10 Best Babyface WWE Champions Of The Last Decade
It's not just the bad guys who can have fun!
If there's one thing that WWE should learn from their audience, it's that they don't like clapping for the bland hero who smiles, tells wholesome stories and follows the rules.
Wrestling fans are a rambunctious lot, and they often reject the wrestlers WWE attempts to push, booing them out of the building and clamouring to root for performers who have a little bit of darkness to them. This is why it's so hard for the company to book strong babyface champions - it's very easy for the fans to turn on them with very little reason. However, just because it's tough doesn't mean it's impossible.
The last decade has seen a slew of great champions who play complete faces. By going out and being the good guy, you'd expect fans to get bored, but the following stars did a great job of getting themselves over and received the right booking from the company.
They will go down as some of the best champions in the company's recent past and prove that you can do anything in WWE if you do it right.
10. Kairi Sane (NXT Women’s Champion)
The excitement and anticipation that erupted around the internet after Kairi Sane was announced for the inaugural Mae Young Classic was palpable. The Pirate Princess - with the best damn elbow drop in the wrestling world - was already a massive star in Japan thanks to her time in Stardom, so seeing her climb to the top of the tournament and bring home the victory was incredible.
But, the fun was only just starting as she soon made her full-time NXT debut and brought her loveable pirate gimmick (which put Paul Burchill to shame) into the limelight. After some time gaining number one contender spots and putting in appearances for PPV's like The Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, she finally got her shot.
Sane was the perfect babyface to go up against the monstrous Shayna Baszler, who had been dominantly reigning over the roster for 133 days. Seeing Sane capture the title was euphoric, and although she would only hold it for 71 days, she put in a great showing as a loveable champion with plenty of decent matches.
She eventually dropped the title back to Baszler, but the thrill of seeing her with the belt was worth the short timespan.