Are There Any Beloved Faces Left In The WWE?

[ChrisIrvine]

CM Punk and Kofi Kingston are beloved. For upper-echelon mid-carders, they get main event level pops in some crowds. Punk more than Kofi, but I think a lot of fans enjoy Kofi's laid back, smiling, and athletic persona.

Funny......does the name "Rocky Maivia" ring a bell? That lasted long, didn't it?

I have not heard Cena booed by half the crowd as ChrisIrvine states. (Jericho rules, BTW) Lately, I have heard the crowd MAYBE at 80/20 in favor of loving him, if not 90/10. People have been popping for Cena like nuts. He's damn sure beloved, and just because a few jealous, smarky guys in the crowd have an issue with him doesn't mean he's not. Look at how much traffic his appearances get!

CM Punk and Kofi Kingston are beloved. For upper-echelon mid-carders, they get main event level pops in some crowds. Punk more than Kofi, but I think a lot of fans enjoy Kofi's laid back, smiling, and athletic persona.

Jeff Hardy is beloved. He's like the tragic underdog - the guy people want to see succeed, but who is so close to failure. He's a terrific story.

First of all, saying you don't hear the Cena boos is like saying "don't read the rest of my post because its pointless because my opinion means nothing."

Jeff Hardy is a crackhead who wants people to feel sorry for him. Good for him. He is "so close to failure.' Yeah, that's right........except that only holds true for the REAL Jeff Hardy, not his character. Any "failures" he's had in his life are 100% his own fault.

I would love to see Kofi get some more time because, frankly, I can't tell if I like him yet. He seems entertaining, but the only time I've seen him in the ring longer than 2 minutes was his match with Jericho for the IC belt.....which seems like forever ago at this point.

Punk is, unfortunately, starting to drift into the Cena category of being stuffed down our throats. WWE better be careful, because Punk has a chance to blossom, but they might kill any momentum before it trully gets rolling.

 

[Ryanhitman316]

The first name that comes to mind is HBK. He had his time as a heel, but for the rest of his career, he'll be the beloved babyface that everyone wants him to be. He gets a huge ovation when he enters the arena, and the crowd goes crazy for his matches.

Cena, Hardy, and Triple H have all been discussed, and I'd agree that they are extremely beloved, even if there are a few fans booing.

Another babyface that is beloved by the crowd, is Batista. His entrance gets one of the loudest pops of the night, and every fan in the arena loves his matches. The only place Batista is hated, is on internet forums, and that's hardly a large perecentage of the WWE fanbase.

Batista gets boo in NY where I am from. Remember the Manhattan Center for ECW?....I also boo Batista because of his wrestling skills. I only like wrestlers who can actually wrestle (Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, etc). Whether they are heel or baby face, if they can wrestle. I will support them. That's probably why I support more heels than anything

 

[Nitafrong]

One line of argument which seems to crop up here all the time is on the loudness of the "pops" or "boos" which people get and the ability to use this entirely subjective notion to try and gage differing popularity. With the wwe constantly moving from state to state and encountering so many different people can this really be seen as an effective test? Especially as people with simply argue over which was louder.

In any case despite what I have read above I would have to say that despite many of these superstars recieving "pops" none of the crowds I have seen in the past 4 years are anything as loud as those I have seen in the Hogan era or even in the attitude era. There are still popular faces in the wwe but I can't honestly believe that there are any "beloved faces" to the same extent as in the past.

And honestly I love the superiority complex some people have in this forum. Only the Internet Wrestling Community boo's faces. The rest of the public are just sheep and because they don't post here they simply cheer faces. We the vastly more intelligent internet users on the other hand cannot, however much we wish we could return to a more simple way of living........ Really?

 

[Ryanhitman316]

Lol of course Shawn gets booed in Canada but that doesn't count. Jericho who's one of if not THE biggest heels in the business gets cheered like crazy in Canada because that's where he's from. Canada is always different than most other places and those 2 wrestlers history in Canada being taken into account of course they'd get that reaction. How anyone in their right mind could say Cena only gets booed by the IWC is crazy. He gets extremely mixed reactions. I doubt every single guy in that audience in every city they visit booing Cena is an IWC guy. My own brother hates Cena and he is not an internet guy. I know plenty of people who aren't IWC guys who can't stand him because he's stale and bland as hell and is pushed to the moon beyond belief. Cena's reactions are very mixed and there's no mistaking that. I keep thinking of Mania 22 where he got booed out of the building in Chicago when he was the clear face in the match.

lolz yea I was actually there in Chicago. That place was crazy, I don't like either Cena or HHH and I supported HHH because hes a better wrestler

 

[seven3too]

the face of wrestling has changed a lot almost like it's two different forms of entertainment i thinks fans used to love to love face and love to hate heels. fans are better critcis today, i used shit myself when hogan would hulk up, i cried when he lost to andre the giant.. if i saw hurricane helms hulk up i'ld laugh...true babyfaces are a thing of the past...every face now a days has a mean streak..now they need the credibility of being a hard ass..like HHH with the sledge hammer. back in the day it was about being as good as possible and playing to the audience. thats why i cringe when i see the five knuckle shuffle, the ballin' elbow and money money yeah yeah leg drop. it's fun play on the old school, but it's over played. you can't hit somebody with a sledge hammer and then "oh no! five knuckle shuffle". the attitude era killed the pagentry of playful gimicks and babyfaces. the envelope is push hard now look at chris jericho's promos, and the standard of what good match is as raised so much since savage vs. steamboat thanks to wrestlers like chris benoit, bret hart, kurt angle, who by the way all had mean streaks as a face. there are only bad guys and badder guys

 

[ulimate123]

OK so who actually hated Jeff Hardy? Who really hates R-truth? Who really hates HBK? Who really hates 'Taker? And these are just to name a few people. Yes everyone has their haters, but its the majority that matters. You can't expect everyone to like a face since he is a face. I'm pretty sure Hulk, Mr Perfect and Ultimate Warrior all had their haters back in the day.

 

[fossi984]

Like Cena, take away the children and the girls and see how many cheers there are for Rey Rey.

How many?? just count every spanish person who watches, thats alot bro

 

[ChrisIrvine]

How many?? just count every spanish person who watches, thats alot bro

You can't hear cheers coming from living room sets. How many spanish people do you really think can afford tickets to live shows?

 

[ronbot09]

I think there are pleanty left, just to name a few: Shawn Michales, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, The Undertaker, and I haven't really heard anything bad about Kofi Kingston and even though I always see them get bashed on here lol HHH and Cena fill seats for their shows. And just throwin this out has anyone else noticed that even though they are supposed to be heals Randy Orton and Edge (as long as he isn't with Vickey) get pretty decent pops when their music hits well it seems like it to me at least.

 

[FoleyIsGod]

The fact is, when you get something rammed down your throats (ala HHH, Cena), the fans resent it and get behind someone they can actually believe in(most fans know Jeff Haardy is pretty messed up with drugs and such, yet people get behind him because most have seen him work his way up and never reaslly get that final push). Look at Koslov, Burchill and Mike Knox. The WWe pushed them for ages as heels and whenever they come out, they get little to no heat. Whereas guys like Orton and Edge can swagger out and be complete wankers, mainly due to the fact most of the fanbase know about Edge's dalliances with Lita and just the thought of " He WILL come to your house, sleep with your girlfriend and your mother, piss on your pillow and empty your fridge) and Orton's backstage attitude in the past.

CM punk is the same. For years you had msuclebound monsters dominating the WWE and as soon as someone normal looking came along, people got behind him straight away.

Then you have guys like RVD, Benoit and Eddy who was cheered because they went out and did the business every night(and in both cases, it ended early for them, sadly). But in 2004, Eddy was whitehot and reached heights I never thought I would see.

 

[Blade]

John Cena gets booed by half the crowd every week, not because people like booing the face, but because people like booing entertainers who CANT ENTERTAIN US. He's a bad wrestler, not athletic and sucks on the mic. He tries WAY too damn hard to be taken seriously. That's why every week, out of the 12 or so thousand people watching live, there might be 6 of them who aren't female and over the age of 12 cheering for him.

Please stop living in 2007. There's never more than 20% of the crowd booing him these days, if even that much.
You can argue that it's just kids that like him. But come on, are we really expected to believe that over half the people in attendance are kids? That's just a bit stupid considering don't have jobs and don't make money. Newsflash: It is mostly adults that go to live events. And Cena isn't getting booed much anymore.

Anyway, moving on from proving that guy wrong, I hate threads becoming Cena debates.

The Undertaker is surely the most beloved guy in the WWE. Hell he's probably one of the most beloved people in wrestling, along with Sting. And he's definately one of the most repected.
Another that maybe you haven't thought of is Christian. He may not be the most famous wrestler ever, but he's been around quite a long time. And he's loved by fans and the IWC alike. And since his return to WWE, I haven't heard one bad or even average crowd reaction for him.

 

[ChrisIrvine]

Why do you hate them? Because you're wrong? The guy came back after he missed 6 months and STILL got booed. When was that? Oh. The entire last year? ok. NEXT


Love reading a babyface argument from a guy who argues CHRISTIAN is BELOVED by fans. Hahahahahahaha. He spent what? ....all of a day as a face in WWE?


Done with you pal. Wait 10 years till you're in your 20's to have real discussions.

 

[BDennis69]

Rey Rey, thats all i have to say

 

[Crush1]

Of course there are beloved faces left, because when these guys pop up you always hear the massive sound skirmishing through the arena because people finaly get to see their hero. You may think that most wrestling fans criticize Cena, Batista, Triple H etc but that's not the case. Only the IWC do that.

But that's not a big problem because, the IWC only makes arround 10 % of the live audience in the WWE. Most people that sit in the arena watching the show absolutely LOVE the faces. They don't care what's happening backstage or any other irrelevant issue because they simply want to be entertained and enjoy the show.

 

[GNR8701]

Is this limited to the top-level guys only????

If not - then I have never once heard one single boo for EVAN BOURNE.

I know he has been around for only a year, and was injured for 4 months, but not one single Boo ever.....

 

[suleman09]

true, but then again, he doesnt get big cheers all the time either, he gets cheered but not as a guy they want to see everyday!

i think its rey
kind of cena too, only because he is face

 

[RVDgurl]

As far as Dreamer goes: You can't go winless for 8 years and be taken seriously. face or heel. Even JBL managed to wrangle up a win or two in the last few years.


Undertaker: how can you say he's a "baby'face, when he was the most sedistic son of a bitch on the planet for half his career?

This is all well and good, but it has nothing to do with the toipic of the thread. You're putting your own spin on things, and that's great, but the thread simply asks if there are any beloved faces left. That simply means are there any guys that the fans absolutely love to cheer for. That's it. It goes no deeper than that.

Whether or not Tommy Dreamer wins matches has nothing to do with the response he gets from the crowd. His character is designed to create cheers, not his win/loss record. The Undertaker's character is not sadistic anymore, and honestly, he hasn't been for years. I am responding to the here and now. People love him and they cheer.

Mysterio: First of all, the guy hasn't had a legit story line since he came to WWE. For an argument why people don't like him: Very similar to Jeff Hardy. He's tiny, doesn't speak English, jumps around a lot and somehow defeats 3-400 pound men every week. It just gets ridiculous and the normal fans (non-pubecent males) are getting sick of it. Like Cena, take away the children and the girls and see how many cheers there are for Rey Rey.

First of all, I'm sorry you feel that "normal" fans like you don't like Misterio. You may not, but many fans (normal and abnormal) do. Check out the RAW crowds during the show. THey are a slew of Misterio masks and signs and not a boo to be heard. I will also point out again, that Rey is the top drawing wrestler in the Latino demographic. That includes non-pubecent males.