Do you think they made the right decision turning Rowan face and Harper heel?

[Anaxamander]

I have to say it surprised me. Going back to the Wyatt family, Rowan was the one I couldn't picture as a face. It almost seemed like they turned him simply to have a storyline going into the Survivor Series main event. I don't think the audience quite knows how to receive the guy as a face when he wears that creepy sheep mask down to the ring, and he doesn't really exhibit many classic face qualities.

Now, not to say that Luke Harper has exhibited any of those face-like qualities, but it's not hard for me to imagine his intensity and memorable move set winning over fans. It just seems to me that they should switch roles.

 

[The Mattitude Era]

I think Rowan has good potential as a kind of lovable giant country bumpkin type. At least that's how he comes across to me.

 

[Reflection]

I disagree. No one would care about Rowan for long if he was a heel; he would be the same old angry monster that goes on a rampage and short winning streak before people start getting bored and things start falling apart. Instead, by having him as a face, representing the good fans and their leader John Cena against the evil authority, he gets cheered every night and his spin kick or splash also gets appreciated more. Also, it is much more difficult for an angry monster to bounce back from a defeat than someone with the people's support. So that works in his favour too.

Luke Harper would have been cool as a face, but adding him to Team Authority and winning the Intercontinental title from the guy with everyone's sympathy, had a bigger payoff, in my opinion. There is a shortage of effective heels in the mid card right now, and Harper fills that void to a good extent. The WWE went with this unexpected role-assignment with Ambrose and Rollins earlier this year, when the former was turned face and the latter was turned heel, much to the surprise of the majority of us. They are trying it out here as well, and it seems to be working out fine.

 

[Soulblazed]

I dunno....I mean, the only way I see Rowan being a successful face is if they don't turn him into some lovable, Hillybilly Jim-esque face, which would truly be worthy of being called Wrestlecrap. Rowan's gotta continue to be the enigmatic, badass face who noone can figure out and I think he'll do just fine from there..

 

[L@RISANO]

I like how they have changed Rowan's character into a loveable giant, and with fair enough booking for a midcarder, I think he is set for a little while in such a role.

Had he been left as a Heel, I'd say that people would not have reacted much to him, and thus, the only option then would have been to book him as an unstoppable monster who fades when conquered. Thus, this unlikely face run is just going ensure his place in Creative's plans for a while as fans will be curious about his and Harper's story in time.


On Harper; Given his ability in the ring, I think he'll be just right as a possible Kane replacement going forward. Not to mention his creepy look as well. Imagine if he gets one Major Storyline as a top villain, that would definitely set him for the long-term as Kane's successor.

 

[Mudlup50]

I'm pretty sure they made the right pick, as a heel you are most of the time in direct control of the match. A heel usually controls a vast majority of the match, and due to this you need to know a lot of moves to keep the match moving. Luke knows a lot of moves. As a face your job is to have a few moves that the fans pop for and to be decent on the mic. Just by saying "I don't like bullies" he's managed to find himself a little tiny niche. Give him time and it might grow.

That being said, I don't think they're going to keep him solo for long. I think TLC they made both ex Wyatt guys lose, and had Bray win so that way Bray looks like the best out of them, so maybe they're setting up to bring them back together during the Rumble?

 

[Mustang Sally]

How WWE sees the structure of tag teams probably has something to do with it. When the Shield broke up, you might think they'd all be heels, since that's what they were as a team. Instead, two of them turn face. Of course, this offers the chance for the members of a former team to now face each other as individuals, so that's good.

When the Rockers separated, Jannetty stayed face while Michaels turned heel. Even when Nexus ended, guys like Gabriel and Slater became faces pretty quickly. Circumstances of the storyline usually contributed to the cause of a performer's attitude change when his team broke up.

With Bray's gang, though, it's a bit different. There was no reason explained why his group split, was there? Still, WWE went with the time-tested method of handling such things; in this case, two guys stayed heel and one turned face.

Why Erick "Mensa" Rowan? As far as I could see, he and Luke Harper are interchangeable; management could have made Harper the face and left "Mensa" bad. But while Harper was depicted as crazy.....and crazy doesn't often lend itself to good guy status.....Rowan's character was completely pliable; they could do whatever they wanted with him because he never spoke while a member of the team..... we had no idea what he was about.

Frankly, I find his new path refreshing. First, he now talks......not very much, but he does. Second, the irony in learning he hates bullies after having spent so much time as one, gives him something unique to run with.

I think they picked correctly....and a big guy like Rowan will always have something useful to do in WWE as long as Vince McMahon continues loving those big galoots.

 

[RedRegan1005]

Did they make the right decision? Yes. Is it playing out as well as they probably planned. Not really but its still to early to call.

It made sense. They broke up the Wyatt family and wanted to separate everybody to give them their own identity. Harper went heel and to help separate them they had Rowan go face. However it looks like they came up with idea of turning him face just to have him go opposite Harper and join team Cena. It seems like they don't know what they're gonna do with him now. He's early on in his single run and WWE hasn't done anything to get the crowd behind him or give him some credibility. He lost to big show at TLC, got knocked out and pinned in a six man the next night on RAW, and lost another six man tag the next night on the Tuesday SmackDown special. I don't think they have any idea what to do with him. So sadly I for-see Rowan being repackaged just months from now.

 

[LBGetBack]

I have to say it surprised me. Going back to the Wyatt family, Rowan was the one I couldn't picture as a face. It almost seemed like they turned him simply to have a storyline going into the Survivor Series main event. I don't think the audience quite knows how to receive the guy as a face when he wears that creepy sheep mask down to the ring, and he doesn't really exhibit many classic face qualities.

Now, not to say that Luke Harper has exhibited any of those face-like qualities, but it's not hard for me to imagine his intensity and memorable move set winning over fans. It just seems to me that they should switch roles.

I still have no idea why he turned, when they split, when they split from Wyatt, etc. Did I miss something?

Like they were all together.....and then they weren't. And then Rowan was face. Umm...why? What was the cause of the split and face turn? I'm against any turn that comes out of nowhere for no reason with little to no explanation.

 

[MartialHorror]

Both should've remained heels.

Rowans make no sense because "he apparently dislikes bullies", despite being one even worse than the Big Show throughout the entire family run.

 

[OYDK]

I agree with you that I never saw Rowan as a face when the Wyatts were together, but once Bray described Rowan as "a big child", I kind of figured the direction they were going to take with him. I expected more of a gimmick where Rowan actually acted like an innocent, naive child, but I'll say I'm pretty happy with the direction WWE took with him. He seems to be getting over rather well as a face, and it fits much more well with his ring style than it would Harpers. Harper has the ability to control the majority of a match, while still putting on a good performance, which is more the heel role, while Rowan has a few explosive moves that he can hit during a "comeback", which is more the face role.

As for Harper, I just can not imagine him as a face. He screams heel to me and is also doing a rather good job in his current role. I think based off how it has turned out, WWE did make the right decision.

 

[Navi]

When I heard they were breaking the Wyatt's up I seriously thought Harper would go on to bigger things, and Rowan would be forgotten about and ultimately let go. When he walked down the ramp as the last member of Team Cena I just about died. We were on the RAW live discussion thread at the time and none of us could believe what we were seeing. We were expecting Orton, Rowan is the last person we expected to see.

I'm so happy to see that they've turned him a face, and that he's not going to get lost in the mix. They need some monster faces, and by that I mean big guys to balance out the heels, and he seems to have embraced his new role. Rowan does come across as the big lovable giant, so much different from the role he played as part of Wyatt's group.

Harper and Rowan will I don't think ever be main event material, not with Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins and the rest waiting in the wings. They can however put on good matches and I see nothing wrong with either one of them holding the mid card titles. Harper already has.

I like Rowan and am glad to see they've found a spot for him. It seems to be working and the fans are siding with him.

 

[kadroan]

I think they did the right thing. I'm not a fan of Rowan's theme song. I don't think it fits his character.

I'm assuming Harper is goig to be a serious wrestler. Meanwhile, Rowan is this generation's Big Show.

 

[OYDK]

Meanwhile, Rowan is this generation's Big Show.

The Big Show is a 2 time WCW Champion, 2 time WCW Tag Team Champion, 1 time ECW Champion, 2 time World Heavyweight Champion, 2 time WWE Champion, 5 time WWE Tag Team Champion, 1 time IC Champion, and 1 time US Champion...

I'd say being this generation's Big Show is a pretty damn good thing.

 

[Mudlup50]

I see everyone pointing out the irony in Rowan "not liking bullies" when he was one just a couple months ago. But I don't quite think he was a bully, we seem to be forgetting who he was exactly. He was a mindless follower of Bray Wyatt(a cult leader), he was doing what he thought was right.

A lot of people are forgetting that even in the world of WWE, no one thinks of themselves as evil. Rowan was doing what he was told to do by someone who equates to a father, friend, god(if you want to go this far) so of course he thought he was in the right. If anything, Bray was the only heel one in the group. Just about every heel faction I can think of, the leader was the one who stayed heel after the break. Remember Evolution? First Orton went face. Then Batista went face.

Let me try in another way. All the people who killed themselves due to that cult leader(I can't think of his name to save my life). The people who killed themselves weren't evil, they were just led by a charismatic leader(Bray Wyatt). Rowan has found a new thing to be passionate about(being against bullies), and thus has broken away from the Wyatt family.

 

[d_henderson1810]

One thing that would build Rowan as a sympathetic face, and a force to be reckoned with is to have him have a feud with Bray Wyatt.

Maybe Bray should reveal during his promos that Rowan walked out on his teachings, and he needs to be won back to the flock, as no-one leaves the Wyatt Family unless "the father" says so.

This can then pit Bray and Rowan against each other, as Rowan tries to escape the Wyatt Family's influence, and Bray tries to draw him back in. Rowan can say that he is no longer "brainwashed" by Bray Wyatt.

This would give him a great storyline, and explain why he is both a face and no longer in the Wyatt Family.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Absolutely not. They've both done well with what they've been given since but it's as simple as this: Harper is a very entertaining wrestler, Rowan is not. It's almost as silly as Cesaro being a heel but wrestling like the terminator.

 

[MartialHorror]

One thing that would build Rowan as a sympathetic face, and a force to be reckoned with is to have him have a feud with Bray Wyatt.

Maybe Bray should reveal during his promos that Rowan walked out on his teachings, and he needs to be won back to the flock, as no-one leaves the Wyatt Family unless "the father" says so.

This can then pit Bray and Rowan against each other, as Rowan tries to escape the Wyatt Family's influence, and Bray tries to draw him back in. Rowan can say that he is no longer "brainwashed" by Bray Wyatt.

This would give him a great storyline, and explain why he is both a face and no longer in the Wyatt Family.

People would likely cheer for Wyatt, as Rowan continues to be ignored by the crowds during his matches. Furthermore, that would be a pretty awful match.

 

[chicagokmc]

Here is how I look at it: Despite the fact that Bray was still cutting some decent promos, the Wyatt family storylines were becoming stale and repetitive. I think it was good that they took them off screen for awhile when they did. The promos we started getting going into a bit of the background of Harper and Rowan, to me, was a sign of possibly more focus on them in the future. I don't think any more explanation was needed - it's the Wyatt family, they've revealed enough about motivations while still keeping some mystery about them. Not going into detail about why Harper/Rowan left the nest is in character. And it addresses the fact that something had to change with what they were doing with the Wyatts.

Everything after that is WWE testing some things out by seeing where Harper and Rowan could go as singles wrestlers. Royal Rumble/end of the Authority storyline gave a good opportunity to test some things, like siding Harper with the Authority and even giving him a belt for a short while and putting Rowan in opposition of all that. I think WWE thinks its playing with house money and I agree. Remember this wasn't a Shield kind of split where there is so much storyline hatred that it would be pretty hard to see them together again in the future. With the Wyatts, I could see Bray "getting the team back together" if a storyline called for it. And unless there is going to be an upcoming Harper/Rowan feud I could even see the two of them getting together again to be tag team champs.

As far as Rowan being a good fit as a face, given the promos and what little personality we saw with them as part of the Wyatt family, Rowan seems a bit more of the sympathetic, misunderstood figure. That seems to play a bit better as a face. Will he be successful as a singles face? Don't know but I at least think it was better to see him as a face over Harper.

 

[WarroBODFan]

I don't have a problem at all with the actual idea, but I have a problem with the execution of it. Absolutely no build, and absolutely no explanation as to why Rowan has turned face, and in-turn is against his former "brother" Harper. No reason as to why we're suddenly supposed to care about Rowan when a lot of our attention during the Wyatt family run was obviously on Bray, and secondary to Harper. Rowan was often the afterthought even then. It's just typical rushed WWE booking.

 

[thebarber]

neither will be relevant in their current gimmicks after Royal Rumble. Leaving them as a tag team and putting the gold on them made sense, now they are just a modern day Moondogs. Will win matches on the road but will be staring at lights on tv

 

[BRAT]

I think the WWE made the right decision making Erick face and not Luke,but they should have kept him face until Survivor Series. I would prefer to see Erick Rowan turn on Team Cena and turn heel again. As I have understood they want to make him the new monster of the company. Michael Cole calls him the Big Red and it's kinda awkward to call a face like that. He could also have the stairs match against Big Show but as a heel,win and become a top heel.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

No, but not the way the question is asked.


Rowan should be a heel. With a mask like the one Undertaker had when he broke his orbital bone. Being that he is supposedly super smart, he should cut quiet promos about parts of his opponents anatomy he is going to injure very intelligently. He already has the coveralls going, go ahead and complete a Micheal Myers-esque look for him

No one gets him as a face, because well, he doesnt make any fucking sense.


Harper is perfect in his role.