WWE: 4 Reasons Turning The Shield Face Works (And 4 Ways WWE Can Screw It Up)
2. Smiling, Bumbling Babyfaces
The two wrestlers that immediately jump to mind as examples are Brock Lesnar and CM Punk. Lesnar was an absolute monster when he debuted in 2002, but he swung around to become a smiling good guy, which was just so out of place that it took fans out of the moment. For Punk, he "left" WWE in 2011 as a bitter man who had a list of grievances as long as his Stacy Keibler's legs. He returned, won the WWE title and kicked off a 434-day reign as champ. He evolved from a pipebomb-dropping smartass to a guy who happily tagged with the likes of Rey Mysterio and others, cheering them on and clapping when they won their matches. Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins have established their characters very well. Small changes to move the needle from "boo" to "cheer" is sufficient. Turning them into grinning goofs who stride down the ramp while high-fiving the crowd and talking about how much they respect "the WWE universe" would be a dagger in the heart.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
