WWE Babyfaces & Heels: Do They Even Exist Anymore?

In this so-called “Reality Era”, are the terms babyface and heel basically devoid of all meaning as fans basically make the decision who they cheer or boo and not the creative team?

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During Chris Jericho’s compelling podcast interview with John Cena that looked into his origins with the WWE and his role in the business today, the inevitable subject of a potential heel turn came to the forefront. Cena stated that the turn had been discussed during his feud against The Rock. However, it is what he said next that truly captured my imagination, and became the motivation behind this article:

"For all the guys that come up to me and say “Come on dude, turn heel”, my response to them is you boo me already anyway. I’m the biggest heel in the company. You want me to turn heel so what, you can cheer me?"

Cena discussed his supposed role as a babyface as being due to his love of the kids that make up a significant proportion of the audience, and basically raised the point that there would be absolutely no reason to turn him heel simply to appease those that boo him. That is for the simple reason that Cena wants to inspire and help those in need, and him becoming a heel would effectively turn him babyface. In all seriousness, the concept of turning him has now reached such a fever among fans over the years that if it were to happen he would be cheered in every match and lifted up on the shoulders of the guys that constantly deride his Super-Cena persona.

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Frankly, what could John Cena do to get a more negative reaction than the one he already gets? He could be standing on Daniel Bryan’s surgically repaired neck whilst wearing an average American citizen’s yearly salary in bling and still wouldn’t get anywhere near the reaction he gets when he beats Luke Harper or Stardust in a typical match on RAW. He is completely right when he says that he is the biggest heel in the company, but he is not alone in being the only “babyface” that is giving a rough going by the fans.

Roman Reigns has been the recipient of similar treatment ever since winning the Royal Rumble. Fans have pinpointed the fact that Reigns was handpicked by the creative team and Vince McMahon to become the next face of the company, and a large section of fans resent that decision being made for them. He gets worse reactions than any of the biggest heels in the company, including Seth Rollins, Big Show and Bray Wyatt. The New Day are also coming into a new angle where they are trying to power through the obvious audience chanting they suck, despite designed as a stable of babyfaces.

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On the flip side, some of the most nefarious and bullish heels are cheered by the fans at every opportunity. Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd are amazingly popular due to the matches they produce and the belief that they have been hugely undervalued backstage for too long. Brock Lesnar was supported almost wholeheartedly in his feud with Reigns for the WWE Championship, and Seth Rollins’ cash-in at WrestleMania got the biggest pop of the night. These are just a selection of heels that get majority crowd supports in a large selection of arenas, like Bad News Barrett, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel.

Of course, their are a number of competitors that receive their “appropriate” reaction from the crowds. Names like Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler were forced to turn babyface due to the ridiculous amount of cheers they received as heels, and that popularity hasn’t wavered. Rusev is usually booed (except against Cena or Reigns) due to being an anti-American hero of the Russian people. And Adam Rose gets a negative reaction, but that is likely because most people are sick of him taking up time on their television screens after enduring his own unpopular run as a babyface.

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Wrestling is scripted, and most storylines are predicated on the clashing of a person in the right against one in the wrong. But, surely by now this tired concept has worn thin? Like Cena said, he’s the biggest heel and gets some of the most heat of any superstar in the history of professional wrestling. And it’s not as though this is a case of the knowledge of wrestling being kayfabe, as names like Steve Austin and The Rock were consistently cheered when turned babyface without much deviation. Cena is arguably a better performer than both of those people, has had some equally amazing matches and moments also.

Realistically, it is now due to fans constantly channeling their dissatisfaction of the creative team’s decisions on which superstars they push to the top and which they feel are being held down. This is likely never going to change from this point on, especially with the explosion of social media and its influence on the wrestling business. Fans are well within their rights to cheer/boo whoever they feel like, but have also gradually grown to a point that they’ll simply show their dissatisfaction with certain angles and gimmicks by going against the expected reaction just for the sake of it.

Therefore, I feel it is time to retire the practically useless terms of babyfaces and heels, because they simply have no value in today’s version of WWE or any other wrestling organization. Good and bad have been mixed into the shade of gray, and fans will support whoever they wish for a variety of reasons. It has now become more like boxing or UFC, and no matter how creative pushes somebody nowadays, the crowd will make their own mind who they support and who they criticize.

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