Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows– Leonard Cohen
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It’s a tale as old as time, especially in the world of professional wrestling. Person A, we’ll call them the “Heel,” is everything your mother warned you about. They are loud and abrasive, cocky and confident. They cheat to win and they hate to lose. They don’t care about anything, or anybody, but themselves and that mindset has brought them to the top of the industry. People don’t like them, but they can’t deny their success…even if said success was reached via dubious means.
Person B, let’s call them the “Babyface,” is the total opposite of Person A. They are honest. They are genuine. They have empathy and compassion and they are intent on doing the right thing, even if that means not always coming out on top. They are honorable, and brave; sometimes even a little naive. They will achieve their goals, they will win, but it might take a little bit longer. If success comes at the price of integrity, they will choose integrity. Every single time.
Now, eventually, Person A and Person B, the “Babyface and the Heel,” will do battle. As in most stories, good and evil will find themselves on a collision course; usually with a major title on the line. In these stories, whether it’s a movie, a television show, a book or a video game, the good guy will come out on top. There are exceptions, to be sure, but more stories than not end with a happily-ever-after. The boy gets the girl. The hero saves the day. The good guy wins.
In wrestling, it’s different. Because professional wrestling is an ongoing, never-ending “story,” it features a myriad of twists and turns, wins and losses, highs and lows. And, because of this, all too often, the good guy doesn’t win…at least not right away. History has proven that, in countless stories over multiple decades…sometimes the bad guy wins.
There are a number of different examples to pull from the pantheon of pro wrestling. The nWo, for instance, was a group of “bad guys,” that actually transcended the business. Originally made up of WWF stalwarts Kevin Nash (Diesel), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) and Hulk Hogan, the nWo signified a radical “shift” in the world of professional wrestling. Hulk Hogan, trading in his patented red and yellow for the nWo colors of black and white marked the first “major” time in his career that he was a bad guy. And Hulk Hogan was a very, very good bad guy. While Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Konnan, and others were seen as “cool” bad guys, Hogan himself was hated. For however much fans loved Hulk Hogan in the late ‘80s, that’s how much they despised him in the late ‘90s. Fans loved to answer Scott Hall’s survey and they begged to be in Kevin Nash’s “Wolfpac,” but they mercilessly booed Hogan every time he was on screen.
The nWo story rocketed World Championship Wrestling to the top of the industry. Eric Bischoff, the creator of the group, has gone on record saying the original plan for the nWo was to last about six months, maybe a year. But it ended up lasting four years, plus another six months in WWE. The nWo was WCW’s biggest story but, as Bischoff himself has lamented, it never had a proper “ending.”
That ending could have happened at Starrcade ‘97, WCW’s December pay per view. In the main event of that show, Hollywood Hulk Hogan was supposed to lose the World Heavyweight Championship to WCW’s “savior,” Sting. Sting was, for all intents and purposes, the perfect “good guy” foil to Hogan. He was standing up to the nWo, for WCW, and he had immense support from the audience. The plan, leading up to the day of the show, was for Sting to defeat Hogan for the WCW Championship, be hoisted above the shoulders of his peers, and end the night as WCW’s hero and reigning champion. It was the easiest story in the world to tell. WCW had perfectly built up Sting. The fans loved him. They were ready for him to be their champion.
It didn’t happen that way.
Allegedly, according to Bischoff, Sting showed up to the show in a state that was not befitting his heroic moment. IE, he wasn’t tan enough. So, Hogan (whose behind-the-scenes villainy rivals that of his onscreen persona) told Bischoff that they should do something “screwy” with the finish of the match. Nick Patrick, the referee of the match, was originally supposed to “fast-count” Sting after Hogan pinned him, thus “screwing him” and requiring Bret Hart, the other referee, to restart the match, which Sting would then go on to win. But Hogan and Bischoff told Nick Patrick not to count fast. So, when Hogan pinned Sting, Patrick made a regular, official pinfall count, which made it seem as though Hogan had won the match clean and fairly.
When Bret Hart ordered the match to restart, in the eyes of the audience, it was Hogan getting screwed. He won fair and square, of course. He beat Sting. He defeated the hero. Still, the match continued, Sting eventually “won,” and the celebration took place as planned. But Sting didn’t look like a winner. He didn’t feel like a winner. The good guy lost fair and square and there was no reason to celebrate him.
Eventually, the championship would be vacated, and while Sting would at some point win it back, the damage had been done. The story of Starrcade 1997 was that Hogan defeated Sting. The bad guy had won.
Of course, when it comes to “bad guys winning,” one of the most noteworthy examples is the career of Triple H. For much of his career, Triple H was the bad guy. From 2002 through, say, 2006, Triple H was the ultimate “final boss” (if you’ll excuse the expression) for WWE. He was awarded a world championship that he didn’t earn, and he spent the next few years defending it against all-comers. Some of those opponents should have won. People like Scott Steiner, Bill Goldberg, Rob Van Dam and others can all make a claim that they should have been the ones to dethrone Triple H and decidedly take his championship.
But it was Booker T’s feud with Triple H that serves as the most egregious example of the bad guy winning.
In the buildup to WrestleMania 19, Booker T won a battle royal that allowed him to challenge Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Booker was a five-time (five-time, five- you get it) WCW Champion but, up to that point, he hadn’t been considered a major player in WWE. The match with Triple H could have changed that, as all signs pointed to Booker T getting the win, especially because the buildup to the match positioned Booker T as somebody who overcame previous personal issues (he robbed a Wendy’s when he was a younger man) to become a better man and an honorable champion. Triple H, for his part, told Booker T that “people like him” don’t become champions. People like Booker T don’t “deserve” it. He said that he “laughs his ass off” at the thought of Booker T being world champion. He also made comments about Booker being his chauffeur and having “nappy hair.”
The undertones, which weren’t actually very under, were clear. And it set the scene perfectly for Booker T, the black man, to defeat the racist, arrogant heel.
Except, that’s not what happened. After telling Booker T that he didn’t deserve to be champion, that “people like him” don’t get to be champion, that he was only there to dance and make people laugh, Triple H soundly defeated him. There were no run-ins. No drama. No excuses. Triple H simply won the match with his finishing move and sent Booker T back to the end of the line.
At the time, fans were furious. They were also confused. Wrestling is storytelling, after-all. So what kind of story was WWE trying to tell with the racist champion easily defeating the black challenger?
The most recent example of “the bad guy winning” is Roman Reigns. Though Reigns, at the time of this writing, is beloved by wrestling fans, for the previous four years, he was absolutely hated. Roman Reigns, finally, had found a character that resonated with wrestling fans, even if they did boo him. And, for years upon years, they booed him. They booed him mercilessly. They begged for somebody, anybody, to step up and take the WWE Championship from Roman Reigns. But nobody ever could.
Throughout his reign as champion, countless men tried to challenge Reigns. Men like Daniel Bryan, Edge, Jey Uso, Jimmy Usu, Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and more all challenged Roman Reigns. And all of them were defeated. Even when fans were sure that the good guy was going to win, whether it was Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle, Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber or, most notably, Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, Roman Reigns still came out on top. The bad guy won. And he continued to win, day after day, week after week, year after year.
It’s that WrestleMania 39 match, in particular, that stands out. It stands out because it seemed like everything in the preceding four years had led to the moment of Cody Rhodes finally vanquishing the bad guy and becoming champion. Rhodes had previously left the company, struck out on his own, built up a beautiful, impressive career, started another wrestling company and, finally, came back to WWE to defeat the bad guy, honor his family, and win the World Championship that his father never could. It was the easiest, and the best, story that WWE could possibly tell. It was good because, for the most part, it was real. Fans wanted Cody Rhodes to win the championship and dedicate it to his dad, Dusty Rhodes. The prodigal son had returned, they thought, and the hero was going to make good.
Fans waited with baited breath as it seemed the past four years of story were coming together to end with Cody Rhodes getting his hand raised. As Jimmy and Jey Uso, previously Roman’s opponents, but then his right-hand men interfered in the match on behalf of Roman, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who had just defeated the Usos to win the Tag Team Championship, came out to make the save and clear the ring. Roman’s biggest enemies at the time, Owens and Zayn, had finally given Reigns his comeuppance. They set the table for Reigns to finally, finally lose the thing he held most dear. The four men cleared the ring and it looked as though Cody Rhodes was going to end the match, seal his fate, and etch his name in history as the man who finally defeated Roman Reigns.
But that’s not what happened. Another one of Reigns’ soldiers interfered in the match, and after a few more moves, Roman Reigns covered Cody Rhodes for the 1-2-3. The air in that building immediately left the room. People were confused. Some were angry. Others were non-responsive. Fans across the world who were watching the match on Peacock and pay per view didn’t know how to respond. They were speechless, breathless…and hopeless. Roman Reigns did the unthinkable. He stopped Cody’s “story” dead in its tracks. He ended years of storytelling – not with an exclamation point, but with a question mark. The challenger had lost. The hero had failed.
The bad guy won.
There are other examples of this in the history of professional wrestling. Countless stories told in the ring ended with the villain getting his or her hand raised. And, in many ways, these stories prepared us for what has happened in the real world. The best kind of art is art that imitates life and the real world has seen countless examples of the villain coming out on top.
On Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, another villain will have come out on top. Like the very best bad guy wrestler, this villain is a coward and a liar and a thief. He built a career on taking advantage of people, exploiting them, and lining his road to success with their bodies. He manipulates. He surrounds himself with “sycophantic, douchebag yes-men.” He takes shortcuts. He pouts when he doesn’t get his way. He is vindictive, narcissistic, sociopathic, and apathetic.
He hurts people, that’s all. He hurts people because he can. He does it because there have rarely been consequences. For some reason, every time truth or justice or consequence begins to reveal itself, the villain avoids it. And he comes out on top.
Like any heel wrestler, this person has his supporters. He has his fans. These are people who share many of the same qualities, characteristics, and ideas that the villain does and while the rest of the world might see the worst parts of those people in the villain, they see the best parts of themselves in him. He makes it okay to show off their own heel-like tendencies. He has opened a door for the worst of humanity, the worst parts of ourselves, to be on display like a wrestling sign in a sold-out arena. These people defend him. They extol his virtues. They buy his t-shirt.
And they help him continue to win. They cheer him on. They choose him.
Of course, if history — even just the history of professional wrestling — has taught us anything, it’s that the villain wouldn’t hesitate to sell those very same fans out if benefitted him. If he could get even an inch ahead by crawling across them, he would do it. Because that’s the kind of person he is. That’s the type of character he displays. These fans won’t know it, when it happens. They’ll continue to cheer. They’ll continue to buy. And if they ever do confront the bad guy, if they every do ask “Why, Villain, Why?” the bad guy will just smile, shrug his shoulders and say “Because you let me.”
If wrestling’s taught me anything, it’s that the bad guy sometimes win. And when that happens, it’s disappointing. It’s frustrating. It makes our hearts ache because we were supposed to get the happy ending. The boy gets the girl. The dragon is slayed. The hero wins. That’s how it’s supposed to be but in wrestling, and in life, happily-ever-after’s aren’t realistic. Because what happens after happily-ever-after? What happens after that final page is turned? The story continues. Life goes on. The next matchup is set.
And that’s because in wrestling, as in the real world, there is no final page. There is no actual “end.” There’s always another match to build, always another championship to win, always another story to tell. But the good news is, that means that even if the bad guy wins, it won’t be forever. There will always be another hero to stand up against the villain. Maybe he or she will be defeated too. But then there will be somebody else. And another. And another. See, if wrestling’s taught me anything, it’s that the bad guy sometimes wins. But if it’s taught me anything else, it’s that the bad guy only truly wins when the good guys stop fighting.
Who are the good guys? I don’t know. That’s not for me to say. I don’t know who they are, but I know what they do, because I’ve seen it — every Monday — for the last 30 years. These are the men and women who don’t give up. They don’t quit. They do the right thing whether the referee is looking or not. They accept the challenge. They don’t back down. They persevere. They struggle. They fight. Sometimes they lose but oh, they still fight. And when they lose, they pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and look at the bad guy — not with anger, not with jealousy, not with hatred. They look at the bad guy with pity because they know, try as the bad guy might, that he’s never going to find peace. He’s never going to be truly happy. He’s never going to see true beauty or feel true love. Even when the bad guy wins, he loses. And there’s always the next day. Always the new dawn. Always the next match. If wrestling’s taught me anything, it’s taught me that. The story doesn’t end. And the good guys keep fighting.
Follow Nick on Twitter/X at @WesternRebel
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