10 Ways WWE Completely Buries Babyfaces In 2017

1. They're Not Babyfaces

WWE Raw Roman Reigns Fans
WWE.com

Despite the mixed reactions and confused and complex relationship with WWE's audience, Roman Reigns is WWE's intended top babyface. He will remain at or near the top of the card as the one hero who will eventually prevail against the biggest and baddest evildoers. Naturally, it doesn't always feel that way when he's being jeered out of the building or when longstanding heels are worshipped for kicking the sh*t out of him.

WWE are still working out how to manage it, tolerating boos and booking him as a face anyway. The Shield reunion has helped, but the disconnect will re-open if and when he's back challenging for the Universal Title.

Until the company can fix their relationship with the audience, this will happen to every pushed face that exhibits such fundamentally unlikeable traits. Jason Jordan has heard loud boos since the crowd even got a whiff of a potential megapush.

Bill Goldberg's 2016/17 stint proved how much room remains for an old fashioned hero. Good and evil may not be black and white anymore, but there's nowhere near the 50 shades of grey WWE seems determined to work around.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.