10 Major Challenges Facing WWE In 2019
7. Babyface Bedlam
WWE's ability to book convincing, likeable, good-guy babyfaces is deader than the dodo.
Seth Rollins is over, but smarmy. Finn Balor is a loser. Becky Lynch and Daniel Bryan weren't getting over to the desired level as faces, so WWE felt they had no option but to turn them heel, though the former has since become the company's hottest character. WWE decided AJ Styles wasn't convincing enough as a straightforward, competition-focused hero, so they had to have him slap Vince McMahon in the face to show how edgy he is. The list goes on.
This isn't so much 'shades of grey' booking as it is a complete inability to get these performers over without resorting to villainy, and it stinks. Cookie-cutter do-gooder babyfaces can't work in 2019. The value of such archetypes nosedived years ago, but, Lynch aside, WWE's 'heroes' are regularly presented either as overawed, doe-eyed goobers who are 'just happy to be there!', or playground bullies. Neither works, and neither gets over.
Fix this problem and WWE will nail all kinds of other storytelling issues in the process. They just can't seem to get it right, though...