Tweener A tweener is a character who is portrayed as being morally neutral or ambiguous ( that is , they are " between " a face and a heel ) . Sometimes referred to as greys . Another term to describe this type of character is an anti - hero . Many followers of professional wrestling , especially within the smark community , consider Diesel , the character portrayed by Kevin Nash in the WWF during the 1990s , to be the first truly prominent tweener in American wrestling , in the sense of being portrayed as such . However , this distinction could arguably be given to Jake " The Snake " Roberts , often being cheered despite his dark character . Allen Coage , best remembered by wrestling fans as " Bad News Brown " , is another early example of a tweener . It should be noted that Ric Flair , in all of his Face Runs , still performs dirty tactics . During the mid to late 1990s , tweener gimmicks became increasingly popular in ECW , the nWo era in WCW , and Attitude Era in the WWF . These saw a number of crowd favorite faces , rather than become traditional faces , instead adopt heel tactics . Some examples of such are the nWo Wolfpac , D - Generation X , the A . P . A . , Lita , 3Live Kru , The Undertaker , Kane , Big Show , Steve Austin , The Rock , Sting , Kurt Angle , Cryme Tyme , Samoa Joe , Carlito , Eddie Guerrero ' s " Lie , Cheat and Steal " gimmick , Mickie James ' simultaneous obsession with face Trish Stratus and hatred for Trish ' s friend Ashley Massaro ( although James has since turned full - blown heel and then face again ) , and John Cena in the months immediately after his late - 2003 face turn . Usually , tweeners will attack both heels and faces simultaneously . There are occasions where they work together better with faces rather than heels in tag team situations and give meaning to the saying , " CLEAN HOUSE . " For example , Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock , despite being rivals , have been able to work together effectively in tag - team situations . Also , during Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit ' s run as a tag team in 2002 , they played tweener characters , feuding with faces Edge and Rey Mysterio , and heels Los Guerreros . Carlito can also be considered a tweener as he is popular with fans but will attack anyone that gets in his way or that he feels is a threat to him ( not caring whether they are face or heel ) as well as displaying immoral acts such as spitting on defeated opponents . Hardcore Holly is often considered an excellent example of a tweener as well — his character has rarely portrayed a full - blown face or heel since 1999 . Lex Luger was portrayed as a tweener in later 1995 and early 1996 when he immediately jumped from the WWF to WCW in the early days of the Monday Night Wars , not making his allegiances known ( neither siding with Hulk Hogan and his allies or Kevin Sullivan and his Dungeon of Doom , who were Hogan ' s main rivals at the time ) except for his long - time friendship with Sting . He merely claimed that he wanted to stake his claim at Hulk Hogan ' s WCW World Heavyweight Title , though he would later turn heel and join the Dungeon of Doom . In the days when the NWA World Heavyweight Champion traveled the country in non - televised events , he was a " tweener " in that he was a " heel " when up against the local " face " and a " face " when he faced a " heel " . Finlay also is an example of a tweener since he has challenged King Booker who is a heel . In 2016 , Sheamus was chosen to pair with Cesaro as tag team by Mick Foley . Since that time , Sheamus gradually got support by audience dispite his slightly - remaining heel personna , which makes him a tweener .