Rude was a great heel, and in the time I watched him, he always played one.
There were times you almost wanted to see him turn face, but his character stuck to his guns and played the evil-doer.
I also loved Macho as a heel - and, maybe I should specify: his early heel work.
His promos indicated that he actually believed he was justified in doing everything he did, from mistreating Liz to using foreigh objects and grabbing his opponents tights for a pinfall.
He also made legitimate points that validated his skills. For instance, he would talk about never using Elizabeth for outside interference like other wrestler/manager tandems.
He'd also go on about his tremendous athleticism, etc., which you certainly could not deny after watching just one of his matches.
To top it all off, many of his heel promos were hillariously entertaining; much more so than after his face turn in late '87. Although, some of those promos he recorded with Sherri during the "Macho King" years were quite amusing. I remember one they did with Zeus behind a steel cage panel, and Sherri started climbing up the cage, then snuck around to the front. Classic stuff!