Possible Face Turn For Del Rio

[Da Solo]

His current character could never be a face. That would be like having a face JBL, which I'm pretty sure we could never imagine.

Now if you slap the mask on him and make him be Dos Caras Jr. again, then maybe you have a case. But to be honest, DelRio at this point would need to cure cancer, get pregnant, grow wings and fly for the crowd to pay him any attention whatsoever, so I'm not sure what exactly a face turn could accomplish.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Personally, I'd love to see a face turn for Alberto del Rio, and my rationale for wanting this is actually quite simple. He's been absolutely brutal in his current incarnation as a heel. He's been doing the exact same schtick for approximately three years now, and it isn't working whatsoever for me, and I don't think it is working for the vast majority of the WWE Universe. Yes he's a rich aristocratic foreigner. Yes it's his destiny. Blah blah blah. Simple fact of the matter is, he's been boring as hell for pretty much his entire tenure in the WWE, and if he remains as he is, doing the same old same old, companies like Nytol are going to go out of business because he's a sure fire cure for insomnia. I don't care how technically skilled a wrestler he allegedly is. I care even less about his history or his lineage. He makes me either change the channel or fall asleep, and I'm not alone.

At least a face turn is different, a welcome change of pace from his current tired routine. Will it work? No one knows, and frankly I'm skeptical it will, but at least it might work, whereas what he's doing now is not working. Why not give it a try? Pair him up with Rosa Mendez. Keep him affiliated with Rodriguez. And try the face turn. If it works, that's great. If not, he either reverts back to suspended animation where he's been languishing, and no harm has been done. Or, WWE can finally pull the plug, at least knowing they pursued all possibilities prior to cutting him loose.

He cannot keep doing the same old tired routine for another three years. He simply can't.

 

[theBec2101]

Good, because he is not a creditable heel. That is probably the only way people will like him at all. I know we have heels but I like heels I can watch them, but Del Rio I can’t. I skip his promos and most of his matches. He is very boring to me. He needs a change.

 

[El Rev sXe]

I stll can't understand why after winning the WWE championship not once, but twice ADR needs to shout "DESTINY!" every single time he is about to lock up the armbreaker. The rich aristocrat character is basically one dimensional, how the hell is this going to work as a face?

For ADR to become a great face he needs to change completely his character, I'm not fond of the idea but I can see one scenario: (not sure how or why but) ADR can go back to his mexican roots, put the mask on (or not) and be once again Dos Caras, maybe with another name. But that's the only way I can portray him as a succsesful face.

I'm not against the idea of him turning face, however I doubt is going to work with his current persona.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I think ADR, if anything needs to become a bigger heel. He can easily become the top heel. He is rich and selfish. That's pretty much the trendy thing to hate on nowadays. However, if they really want to make him into a babyface, then I think there may be a way. I always loved ADR as I saw him as some scarface type character almost or some cartel member. Obviously WWE can't use anything like that in their storyline because this is a family show. But if you ever watch these kinds of characters in tv shows, they might be feared and hated by their enemies, but often times are respected by people in their area and those who are loyal. This is usually because a lot of that illegly required wealth goes to protecting local businesses and giving money back to the community. If you saw American Gangster, he went out distributing turkeys to all the poor people during the holidays. Essentially you give the people what they want and protect them. Well the way I see this happening is using what we already have. His character is incredibly rich, there are reports of major efforts to make the show edgier, people have been begging for the show to become edgier, the shield is going around destroying all the faces. What if there was a storyline where Alberto Del Rio "bought" the WWE. He took over and started giving the fans what they want. This will give WWE a chance to abuse their social media and RawActive stuff and give him credit for the push towards edginess. This would also be a huge shock. True a lot of us would know VKM still owns it, but we get our edgier show and kids get to believe it and be shocked. Just like the 2001 purchase of WCW. We all knew it was VKM and not Shane, but it was still huge. Then to make him seem even more of a face, he can offer protection from the shield by really cracking down on them. He can put them in matches against some of their victims with more of their victims as lumberjacks. He can ensure that no more attacks like that happen. This would really work great if the shield grew bigger and became a major threat. ADR could lead the faces to fight the shield. On top of that, to get a cheap pop, and boost fan attendance possibly(for the lesser informed), what if at the end of each show he gave away his car. Of course these are all rentals but if they are his Kayfabe then why not give them away Kayfabe? Just have an audience plant. Next we satisfy the demand for the WWE to showcase their younger developmental talent. Each week he can feature more people from NXT and FCW and give a contract to one each month, paying them ouot of his own wealth. This gives us more to use during the longer 3 hour show. He can still be the same oold cocky asshole, but this time direct this attitude towards the heels. He can call the heels peasant criminals that cheat their way to the top. He own't need to cheat anymore because he won;t be in the title hunt, having achieved something much higher than champion. He would still do matches here and there against heels who oppose him and put the bad guys in their place. With a lighter wrestling schedule, he can start doing a lot of charity work(make a wish, be a star, etc), just as the rich crime lord type character in TV shows often does. I don't think he would be the most over face or some big baby face, but this would at least be a face turn without changing his character. Then this also sets him up for a heel turn to become a more hated heel. I personally love him as a heel though.

 

[martymcfly]

I'm going to be in the minority here, but I think that's a really solid idea. He's gotten as much mileage out of being a heel as he can--at least for now--and a face turn seems like a logical next step in order to get him back up into main events again. I think he could easily pull it off. I'd also add that the fact that so many people find it difficult to picture him as a face attests strongly to his acting abilities with his time as a heel.

 

[XXJJ]

Remember when Triple H put a 100k bounty on Goldberg? That is the type of stuff they should of been doing with Del Rio. Since he couldn't beat Orton it would of been perfect if he did something like that. Their is so much more they could of done with his gimmick.

Even though he is a solid in ring worker he is a big time flop. He worked with every top star (Orton,Cena,Edge,Sheamus,Mysterio Punk) in the company and still cant draw heat. Doing a complete overhaul with his character might not be a bad thing.

 

[Slowdude]

A tease for a face turn. As i said in the Miz's face turn topic there are several heels (such as miz and del rio) that have been heels for the past 3-5 years and and allot of them have been getting stale when fighting the same list of faces over and over. Thus face turns for some of these individuals is needed. We got The Miz's face turn and Del Rio's was teased at TLC. I see no harm in heels that have long since lost their way turning face so we can get some new fresh feuds.

 

[Bone For Tuna]

The problem is that Ricardo is clearly the more likeable of the two and more likely to work as a face... Yes it'd be a re-run of DiBiase and Virgil, but it could work if suddenly it came out that Ricardo is Del Rio's older brother and thus in line for all the money... Suddenly the roles are reversed and Ricardo slowly turns more nasty while Del Rio gains more sympathy as he realises he made Ricardo into this monster by his own actions.

I really like the last half of that and I think it would be pretty entertaining if they went down that route, minus the whole being brothers thing. There is a few random tag teams at the moment, particularly the champs and I think Del Rio and Ricardo would make a nice addition to the scene and it would be a nice change for Del Rio's character. I've said it before, I think it would be awesome to see Ricardo win the titles in an upset and gloat about it like it was the greatest thing ever, all the while Del Rio is just kinda like whatever. Then they could have Ricardo get more confident and cocky and almost just become a bully, while Del Rio watches this all happen before his eyes. Then it's just a matter of building up to when Ricardo inevitably crosses the line and Del Rio is forced to do something about it. Besides maybe the Rhodes Scholars I couldn't really see anyone legit beating the current champs at the moment anyway.

 

[Mustang Sally]

So, what's the deal? I thought a face turn for a guy who functioned as a dyed-in-the-wool heel would be an earth-shaking event. When something like this happens, it's usually spurred by a major betrayal or event that causes the heel to rally to the side of justice. Instead, we have Alberto Del Rio fighting on the side of the good guys.....with no fanfare at all. What got this started?

It was disconcerting to watch ADR lose the anger he's displayed these past few months and get along well with his tag-mates (do you like that term?). He gives Rodriguez a friendly smile and hand-slap before the match, which certainly hasn't happened before. How did he lose the rage so quickly? Valium?

Of course, it's probably not a coincidence the writers picked The Miz as his partner; we aren't 100% certain yet whether Mizanin is truly a face. Yes, he's fighting bad guys, which is usually the clearest indication of the way a performer will go, but Miz still presents in his brash, wise guy persona, and it's hard to tell exactly what the plans for him are.

Still, the third man in the ring with ADR and Miz was Brooklyn Brawler and Tommy Dreamer, both of whom are no one's idea of heels, right? If a guy is fighting on their side, he's a good guy, right?

I have no problem with him turning face, but I surely expected a storyline behind it. Where did all this come from?


**********

Incidentally, I loved seeing the "old hands" sprinkled in the proceedings last night. It was great to see Tommy Dreamer, Ricky Steamboat, Ron Simmons and the Old Age Outlaws play minor roles. That's the way to do it when honoring the old guard: don't look for them to play major parts, but do let us see them occasionally.

 

[HBsam31]

As usually I am going to agree with Sally. I have no problem with ADR turning face, but why? I was reading the results of TLC on this site, and all of a sudden he was fighting for the faces. As Sally said the last few weeks he had develpoped this mean streak, and then out of no where he is slapping hands with fans and giving Ricardo back massages before the match. I understand their need to have a strong Latino face, but God, give us a story explaining why. He has been heel for a long time, and I think it will be fresh to see him on the side of good, but I think they could have been a bit more creative about it.

 

[Slash-LN]

So, what's the deal? I thought a face turn for a guy who functioned as a dyed-in-the-wool heel would be an earth-shaking event. When something like this happens, it's usually spurred by a major betrayal or event that causes the heel to rally to the side of justice. Instead, we have Alberto Del Rio fighting on the side of the good guys.....with no fanfare at all. What got this started?

It was disconcerting to watch ADR lose the anger he's displayed these past few months and get along well with his tag-mates (do you like that term?). He gives Rodriguez a friendly smile and hand-slap before the match, which certainly hasn't happened before. How did he lose the rage so quickly? Valium?

Of course, it's probably not a coincidence the writers picked The Miz as his partner; we aren't 100% certain yet whether Mizanin is truly a face. Yes, he's fighting bad guys, which is usually the clearest indication of the way a performer will go, but Miz still presents in his brash, wise guy persona, and it's hard to tell exactly what the plans for him are.

Still, the third man in the ring with ADR and Miz was Brooklyn Brawler and Tommy Dreamer, both of whom are no one's idea of heels, right? If a guy is fighting on their side, he's a good guy, right?

I have no problem with him turning face, but I surely expected a storyline behind it. Where did all this come from?


**********

Incidentally, I loved seeing the "old hands" sprinkled in the proceedings last night. It was great to see Tommy Dreamer, Ricky Steamboat, Ron Simmons and the Old Age Outlaws play minor roles. That's the way to do it when honoring the old guard: don't look for them to play major parts, but do let us see them occasionally.

As you mentioned it's the same thing with the Miz. There was no real storyline for either of them so are they really faces now? Is this just a ploy to make everyone thing they are "good guys" that's going to end in a swerve?
I don't know if anyone else caught it but last night when Del Rio got out of his car he actually gave a fan a five.
I really don't know for sure what's going on with Del Rio or Miz. I don't like Del Rio at all so even if he becomes a full fledged face I'm still not going to cheer for him.
I will say it will be somewhat interesting to see where we go from here.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't know if anyone else caught it but last night when Del Rio got out of his car he actually gave a fan a five.

It's amazing how a complete asshole can become a great guy just by deciding to change sides, huh?

Interesting how Ricardo Rodriguez has also suddenly "gone good" in the wake of Del Rio's apparent face change. It reminds me of the good old days when Bret Hart turned face after years of heel-dom. (Didn't he hold down Randy Savage while Honky Tonk Man smashed the guitar over his head?). I remember thinking it was amazing that Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Bret's tag team partner, suddenly became a good guy, too. Hell, changes of heart must be infectious, huh?

Also, what becomes of Rosa Mendez' impending alliance with Del Rio? Weren't they setting things up for her to join him and Ricardo? I was looking forward to a female presence in the ADR camp, especially since a heel Del Rio would probably present as a raging chauvinist, giving me lots of reasons to do a slow burn.

I suppose they can turn Rosa face too, and make them all one big, happy familia.

 

[J-sin]

Del Rio's sudden Face Turn with no Storyline or explanation reminds me of the night after the whole WCW/ECW invasion angle ended. Stone Cold came out and he was the old Texas Rattlesnake again and we were all supposed to act as if the whole year and a half before that night (when SCSA was the top heel not to mention the leader of WCW/ECW) was just a figment of our imagination.
Also to a lesser extent (because it was an emergency last minute decision) was when Batista had to vacate his title, Kurt Angle won the championship Battle Royal and all of a sudden he went from being the Anti-American A$$hole, always bagging out the US troops, he even had Daivari as a side kick. Next thing u know, he was the All-American Hero again.
Honorable mention goes to CM Punk taking out The Rock.

 

[rb286]

This sudden face turn literally makes no sense to me and it feels like the WWE had no more ideas for him so they just rushed his turn just to keep Del Rio on TV. Hopefully we'll get some sort of explanation but it does seem rather odd that he's gone from a complete bad guy to slapping hands with the fans.

 

[info62]

This sudden face turn literally makes no sense to me and it feels like the WWE had no more ideas for him so they just rushed his turn just to keep Del Rio on TV. Hopefully we'll get some sort of explanation but it does seem rather odd that he's gone from a complete bad guy to slapping hands with the fans.

I think you are right - Del Rio is not getting over as a heel and they don't have much else to do with him to try and change that, so they just rushed a face turn. I can't fault them for the choice to turn him face since if he's not working as a heel, there's nothing to lose by trying a face turn.

I think he's still going to need a storyline or something to get over though. The writing team has been awful lately, more awful than usual, so I'm almost scared of what they come up with, if they even bother trying to come up with an explanation at all. Whatever they end up doing, I hope it works, since ADR is one of the only people on the roster that I like.

As for Miz I could not care less about his face turn or if its successful. He is useless and thats why I didn't bother posting in his face turn thread. so I dont know why he was being bought up in this one.

 

[berlinbrawler]

It's funny. Only a couple of weeks ago I was talking to a friend about Del Rio and, full of conviction, I made the point the WWE would never ever turn Alberto babyface, because he is a natural and pure heel and that this guy with his look could never pull off playing the good guy. (And that's not a bad thing, either. I wish there were less guys that could be either at any time.)

Fast forward to today and it is evident that I have been at least half-wrong. The WWE did indeed turn him babyface. Officially anyway.
I still stand by that other part I said, though. I don't see him getting over as a face. Ever. Just like I can't ever imagine Kofi Kingston being a bad guy. (Although I would say Kofi has a better chance of proving me wrong than Berto).

I predict 2013 is going to be a dim year for ADR until, eventually, they will give up and turn him back heel, at which point you will see a huge wave of relieve wash over him.

 

[DirtyD79]

Judging by the reaction he got in Pittsburgh I'd say he's a big hit with the crickets and frogs. I don't know if they piped in some cheers for the TV broadcast but being in the building live that audience basically didn't care.

 

[mojmass]

This came to my mind at tlc with him teaming with the miz against 3mb and also the next raw after that and in the last raw with santa accident and him trying to convince it was just an accident it got stronger in my mind so does anybody know anything about this or have other ideas or comments?

 

[BC1978]

Yeah I they're turning him face... I hate the idea but the again he was a Huge Face in Mexico. My guess with Sin Cara being injury prone and Rey's career winding down they're going to have Del Rio be the face of WWE Mexico.

I'm also assuming that this will set up Dolph as the Champ so he'll have some over Main Event Faces to Feud with.... Seamus, Del Rio, Miz.

 

[info62]

This came to my mind at tlc with him teaming with the miz against 3mb and also the next raw after that and in the last raw with santa accident and him trying to convince it was just an accident it got stronger in my mind so does anybody know anything about this or have other ideas or comments?

Yes, this is probably a face turn.

A bad one.

ADR hits Santa but it was not really Alberto Del Snitsky's fault and he's so sorry. Obviously, this will make ADR the biggest face of the company in a short matter of time.

This is probably the worst face turn storyline since MVP's losing streak. I love ADR & think he has potential as either a heel or a face but this is just crap writing. I don't see how a face is supposed to get the fans behind him when he's being portrayed as such an idiotic character - I guess they are trying to set him up for a redemption type storyline but it will probably fail just like the previously mentioned MVP losing streak redemption storyline failed.

 

[Da Prophet]

I love Alberto de Rio's matches, but for some reason, he can't connect with the audience. I can't figure out why that is. Is it his name? His looks? I don't know...

He's boring as bat shit.

Not a single ounce of character development since his debut match on Smackdown. He's not done a single thing to advance his character. Del Rio constantly speaks about the same old shit and people have been sick of it since last year. He gets no reaction because he sucks at his job. If Health Slater can get heat then why can't a former 2 time WWE Champion? It's because he sucks.

This face turn will not do anything for Del Rio. He sucks and when someone sucks at something it's best that they just move on. The fans don't care about him because he is dull and simply changing his words so that he comes off as a good guy isn't enough. People have been blasted with some much boring shit from Del Rio that a face turn is worthless.

 

[King Regal]

I'm a big fan of Del Rio in the ring but I think he will struggle to be a convincing face. Hopefully his stock won't fall too far if he doesn't turn back within a year.
The only positive I can see coming out of a face run is that Ricardo may get a chance to show his own skills - if Del Rio can't succeed in singles them make them a face tag team now that the division is getting stronger.

 

[Christian Faith]

I was a little confused last week after he ran over Santa. I thought he had suddenly turned again. I also expected him to attack Ricardo on Raw this week but I was wrong.

It appears Alberto has had a complete character change. He even got a few cheers from what I could hear.

I am surprised but will give this face turn a chance. He can't be any more boring than he already was.

 

[enviousdominous]

Thank you for pointing out that they've misused him for so long up until now. I see too many people (stupidly) blaming Del Rio for his lack of long term success.

People, especially the IWC, want to hang on what inspires their more harsh criticisms. Sadly, those who are pathetically fucking stupid like to take the easier route and craft idiotic pejoratives based on low brow observations of someone's talent.

Del Rio has talent, and it has been wasted by WWE creative. He doesn't have a thick Spanish accent, but now he has to use one even if he wants to be taken seriously. He's not incapable of doing more interesting moves than an armbar for a finisher, but he has to be limited to a select few stupid moves only so that he doesn't upstage the shiny balls of shit working in the top tier of the WWE.

I would love to see him perform as a face, he damn well deserves to start something beyond pretending to be a wealthy Spanish ******. I'm sad to say that even if he's granted that and even if the fans swallow their pride for ten seconds and give him another chance, a Randy Orton or a Shaemus is going to argue backstage that they shouldn't have to lay down for him simply because of who he played before his face turn.

For that matter, Ricardo Rodriguez is capable of putting on five star matches if they'd ever let him. Anyone who's watched his Chikara matches know where I'm coming from.

Fucking idiots will say "Del Rio sucks this, when he's not blowing that" and fall over laughing at anything that Ricardo ever does simply because that's what the racist morons in the WWE creative department have planted in their misshapen heads.