My concern for the New Day.

[MartialHorror]

Like everyone else, I thought the New Day was awful when they first debuted as overpushed babyfaces. But their heel turn made them into the most entertaining group since...well, the Shield. Xavier Woods in particular, while occasionally going too far, tends to find new and inventive ways to crack me up. The Trombone stuff is golden. Everyone loves New Day and cheer 'New Day Sucks' with enthusiasm, in contrast to Big Show's "Please Retire" and Sheamus's "You Look Stupid" chants, which either seem mean or uninspired.

However, the problem is that they're being a bit...too entertaining? I could've sworn at Summerslam, they were getting "New Day Rocks" chants and they certainly got cheers when they won. These last RAW had a mixed "Let's go New Day!/New Day Sucks" reaction. My main concern is that Vince will choose to turn them face. It happened with Mizdow, which was a good decision until it lead to his...burial? I know people don't like that term, but wtf happened to him? I haven't seen him in a long time and I watch most of the Main Event/Superstars shows. Or worse, Lana, who lost every attribute that made her marginally interesting when she turned face and lead to the worst storyline of 2015.

If the New Day turns face, then I worry they will just revert to how they were when they were babyfaces before. That was boring. If they retain the exact same characterizations, then they won't really be babyfaces...I suppose Xavier Woods playing the trombone will give them a good fanpop, especially when Big E or Kofi are beating a heel to its tune. But I think it's just too early for such a thing to happen, but if they keep getting cheered, it will happen.

But what do you think? Do you want them to become the good guys? Did you prefer their original characterizations? Or do you just hate the group and wish they'd kill this gimmick ASAP?

 

[Slash-LN]

That's a pretty common concern. That Vince is going to want to turn them back now that they're gaining traction.

IF they turn face they could keep the same personas and just make fun of heels.
They could stay over like that.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

Nooo, I really hope Vince doesn't turn them baby face..the heel turned saved their careers. I mean they would fall to opening match on a house show. Kofi would stay main roster on Raw, just not relevant. Big E would be low card, on main event superstars jobbing. Woods would be cut...they need this heel turn as I guess you could say, as a career saving.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I thought I heard some "New Day rocks" chants at SummerSlam too. They get a few depending on how smarky the crowd is. The smarks cheer because they appreciate the heel talent, which you should show by booing, but I digress. I think a big part of the cheers was based on who they were facing in the match.

Matadores get no reaction, and the Lucha Dragons really only get a pop from the kids. Both face teams are fairly directionless and kid friendly, they're not the kind of faces you cheer over New Day, when you're an adult male.

Now that New Day are feuding with a solidly over face team in the Dudleys, the crowd reaction should be back to normal. WWE needs to be careful not to make the New Day too likeable, that's a challenge given the groups charisma.

I doubt they're headed for a face turn soon, though if say it's an inevitability. The tag title scene needs heels. Matadores have been teasing heat off and on, hopefully they're repackaged. PTP have moved into that John Cena area now with their outside the ring activities. Add the Dudley return plus the rumours of another legendary team's return and a face turn for New Day makes zero sense.

You're absolutely correct though, they're getting extremely over. They need to recement their heel status with a bit more than running down the crowd or the trombone. They need a vicious streak, they need to be a bit more calculating. Kofi's heel persona needs to be fleshed out more. Hopefully we'll see the start of this Sunday when they meet the Dudley's.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

New Day are one of the best parts of Raw with the way they are going. At some point they will be turned face because of how over they are getting but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The trick is they got to stay true to who they are and only change a few things instead of going into a full overhaul.

Guys like Austin and Rock are the best examples of heels turned faces that stayed true to what the fans liked about them. As long as WWE can manage to keep that in mind when flipping a team like The New Day there is no reason why they can't remain as over with the fans. Woods is absolutely killing me on the outside with his comments and delivery and Big E is too charismatic. Credit to those guys for taking a dead in the water gimmick and turning it into one of the best things going on Raw.

 

[Navi]

I think your fear's are unfounded. Even if New Day turns face the fans will go right along with them because of one very important reason, they're entertaining. Much more so than 99% of the roster.

When they debuted they were shit, and that gospel music choir stuff was just urgh, Plus I think a lot of fans were expecting a NOD2, and when that didn't happen it was a huge letdown. But turning them heel and making Xavier the most annoying person well since JBL saved them.

The fans will chant New Day Rocks/New Day Sucks, but they do that to Cena as well and he's been on top for over 10 years. With the Sheamus "You look stupid" and the Big Show "Please retire" chants, there is a difference. While they jokingly chant for New Day and Cena, for Sheamus and Big Show that might be heartfelt sentiments.

All I know is even if they turn them face and they keep up the same antics, I'll still enjoy them. I watch to be entertained and they entertain me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Here's the thing with modern wrestling fans: promoters and creative ultimately just have to try tossing something at the wall and see what sticks. Whether or not they draw cheers or heat doesn't seem to matter as much as getting a genuinely "good" reaction. Some smark fans are gonna piss on traditional babyface/heel dynamics almost on principle; in a good many cases, not all but a good number, unless a babyface has an edge in which he's quite a bit more Wolverine than Superman and a heel is some guy who can eat barbed wire and piss napalm, some of said fans aren't going to give the reaction that they're expected to.

In New Day's case, they're being embraced with a mixture of heat and cheers: cheers from the smarks and heat from the more traditionally based fans. That seems to be par for the course these days with most wrestlers; only a minority of straight faces and heels, for whatever reason, get the traditional responses of the crowd. New Day is goofy enough to be entertaining without looking clownish and they do just enough underhanded tricks to get heat. If they go face and ultimately keep what's gotten them over, and depending upon how long they've been heels, I think most fans will stick with them. It's always possible that they'll implode but, in this modern age with more fickle fans, you sometimes simply have to enjoy it while it lasts and hope it works out in the end.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I sorta feared this as well. I mentioned this in the Raw LD.

That's one of the problems with crowds these days. Most heels get no reaction, hate, or cheers.

New Day are one of the few heels in WWE today to get heat. Problem is, they got too much of it that it eventually led to cheers. That's how crowds work these days.

Let's just hope the cheers turn to heat and Vince doesn't get the idea to turn New Day face again.

 

[Mudlup50]

I disagree...a lot. I love the New Day, the best thing on Raw bar nothing. But the crowds cheering won't turn them face. Vince doesn't care at all. If he wants you heel, you're heel and if he wants you face by god you're a face. Let's look at some proof of this shall we?

John Cena: Cena has been getting resounding boos and arenas that straight hate him since at least 2006. Is he a heel? No not even close! He's a face because he sells well.

Cesaro: I know he's face now, but remember back at about December of 2013 when he started getting really over as a face but he was with the Real Americans? He got a huge pop at Mania 30 and then Vince lined him up with Paul Heyman...so he could have almost no reaction at all.

Bray Wyatt: Since the start of his feud with Cena I remember him getting cheers, just about every single night. Not a single night was he booked as a face. The fans keep cheering him on and he's still a heel...getting the theme here?

Brock Lesnar: Yea after Wrestlemania 30 he was a heel, but the moment he fought Cena he became a babyface booked as a heel. He's face now, but he's face for two reasons.
1. Booking monster babyfaces is easier than monster heels, so Vince prefers it this way
2. Brock wanted to be face again.

Forget why I was rattling these guys off? Because Vince does not care who gets cheered or booed. If you think he does you're not paying attention. He's not going to turn New Day Face because the crowds cheer for them, he'd rather have face teams like Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons get booed by feuding with them. He turns people when he wants to, not when the fans want to.

But Mudlup you say, they've turned guys before when we booed them, look at Batista. The difference is Batista started insulting the crowd that night, Vince didn't turn him, the crowd didn't turn him, Batista did. And remember they kept trying to cram him as a babyface at Elimination Chamber against Del Rio.

 

[mkw1962]

New Day turning to a face will not hurt them at all as long as they don't change who they are. I do not think that they will change they are great as heels and Xavier is awesome he cracks me up. I normally do not like the heels but New Day is awesome when they turned heel that is what saved them. They do need to get a little bit more vicious and continue to take advantage of the fact that they have 3 people.

 

[MartialHorror]

I disagree...a lot. I love the New Day, the best thing on Raw bar nothing. But the crowds cheering won't turn them face. Vince doesn't care at all. If he wants you heel, you're heel and if he wants you face by god you're a face. Let's look at some proof of this shall we?

John Cena: Cena has been getting resounding boos and arenas that straight hate him since at least 2006. Is he a heel? No not even close! He's a face because he sells well.

Cesaro: I know he's face now, but remember back at about December of 2013 when he started getting really over as a face but he was with the Real Americans? He got a huge pop at Mania 30 and then Vince lined him up with Paul Heyman...so he could have almost no reaction at all.

Bray Wyatt: Since the start of his feud with Cena I remember him getting cheers, just about every single night. Not a single night was he booked as a face. The fans keep cheering him on and he's still a heel...getting the theme here?

Brock Lesnar: Yea after Wrestlemania 30 he was a heel, but the moment he fought Cena he became a babyface booked as a heel. He's face now, but he's face for two reasons.
1. Booking monster babyfaces is easier than monster heels, so Vince prefers it this way
2. Brock wanted to be face again.

Forget why I was rattling these guys off? Because Vince does not care who gets cheered or booed. If you think he does you're not paying attention. He's not going to turn New Day Face because the crowds cheer for them, he'd rather have face teams like Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons get booed by feuding with them. He turns people when he wants to, not when the fans want to.

But Mudlup you say, they've turned guys before when we booed them, look at Batista. The difference is Batista started insulting the crowd that night, Vince didn't turn him, the crowd didn't turn him, Batista did. And remember they kept trying to cram him as a babyface at Elimination Chamber against Del Rio.

Cena is an odd example because he's just a buch merch seller that they will probably never turn him heel unless someone consistently surpasses him. Remember that it seemed like Cesaro was about to turn face, but apparently there was no room for him as such at the time.

Bray also might be a unique example, but I also remember getting him 'booooring' chants at least once during that storyline. It should be noted that many darkhorse smark favorites usually get cheered over Cena. Bray hasn't really been cheered since then.

Brock's face transition slowly began around the time of the Rumble, where he was taking on the Authority (main bad guys) and Cena (guy who many hate). He got cheered during the Rumble and Wrestlemania and subsequently became a rogue, anti-hero equivalent of a face.

Once again, consider Lana's abrubt turn, Sandow's turn and the 'Bryan turning heel' storyline with the Wyatts was aborted because fans refused to boo him. Orton started getting cheers again a month or two before his transition. So these concerns have a strong basis, although the Dudley feud will keep the New Day in solid heel territory.

 

[timothy26]

I think they will remain heels but they will be over with the fans. The "New Day Sucks" chants seem pretty affectionate at this point, the crowd aren't saying it because they dislike New Day, they are chanting as part of crowd involvement with their act, which is a great sign. I was more concerned with the Dudleys burying them to be honest but I think they will help to elevate the group. Xavier Woods is one of the best things on TV right now