This Has To Be The Worst Era For Babyfaces in WWE History...

[TrueEpic08]

Take a look at this roster:

List of WWE personnel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, of the babyfaces on the main roster, is there ANYBODY who isn't either hated by a vast segment of the fan base, stale, going through the motions, unover, or about to turn heel?

I mean...Cena?

Sheamus?

Del Rio?

Miz?

It's telling that the best babyface on the main roster is either a guy they're setting up to turn heel soon (Daniel Bryan) or a guy that's already a heel and on the tail end of his career (Mark Henry), the second best babyface is a guy that hates being babyface (Randy Orton), the best babyface in the entire company might be a girl in developmental (Paige), and that I could go to UFC and find a guy who's EASILY a better babyface than damn near the entire company (Junior dos Santos, who also cuts better face promos than anyone in WWE, and he can BARELY SPEAK ENGLISH).

fukking hell, has there ever been a worse time for faces in WWE than this?

 

[krackdagawd]

We don't fukk with faces anyway.


Everybody gonna be a heel

 

[Tide Run This]

Should've just left Punk face or gave D-Bry more purpose instead of being a comedy act. Turning Ryback was stupid too i'm not a fan but I can admit the crowd actually wanted to root for the guy.

 

[Tres Leches]

no more faces..tweener era in full effect #notsupposedtobegood

 

[CM_Burns]

The problem is moreso heels, they have almost no heels at this point that fans are really dying to see lose, mostly due to booking and storylines.

Fans are very into Kane and Bryan.

You really think the majority of people who watch raw or follow WWE in some capacity don't like John Cena? It's probably 25% at most, and he's a more visible, relevant national star than Bret, HHH, HBK, or Nash (as Diesel) was as a top guy.

HHH is over, as is Jericho.

Sheamus has actually gotten over big as a face.

Though he obviously didn't draw anything, CM Punk was over as a face champion.

Undertaker is treated like a god more than ever.

Ryback was very over and could've been a star babyface, but protecting Rock vs Punk and The Internet Guy himself, CM Punk, in general was more important to them than letting him take the next step.

 

[Rarely-Wrong Liggins]

How is it the worst era for faces when they're the ones who are over? Look at your heels.

Barrett

Cesaro

Axel

The Shield (they are not nearly as over as they should be given their push)

Jack Swagger

Ziggler and Co.

Fandango They already fukked him up.....

Sandow and Rhodes

Need I go on?

 

[TheBigBopper]

I hate the whole concept of stark babyfaces / heels anyway. People in the real world don't behave in such a black and white way. WWE needs to go back to the Attitude Era characterizations of shades of grey. Tweeners are a lot more entertaining and less predictable.

 

[DaylitoJames]

Struggle Face Era

 

[CJ]

Faces are the real heels though

 

[DANJ!]

I hate the whole concept of stark babyfaces / heels anyway. People in the real world don't behave in such a black and white way. WWE needs to go back to the Attitude Era characterizations of shades of grey. Tweeners are a lot more entertaining and less predictable.

Ehhh...

Were there really a bunch of tweeners in the Attitude Era tho'? Nah.

I'm pretty sure fans were clear on who the good guys and bad guys were. They weren't all of the classic "good" or "bad" mold, but there was still clearly a line. They knew the intention was for them to cheer Austin and Rock (once he was a face)... and that they should boo McMahon and HHH (when he turned heel). Outside of the constant heel/face turns, most of the characters were still solidly on one side once they made the turn. It's not like they just let wrestlers do whatever and let the fans decide.

 

[CM_Burns]

Ehhh...

Were there really a bunch of tweeners in the Attitude Era tho'? Nah.

I'm pretty sure fans were clear on who the good guys and bad guys were. They weren't all of the classic "good" or "bad" mold, but there was still clearly a line. They knew the intention was for them to cheer Austin and Rock (once he was a face)... and that they should boo McMahon and HHH (when he turned heel). Outside of the constant heel/face turns, most of the characters were still solidly on one side once they made the turn. It's not like they just let wrestlers do whatever and let the fans decide.

By 1998 I agree, it was just edgy faces rather than tweeners. In 1997 though, they had a few angles where there wasn't a clear "cheer for this guy" theme being pushed.

 

[Swiggy]

The It's-Not-Supposed-To-Be-Good Era is still trying to find its way.

Patience :excellent:

 

[TrueEpic08]

The problem is moreso heels, they have almost no heels at this point that fans are really dying to see lose, mostly due to booking and storylines.

Fans are very into Kane and Bryan.

You really think the majority of people who watch raw or follow WWE in some capacity don't like John Cena? It's probably 25% at most, and he's a more visible, relevant national star than Bret, HHH, HBK, or Nash (as Diesel) was as a top guy.

HHH is over, as is Jericho.

Sheamus has actually gotten over big as a face.

Though he obviously didn't draw anything, CM Punk was over as a face champion.

Undertaker is treated like a god more than ever.

Ryback was very over and could've been a star babyface, but protecting Rock vs Punk and The Internet Guy himself, CM Punk, in general was more important to them than letting him take the next step.

25% It's closer to 50%, and the guy's currently getting 2005-2007 level boos right now. If that's the guy who's the most relevant face of WWE, then Vince might need to seriously rethink their strategy with him, as he draws better (and works better) as a heel.

Sheamus isn't that over. He's, like, tier 2 babyface over. The guy who you won't headline with, but makes for a perfect lower main eventer. Along with that, he's a terrible babyface, seen nowhere better than this past feud with Mark Henry.

I'd take wanna-be Judd Nelson CM Punk over any of the current babyfaces, and even THAT'S a cut-rate version of the guy (and this CM Punk's not a draw shyt is near ridiculous. Factually inaccurate in terms of merch for almost 2 years, and inaccurate in terms of ratings since June. Cena hasn't drawn better overall ratings than Punk during this reign, and there's less of a disparity in their segment ratings than you'd think. Now Sheamus? There's a guy that doesn't draw shyt...)

Undertaker works 2 months of the year. Pure legend and beloved as such, but irrelevant.

Ryback's situation was a wrong place, wrong time deal. Of course, WWE could have easily salvaged Ryback as a face, but they'd rather have him job in every big match from Hell in a Cell to WrestleMania. Idiots. Heel run hasn't been booked well either.

I'm not saying that you're wrong in saying that they don't have good heels (Punk was literally the only one they had that people really wanted to see lose, and he's going to be turned face by the Payback...starring Randy Orton crowd), but it goes hand in hand. You need heels we want to see, and faces that will make us want to see them lose. WWE has neither.

Alternatively, as some have suggested, you could do something close to shades of grey and let the crowd cheer and boo at will, but that would actually entail writing consistent and compelling characters, and that isn't happening in WWE creative.

How is it the worst era for faces when they're the ones who are over? Look at your heels.

Barrett

Cesaro

Axel

The Shield (they are not nearly as over as they should be given their push)

Jack Swagger

Ziggler and Co.

Fandango They already fukked him up.....

Sandow and Rhodes

Need I go on?

Which faces are really THAT over. Cena's hated. Sheamus is tier 2 over. Del Rio sure as hell isn't over. Orton's over, but he hates being a face and is never going to get a shot at being a main eventer again. Bryan's over, but he's probably turning soon. Kane is near-irrelevant. Who's left?

But you're not completely wrong here. The heels are either written down to the level of the faces or are made to look like impotent jackasses. How are you supposed to hate a heel like, say, Cody Rhodes? He's essentially a JTTS. There's no reason to hate somebody that's not a threat to anything.

I just highlighted faces because their shyttiness is most prominent in my mind. But the character writing sucks all around right now.

 

[Ill Lou Malnati]

We don't fukk with faces anyway.


Everybody gonna be a heel

I want to see some of that sweet heel-on-heel action

 

[CJ]

By 1998 I agree, it was just edgy faces rather than tweeners. In 1997 though, they had a few angles where there wasn't a clear "cheer for this guy" theme being pushed.

Yep, case in point: