The Problem With WWE's Face Roster

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We all know WWE's baby face roster is just poor, right now. They only have 3 main baby faces that the crowd care about,Cena, Ambrose, Bryan. 2 of witch are gone for right now. one for a movie, and the other due to injury.

The heels feel like the baby faces, as they never stand tall at the end of the shows, only on ppvs. the baby faces should hardly ever win on Raw or smackdown. they should be the underdog and stand tall at the ppvs. The baby faces are being booked way to strong and almost in human like, which makes the crowd not kinect with them.

The only baby faces being booked right are Dean Ambrose and Dolph ziggler.Dean who wants revenge over seth, is understandable and we all want to see him win, witch hasn't happend yet until he returns, which is the right thing to do. it builds up to when Dean overcomes the odds and beats Seth.Dolph is always booked as an underdog and he sells like a baby face should sell, just barley coming out with the win. i have just been frustrated recently by the way WWE books there baby faces wining at the end of every RAW or smackdown.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think you left out a few babyfaces that the fans seem to care about: Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, The Usos, Mark Henry, Big Show.

As for the heels never standing tall, I'm not at all sure what you're talking about. There've been plenty of examples over the course of the past year in which The Authority and those associated with them have ultimately "won" the night. We saw it frequently during their program with Daniel Bryan, we saw it a little while back when Randy Orton beat down Roman Reigns, we saw it when Seth Rollins & Kane took out Dean Ambrose via a Curb Stomp through "cinderblocks." Over the course of Rusev's feud with Jack Swagger, look how many times Rusev has ultimately come out on top while WWE has ultimately been able to protect Swagger from looking weak in defeat.

For the most part, heels and babyfaces aren't portrayed as being equal because heels use dirty, underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. That's what "bad people" do in order to get ahead in life. Sometimes though, in pro wrestling, those tactics backfire sometimes in order to give the fans something of a feel good moment. The past few weeks, they've shown babyfaces standing tall a little more often when it's all said & done. In a little while, it'll go back to heels ultimately "winning the night" before going into some sort of more even balance. It's nothing at all new and is part of the business at its core. For instance, a distinct sign of one side having significant and consistent advantage over the other often points to the stronger side coming up short at the ppv. That's not always the case, but it is a good deal of the time. Again, that's part of the business at its core because ppv events are designed to deliver payoffs. Right now, Cena looks amazingly strong, but does that mean he ultimately walks out of NOC as champion? If it was anyone else, I'd probably say no. However, it's John Cena we're talking about and there's also the nature of how Brock Lesnar's deal is structured. Then again, nobody expected Cena to lose so lopsidedly against Lesnar at SummerSlam and maybe both sides have come to some sort of agreement in which Lesnar's deal is restructured to have more appearances, which could be an indicator that he'll retain at Night of Champions.

WWE is going overboard right now, however, with John Cena and that's due to Vince's sense of paranoia. Cena lost and lost badly against Lesnar, yet Vince is worried that one instance is somehow going to erase all the dominance that John Cena has enjoyed in WWE for the past 9 years or so. If anything, it's made Cena more interesting because nobody can really recall the last time when Cena looked so vulnerable or seemed like such an underdog. Even though Cena still generates gobs of money, a lot of those same people who spend money on Cena merchandise find "Super Cena" to be pretty stale. As a result, according to reports, he's taken it upon himself to book Cena looking particularly strong the past couple of weeks. I think it's one of the few, genuine examples in which a claim of him being out of touch with modern audiences carries some weight.

As far as babyfaces not being "booked right", that's a loaded phrase. From a business perspective, just because some wrestlers aren't being used in the way some fans want them to be doesn't mean they're not being "booked right." When Vince tried to move Daniel Bryan out of the main event scene late last year and early this year, it was a clear example of Bryan not being "booked right" because the VAST majority of fans let WWE officials know in no uncertain terms that they wanted Bryan in that spot. They didn't want to see Orton vs. Big Show for the title, they didn't want to see Orton vs. John Cena for the 5,875th time, they didn't want to see Orton vs. Batista at WrestleMania XXX, etc. I don't always like or agree with how some babyfaces or heels are booked, no fan does for that matter, but that doesn't mean that the wrong choice is being made.

 

[Just Do It]

This Authority "faction" just needs to go. It's boring. There is nothing compelling about it, nothing original. It's also rather unspecified as to what the hell it actually is. Heel authority figures are just old in general.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

This Authority "faction" just needs to go. It's boring. There is nothing compelling about it, nothing original. It's also rather unspecified as to what the hell it actually is. Heel authority figures are just old in general.

Creative has basically put the entire focus of the show on the Authority, so I can see the "boring" and "stale" comments.

But I'm not sure what you mean by "It's also rather unspecified as to what the hell it is actually".

I don't think it needs to be specified, it's obvious. Triple H and Steph are "real" authority figures in the company. And as time moves on, and Vince gets older, their power increases. So the on-screen presentation of them as being "The Authority" is playing off the real-life situation. Kane is like their "stooge", Orton is the veteran who kisses their ass to keep his spot in the company, and Rollins is their hand-picked "future face of the company". (Even though behind the scenes it's really Reigns). It's pretty cut-and-dry.

 

[MartialHorror]

The problem I have is that the heels can only do damage by cheating. Granted, underhanded tactics have been around since Pro Wrestling has, but I miss the days when I believed that both wrestlers were around the same level of kayfabe skill. When Triple H and Austin would feud, it was unpredictable who would come out on top every night.

These days, the faces almost always dominate and when they don't, it's because the heel had help. Are we supposed to buy Rollins are someone who can provide a threat to Cena, Reigns or even Ambrose when he can only harm his enemies with help? If Heath Slater had his own personal Kane to bail him out like Rollins has, then Heath Slater would probably be a contender for the belt as well.

Randy Orton brought back his legend killer persona, but the only time he brought Reigns down was when he blind sided him. Every other time, it was Roman who sent him away with his tail in between his legs...and then he won the match. At least when Cena would trash Orton on every show, it was a sign that Orton would win the PPV. That's traditional booking. But not with Reigns.

The only villain who consistently seems like a credible threat on his own is Brock Lesnar. Otherwise, heroes are only really compelling when they have good villains.

(If it's not clear, I refer to how strong they are written in-story, not their actual in-ring ability.)

 

[Terry Gyimah]

This Authority "faction" just needs to go. It's boring. There is nothing compelling about it, nothing original. It's also rather unspecified as to what the hell it actually is. Heel authority figures are just old in general.

You are so right and we have been wanting The Authority gone for the longest time but at the same time WWE needs to be making more babyface stars because sure they have Cena, Reigns, Ambrose, Bryan, Jericho, etc. but they need to build up more babyfaces

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

WWE had a great opportunity when Cesaro was getting over like crazy, and they blew it and made him a Heyman guy for all of like a month. Same scenario with Ryback.

They are either complacent, content, or both when it comes to establishing new faces. I think they are afraid of letting anyone outshine Cena (who's run on top has already been longer than Rock, Austin, and soon he'll eclipse Hogan's).

They say necessity is the mother of invention, so when Cena gets injured or retires, they will be forced to reevaluate things, and I think we'll see an influx of faces, while they try to anoint the next face of the company…and for the record I think Reigns is gonna have a decent run, but I don't think he's going to connect in the way they're hoping. I think the crowd is going to turn on him when they realize they're being force-fed.

 

[Radical]

I think the problem with the faces isn't so much that they are booked so strong. I think they need to be at points of the year so they aren't ALWAYS underdogs fighting and clawing to get a solid victory until the PPV, but I think WWE needs to let things happen more for those who it is already happening for and try something new for those who it's not really happening for.

For instance, Ryback is in a 'heel' tag team Rybaxel. But really, he's more over as a face. "Goldberg" chants are almost a term of endearment now and fans are chanting "Feed me more" when he's setting up for the Meathook even though he's supposed to be a heel. So when he comes back, WWE needs to listen better to their crowd and let him be a big, strong face. I know they don't want him to mess with their push of Reigns but he could stay mid-card but be STRONG in the mid-card.

Another example is Cesaro. They have to pick a direction with this guy. He gets cheers when he has strong matches where he doesn't even cheat and uses the beloved swing! So, decide! Is he going to be a heel? Now he has to do it without Heyman so he has to do something despicable so fans will hate him. I think he could do with some mic time and talk down to the fans. But if not, then just let him be face and Swing away.

As for an example where WWE did the RIGHT thing is with The Miz. Clearly, a terrible face, even with a cheap push from Flair and using the Figure 4. The Miz is just unlikeable. He comes off as cocky and arrogant even when he's trying to be a face. So WWE noticed this and have now given him the best gimmick since his 'chick magnet' days.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, so when Cena gets injured or retires, they will be forced to reevaluate things, and I think we'll see an influx of faces, while they try to anoint the next face of the company…and for the record I think Reigns is gonna have a decent run, but I don't think he's going to connect in the way they're hoping. I think the crowd is going to turn on him when they realize they're being force-fed.

I agree with this that they will be forced to reevaluate things once Cena is more out of the picture and we can see that they are trying with some guys right now so they'll have some guys established by the time Cena does hang 'em up. We can see that Reigns is being groomed. I am hoping the crowd won't turn on him, though, because, if WWE is smart they will not give them a reason to.

Right now, though, it is a big dangerous because while Reigns is getting good reactions and clearly gets a pop when he arrives and fans do want to see him, he hasn't shown really any new moves or sides of him since breaking up with The Shield, while Ambrose and Rollins have. That's why IWC, and others, are big fans. Reigns is not ever going to be the same type of talker on the mic that Rollins is or Ambrose or even his cousin The Rock. Reigns character works on image and intimidation. Look, Vader was never a star on the mic, but damn if he wasn't intimidating with the few words he said and the way he looked. I think the same will be for Reigns. He needs to be a bit more engaging still in his mic work and ring work but he's not terrible by any means and he is more of a physical specimen than Ambrose and Rollins and that's why he's being given the push, but that doesn't mean he can't also have good matches.

 

[e-wwe]

It is a big problem to be fair. The ratio of top heels to faces is too one sided. It's made apparent from mark Henry's double involvement with tag team action and rusev. Ambrose is by far the most over baby face in the company, but they need more

 

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i agree. especially about reigns, though i think he needs to show more personality than moves, even though he defiantly needs more moves.