So I was watching wrestling this week, and I came across something that I absolutely loved to see. Someone who could not get totally over as a face, turn heel. If you watched Smackdown two weeks ago, then you saw Christian smash Randy Orton in the face with the World Heavyweight title. And if you watched Smackdown this week, then you saw Christian totally turn heel. You saw him say that the fans are the reason he does not have the title anymore, and that he would not perform for them anymore, he would only perform for himself. He even went as far as having Michael Cole speak to the fans because he is not going to talk to them anymore.
Personally I loved this! I think that Christian got a lot of love and respect from the WWE universe (the fans) when he came back to the company. And that’s why they cheered for him. But I think that he is good on the microhpone, and can really make people hate him. So he was born to be a heel. This got me wondering why some guys are just better being heels.
As I thought about this, I wondered why some guys could pull off heel so well, but as soon as they get a chance to be a face, they don’t perform as well. As a face, they have more opportunities to make money selling merchandise, doing public appearances, getting into other forms of media. But as far as their in ring work, and their work on the microphone, it tends to fall short.
Randy Orton was at the hottest point of his career back in 2009. He was enjoying his 3rd and 4th WWE championship reigns, he was in the middle of the biggest feuds the business has seen, and he was having some 5 star matches, if you ask me. Orton was at the top of his game. Then toward the end of that year he lost his title to John Cena, and all of a sudden the fans started to respond to him, even though he was a bad guy. He was kicking people in the head, breaking all the rules, doing whatever it took to win, and/or keep that title. But as soon as the fans starting cheering for him, the WWE changed his whole image, and to me, he has not been the same since. He has not had a great match since 2009.
And now we are on Christian. Back when Edge and Christian were a tag team, they were heels. And when they stopped tag teaming, he was somewhat forgotten, because Edge had all of the potential, but Christian was a heel. Shortly after that he went to TNA. He was a face there, even jumped in to the audience in 2006 after winning the TNA World Title, his 1st ever championship. When he came back to WWE, the fans were so excited to see him back, they have cheered him ever since.
But as a face Christian was very boring. Since returning to the WWE, Christian hasn’t done much. He was on ECW, and even went on to win the ECW title, but that was right before ECW was discontinued. And he has been on Smackdown since then. On Smackdown, Christian has done much to nothing. He did not win any titles. I don’t think he had a championship match. He always fell just short.
That was until he finally won the World Heavyweight Championship at the “Extreme Rules” Pay per view. But even after that he was not very compelling as the champion, and he lost it 5 days later. He tried to regain it, but fell short again. And the whole time he was not worth watching. I was just about ready to give up on him. That was until this week’s Smackdown where he told the fans, that he will not talk to them anymore. And to end the show he bashed Randy Orton in the head again, and coast him his match this week.
One other person whose career totally changed with his heel turn was CM Punk. Punk was a middle of the road superstar. He did win the World Heavyweight title, but he was not someone who we turned on the TV or bought the pay per views to see him perform, even as the champion. But when he turned heel, he got a chance to have a great feud with Jeff Hardy. Then he got a lot more work on the microphone, and we got to see how good he was with a microphone in his hand. It is just something about a guy with a chance to say whatever he wants without having to worry about hurting the fans feelings.
It’s not that I am a bad guy, and like bad guys, but I think that heels have freer reign over their careers than the faces do. They have a chance to get on the microphone, and say whatever they want, whereas the faces have a lot of rules. I don’t know if it is a company thing, or if guys are just not that creative. The best example of a guy who was a face, but acted like a heel, was Stone Cold Steve Austin, and everyone loved him.
I just wish they would give the faces as much freelance ability as they do the heels.
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