Professional wrestling terminology.
To be 'over' as a wrestler is for your
character to be legitimately loved or hated by the fans.
An over
babyface will get a huge
face pop when he enters the arena, will have the fans cheering him throughout his matches, and will shift tons of
merchandise. The most over babyfaces in the history of wrestling include
Stone Cold Steve Austin,
Andre the Giant,
Bret Hart,
Hulk Hogan,
Goldberg,
Rob Van Dam and
The Rock.
An over
heel will get huge
heel heat when he enters the arena, will have fans booing him and chanting derogatory things towards him throughout his matches and interviews, and will STILL shift tons of merchandise. The most over heels in the history of wrestling include Bret Hart (during his anti-US period),
Sergeant Slaughter (during his anti-US period), Andre The Giant (during his anti-Hulk Hogan period),
Ric Flair (on and off the entire time),
Hollywood Hogan (during the
nWo days) and current Top Heel
Triple H.
A babyface who is not over is easy to spot - he elicits no crowd reaction. However, there are several heels active in the WWF today who get booed vociferously but aren't in the least bit over.
X-Pac and
Billy Gunn are the two most-noted exponents of this. The phenomenon is known as
'Get Out Of The Arena' Heat.