 Climax , with Shibata finishing third, while Yasuda finished last in their block. In

238-469: A god. It also had influence over All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , where it had an extension called Makai Majo Gundan ( 魔界魔女軍団 , Makai Majo Gundan , Hell Witch Army) which was led by Chiyo Obata. Makai Club first formed in the summer of 2002 during New Japan's G1 Climax when Antonio Inoki's crown wrestler Tadao Yasuda sent three masked men against Masahiro Chono . One of the masked men would reveal himself as MMA fighter: Ryushi Yanagisawa , while

272-594: 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 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

306-432: A mixture of both positive and negative character traits. In wrestling terminology, these characters are referred to as tweeners (short hand for 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

340-478: 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

374-887: A professional racquetball competitor. Inoue was born and raised in Honolulu , Hawaii , to third-generation Japanese immigrant parents Errol and Evangeline Inoue, making him a Yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese-Hawaiian). He attended University High School , and began practicing the martial arts hapkido and taekwondo in order to defend himself from bullies. Inoue also played football , baseball , basketball , volleyball , ran in track and field , and also excelled in racquetball , alongside his brother Egan. Inoue began learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu . He and his brother were awarded black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu by John Lewis. He demoted himself to purple belt in July 2016 citing that

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408-698: A sleeper hold), and Murakami and Shibata lost to Josh Barnett and Takashi Iizuka. One of the group's last big moments occurred in February 2004, when Yasuda took part in a tournament for the vacated IWGP Heavyweight Championship but he would lose to Yuji Nagata in the first round. The Club would remain for only a few more months until Yasuda left New Japan in the summer of 2004, ending the Makai Club. Heel (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling ,

442-430: A stepson (Erson) and is the brother of Egan Inoue , a mixed martial artist and a two time racquetball World Champion player. He was married to the sister of Ultimate Fighting Championship Bantamweight fighter Norifumi Yamamoto . He took in and trained Norifumi in mixed martial arts after an incident with the yakuza . Enson has asserted that he is "not yakuza" but admits to doing business with members of yakuza. In

476-553: A wrestler despite (or because of) their heel persona, often due to 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

510-474: 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 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

544-956: The IWGP Tag Team Championship , but lost, and later in the night, Murakami challenged Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but he also came up short. Makai Club bounced back at Wrestling World 2003 . Yanagisawa won the Young Generation Cup defeating Kenzo Suzuki in the semi-finals and Yutaka Yoshie in the finals. Meanwhile, Makai #1 and one night only member, Dai Majin, defeated Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto . The new members Makai #4 (being Young Lion Katsuyori Shibata ) and Makai #5 (former All Japan Pro Wrestling competitor Mitsuya Nagai ) defeated Takashi Iizuka and Masahito Kakihara . The group would suffer one loss with Yasuda and Murakami losing to their former Makai #3 partner Ohara and Shinsuke Nakamura . On February 1, 2003, Makai Club entered

578-418: 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,

612-535: 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

646-665: The Teisen Hall Six-Man Tag Team Tournament with Yanagisawa, Makai #1, and Makai #2 forming one team, while Kazunari Murakami, Makai #4 and #5 formed another team. However neither team would win with, as both teams lost to eventual winners Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiro Saito, and Tatsutoshi Goto. Also in February, Makai Club entered a #1 contenders tournament for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On January 30, Makai #1 and #2 lost an entrance match to Saito and Goto, Makai #4 and #5 lost in

680-470: The aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , Enson travelled to northeast Japan to directly help the victims. In 2020, news broke that the IBJJF had refused to recognize Inoue's official rank as a BJJ black belt , despite him competing at the highest levels of the sport as early as 1999. Enson is married to Sarah Jane McCann, who is from New Zealand of Māori descent. In October 2008, Inoue

714-426: The audience. Many heels do both, cheating as well as behaving nastily. No matter 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

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748-430: The fall of 2003, Makai #2 and #5 unmasked and began going by their real names, also during this time Yasuda and Makai #1 entered the 2003 G1 Tag League finishing in 5th place with 7 points. At Wrestling World 2004, Makai #1, Yanagisawa, Nagai and Chikuzen defeated The Crazy Dogs in the forms of Ohara, Goto, Saito and Inoue, while Yasuda lost to Masayuki Naruse twice (firstly by disqualification, and secondly by KO after

782-420: 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 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

816-490: The final match). On April 23, 2003, Yasuda challenged Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Title in a rematch from a year ago (where Nagata won the title from Yasuda), but Yasuda lost. At Ultimate Crush on May 2, 2003, Ken Shamrock joined the Makai Club for one night defeating Takashi Iizuka, while Murakami lost to Enson Inoue. Following Ultimate Crush, Makai Club for the most part of the year, went to the midcard and would only receive

850-479: The first round to Iizuka and Kakihara on February 6, and Yasuda and Murakami would make it to the finals where they lost to Mike Barton and Jim Steele . Despite the loss, Yasuda and Murakami would ultimately be granted the title match after Steele suffered an injury a few days later. On February 16, 2003, Yasuda and Murakami challenged Cho-Ten for the IWGP Tag Titles but would fail to win the titles, and in

884-477: 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 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

918-611: The main event, Yanagisawa challenged Yoshihiro Takayama for the NWF Heavyweight Championship , but lost. By the spring, the group began a feud with the Crazy Dogs (Tatsutoshi Goto, Hiro Saito, Michiyoshi Ohara and Enson Inoue ) and Makai #5 began a feud with Takashi Iizuka, who recognized him as Nagai (who got him injured in June 2001) with Iizuka defeating him in a best of series (with Nagai even unmasking for

952-580: The other two were Makai #1 (Junji Hirata, the original Super Strong Machine ) and Makai #2 (in the form of Ryota Chikuzen). The group's first tour was the September 2002 G1 World Tour which they dominated and would go 13–3 on the entire tour and would also go on to add a new member in Kazunari Murakami . Makai Club would continue to enjoy success as the group added another member in Makai #3, who

986-520: The sport has moved on since attaining his black belt, though he would change his mind after conversations with Lewis. He also holds a yondan (fourth degree black belt) in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu . Inoue was given a tryout by Satoru Sayama for Shooto after contacting every Japanese MMA promotion he could. He sparred with Yuki Nakai , impressing Sayama and earning his first fight which took place three months later. His debut bout

1020-656: Was actually Michiyoshi Ohara . The group also would go on to win a three match 5 vs. 5 series against New Japan which gave Hoshino the chance to name challengers for the IWGP Titles. Following the G1 World Tour, the Club would go on a slump for the remainder of the year. In November 2002, Yasuda, Yanagisawa, and Makai #1 entered the 2002 Triathlon Survivor League but finished in last place with 1 point. Then on December 10, 2002, Yasuda and Yanagisawa challenged Cho-Ten for

1054-588: Was against Antz Nansen on April 25, 2010, in Tokyo , which he won by submission. Inoue runs several MMA gyms located in Japan , Saipan , and Guam under the name Purebred. He also has affiliated gyms located in Thailand, Canada and the USA. He appeared in the 2008 martial arts film Redbelt as a cameo role, and was featured in the documentary film Rites of Passage: The Rebirth of Combat Sports. Inoue has

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1088-551: Was against Shingo Shigeta at Shooto : Vale Tudo Access 3 on January 21, 1995, which ended in a victory by technical knockout. He won the Shooto Heavyweight Champion against Joe Estes at Shooto: Reconquista 4, on October 12, 1997. Inoue competed professionally from 1995 to 2010, retiring with a 12-8-0 record. His other achievements include a victory over UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture , and giving Frank Shamrock one of his toughest matches. His final bout

1122-511: 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 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

1156-456: 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

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