And you know that this isn't going to happen, how? I think HHH is basically the perfect Authority figure. He still likes the pops, he still likes the fans to mark out, but in the end, he likes to have to make "the hard decisions." He's basically like EVERYONE's REAL boss. Sorta likeable, but constantly screwing people over.
That's easy. I don't. I don't KNOW what's going to happen in the future.
However, I THINK HHH isn't going to grow into that role and this is why I think that;
-I'm very sure that the 'ongoing' story with DB is the ONLY Heel-ish part of HHH that still exists to some degree or another in the span of these eight months. You had the repeated humiliation of Big Show(which ran into a brick wall leading up to Survivor Series), and the brief feud with the Rhodes family (which seemed to peter out once Cody/Golddust took the Tag Belts from the Shield), not to mention a developing potential feud with CM Punk(which took a total nose dive after Punk walked out). After those faded away, what were they replaced with? Largely nothing. That just leaves the DB saga in the midst of largely neutral actions. The Midcard Riot was washed away like it was nothing, there was nothing at all being done with the Midcard titles other than just plain matches, and even the likes of John Cena were largely ignored even though you'd think the Ultimate Babyface would actually step up and do SOMETHING about this regime, especially if he was in direct contention to it in the Unification Bout and the Royal Rumble.
-On a further note, the relationship with Randy Orton is relatively far from stable, and that's not actually a good thing as far as drama is concerned. On the one hand, this is largely what we got past Summerslam- an endorsed Face of the Franchise who got in by his relations and not his talent and who is proving over and over again that he can't score the kind of clean win that cements his reign. And in doing so causes chafing between the Champion and his endorser, which in turn allows HHH to have a sort of Face outlook on Orton's future at the top. Unfortunately, this demeans the overall emotion of the plot because you can almost SEE the HHH jettison coming at some point, which weakens the impact when Orton finally loses.
-The notion of Faces and Heels no longer existing because of HHH has been discussed already on this board, but here's the problem with that approach in a nutshell; it's not going to produce Bad-Ass Heroes or Monstrous Villains who stomp their opponents instead of running away. It's just going to muddle the emotional impact. People think Steve Austin and The Rock were great as babyfaces because they got to be BAD ASS Babyfaces. They were great from an emotional standpoint because they had such a Heat-Catching Hive of Dastardly Deceitfulness standing opposite them. Take THAT away, put them in a largely neutral playing field dependant on one's own actions, and you get a lot of confusion and misdirection and you can't make any really investing plots because of it. And HHH is currently demonstrating why this is a misguided idea, because his Face actions are starting to cut the knees out from the Heel Role he started out with at SummerSlam, which is in turn killing off some of the inevitable payoff.
-In order for the Evil Mastermind plan to work, you do need a coherent and precise plotline laid down in advance, akin to career suicide in the world of Wrestling. A lot of things have to be changed on the fly, and when the plans are stretched out beyond a month or so, they really start to suffer (Rock/Cena anyone?). In this case, hindsight allows one to see incidents in the last several months were a smarter HHH that better embraced the evil could have manipulated and quelled rebellions and undesireables while still looking like a Face... but try making THAT happen on the fly.
