1. Babyfaces. Are the Good Guys
People hate John Cena. Here's why: He's jacked, and doesn't adhere to the good guy rules in the ring, he behaves like Stone Cold -- throwing punches, taking it outside, ignoring ref counts -- but Stone Cold's face persona didn't change anything because he was a heel going up against a bigger heel -- people cheered it because he was the only one evil enough to break rules to beat the ones breaking the rules. You watch Cena, and he's saying 'I'm all about Hustle Loyalty and Respect' but he doesn't show that he's the GOOD GUY throwing guys out of the ring and giving off the vibe that he's NOT really a good guy, he's cocky and cocksure and doesn't respected the other guy... There's only ONE Stone Cold at a time. There was only ONE Jake the Snake -- another villain turned hero because the true villain 'Honky Tonk Man' was SO reviled for his unmanly and craven ways that only someone as low down as Jake could go after him and stand a chance, because he BROKE the good guy's code. But Cena, he acts like he's doing what it takes -- but he doesn't need to. Hogan could have walked into the ring and STOMPED Honky Tonk Man flat at any time in the fans eyes. But the fans didn't want Hogan to take care of it. They wanted someone Honky Tonk Man had hurt to take care of it. The perfect example is Ultimate Warrior's defeat of HTM at Wrestlemania. He was so over as a hero, it wouldn't have been believable for him to have a midcard match with HTM -- so he had a main eventer vs. a midcarder match, and squashed Honky Tonk Man like a bug. Here's the thing -- I want to like Cena, but he doesn't wrestle like a babyface. He wrestles like a heel forced to be a babyface. Like Rock, Like Mankind, Like Stone Cold. But he skipped the part where you're supposed to be the bad guy. But you know who wrestles like a babyface every time? Rey Mysterio -- but watch Alberto Del Rio; he has a face style, and a heel style. He's a traditional wrestler. You need more guys willing to take the fall to the heels as well as play the heels. The hero needs to be gullible enough to think their confrontations with the heels are going to be on the up and up. You can do this far more subtly now, but you need to make SURE your faces are good guys -- and the heels are bad guys. Start over with that basic premise, and your shows will start selling.