History Main / XPacHeat

* Despite her popularity in UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship and her excellent debut match at ''[=WrestleMania=] 34'' in 2018, Wrestling/RondaRousey gradually became one of the most divisive members of the WWE roster, primarily due to her increasingly poor promo skills and booking as an InvincibleHero that shuffled a great deal of the other women wrestlers down the card. This mainly happened following the start of her feud with Wrestling/BeckyLynch in the fall, who was in the midst of one of the hottest runs in all of professional wrestling at the time. The resulting feud was rather underwhelming one that was hampered by Ronda's very arrogant and hostile behavior toward Becky, despite ostensibly being the face in the storyline. While she would eventually turn heel the following spring, it wasn't enough to appeal to fans, who had long since turned on her a

* Despite the hype of her debut, her popularity in UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship, and her excellent debut match at ''[=WrestleMania=] 34'', fans began to turn on Wrestling/RondaRousey for her poor attitude (despite initially being booked as a face) and mic skills, being booked as an InvincibleHero and inserted into the championship card on her second match, making every other woman in the locker room look bad. It got worse following rumors that she would be facing Wrestling/CharlotteFlair, another controversial woman, at the next 'Mania, which didn't sit well with fans. Much like Charlotte's feud with Wrestling/BeckyLynch, the most popular ''wrestler'' in the company at the time, WWE tried to make Ronda the face of their three-way feud, despite Ronda's attitude.
** After ''[=WrestleMania=] 35'', Ronda wouldn't appear again until 2022 as the 30th entrant at the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'', which she won. Fans were not happy with this, especially when Ronda chose to face Charlotte for the [=SmackDown=] title instead of Becky's Raw title. Their match on the first night of [=WrestleMania=] 38 was seen as the low point of an otherwise amazing night. Things got worse when Ronda recaptured the title from fan-favorite Wrestling/LivMorgan, essentially burying any good reception she had from the fans. It got so bad that when Charlotte returned after a prolonged leave of absence and defeated Ronda for the title, after Ronda's match against Raquel Rodríguez, fans ''cheered'' for Charlotte over Ronda, despite the nuclear heat most other wrestlers would get after pulling that off.
** When Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler betrayed Ronda by attacking her at ''[[Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank Money in the Bank 2023]]'', costing them the tag titles, the crowd ''cheered'' Shayna despite the fact her actions would have appeared heelish if she turned on anybody else. And when Shayna confronted Ronda on the subsequent episode of ''Raw'', she cut a babyface-style promo as the fans cheered her on as the hero in their feud. This promo, quite notably, focused on a lot of complaints fans have had about Ronda through the years -- her rocket push despite a lack of experience, her arrogance, and the general perception that she didn't pay her dues.

* Michaels also got hit with a huge case of this during his world title defense against [[Wrestling/SidEudy Sycho Sid]] at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1996''. Michaels won the title at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XII'' in March, by May a few people were already sick of Shawn's MrFanservice act, Vince gushing over him on commentary in a way that made people [[HoYay question the sexuality]] of ''both'' men [[HypeBacklash didn't help]]. It was also around this time that word about his backstage politics and drug abuse trickled out to the public. Still, the majority of fans stuck with him, mainly because he was the top babyface in a really thin field[[note]]Especially with Wrestling/KevinNash and Wrestling/ScottHall leaving for [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} Atlanta]] in May[[/note]] and basically the only guy in the company that could be relied on to have a good match[[note]]Wrestling/BretHart stepped away from the WWF after dropping the title to Michaels at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' to rest, do a couple acting projects, and decide if he wanted to re-sign with Vince or take a more lucrative offer from Wrestling/{{WCW}}. [[Wrestling/MontrealScrewJob We all know how that last one worked out.]] Wrestling/OwenHart was still working at his usual high level, but there was only so much he could do while stuck in a pitiful tag division[[/note]]. But ''Survivor Series'' was at Madison Square Garden in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, aka [[SmartMark Smark]] Central, and they let HBK have it with both barrels, booing ''everything'' he does while treating Sid (who was supposed to be the Main/{{Heel}}) like [[Main/{{Face}} the biggest babyface that ever babyfaced]]. The reaction Sid gets when he pins Michaels for the title is right up there with the pop that Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} got for beating Wrestling/HulkHogan 9 months later.[[note]]It was actually supposed to be Wrestling/BigVanVader in this spot, but after their first match at ''[=SummerSlam=]'' Michaels refused to work with him again because he was too stiff, even though Vader dialed it back ''a lot'' compared to most of his matches. Sid got the spot instead because Michaels had worked with him before and knew that for all of his other faults Sid was a really light worker, plus he was available since softball isn't played from November to January[[/note]] Shawn would shake it off and win the title back at the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' two months later, but was forced to relinquish the belt due to a knee injury after a couple weeks. When he returned he brought with him a [[Wrestling/DGenerationX new faction]] and a much edgier persona.

** His first WWF run in the [[WrestlingDoesntPay country singer gimmick]] isn't too fondly remembered, but then again [[AudienceAlienatingEra neither is much else]] from that [[Wrestling/WWENewGenerationEra time period]]. However, it did start off a trend that would be a major reason that this trope has followed Jarrett throughout his career, as he somehow became a 3 time Intercontinental Champion in the span of 5 months[[note]]While this might not seem like a big deal today keep in mind that in 1995 the WWF only had two singles titles, so the Intercontinental belt was still considered a prestigious title[[/note]]. This first run isn't really an example of this trope because it drew genuine heel heat (albeit not in large quantities), but it gives a bit of background. Jarrett would [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere walk out]] after losing the IC title to Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and eventually find his way to Wrestling/{{WCW}}, where he may or may not have been a member of the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen. After his contract ran out he headed back up north, which brings us to...

** Stephanie's bad heat goes all the way back to the early 2000s, starting with her involvement with the badly botched [[Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle Invasion Angle]], which brought this kind of heat on the whole [=McMahon=] family[[note]]She also didn't do herself any favors by giving an interview shortly after the [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror September 11th attacks]] where she compared them to her father's steroid trial, something a few fans still haven't forgotten about[[/note]]. But while Vince can skate by because he's the one who is putting on the show, and fans are quick to forgive Shane because he's willing to take insane bumps for our entertainment[[note]]At least until the debacle at the 2022 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'', listed below in the 2020s folder[[/note]], Stephanie is seen as really bringing nothing positive to the table. Then there's Triple H's "Reign of Terror" in the mid-00s where he was being smashed over the entire roster despite fans having long been sick of him. Stephanie gets blamed for this and rightly so, even if you ignore the obvious Main/{{Nepotism}}, Stephanie was ''Head of Creative'' at the time, a position she held for over a decade. Which means she also gets blamed for everything else that was rotten during this time period, which is somewhat unfair as most of the '''[[Horrible/{{WWE}} really terrible]]''' stuff (like Katie Vick) came directly from Vince. Still, Stephanie is absolutely despised in the [[Main/SmartMark smart fan/"IWC" community]], mainly for her work backstage rather than anything she's done on camera.

** A particularly egregious example of just how bad things were for Brock was when he was in Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} He was awarded a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title in just his second match for the promotion, and left the promotion months later, with the physical IWGP heavyweight Belt/Third Belt in his possession. He was so hated for this that when the IWGP plays the Champions Roll call video prior to championship matches. The normaly stoic fans boo when Brock's picture shows up, as well as his Nameplate not being on the Banzuke Sideplates.

** The heat reached its zenith on the November 18, 2015 edition of NXT — when she came out to issue her title challenge to Bayley, the Full Sail crowd booed her so loudly that she couldn't get her promo out and Bayley, who was standing right next to her, couldn't even hear Eva even though she had a mic. Bayley even tried to calm the crowd down herself. At this point, she's getting more nuclear heat than Vickie Guerrero or heel Michael Cole circa-2011 ever did.