Now, I know what youre thinking. Del Rios babyface turn of 2013 didnt work: Ricardo Rodriguez was over as his sidekick, but Del Rio himself? Not so much. The mans far better as a smirking, bullying heel. Its true that Del Rio has a special gift for obnoxious that naturally says heel, and that the privileged, aristocratic crown prince gimmick is a natural fit for heel. After all, no ones going to identify with a rich guy coming to wrestling to avoid the crushing boredom of all of his stuff. But I still believe that they screwed the pooch with Del Rios babyface run a couple of years ago. They made him a white meat babyface, and Del Rios just too entitled, too advantaged to make that work. Frankly, Im not sure that anyone could make the white meat babyface work these days. Roman Reigns certainly absolutely tanks every time they try to give him one of those tortuous John Cena promos. In fact, thats it: ten years of relentless White Meat Cena has ruined the archetype for anyone and everyone else. The white meat babyface is done. John Cenas killed the territory. But thats not the only kind of babyface. CM Punk famously made a wise-cracking hardass character with spiky, individualistic integrity work back in 2011, and Stone Cold Steve Austin was a rebel with an explosive temper that stuck it to authority (and his own boss) whenever possible. Dean Ambrose is an unpredictable loony with a heart of gold. Daniel Bryan is a courageous underdog that wont ever give up, no matter how many times life pushes him down. These are all distinct, relatable babyface characters. Del Rio wasnt believable as a two-dimensional good guy but if you want that Latino dollar, you need your biggest ethnic superstar to be over as a babyface. This time, find the right character...
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
