10 Wrestling Clichés You Can't Ignore

8. The WWE Babyface Exposition Half Hour

Corey Graves Michael Cole
WWE.com

It took just over three months for Drew McIntyre to move from heel midcard concern to WrestleMania main eventer, about another four or five for him to feel like a made man, and just shy of a year for him to become the babyface that might have heard a few boos by now had fans been in buildings.

Fortunately, if you've missed any of that, he'll be the best person to tell you the next time you tune in.

As the company's top face, one of his jobs is now is to open a lot of Raws with a speech carefully recapping everything that's happened lately, even if video packages already did the same either side of the opening credits. And not particularly in that "last week you did this and I've been waiting seven days to..." threatening manner - an actual recap.

A scene-setter. WWE's top face needs not to enthral crowds or reach through the screen and take them on a ride, but set the scene. John Cena just about mastered the art of both but pretty much f*cked it for everybody else as a result.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, 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. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett