Characters playing the "shades of grey" role rising to forefront in WWE

Sports entertainment and professional wrestling are about characters. While the in-ring work is important and shouldn’t be downplayed, the characters on screen are what get fans invested to tune in each week. Often, heels are the more interesting of characters, but there’s an intriguing shift happening where many are falling into the space of being a shade of grey – neither black nor white. WWE is embracing this idea and using it to develop some captivating characters.

Drew McIntyre has received a lot of praise for his work as a WWE superstar. In late 2023, his character began to slide away from the “protecting babyface,” to what some would quickly want to designate as a “heel.” However, what made his character presentation work so well is that in many ways, McIntyre had a strong point. He was upset with his peers for being so welcoming of Jey Uso after years of his tormenting the roster, and particularly McIntyre, as a part of The Bloodline. It made perfect sense that McIntyre wouldn’t trust him or anyone who aligned with Uso. That led to some great promos and feuds down the line, and McIntyre getting a new contract that he deserved.

Kevin Owens is in a similar situation on SmackDown. After spending years fighting Roman Reigns, he felt some type of way seeing his ally, Cody Rhodes standing next to Reigns in a tag team match. Again, it makes sense why Owens would be so upset with Rhodes – kicking off one of the hottest feuds in the promotion.

Even Seth Rollins is going down a path that looks like it will lead him to align with McIntyre. Why? Because he now has issues with the members of the WWE Monday Night Raw roster who joined the OG Bloodline at Survivor Series: WarGames.

These are the dastardly, mustache-twirling heels of generations ago. Nor are they the slimy characters who were easy to denote as the “bad guy.” These are characters that have layers. Characters who have a point. Characters who are seemingly justified in their feelings. Now, the way they go about handling them may be the issue, but it’s pro wrestling – let them fight.

Character work is what gets people seated week after week, show after show. Leaning into characters that aren’t easy to fit into buckets makes everything more interesting in sports entertainment and professional wrestling. The three biggest foils in WWE are playing that role right now and it will lead to some great angles in 2025.