Where have all the Faces gone?

[Bill Foley]

Something I noticed is that all around they seem to have a shortage of good faces, did I just say that wow. Raw- Cena, MVP, Mark Henry.....um.....see that's what I'm talking about. ECW has Christian, Dreamer....Yoshi i guess....where did they all go. Smackdown has......ok i wont even bother there. One problem is that they just heel turned a few major faces but have yet to properly replace them. Now I know they exist. Some names i didn't even mention because they havn't traditionally been used too much over the past four months. Even in FCW the heels run the show. The best characters are the heels. However some of the faces are better wrestlers. Anyway what I'm saying is look at the list of heels and wonder who will they be put up against. The face shortage is real just look at Swagger vs The Miz. Two heels with no good faces to fight so they fight eachother. And the Faces are doing the same thing. Cena, HHH, and hbk are busy having a triple threat punch-line match for the title. ECW is heel heavy and smackdown lost three faces in the matter of three months, Jeff Hardy, Punk, and Batista. Faces exist but it just seems the heels are not only used better but more predominately. How in the world did this happen. They've had heel shortages before but how this face senertio occured is beyond me. Maybe im wrong but I just don't see any on tv like it used to be. Now a days its like one face push at a time.

[thethirdwarren]

And that's how it should be. You can't have all kinds of faces running around being push or you're not giving any of them enough time to become marketable. Faces only exist to cater to fans and sell merchandise and whatnot. And all the faces at the moment are the guys that sell the most.

They turned Batista for multiple reasons, and I honestly believe one was because he wasn't selling or as marketable as they envisioned at this point of his career. So start over as a hell and try again. It actually makes him a little more watchable IMO. They have DX (ew), Cena (ew), Rey, etc. They have their money makers there. If they just full on pushed 6 more faces, it would take momentum from their major face guys.

And be honest, heels are more entertaining anyways!!!!

[Turley]

Cena is basically the reason as to why there is a glaring shortage of faces....

The way things are booked these days doesnt leave any room for fresh face wrestlers to get anywhere past the mid card.

Cena is the guy that has had things revolving around him for the last few years. So much emphasis is placed upon the Cena marketing machine that guys like MVP are left behind. MVP is arguably better received by the crowds than Cena, yet he will never get a look in whilst Cena sells the merchandise.

[McFly]

I think the reason why you have a shortage of faces is because nowadays if your green its so hard to get the fans to like you. Perfect example is Tyler Reks. Good surfer guy face gimmick, okay wrestler, during one of his WWE Superstar matches: BORING. From the reactions Jack Swaggers been getting lately, he could be a face. I think it just depends on if the fans will accept you.

[Turley]

Originally Posted by McFly

I think it just depends on if the fans will accept you.

but if this was the case then owuld it not be reasonable to expect that MVP would have progressed up the card since moving to Raw? It is unquestionable that he has been accepted by the fans, its more than likely to be more about acceptance by management as well as income generating ability....

[K3587]

Being a heel is easy. Being a GOOD heel is tough. Anyone can come into the ring and say "I'd like to say it's good to be in (insert town here) but I'd be lying because this city is full of inbred morons!" Anyone can gang up on a face and beat him to a pulp. But to make the fans hate you not for what you say, not for what you do, but for who you are and what you represent, is tough! The cheap heat is the quickest, but the most predictable and boring.

Being a face is somewhat easy. Being a GOOD face is tough. Talk down the most hated heel. Challenge the odds and win. Raise the fans' self esteem. BOOOORRRRIIIINNNNGGG. You can make the fans like you temporarily, but that won't make it stick. I'm been slowly typing this for 30 minutes while enjoying a porkchop and watching House. I forgot my point.

I think that in order to become a decent face, you have to get over with the crowd by being a decent heel. They don't have to like you at first, they just have to...well, acknowledge your existence. The amount of boos you receive can directly become the amount of cheers you get, depending on your character and the quality of your turn.

In short, I make excellent porkchops.

[Punk'r Boy]

Wow. Porkchops? Really?

There are faces there somewhere, but they're all lost in the shuffle underneath Cena on Raw, Undertaker on Smackdown and Christian on ECW.

Oh and this?

In short, I make excellent porkchops.

Best post ever.

[ScrapMetal55]

Originally Posted by K3587

while enjoying a porkchop and watching House.

Sounds like a good evening to me.

[horsemen4life]

We have no faces becasue we dont have the heels to bring them out!

In wrestling, the heels drive and work the crowd to get behind the faces. In todays wrestling, it just doesnt exist on the level it did.

I mean, how can anyone really get behind a face who is fueding with Chavo? He jobs in a bunny suit to a midget. How can you take him serious as a heel? It is now about entertainment and no longer about the battle of good vs evil.

In the past, you had heels who's only concern was to try to literally kill the faces. They had no honor, their word was crap, they lied, cheated, and tricked everyone for an advantage. When they couldnt do it alone they had a manager, a valet, or both, to help them. They had stables where they always worked it to be 3 on 1, or 4 on two, and the minute the odds were evened out with a run in, they ran away like cowards.

Today, even a heel does face things. They go out and perform good moves, go back adn forth with the face, they swap move for move, and they just dont put heat on the face(Yes, i said heat, as in grinding down the face in a match). Fans do NOT want to see a heel doing a good match. What they want is a reason to boo and hate him. If a heel does a good match with a lot of great moves, what is there to boo? Ins tead, have the heel grab a lock of some kind and use the ropes for advantage. Let the ref not see it 3 or 4 times while the heel taunts the crowd. Then when the ref sees it, the heel refuses to break till the 4 and a half count. THAT gives the fans reasons to be mad. And stop the first time come backs. make the face come back from a sleeper 3-4 times before it is reversed, then the fans will be hoping he comes back. When they come back the first time it builds no drama, it doesnt make the fans think their hero will lose.

This is only a small part of it. The problem today is the faces try to get themselves over as faces, and it doesnt work. The heel has to get the heat, adn that fuels the cheers for the fans.

Also, the 2nd biggest lack of faces is charisma. Noone will argue that Hogan can out wrestling, well, anyone. However, he got it done in the ring because he had HUGE charisma. And, like my original thing, fans felt that he was beat down for good this time around as he sold everything as death. Hogan had an early advantage and then got the dog beat out of him for 10 minutes, tried to come back several times and was cut off. Once he did come back, the fans were worried for those 10 or so minutes and were no glad their hero was back in control. having the charisma to make the fans feel the pain of the face got it over. Dusty did it, Hogan, JYD, Magnum TA.... all the faces with huge charisma and with heels to just beat the tar out of them for no other reason than to hurt someone they hated.

[Bill Foley]

Something else I realized. One of the major problems in wwe and wrestling period is a lack of good chemistry. A real connection between performers. At first i thought it had something to do with the lack of long feuds. Last year they kept rushing feuds making them only last the month and starting over the next month. Now they seem to run longer feuds some have been great. For example Jericho VS. Mysterio was very well done because both performers were really working together to make the feud effective. Cena VS. orton was only acceptable because legacy kept it alive.

Horseman makes a good point. Wrestling is on the verge of becoming spot-a-mania with cheesy jokes and half ass-ed violence. Everyone seems more interested in moves than the actual story telling involved. What used to be an art form has become formula. Now anyone that has some sort of draw can move to wrestling and in turn push out the real talent. This problem not only lies within WWE but also some blame has to go to the fans. I thought ortons new slow and meticulous style was great and a nice retro look for him. The fans seem bored with it, not willing to let the performers tell the story in the ring. They just wanna see five knuckle shuffles and argh "Attitude Adjustments". If WWE wants to be a formula business i got one for you. Good Performers = Good Story = Good Fan Reaction = Good Wrestling Product. Oh well, Maybe a good overall wrestling product is just a dream. I guess that's why I have one of the largest Wrestling Collections in town. So let em cater to children and mothers because I've already spent my money and I've got plenty to keep me occupied until wrestling figures it out or until the apocalypse occurs.