The State of Face & Heel

[WrestlingFan97]

Well, it seems over the past year (maybe longer) the roles of baby-face and heel have been convolted and twisted into some kind of Bizzaro WWE. To put in layman's terms, the babyfaces are the bullies and the heels are the underdogs. I don't mean in the Attitude Era sense that faces are "bullies" either. The way heels are booked and presented on televison is totally backwards. Why are we supposed to boo them when they do nothing inherently evil and are constanly embarresed and nuetured? The babyfaces are presented as being Seuperman-lite, do-gooders without flaws. We're never given a reason to why we should stand behind them and against the heels. Every week I find myself rooting for a heel and feel somewhat sorry for them. That shouldn't be happening. Why should I care for a match when the heel is a total non-threat to the babyface because he has been made to look an utter fool week in and week out? Good example being Doplh Ziggler. Anyway, what do you guys think about the way heels and babyfaces are poresented? TL;DR version, Heel and Babyface roles have been completly switched with heels being the underdog.

 

[Aberle4Life]

I agree with you completely. I think it's a symptom of the machine-mentality in WWE. They're like a factory now, just churning out the same product time and time again. Their current formula calls for faces going over heels, which should usually happen. However, their lack of creativity leads to it just happening ALL the time, which is boring and predictable.

CM Punk was kind of the recent exception to this, but that's because he's on another level. The rest of the heels, like you said, are basically bullied and buried time and again. It doesn't make them look formidable, and that's something that should be considered a problem. Yes, some such as Mark Henry and The Shield have had their day recently, but they account for a very small percentage. Most of the heels usually just look foolish.

I don't get WWE these days. It's almost like they forgot how to succeed in building a wrestling promotion. They're just running on fumes from their successes over the past few decades. Eventually the tank's going to go on empty, sooner rather than later if they don't change the lazy practices they've adopted.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's the fans who have changed rather than the characters.

This is something that's been talked about constantly due to the presence of the internet. Whenever you turn on a wrestling program, whether it's WWE, TNA ROH or whatever; you ALWAYS see fans who are cheering the heels. CM Punk, Bully Ray, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, Brock Lesnar, Kevin Steen, etc. are all wrestlers who portray characters who are supposed to be dislikeable people. Right now, CM Punk is "disrespecting" the memory of the recently deceased Paul Bearer. Bully Ray used his "marriage" to Brooke Hogan to sneak his way into the TNA WHC picture. Yet, people are still cheering them. When CM Punk was portraying this anti-corporate rebel back in the summer of 2011, going so far as to call fans sheep & being this cocky, smarmy little bastard that behaved like a total dick, he got more cheers than he ever did before. When Undertaker was playing this satanic figure during the Attitude Era in which he performed "occult rituals", fans cheered for it.

Why? Because the curtain has been pulled away and everyone can see what's behind it. If you're someone who watches pro wrestling very, very frequently and surf the net looking to find spoilers for upcoming feuds, pushes, matches and title runs; then you're almost never going to be surprised.

It's the fans FAR more than the wrestling companies who are to blame for the babyface/heel dynamic. I know, I know, you want it to go back to how it was back in the good ol' days when wrasslin' was good and all that shit. I would bet my left nut that if you took everything in wrestling from 25 years ago, including the stars in their primes & everything else, and put it on today with the internet being full of smarks; guys like Hogan, Savage & Flair would get every bit the same level of criticism modern wrestlers get. Hogan would get the "you can't wrestle" treatment while Flair would be called fat & unathletic while Savage would be called a refugee from a gay rodeo. Everything from their looks to their characters to how they work in the ring to how they're booked in feuds would become just as heavily nitpicked as the same we see today with Punk, Ziggler, Cena, Show, etc.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The way roles are presented today isn't that far removed from '85... Faces "always won in the end" and had their comebacks, heels invariably would be cowardly first, bad ass second and maybe evil third.

The only thing that has drastically changed is the ways to do it. In the 80's there were few ways for heels to be true heels, either they "threw fireballs/mist", refused to break the count, foreign object use or had a buddy run interference/distraction. Today there are so many other ways that both heels and faces can "influence" heat... Take Kane, face or heel he has the corner pyro that he can set off mid match if the story requires it. Taker has the lights out/Bell Toll, The Shield cut the power and use the announce table and someone like Ziggler has the case, Big E AND AJ. Even if Kane is a heel people will pop if he blows the pyro after a big move, they will pop when the lights go down...even just a wrestler's music playing can have that effect.

So in many ways it's easier to be a heel than ever, because people's natural disposition today is to buck "authority" and vote for the bad guy. If you're not a Chris Jericho who can talk your way into making them hate you then there are other means, but ultimately they will still prefer you to the old school face presentation that has never changed. People hate Cena cos it's been done, with Hogan, with Austin... Punk got over as a face because he was at least trying to break the mold but ultimately there are a million ways to be a heel today and one or two to be a face and the formula is...

Get success as a heel - Win Minor Title as Heel - Get Cheers as Heel - Win Rumble/MITB - Turn Face - Win World Title (probably at Mania.)
How many times have we seen that in the last 10 years? Cena, Batista, Sheamus, Punk, Edge, Christian, ADR

 

[Suneeboy]

It's the fans who have changed rather than the characters.

This is something that's been talked about constantly due to the presence of the internet. Whenever you turn on a wrestling program, whether it's WWE, TNA ROH or whatever; you ALWAYS see fans who are cheering the heels. CM Punk, Bully Ray, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, Brock Lesnar, Kevin Steen, etc. are all wrestlers who portray characters who are supposed to be dislikeable people. Right now, CM Punk is "disrespecting" the memory of the recently deceased Paul Bearer. Bully Ray used his "marriage" to Brooke Hogan to sneak his way into the TNA WHC picture. Yet, people are still cheering them. When CM Punk was portraying this anti-corporate rebel back in the summer of 2011, going so far as to call fans sheep & being this cocky, smarmy little bastard that behaved like a total dick, he got more cheers than he ever did before. When Undertaker was playing this satanic figure during the Attitude Era in which he performed "occult rituals", fans cheered for it.

Why? Because the curtain has been pulled away and everyone can see what's behind it. If you're someone who watches pro wrestling very, very frequently and surf the net looking to find spoilers for upcoming feuds, pushes, matches and title runs; then you're almost never going to be surprised.

It's the fans FAR more than the wrestling companies who are to blame for the babyface/heel dynamic. I know, I know, you want it to go back to how it was back in the good ol' days when wrasslin' was good and all that shit. I would bet my left nut that if you took everything in wrestling from 25 years ago, including the stars in their primes & everything else, and put it on today with the internet being full of smarks; guys like Hogan, Savage & Flair would get every bit the same level of criticism modern wrestlers get. Hogan would get the "you can't wrestle" treatment while Flair would be called fat & unathletic while Savage would be called a refugee from a gay rodeo. Everything from their looks to their characters to how they work in the ring to how they're booked in feuds would become just as heavily nitpicked as the same we see today with Punk, Ziggler, Cena, Show, etc.

Good points, but I disagree.

From my perspective, heels are getting cheered more because in today's wrestling it appears that they are the ones doing all of the work.

They are on the mic, they are carrying the feuds at a higher rate than the faces, they are pushing the envelope, they are the ones who are "allowed to be creative".

The faces are just coming out and smiling...expecting cheers. It's hard to get behind a character like that, because...well, it's not entertaining anymore. There needs to be some depth to the character. In many situations where they do get time on the mic they are juvenile pranksters (see: Kane, Daniel Bryan, Del Rio, Sheamus, et al). Gets pretty corny.

At least in the WWE from what I see, heels get to have all of the fun. Faces are usually a lot more generic these days. Can't think of the last wrestler to debut as a face on the main roster. You count Bo Dallas?

On top of that, I agree with the OP on how they are bullied underdogs. Just makes it that much easier to get behind them. Fans didn't change, they are just not booking heels and faces the same, nor are they developing characters the same.

 

[Dyscord]

This may sound crazy, but I think they need to downplay the whole Face/Heel thing. It may have worked well when everyone thought this stuff was real, but nowadays it tends to make everything predictable, at least in the WWE.

The faces are vanilla and the heels are dastardly. It's very annoying that when someone turns heel, all of a sudden they can't win a match without cheating or something. Punk is a good example of this. He turns heel and all of a sudden he can't win a match clean?

The faces are even worse because, as mentioned earlier, they become bullies more or less. They can get away with almost anything because they're face, so therefore what they do MUST be right.

I know it would be hard to do away with it completely, but having more "tweeners" would shake things up a bit. Austin worked so well because, deep down at his core, he was himself. He did whatever the hell he wanted and it worked rather well. Would also give us reasons to cheer/boo someone other than "Because we told you to".

 

[HamSwissman]

This may sound crazy, but I think they need to downplay the whole Face/Heel thing. It may have worked well when everyone thought this stuff was real, but nowadays it tends to make everything predictable, at least in the WWE.

The faces are vanilla and the heels are dastardly. It's very annoying that when someone turns heel, all of a sudden they can't win a match without cheating or something. Punk is a good example of this. He turns heel and all of a sudden he can't win a match clean?

The faces are even worse because, as mentioned earlier, they become bullies more or less. They can get away with almost anything because they're face, so therefore what they do MUST be right.

I know it would be hard to do away with it completely, but having more "tweeners" would shake things up a bit. Austin worked so well because, deep down at his core, he was himself. He did whatever the hell he wanted and it worked rather well. Would also give us reasons to cheer/boo someone other than "Because we told you to".

Thank you. I've been preaching this for years. I find it so disappointing that wrestling has not evolved in this department. Your Punk analysis is spot on, but I'll use Punk in another example. Tweener "Pipebomb" Punk was over as Hell. As soon as he became "Cena Lite", always doing good, cracking corny jokes and always facing the heels, he became totally stale. Why? It wasn't him. WWE missed the ball big time with that, mainly because the tweener role is all but dead.

 

[Kunztown]

I would say that the originality of the product has to evolve. To defend wwe however; This is a difficult era because the product is PG, and after following a PG-13 Era, it makes the dynamic more challenging for even the heels to generate more heat yet alone the faces. The Product Needs to be PG-13! Leave the PG Crap to Saturday Morning Slam.... It's suppose to be Wrestling for christ's sake. Oh, and What can you do with a face? The people that are best on the Mic need to be Faces...aka... Y2J, Stone Cold, Rock. People with personality. That's what made them the best Faces.. Undertaker's Gimmick made him a great face. How can you not Pop for that. John Cena's Rap Gimmick was great, yet when they turned him face, he became "the champ is here" crap... The Only time I enjoyed seeing Cena was last year's Retro Rap vs the Rock. Why can't they take a risk with their characters? Turn Cena Heel and lead an Anti WWE. The "Face" of the WWE has turned his back on everyone... and see what happens? Turn the Shield Face? They Get Cheered Anyway.... At least that would increase merch. sales. The Heels need to be the ones who can generate heat just by being themselves...aka... Cena's real personality sucks, and he can't wrestle...use the 5 moves of doom to generate heat. Khali Sucks and can't wrestle. Just let them be themselves! To Evolve I'm talking about giving the fans what they want. Look how it helped Daniel Bryan... Now they need to make Jack Swagger lose his match to Del Rio, and have him bumbling around like he's on Pot... Saying Weed the People... That would be Entertainment.... I'm trying to understand why they are not taking risks? The Surprise Factor is Gone in WWE!

 

[Dirk]

The faces are even worse because, as mentioned earlier, they become bullies more or less. They can get away with almost anything because they're face, so therefore what they do MUST be right.

This is true. Sheamus completely totalling Del Rio's car and then later a FACE Del Rio using duct tape to secure the WHC... That's not a face move, it's just being a dick. Not to mention Cena showering fake shit on Ziggler and AJ. Poor JBL (or whoever the heel commentator is on Raw) then has legitemate complaints, but gets ignored. Why? Not because the fans are implicitly told to, but because they DO. They cheer the shit out of that, because if a heel isn't of the "monster" variety, they have to be these annoying, whiny fuck-ups. Then we are supposed to take them seriously as a threat? I don't think so. Why couldn't today's "edgy" face tactics be made heel?

These days, the only way to determine who the face is, is to have a look at who the opponenents are and to decide who's more "heelish". If faces keep acting like heels, there'll be nowhere left for the heels to push the envelope, especially under the PG-rules.

 

[The Eighties]

WWE have always overused the chickenshit heel persona, I recall Foley saying in his book how he never understood the mentality as there's no great accomplishment in beating a coward, but if you beat a dangerous and formidable heel it makes the faces victory that much greater.

As it stands right now WWE seem to be ignoring the fact their last two mega over faces, Austin and Rock, got over as abrasive personalities that came off as individuals, and instead decided to fit all their faces with lame stand up comedy routines or cheesy pandering shit like Del Rio's current Shtick. Orton is an exception but he's not a great face anyway.

The heels are still mostly booked as cowards who can barely win a match without cheating, but on the mic they are allowed to have a lot more fun, so quite often the crowd end up cheering them because they are there to be entertained and boyscout's with PG comedy routines just aren't entertaining to the majority of the over 12 element.

I'm not saying everyone needs to be a rebel but by the same token every face doesn't need to come out with a shit eating grin plastered across their face cutting corny joke filled promos about doing their best, they need more leeway and individuality IMO.

 

[Dyscord]

Thank you. I've been preaching this for years. I find it so disappointing that wrestling has not evolved in this department. Your Punk analysis is spot on, but I'll use Punk in another example. Tweener "Pipebomb" Punk was over as Hell. As soon as he became "Cena Lite", always doing good, cracking corny jokes and always facing the heels, he became totally stale. Why? It wasn't him. WWE missed the ball big time with that, mainly because the tweener role is all but dead.

Exactly. Tweeners offer more flexibility. Punk was better when he straddled the fence. Not being totally face, but not being totally heel either. Just being HIM. Getting by with his ability and all that. Then he became face and lost his edginess. Then he became heel and gained his edginess, but apparently lost his ability to finish matches cleanly.

We haven't had a true tweener in ages. Tweeners by WWE standards are "Faces that are slightly heelish". Look at Randy Orton. He was supposed to be more "tweenerish" with his "RKOing everthing that moves" thing, but that didn't work out.

And then there's commentary. Take the Del Rio Duct Tape thing. A face does it and it's "clever", but a heel does it and it's "dastardly and despicable". It's that double standard that just ends up being insulting.

In the end, they should just let the characters be and let us decide what we think instead of shoving down our throats who we should be cheering for and who should we hate.

 

[CrazyMatt88]

This may sound crazy, but I think they need to downplay the whole Face/Heel thing. It may have worked well when everyone thought this stuff was real, but nowadays it tends to make everything predictable, at least in the WWE.

The faces are vanilla and the heels are dastardly. It's very annoying that when someone turns heel, all of a sudden they can't win a match without cheating or something. Punk is a good example of this. He turns heel and all of a sudden he can't win a match clean?

The faces are even worse because, as mentioned earlier, they become bullies more or less. They can get away with almost anything because they're face, so therefore what they do MUST be right.

I know it would be hard to do away with it completely, but having more "tweeners" would shake things up a bit. Austin worked so well because, deep down at his core, he was himself. He did whatever the hell he wanted and it worked rather well. Would also give us reasons to cheer/boo someone other than "Because we told you to".

Testify!!! Along with a large portion of the wrestling community, I've been saying this for years, this where you will see guys like Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Undertaker and even R-Truth shine. You'd have a hell of a lot more variety in characters because this would force the guys to do away with the generic, smiley, jokes for 10 year old's faces, and the cowardly, cheating heels.

 

[Marshyishere]

Testify!!! Along with a large portion of the wrestling community, I've been saying this for years, this where you will see guys like Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Undertaker and even R-Truth shine. You'd have a hell of a lot more variety in characters because this would force the guys to do away with the generic, smiley, jokes for 10 year old's faces, and the cowardly, cheating heels.

I don't think that it would work as well as some may think it would.

If you let everyone make their own mind up, there would be way too much confusion in the crowd on whether to boo or cheer. Similar to how Cena and Punk have 50/50 crowds at the moment, just doesn't work as well as a 100/0 crowd.

When your watching at home and there is no clear direction from the crowd it is very demotivating to watch. Some of the best matches are ones in which the crowd get involved and will their superstar to victory.

Instead you would end up with a mixed crowd of boos and cheers, which would cancel each other out and simply sound like an annoying background hum.

I think what needs to change is the tactics that WWE uses to get faces or heels over. Stop taking the easy way out and allowing heels to only win by cheating. Why not give them a solid clean win and instead, abuse the crowd after the win. To me, that has the same effect on the crowd, but instead it makes the heel look strong. After they have won the match, let them disgrace their opponent in some way while the crowd watches...

Stop making all the faces act like Mommas boys, and show a bit of attitude. Let the faces talk trash back, the crowd will love it. Instead of putting faces over as superheroes, let some of them fail. Everyone fails at least once before they succeed anyway.

Worst of all, is that the general managers always take sides with one or the other. How about we get a GM who calls it as they see it? No favouritism, but instead just making decisions on their merit.

 

[CrazyMatt88]

I don't think that it would work as well as some may think it would.

If you let everyone make their own mind up, there would be way too much confusion in the crowd on whether to boo or cheer. Similar to how Cena and Punk have 50/50 crowds at the moment, just doesn't work as well as a 100/0 crowd.

When your watching at home and there is no clear direction from the crowd it is very demotivating to watch. Some of the best matches are ones in which the crowd get involved and will their superstar to victory.

Instead you would end up with a mixed crowd of boos and cheers, which would cancel each other out and simply sound like an annoying background hum.

I think what needs to change is the tactics that WWE uses to get faces or heels over. Stop taking the easy way out and allowing heels to only win by cheating. Why not give them a solid clean win and instead, abuse the crowd after the win. To me, that has the same effect on the crowd, but instead it makes the heel look strong. After they have won the match, let them disgrace their opponent in some way while the crowd watches...

Stop making all the faces act like Mommas boys, and show a bit of attitude. Let the faces talk trash back, the crowd will love it. Instead of putting faces over as superheroes, let some of them fail. Everyone fails at least once before they succeed anyway.

Worst of all, is that the general managers always take sides with one or the other. How about we get a GM who calls it as they see it? No favouritism, but instead just making decisions on their merit.

Me sitting at home, I don't really give a c**p who the crowd is supporting, I support who the hell I want to support, and to me, I don't care if the guy is playing the heel or the face, I just don't. Also I'll judge a match on how good technically it is, not on what the live crowd thinks, I've learned over the years that a lot of wrestling fans don't really know what a good wrestler is, a lot of fans nowadays will just support whoever WWE tells them to, and to be fair, that's starting to turn around now which is great news, which is why I think the whole generic face/heel thing wont wash anymore, and we will see more 'tweeners'. I just don't think the whole 'occasional clean heel win' will be enough to turn it around. One of your quotes there just irked me. "If you let everyone make their own mind up" I'm a bit confused there, are you saying people shouldn't support who they want to?

I do agree about the GM's though, I think Eric Bischoff was at his best as RAW GM when he stopped being Triple H's and Evolution bitch and started doing what he wanted to do. When WWE let him do that, I thought Bischoff was better. Make GM's believable authority figures again.

 

[Marshyishere]

Me sitting at home, I don't really give a c**p who the crowd is supporting, I support who the hell I want to support, and to me, I don't care if the guy is playing the heel or the face, I just don't. Also I'll judge a match on how good technically it is, not on what the live crowd thinks, I've learned over the years that a lot of wrestling fans don't really know what a good wrestler is, a lot of fans nowadays will just support whoever WWE tells them to, and to be fair, that's starting to turn around now which is great news, which is why I think the whole generic face/heel thing wont wash anymore, and we will see more 'tweeners'. I just don't think the whole 'occasional clean heel win' will be enough to turn it around. One of your quotes there just irked me. "If you let everyone make their own mind up" I'm a bit confused there, are you saying people shouldn't support who they want to?

I do agree about the GM's though, I think Eric Bischoff was at his best as RAW GM when he stopped being Triple H's and Evolution bitch and started doing what he wanted to do. When WWE let him do that, I thought Bischoff was better. Make GM's believable authority figures again.

When you put it that way I can see your point. I think the thing we always forget is that we represent the minority of wrestling fans these days unfortunately as the majority is made up of kids or casual fans who tune in from time to time.

I can understand why you want the whole concept of heels and faces to be dissolved (I wouldn't mind this either as I am one who follows whoever I please...The Miz[Heel] and Dolph Ziggler), however my point is that I think it would devalue wrestling for the majority of the audience as they are mindless drones who will follow who they are told to follow!

 

[CrazyMatt88]

When you put it that way I can see your point. I think the thing we always forget is that we represent the minority of wrestling fans these days unfortunately as the majority is made up of kids or casual fans who tune in from time to time.

I can understand why you want the whole concept of heels and faces to be dissolved (I wouldn't mind this either as I am one who follows whoever I please...The Miz[Heel] and Dolph Ziggler), however my point is that I think it would devalue wrestling for the majority of the audience as they are mindless drones who will follow who they are told to follow!

Well if we keep doing it the kids way, the product is only going to get worse and worse, someone in WWE needs to grow a set and step up and say, "Look something is wrong here, we need to fix it". Sometimes its not a good idea to give the kiddies what they want, even if they are the ones that buy the Cena bulls**t.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's the fans who have changed rather than the characters. .

Well said. Offering John Cena and The Rock as examples:

-It seems illogical for people to hate on Cena as they do. Yes, there are still plenty of folks cheering him, yet the "Cena sucks!" chants still abound. Personally, I think many fans don't know what they've got in Cena, but they're entitled to boo if they want.....even if they don't know why they're doing it. ("Gee, Mom, everybody was doing it.") But the fans are the fans and don't think WWE management is distressed by hearing Cena booed, even as he's being cheered. For a performer to get any kind of reaction is regarded as a good thing, and that a guy can get both positive and negative reaction is great.

-Then, there's the Rock: This is a good guy? Fans of 30 years ago would wonder why in hell this guy is being cheered. He continually disses his esteemed opponents, he trash talks everyone else, he talks nasty to the fans who worship him ("It doesn't matter what you think!"), he refers to himself in the third person, and he rock-bottoms people (Foley) who come to the ring to embrace him. He's the epitome of a bad guy, yet they love him. Go figure.

Yes, it's the fans who have changed. I don't know that the concept of an anti-hero even existed in pro wrestling 30 years ago......but it does now, and it's helped re-define how we look at these performers today. We used to "love to hate the bad guy." Now, we love to love him/her.

 

[Trdude]

I actually think the problem is quite odd.

who are the heels in WWE? Lesnar. The rest of the heels are either comical...Rhodes scholars...or new...the shield and swagger.

Punk has too many folks who like him to really be a heel.

The WWE has no major heel character that is there every week to really drive story lines.

TNA on the other hand...has no faces. It's a heel biker gang...and a bunch of tweeners who are to worried about being tough and cool to be a real face.

Right now the WWE needs Cena to turn just to be interesting.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

The biggest "babyface" in the company, and the guy everyone is begging to turn heel, is the guy who got the most heat last night. The guy who kisses babies and helps old ladies across the street gets booed more than the guy who brought out a Paul Bearer imposter and dumped ashes all over the Undertaker. The guy who everyone wants to turn heel already IS the biggest heel in a sense. Not because he acts like a "bad guy" but because he always gets the biggest negative reaction.

The WWE won't make him turn until the kiddies get tired of his act just how everyone else has. As long as he's moving merchandise and is the most highly requested Make-A-Wish foundation guy, they won't turn him. He still gets a 50-50 response from the crowd for the most part, with it being tilted in one direction or the other depending on what town the show is in. Until that turns 75-25 AGAINST him in EVERY town, they're happy with the status quo.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Well said. Offering John Cena and The Rock as examples:

-It seems illogical for people to hate on Cena as they do. Yes, there are still plenty of folks cheering him, yet the "Cena sucks!" chants still abound. Personally, I think many fans don't know what they've got in Cena, but they're entitled to boo if they want.....even if they don't know why they're doing it. ("Gee, Mom, everybody was doing it.")

They don't know why they're doing it?? They're booing him just because "everyone else" is doing it?

How about this...people are TIRED OF HIM. Not John Cena the performer, but the "John Cena" we've seen on television for the past 8 years. The only thing that has changed is the color of his t-shirts and wristbands. The clean-cut boyscout routine has gotten old to many people. And yes, we ARE entitled to boo him. Thank you for your permission.

 

[Dyscord]

The fact that Punk is so good at being heel and is still getting cheered in some cases is what I'm talking about. Instead of WWE telling us that he's the bad guy, just let him go. Let him be CM Punk. Who cares if he's being cheered or booed. He's being ENTERTAINING. And that's the important thing.

It's Sports Entertainment. So rise up from Face/Heel and worry more about entertainment. When you determine "face/heel" you make things predictable and in some cases, insulting.

Take the "walk-out" a few years ago. The heels had a greivance and made VALID points. But because they're heels and the authority figure was face, then the heels are automatically cowards who are in the wrong and the faces are in the right. Despite the opposite being true. It's things like that which are just plain insulting.

 

[M]

I really like that idea that the fans have changed but the characters haven't, nails one of the roots of the problem right on the head, good idea, here's a squiggly ~

Expanding (in a way) from that you can see the real damage that is being done by not being able to adjust properly to the new tastes of the audience. The people watching the show are starting to realize this stuff's pretty stupid and are pretty much only watching because of a few bright sparks or because they're addicted to it already (fun fact; pro wrestling addiction kills more braincells than alcohol)
As a result of this the audience now truly believes they're smarter than the show they're watching, which is what's causing a lot of the face-hate and heel-love; they see through the alignments too easily, they want a reason to boo/cheer but the reasons they're given aren't good enough for them to care.
The commentators aren't helping, they come across as idiots. The fans don't want idiots telling them that a certain character is a bad/good guy nor do they like it when the show they're watching is less intelligent than them, and at the same time telling them what they should do, it makes them want to do the opposite - boo the faces/cheer the heels.

What's the best way to counter fans thinking that they're smarter than you?
Easy, become smarter than them.
Give them characters that they have to figure out for themselves, give them a character that doesn't have any alignments, that sometimes does good things and sometimes does bad things but doesn't let it be the centre of their character, a guy who hi fives children and comes out to hardcore death metal music. Make them think about the man himself and not which side of the coin he represents.



Pandering to the easy crowds all the time is making them feel like they own the product, they've figured out how basic the system of face/heel is, and they're starting to rebel against it. Outsmart them and make it about the CHARACTERS instead.