18 Ups & 15 Downs For WWE In 2023

9. Booking Smart Babyfaces

During Vince McMahon’s waning years in charge of WWE’s daily operations, the company was beset with countless problems that made the product almost unwatchable at times.

One of those issues was the booking of its babyfaces, as the heroes and heroines were often cast as gullible, dimwitted dopes who fell for heels’ tricks and constantly found themselves overmatched and outnumbered. They celebrated count-out wins and smirked about escaping matches with surprise roll-up wins. To put it bluntly, Vince is a villain himself and had no clue how to properly book his own good guys because he’s not one himself.

Surprisingly, it took one of WWE’s biggest heels during the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras to course-correct that problem, with Triple H finally booking the babyfaces to be smarter. They speak like real people, anticipate villainy from their foes, and they back each other up against heel stables. They have morals and good character and do things for the right reason.

Throw in more linear storytelling and logical booking, and everything falls into place better. It’s a lot easier to associate and empathize with a babyface when you can relate to them, and that’s what happened in 2023. It’s not some earth-shattering move, but it produced such a shift in how fans viewed the product that it deserves high praise here.