Characters who are genuinely over who are pushed.
Thats it
Miss me with that internet talk when Wrestling was one of the first online fandoms in the 90s too and even then you had cats moaning about marks online (I see you Dusty at Slamboree 98)
And it aint like the storylines were that amazing (save for 97) when you listen to retro podcasts like the Lapsed Fan and Bryan and Vinny and they highlight how trash the segments and characters were in the attitude era. But they had Rock and Stone Cold over as fukk and were pushed so.
Great post. To expand...
they don't turn like they used to.
Stone Cold succeeded off a heel-to-face transition, which they seized on ever since he was getting cheers after the Austin 3:16 promo...
...and Rock really excelled after they turned him face-to-heel, when dude was getting _legit_ DIE ROCKY DIE chants.
He originally was corny as hell as Rocky Maivia, debuting at a Survivor Series as a third generation superstar, which caused people to think he was entitled to too much too soon.
Then he joined the Nation of Domination, started calling himself The Rock, and claimed to be a champion of the people until they actually agreed with him.
Both men succeeded because creative adjusted to fan feedback, and displaying the eventual growth to make the change had an additional effect: further endearing them to the audience.
If they did it right, Roman would have already come back around from a heel turn by now, and wouldn't be getting copycat Cena reception.