Austin Aries Face Turn: Yay Or Nay?

[Jack-Hammer]

Last Thursday on IW, we saw Bully Ray come out and beat up the X Division guys in a four way match for the X Division Championship. Among those Ray took out was Austin Aries. I don't know why but it's been gnawing at me a bit as I don't see TNA just booking Aries to allow the attack to go unanswered. I think it'd make Aries look weak and I think it would give the X Division sort of a negative image where the little guys can't handle the big guys.

I might be totally wrong and TNA might not do any sort of follow up with it but, if they did, it has me wondering if it's a hint for a face turn for Austin Aries in the near future. TNA has been going the route of heel vs. heel feuds for the past while, which has led to some pretty uninteresting storylines in my view as you've got no clear person to root for or against. In this hypothetical angle, TNA could keep with that or cast Aries in the role of a babyface.

I'm wondering if a face turn is something that Aries and even the X Division needs at this point. Right now, Aries is the X Division even though he's never really had a marquee feud against a strong babyface. While Aries is charismatic and could probably pull off a babyface character, would it be the best thing for him right now? Personally, I say no because I don't think TNA has come anywhere near showing Aries' full heel potential. As I said, he hasn't had a feud against a strong, over babyface. Although, at the same time, it's not likely that he'll find himself in such a feud in the X Division as things currently stand.

 

[IHW]

Aries has been feuding with all of the X-Division guys. Heel or Face. Plus, he is over with the IWC, which may or may not be a good thing. So, if he was to go face, I have faith that he can pull it off.

I see A Double as the CM Punk of TNA. When given that opportunity, heel or face, he will take over. I think he could pull off the "tweener" type guy. He could be the heel that everybody loves. A full fledged face turn may hurt his overall character.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Absolutely, but the thing to remember here is that the term "face" is somewhat relative for him. He's not going to be a traditional baby face coming in to make saves for all the top guys, constantly fighting "the good fight". He's going to be a face in the same vein as guys before him like Mr. Anderson, Steve Austin and CM Punk — that is, a face who plays the "good guy" role by fighting heels, but does so with edge and isn't always going to make the correct moral decisions in the process.

I'm all for it.

 

[Lowdown]

Absolutely, but the thing to remember here is that the term "face" is somewhat relative for him. He's not going to be a traditional baby face coming in to make saves for all the top guys, constantly fighting "the good fight". He's going to be a face in the same vein as guys before him like Mr. Anderson, Steve Austin and CM Punk — that is, a face who plays the "good guy" role by fighting heels, but does so with edge and isn't always going to make the correct moral decisions in the process.

I'm all for it.

So you see him in an antihero type of character? I guess it could work. I'm torn though. He's very good with his character now. But a feud with someone like Bully Ray would be interesting to see. Either way, whether heel, face, or antihero, Aries would pull it be able to make it work.

 

[Beastmode 24]

I honestly think it doesn't matter. People cheer him because he's a great wrestler, he comes off cocky as shit, but in real life he's a great guy. I met him at the house show that TNA did in Columbia, SC earlier in the year and he's a hell of a guy. I honestly think he's one of the best wrestlers in TNA today and i think he'd be a hell of a world champion. As for the Heel/Face thing..he's one of those guys like the rock or randy orton..he's gonna get cheered right now no matter what, so i think they should just go with that.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

So you see him in an antihero type of character? I guess it could work. I'm torn though. He's very good with his character now. But a feud with someone like Bully Ray would be interesting to see. Either way, whether heel, face, or antihero, Aries would pull it be able to make it work.

Absolutely.

He strikes me as a fantastic mix of a lot of what made Ric Flair and Chris Jericho so good, and both of those guys were never truly "baby" faces either.

Aries can get over as a face with ease (since he has the crowd support), but I'd imagine he still maintains a lot of the bad-ass/edgy stuff that got him to this level of popularity in the first place. Same as you saw with Anderson and the "asshole" thing, or Austin and his tendency to Stunner anything and everyone, even his "partners".

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

i was thinking the same thing that maybe aries is gonna go face but as someone else said he should be a twigger only problem is thats basically what joe and magnus are and having 3 champs be twiggers might not be a good thing but i actullay think aries can pull off being a face and clearly he can be a great heel i just hope this doesnt lead to bully ray trying to end the x divison that storyline is so old at this point. i think im gonna go with yes to an aries face turn

 

[midgensa]

Aries will have to turn face by default eventually.

He simply is too charismatic and too good in the ring to not get the crowd on his side. The fact the he mostly wins clean will also get the crowd behind him. He talks a bunch of trash ... but backs all of it up. The crowd always cheers that guy eventually.

As someone else said ... he could have a Punk-like uprising in TNA and really take the mantle at the top of the company. He is that good.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

I don't think his character will lose its edge or "coolness" due to him turning face. Aries' character never relied on insulting the audience. The premise of his arguments is how great he is in terms of his wrestling ability, he rarely relied on antagonizing the crowd in order to garner heat, ala Punk's SES gimmik. Therefore, a cocky Aries with the same type of edge but only cheered will be a nice change.

Hopefully TNA won't "WWE" this and turn him into a smiley, cheesy crowd ass kissing vanilla midget and keep his edge and try not to make him say how great the fans are or any of that. Let him do his own thing, stop insulting them and keep him "cool". I don't really remember Austin kissing the fans' asses in his time. He went out, did his thing, his thing got him loved and cheered, he never needed to beg for cheers. Aries is in that same spot, we'll see what happens.

 

[JJYanks121]

I don't think his character will lose its edge or "coolness" due to him turning face. Aries' character never relied on insulting the audience. The premise of his arguments is how great he is in terms of his wrestling ability, he rarely relied on antagonizing the crowd in order to garner heat, ala Punk's SES gimmik. Therefore, a cocky Aries with the same type of edge but only cheered will be a nice change.

Hopefully TNA won't "WWE" this and turn him into a smiley, cheesy crowd ass kissing vanilla midget and keep his edge and try not to make him say how great the fans are or any of that. Let him do his own thing, stop insulting them and keep him "cool". I don't really remember Austin kissing the fans' asses in his time. He went out, did his thing, his thing got him loved and cheered, he never needed to beg for cheers. Aries is in that same spot, we'll see what happens.

If you don't remember that, you clearly weren't watching Austin's run like at all. His championship run started with him asking the audience "if you want Austin to do things the hard way, give me a hell yeah!" His whole schtick was mandering to the audience from that stuff to the terrible "What" stuff years later. Austin was always about crowd interaction and to think otherwise is either naive, stupid, or I don't know what else.

Hindsight has made people see Austin differently for some reason but he was the prototypical babyface. Yes, he did so by driving crazy vehicles and using the middle finger but he was every bit a prototypcal babyface. He pandered to the crowd and he often did the ring thing because "he should" like when he saved Stephanie McMahon from Taker's wedding. It's all a matter of perception I guess. He says "ass" a lot and I guess he's got an "edge"? Seems to be how we determine these things.

Anyway, Aries as a face might be ok but I'm not so sure it will work right. Being full of yourself only works so much as a face. He's going to have to alter the persona a little bit so it's at least a little likeable. It's doable but I'm not sure if this is the right time. Time will tell I guess. Either way, if this gets him out of the X-Division, I'm all for it.

 

[mike1215]

LMFAO @ Zeven's sig

Anyway, I've been loving Aries' progression into the main event scene lately. I was hoping he and Bobby Roode would join forces and start a small, Evolution-like faction where everyone held gold. It's going to be interesting to see how he comes off as a face. My prediction is that his character will lose a lot of steam, but I also predict that his face turn will be short lived. He's taylor made to be a heel.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

If you don't remember that, you clearly weren't watching Austin's run like at all. His championship run started with him asking the audience "if you want Austin to do things the hard way, give me a hell yeah!" His whole schtick was mandering to the audience from that stuff to the terrible "What" stuff years later. Austin was always about crowd interaction and to think otherwise is either naive, stupid, or I don't know what else.

Every character is all about audience interaction. Austin did interact with the crowd but on a more subtle level. Aside from "give me a hell yeah" and "what", he never really referenced them. That's one of the major deviations between his character and The Rock's character. Rock was all about "the people". The people's this, the people's that, finally the Rock has come back to [insert random city here], football team references, the millions and [crowd chants "millions"], and the rock says [audience repeats what he just said], throwing his elbow pad into the crowd and just being flashy in general.

Austin didn't give a fuck if he was cheered or booed, it's a part of his character when he was a face, therefore he didn't include a lot of crowd references. That reinforced his attitude and made him more "badass" than Rocky in the sense that he didn't have to mention "the people" every 3 seconds, he was cool and he didn't care one bit about it. He just didn't give a damn, he was in his zone and did his own thing which happened to get him cheered out of the arena.

What that cashew you call a brain couldn't get is that I'm talking about verbal audience pandering, not running stuff over with a big truck or saving a damsel in distress. Austin did it sometimes, but his persona wasn't based on referencing them for cheers. If we go by actions, Austin is a lot like any other babyface, I agree there. He always did the "right" thing, he just did it in a different way.

In that sense, a face Austin Aries who bases his babyface character in a similar way to how Austin did (less verbal ass-kissing, more cool action and cool stuff to say about other people), could be a healthy thing. I do agree, however, that being as cocky as he was as a heel isn't exactly the way to go. Aries seems to be good at insults and trashing people on the fly, just like Stone Cold did. He didn't need a "skilled" team of burned out Hollywood rejects writers to come up with ineffective, dull, weak sauce mom jokes. His promo with Shelley when he returned from injury is a prime example. More focus on your opponents, less on yourself, less on the audience and relying on action which backs up your big talk could be a recipe for success. Wouldn't work with a lot of other guys but Aries is exceptional.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I think the Bully Ray angle is a guaranteed set up for him to put over Aries at LockDown and I think the idea is to get the crowd behind A Double, but I think it is only going to be a puesdo switch to provide him with a Kaz and Daniels storyline to occupy him for the next couple months before he faces the epitome of the XDivision at DestinationX in pure heel mode.

Facing a hated heel like Ray is as close to a guarantee to gaining quick face acceptance, taking on Kaz and Daniels will up the support (and increase his reign's credibility, to boot) and the inevitable double cross of AJ should theoretically garner him Ray or Roode levels of heel heat that he just isn't getting presently because he hasn't consistently faced beloved wrestlers like an AJ Styles.

I like the CM Punk example but I still believe that Punk is far more entertaining as a heel than a face or an antihero. Come DestinationX, I hope to be booing Austin Aries!

 

[TBK]

As much as I'd cheer him anyways, as with Kendrick gone, he's the only reason I watch TNA, I'd say no. Too many faces in the main X-Division at the moment and so many great matches we would miss out on if we just turned him face. He's doing really good in his title reign, though, and I think he's won over about everyone, so this is definitely something to keep in mind for the future.

 

[JJYanks121]

Every character is all about audience interaction. Austin did interact with the crowd but on a more subtle level. Aside from "give me a hell yeah" and "what", he never really referenced them. That's one of the major deviations between his character and The Rock's character. Rock was all about "the people". The people's this, the people's that, finally the Rock has come back to [insert random city here], football team references, the millions and [crowd chants "millions"], and the rock says [audience repeats what he just said], throwing his elbow pad into the crowd and just being flashy in general.

Austin didn't give a fuck if he was cheered or booed, it's a part of his character when he was a face, therefore he didn't include a lot of crowd references. That reinforced his attitude and made him more "badass" than Rocky in the sense that he didn't have to mention "the people" every 3 seconds, he was cool and he didn't care one bit about it. He just didn't give a damn, he was in his zone and did his own thing which happened to get him cheered out of the arena.

What that cashew you call a brain couldn't get is that I'm talking about verbal audience pandering, not running stuff over with a big truck or saving a damsel in distress. Austin did it sometimes, but his persona wasn't based on referencing them for cheers. If we go by actions, Austin is a lot like any other babyface, I agree there. He always did the "right" thing, he just did it in a different way.

In that sense, a face Austin Aries who bases his babyface character in a similar way to how Austin did (less verbal ass-kissing, more cool action and cool stuff to say about other people), could be a healthy thing. I do agree, however, that being as cocky as he was as a heel isn't exactly the way to go. Aries seems to be good at insults and trashing people on the fly, just like Stone Cold did. He didn't need a "skilled" team of burned out Hollywood rejects writers to come up with ineffective, dull, weak sauce mom jokes. His promo with Shelley when he returned from injury is a prime example. More focus on your opponents, less on yourself, less on the audience and relying on action which backs up your big talk could be a recipe for success. Wouldn't work with a lot of other guys but Aries is exceptional.

Except that you're still not getting that Austin, as in Steve, changed his character from heel to babyface solely by pandering to the crowd. Maybe in like 1997 was he not pandering as much but once he got that title, he was all about the pandering. WAY moreso than Rock's early days. Yes, he had "sing-a-long" type catchphrases but it wasn't until Mick Foley made him nicer that he gave a fuck about the fans or anybody but himself. Rock was way more of a prick than Steve was for a good while there. Steve was a "badass" because he was beating up his boss and stuff but his promos were very much catered to the crowd. If you can't see that, I can't help you.

As for Aries, he'll have to do that. I'm not saying he needs his own "what" or "hell yeah", but right now he'll come off like douchy Rock in that people will cheer him because he's good at what he does, but his popularity will only go through the stratosphere when he keeps a little edge but realizes what being a babyface truly means. It could happen, but it'll take time.

 

[Marky-Marc]

Every character is all about audience interaction. Austin did interact with the crowd but on a more subtle level. Aside from "give me a hell yeah" and "what", he never really referenced them. That's one of the major deviations between his character and The Rock's character. Rock was all about "the people". The people's this, the people's that, finally the Rock has come back to [insert random city here], football team references, the millions and [crowd chants "millions"], and the rock says [audience repeats what he just said], throwing his elbow pad into the crowd and just being flashy in general.

Austin didn't give a fuck if he was cheered or booed, it's a part of his character when he was a face, therefore he didn't include a lot of crowd references. That reinforced his attitude and made him more "badass" than Rocky in the sense that he didn't have to mention "the people" every 3 seconds, he was cool and he didn't care one bit about it. He just didn't give a damn, he was in his zone and did his own thing which happened to get him cheered out of the arena.

What that cashew you call a brain couldn't get is that I'm talking about verbal audience pandering, not running stuff over with a big truck or saving a damsel in distress. Austin did it sometimes, but his persona wasn't based on referencing them for cheers. If we go by actions, Austin is a lot like any other babyface, I agree there. He always did the "right" thing, he just did it in a different way.

In that sense, a face Austin Aries who bases his babyface character in a similar way to how Austin did (less verbal ass-kissing, more cool action and cool stuff to say about other people), could be a healthy thing. I do agree, however, that being as cocky as he was as a heel isn't exactly the way to go. Aries seems to be good at insults and trashing people on the fly, just like Stone Cold did. He didn't need a "skilled" team of burned out Hollywood rejects writers to come up with ineffective, dull, weak sauce mom jokes. His promo with Shelley when he returned from injury is a prime example. More focus on your opponents, less on yourself, less on the audience and relying on action which backs up your big talk could be a recipe for success. Wouldn't work with a lot of other guys but Aries is exceptional.

You make it clear that you either did not watch WWF in the late 90’s when Austin was on top, or your hatred for the company has turned you into a pathological liar.

Austin was all about fan interaction, as JJYanks has tried to state. Every promo ended with the catch phrase that the audience would say along with him (pandering), he would ask for a Hell Yeah at least once or twice in every promo (pandering), and in EVERY match he wrestles, at one point he would turn to the crown and throw up his middle fingers drawing the pop of the night aside from when his music started playing.

Fans want nothing more than to be a part of the show and when a wrestler gets them involved in their matches, that’s part of why they love you, Austin always did that once he turned face and if you disagree then you clearly never watched him and are going off of old clips and other people’s opinions.

Onto Aries, he can pull it off. Last night’s Impact promo showed him doing it already as he said he respected James Storm and drew a pop for it (although it could have been a canned one) and he has the skills and presence to know when to get the crowd involved. He’ll be a face like Punk where he speaks his mind in a way that the crowd agrees with him and his demeanor on the mic will help. He’ll run down his opponent verbally with humorous jabs and let’s face it it’s not difficult to get the 300 people in the Impact Zone to pop for something, unless of course you have a nearly year long undefeated streak going.

Aries is one of the best talents on the TNA roster and I’d be quite surprised if he wasn’t able to be a successful face, in his own way or in TNA’s way.

 

[ABMorales787]

I'm kinda bummed about it. I was expecting to see Austin head to a feud with possible World Champ James Storm after his feud with Roode ended. But I guess now he has more room for feuds seeing there's an unusual lack of top faces. Guess Crimson will do as possible filler for Storm.

TNA seems HIGHLY fixated on Austin Aries. His push has been slow but greatly gratifying and it's starting to pay off now. But I don't see how the X Division title is gonna look if Austin keeps it. He's clearly a modern day AJ Styles at this point, but the X Division isn't in the same condition as back then when most of the roster was a part of it. Imagine if somehow Bully Ray takes the belt.

 

[scottyshowman82]

I was watching the show last night and he came out and did this great promo on Bully Ray. I was thinking of this exact thread and taking everything in with the fan reaction I think he has to turn face right now. Aries falls into that category that has happened to so many in the past, he has been such a strong confident, heel, who is go good in the ring that people cannot but respect him and that respect has turned into appreciation and admiration. There were some people booing him but there was stronger majority with him, and I think people will tend to get on his side when he is taking on hated heels like Bully Ray.

I don't mark out for wrestling as much as I used to unfortunately but I do mark out for Aries and I hope he's on the road to great things, that a man of his talents and abilities I think deserves.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I'm kinda bummed about it. I was expecting to see Austin head to a feud with possible World Champ James Storm after his feud with Roode ended. But I guess now he has more room for feuds seeing there's an unusual lack of top faces. Guess Crimson will do as possible filler for Storm.

TNA seems HIGHLY fixated on Austin Aries. His push has been slow but greatly gratifying and it's starting to pay off now. But I don't see how the X Division title is gonna look if Austin keeps it. He's clearly a modern day AJ Styles at this point, but the X Division isn't in the same condition as back then when most of the roster was a part of it. Imagine if somehow Bully Ray takes the belt.

I'm honestly not that concerned with who takes the belt. The fact is, anyone who is not named Austin Aries, that wins that title right now sucks anyway (if we're counting what's currently in TNA's X Division), so I'm putting more focus into the push Aries will get, and what it can do for his career in TNA than I am with why/how he lost or what will happen to the title and it's new owner.

Fact is, the X Division hasn't been all that entertaining for years, and it's because TNA failed miserably to stock it with budding young stars that could eventually break out of it when it's Golden Era of performers all moved up the card (Joe, Daniels, AJ, Kaz).