The WWE needs "babyface improvement"

[LKP]

I think I can speak for most of the IWC when I say that the 80% of our favorite wrestlers in the WWE are heel right now. Everyone one here is quick to say so-and-so needs a heel turn.....but when was the last time WWE had a babyface that you marked for that you didn't want to go heel?

Hell, when was the last time they had a babyface that wasn't so......PG?

I think they have the star power. Not that he needs to turn face or anytime soon or something.....but ortons "ruthless" gimmick can easily be turned into a "badass" type gimmick with a good storyline for example.

Another example is John Morrison....he would've been just fine turning face keeping his arrogant/serious heel gimmick.....

This is is a future WWE Champion promo should look like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq06N8FaSSI

WTF is This!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HuBt7av9TI

since when did being lame make you a face!? lol


*on a side note, I liked Jericho as both face/heel

Thoughts?

 

[noumenon]

I'm actually going to have to agree with you on this one to a certain extent. However, I don't think you're thinking far enough into WHY they're making faces act like this lately. WWE is now PG (no shocker there), with their primary audience being CHILDREN. Why would they want to make a "bad ass" face when they're aiming their product at 10 year olds? Their faces of today are meant to get over with little kids, not the teenager/young adult audience of the Attitude Era.
However, the heels are just written with so much more depth and character than faces are lately. Compare the character depth of guys like Jericho, Edge, and Orton to that of guys like Cena and John Morrison. But again, back to the point of aiming all of this at children... who aren't exactly looking at character depth as a main checkpoint for enjoying the product.

 

[LKP]

I agree and what i also find funny is its the faces that are struggling with the PG rating rather than the heels, you would think it would be a heels worst nightmare.

 

[straight_edge76]

Honestly, I like the way that the WWE is developing its characters, I mean sure dudes like Cena and Morrison COULD use alot of character development but being that like the majority of the faces in the WWE they are marketed more towards the younger/more casual audience. I have noticed that faces typically have less character development then their heel counterparts I mean realistically how much did Austin's character change throughout his entire face run?

 

[CenaMark54]

It's interesting that you say most internet smarks favs are heels. Thats true for two main reasons.

1. Internet fans love to go against the grain.
2. Heels are usually more interesting characters. There is often more depth to heel characters as opposed to the prototypical cookie cutter face gimmicks.

Any 'improvements" made to babyfaces will only satisfy a small minority of fans. Truth be told, a majority of casual fans love to root for the good guy, handslapping, larger than life, Cenaesque babyface.

My advice to you, root for and enjoy the heels, because the WWE isn't going to alienate its core group of fans by changing its face formula to please a outlying fans.

 

[straight_edge76]

It's interesting that you say most internet smarks favs are heels. Thats true for two main reasons.

1. Internet fans love to go against the grain.
2. Heels are usually more interesting characters. There is often more depth to heel characters as opposed to the prototypical cookie cutter face gimmicks.

Any 'improvements" made to babyfaces will only satisfy a small minority of fans. Truth be told, a majority of casual fans love to root for the good guy, handslapping, larger than life, Cenaesque babyface.

My advice to you, root for and enjoy the heels.

That is really what I said, and sure the WWE can never please everybody but I honestly do think that they are doing a pretty damn good job at pleasing everybody and the whole "Internet fans enjoy heels" Is complete B.S I am not the only one I am sure who enjoys the faces (but maybe not as much as) the heels mainly because of what CenaMark said, they are far more interesting characters.

 

[LKP]

Well ive liked edge punk and Orton when they first started out in the wwe/roh. And when they were faces i felt they did their best. But now in 2010 all of them have played the heel card amazingly. Now for edge i think other than Cena in 2010 he will be the number one singles face of the wwe. Edge will show them how it is done.

 

[straight_edge76]

Honestly it would be nearly impossible for anybody to show Cena "how its done" as a face being that he has carried the WWE as a face since 2005.

 

[LKP]

No no i didn't mean show cena how its done. I meant the current wwe faces. I mean the only face on wwe tv i care for now as a fan is christian and maybe Jomo apart from not no one. Edge comes in as a face and sets the bar in my eyes.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

The thing is there are too many bad ass faces. They look like the tough sons of bitches that heels should be.
Eh, I've been apathetic towards "bad ass" faces for a while now.Sick of Triple H just stomping the "chicken shit" heel that seems to be the mold of all WWE heels. Tired of Cena and Batista, the Supermen. I just plain tired of that "unbeatable" face. I was hoping we could get a truly bad ass heel before we have to be subjected to more supermen faces, but they stalled with Batista and I think they really missed the boat there. At least now Sheamus is somewhat getting a monster-esque push. It seems top WWE faces had traits to them that made heels of the 80's and 90's so successful, they straight up kicked the shit out of people. And the heels are all playing a Flair-esque chicken shit heel. Jericho, Punk, Edge and Orton all seem similar but what separates them is their character depth.

It's time to give faces some depth as it seems the only face with depth is HBK. They need something besides wanting to be champ to drive their characters. And they can't always be defending the WWE Universe either. Gotta give them something besides the formulaic "Heel says something or heel has title belt..face goes down to ring...heel either gets beat the fuck up or runs away or something likewise cowardly" That seems to be the way 90% of all WWE feuds have been since Rock and Austin left.

Whatever happened to a baby face in the mold of Bret Hart and vintage HBK, guys who looked like they were going to get hurt? The Randy Savages? Or heels in the mold of Vader, the nWo, the Horsemen, dudes that struck fear into the viewers hearts because they were the bad asses? Where are the Jake the Snakes? The E needs to go back to the basics that made them so enjoyable back when they were booking for kids, because if your an old time fan like me, that is what hooked you. Remember, it's not because they are PG, the WWF/E has been PG 90% of it's lifetime and not everything awesome happened during the attitude period, it's because they have the wrong people writing the shows and Vince is out of touch on how to do things right without the raunchiness.

 

[The Rated R CMStar]

TBH, both of those Morrison promos sucked...hard.


Anyways, you do have a point, but I don't think it's exactly WWE needs to completely change. The IWC are the only ones who have a problem with today's faces, and we are the smaller portion of the uggh WWE Universe.

Besides, you take away The Attitude Era, and babyfaces have always been goody good. Of course, they showed it in a different way than always sticking up to the WWE Universe, but in the bigger picture it's always the same.

 

[CenaMark54]

Well ive liked edge punk and Orton when they first started out in the wwe/roh. And when they were faces i felt they did their best. But now in 2010 all of them have played the heel card amazingly. Now for edge i think other than Cena in 2010 he will be the number one singles face of the wwe. Edge will show them how it is done.

I disagree. Edge, Punk, and Orton are all better as heels. Much better IMO. Thats probably due to the fact that its much easier to play a heel, theres a lot more you can do to get over.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Nice percentage.

I couldn't care less about how the babyfaces perform. In the end, faces have a very narrow window unto where thir character can go. Interesting face characters only really come by once in a blue moon, since most of the WWE's faces over the past decade have been imitating the characters of Hulk Hogan (unstoppable force) or Shawn Michaels (underdog). It works, and the fans eat it up, so there's no reason for it to change really.

Heels on the other had have an immeasurable scope for their characters. There's actually a range of ways they can perform and still get heat. The only way faces get over is by going against the heels, so it takes a very hated heel to turn a mid-carder into a Main Eventer eg. Triple H w/Batista, JBL w/Cena.

Faces are always going to be the plus ones in my opinion. For a face to have a good feud, they need an even better heel working against them to get the fans behind them. Doesn't matter what gimmick, if somebody goes up against a monster heel, they'll get a favourable reaction.

 

[aceofspades7778]

I think its the formula that needs to change. Just because someone is a face doesnt mean they have to defend the wwe universe all the time and be super man like Hogan. It should really depend on who the face is like John Cena. Its just been so generic today that if you are a face, you become an automatic peoples champion and it shouldnt be like that. The same thing goes for being heel. Not every heel needs to play the cowardly role it should really depend on who the heel is. I know this formula has been the same for a while but it would be nice to see something different. Heels and faces should also have a reason as to why they act the way they do just like in a film. Example: IN 2007, heel John Morrison didnt give a damn about the fans and was extremely cocky and self centered and as soon as the miz turned on him, he became a face and began defending the WWE universe? These characters need to have reasons for everything they do or else it insults our intelligence completely