wrestling / Columns

When Faces are Heels and Heels are Faces: Welcome to 2016 WWE

June 3, 2016 | Posted by RSarnecky
Seth Rollins

***Before I begin this week’s edition of “The Piledriver Report,” I want to thank my editors, and the readers of my column for your patience, as I needed to take a few weeks off. I’m back now, so I hope you continue to enjoy my articles.***

This past Monday night, the WWE presented one of their best angles of the year. After John Cena delivered his usual patriotic Memorial Day speech, AJ Styles hit the ring. At first I thought it was funny, because John Cena is talking about the “future” of the WWE has to get through him, and then here comes a guy in the same age bracket to confront him. Let’s put that little fact aside though, because this moment was really, really great. Readers of this column know that I hate the “This is awesome” chant because it’s overused for things that are “very good,” or for the best thing on a particular show. I feel that chant needs to be saved for Match of the Year candidates or something truly historic.

The AJ Styles and John Cena confrontation fit the bill. That segment truly was “awesome.” The staredown, combined with the dueling chants by the crowd made the segment truly feel like you were witnessing a dream combination in the ring with TNA’s AJ Styles and WWE’s John Cena sharing the same spotlight. It reminded me of the Hulk Hogan and The Rock staredown on RAW that set up their WrestleMania X-8 showdown. At first, it appeared that we were going to get a “dream” tag team of Styles and Cena facing Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in somewhat of a dream tag team match. However, we got something so much better, as AJ Styles turned heel and attacked John Cena along with his Bullet Club compadres. Now, we are getting the “dream” match of AJ Styles vs. John Cena that seemed like an impossibility a mere seven months ago.

WHY NOW?

As highly anticipated as a John Cena vs. AJ Styles match is, the big question remains “why now?” Shouldn’t the very first John Cena vs. AJ Styles matchup be saved for one of the WWE’s Big Four pay per views? This is definitely WrestleMania or SummerSlam worthy. Why would the WWE have John Cena and AJ Styles face off on a “B” show like Money in the Bank? Don’t get me wrong. Money in the Bank is arguably the WWE’s biggest “B” show on their pay per view calendar. However, it’s still not SummerSlam, and definitely not in the same stratosphere of WrestleMania.

The only reason that I could think of for why the WWE would pull the trigger on a John Cena vs. AJ Styles feud at this point in time would be the upcoming brand split. While I originally thought that John Cena and AJ Styles would both be moved to the SmackDown! brand, I am starting to believe that there may be some semblance of truth to the leaked projected brand split rosters that have circulated the internet. The lists have AJ Styles headed to SmackDown!, but John Cena captaining the RAW brand. If that is indeed the case, then I understand the WWE rushing to put together an AJ Styles vs. John Cena dream match.

If you are going to do the brand split correctly, you can’t have wrestlers bouncing back between shows, like what became commonplace during the final few years of the last brand split. You need to keep both brands completely separate from one another. The only interaction between the two brands should be saved for special occasions. Perhaps inter-brand Survivor Series elimination matches, definitely have both brands in the Royal Rumble, and a couple of big name inter-brand WrestleMania matches. That’s it, no more contact should come between the two brands. If the WWE will be going this route, then a John Cena vs. AJ Styles feud would be a terrific final one branded war to say goodbye to a singular roster. They can even drag their rivalry out until SummerSlam. However, if they do they, John Cena should only appear on RAW, and AJ on SmackDown! issuing challenges and rebuttals. This way the fans will know the only way to see the two together in the ring is during the WWE Network specials. However, once the feud is over, the brand split is strictly enforced.

WELCOME BACK

During the closing moments of the Extreme Rules pay per view, Seth Rollins made his triumphant return to the WWE following a devastating knee injury that kept him out of action since November 2015. He ran into the ring to deliver a pedigree to Roman Reigns. The action received thunderous cheers by the fans in attendance that night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Before Seth Rollins was injured, the plans were for him to drop the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns at the Survivor Series. Following several rematches against the new champion, Rollins would become a babyface were he would feud with Triple H. Their feud would lead to a match against each other at WrestleMania XXXII in Dallas, Texas. Instead, Roman Reigns feuded with Triple H with “The Game” defending the WWE title at the biggest show of the year.

Since Seth Rollins was scheduled to have a babyface turn shortly before WrestleMania, most assumed that he would receive a hero’s welcome when returned from his knee injury. The fans pictured a scenario similar to when Triple H returned from his quad tear in 2002. Instead, after receiving a huge reaction at Extreme Rules, and another big response the following night on RAW, the WWE decided to go in the opposite direction.

HISTORY OF FAILED FACES

The WWE has been looking for someone to take the “reigns” of the “face of the company” from John Cena for the past couple of years. That performer, in the WWE’s mind, has been Roman Reigns. Unfortunately for the WWE, the fans aren’t co-operating. The fans have been deadest against Roman Reigns being the “face of the WWE” ever since it became evident that this was the direction that the WWE wanted to go. Is it fair to Roman Reigns? Hell no! I actually feel bad for him. His booking and his scripted material has caused such a backlash from the fans that Reigns will never get over as the top dog in the WWE at this current rate.

In the past, if the WWE (or in this case WWF), was pushing a wrestler as the next “face of the company,” and he wasn’t getting over, they pulled the plug. In 1990, the Ultimate Warrior took the mantle from Hulk Hogan by doing something no other wrestler was about to do during Hulk Hogan’s “Hulkamania” run from 1984-1993. The Ultimate Warrior pinned Hulk Hogan clean in the middle of the ring in front of over 60,000 fans, and hundreds of thousands more watching at home on pay per view, at WrestleMania VI. However, crowd attendance dropped, and fan interest started to wane, so less than a year later, the strap was taken off the Ultimate Warrior, and at WrestleMania VII, Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF World Championship and was “the guy” once again.

During the summer of 1993, the WWF was determined to get Lex Luger over as the next Hulk Hogan. At SummerSlam 93, the WWF decided NOT to put the WWF belt on Lex Luger, as they wanted to save this special moment for WrestleMania X. In the seven months following SummerSlam 1993, the fans started to back Bret Hart instead of Luger. The final nail in Luger’s coffin was at the 1994 Royal Rumble. The WWF had Lex Luger and Bret Hart battle each other as the final two competitors in the ring. Both men fell out of the ring at the same time, and it was announced that the match would end with co-winners. Before the announcement, the WWF tested the crowd to see where the fans’ loyalties lied. One referee raised Lex Luger’s hand as the winner. Another referee raised Bret Hart’s arm as the victor. The cheers for Bret when his arm was raised was much louder, so the WWF went with the “Hitman” instead of sticking with their guns, and anointing Lex Luger as the new face of the WWF at WrestleMania X.

Fast forward twenty years later, and the WWE was determined to crown a new face at the upcoming WrestleMania. The WWE’s game plan throughout 2014 was to buildup Roman Reigns into the next big face of the WWE. Unfortunately, there mission failed. Like with the Ultimate Warrior and Lex Luger experiments before him, the WWE decided to NOT pull the trigger on a Roman Reigns run as the “face of the WWE.” The only difference between the Ultimate Warrior/Lex Luger situations, and the Roman Reigns story, is that the WWE was still hell bent on making Roman Reigns the face of the WWE.

Instead of giving Reigns the title at WrestleMania XXXI, they waited until the Survivor Series. However, they quickly took it away following a Money in the Bank cash in. With Sheamus playing the antagonist to Roman Reigns, it appeared that the WWE was finally on their way of getting the fans behind Reigns. Unfortunately, poor booking combined with Roman Reigns moving on to facing more popular wrestlers than Sheamus, who the fans do not see at the main event level, put Reigns back into the position as the guy that the fans do not want to see as the face of the WWE.

IT’S OPPOSITE DAY IN THE WWE

Despite receiving a huge babyface response, the WWE decided to have Seth Rollins play a heel upon his return. My guess is that they probably still want to play out his pre-injury storyline. Feud as a heel against the WWE World Champion Roman Reigns, and then turn face in a feud with Triple H. From a storyline standpoint, it makes sense in the fact that Seth Rollins never lost the title, so he should go after the new champion upon his return. However, with the fans dying to accept Rollins as a babyface, and Reigns getting booed anyways, the WWE could have set up a match between the two competitors as a “face vs. face” match-up. It’s not like we didn’t just see that with Reigns against AJ Styles.

Speaking of AJ Styles, after the staredown with John Cena, and the interruption by the “Club” members Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Styles attacked Cena setting up their feud. The beatdown was tremendous, and it was great to see the Bullet Club remain together, because they were built up as being best friends, and it seemed like AJ wanting to do things on his own would be a weak reason for him to feud with his New Japan teammates. However, after the segment was over, I couldn’t help but think of how completely ass backwards the WWE is being run.

The fans were treating Seth Rollins as a returning babyface from a career threatening injury. Even the WWE created a WWE 24/7 special on Rollins return that treated him as a babyface, and not someone the fans should boo. Since his arrival into the WWE in January, AJ Styles has been receiving some of the biggest cheers, and has been putting on some of the best WWE matches of the year. Both men, it can be argued, are the two most popular wrestlers in the promotion right now. Instead of running with this wave of babyface momentum, the WWE has decided to turn them heel. Truthfully, the WWE is desperate for main event heels. They need heels that will draw hatred from the fans. They need heels that will be booed out of the building every night. Unfortunately, Seth Rollins and AJ Styles are not the answer. They will be looked at as the “cool” heels, and will still get cheered by the majority of the fans.

If the WWE really wanted to have main event heels that will draw heat, they need to look no further than their top to “faces” in John Cena and Roman Reigns. John Cena has been booed most of his career, with the exception of the women and children demographic. The hardcore audience gives him the “Cena Sucks” chant every time he’s in the ring. Roman Reigns is arguably the biggest heel in wrestling since Roddy Piper’s peak in 1985. Nobody gets heat like Roman Reigns draws the boos from the crowd. Today’s WWE is living in the land of the opposite. It’s a world where the top heels are cheered and the top faces are booed. In the old WWF, they would have performed a double turn where John Cena and Roman Reigns were officially the heels, and Seth Rollins and AJ Styles fought for the position of number one face in the company. The funny part of the story is that if the WWE had Cena and/or Reigns as heels for eight months each, by the time they turned face, the all of the fans (not just women and children) would be cheering them. Roman Reigns could then be the face of the company that the WWE envisioned all along. Instead, we live in a world where heel are cheered, and faces are booed, and the WWE is too damn stubborn to do anything about it.

article topics :

Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, WWE, RSarnecky