PWTorch.com - RADICAN'S TAKE: WWE's lost their way when it comes to defining heels and babyfaces, plus Random Thoughts on Cena-Ambrose-Rollins, Jacobs, Young Bucks

RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN'S TAKE: WWE's lost their way when it comes to defining heels and babyfaces, plus Random Thoughts on Cena-Ambrose-Rollins, Jacobs, Young Bucks

Oct 16, 2014 - 10:20:44 AM

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By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

If you’ve been watching WWE and asking yourself whom you should be cheering for, you’re not alone. One of the big issues with WWE in recent months, especially since SummerSlam, has been the confusing presentation of babyfaces and heels, leaving casual fans in a quandary about who they should be cheering for and hardcore fans wishing Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and JBL were sent to a deserted island somewhere where their commentary would only be shared amongst the three of them.

If you look at three recent cases on TV, they perfectly illustrate WWE’s difficulty defining heels and babyfaces. First up is John Cena kidnapping Paul Heyman on the Raw prior to SummerSlam. It wasn’t a heroic thing to do, but WWE presented it as a situation where Cena should be cheered.

It’s likely that Cena will never be truly be presented as a bad guy, but it was a dangerous way for WWE to present Cena on TV. His actions likely will fuel the wishes of their key male demographic to turn Cena heel, but what about the large base of young fans Cena has? What are they supposed to think of his actions? The announcers certainly didn’t give us any clues.

Another case of mixed character identity can be seen in the presentation of Bo Dallas since he came onto the roster. In order for his character to get over as a heel, lead babyface announcer Michael Cole needed to be produced to point out the flaws in Dallas’s actions in the ring, but he didn’t.

Week after week fans listened to JBL put over Dallas’s heelish actions as admirable and Cole never corrected him, which hurt the chances of the character getting over as a solid mid-card hee. Now Bo Dallas is relegated to trading wins back and forth on the undercard when his winning streak could have meant something and his heel character could have been a solid cog on the mid-card to play opposite of a variety of babyfaces. Now Dallas is just another guy who comes out and does his thing. Sometimes he wins and sometimes he loses, but his character has no momentum because of the announcing and WWE’s inability to establish him as a heel.

WWE rolled out Big Show vs. Rusev this past Monday on Raw. Rusev’s heel character has been generating a lot of momentum on TV in recent months and it looks like he will possibly be in line for a marquee match against a big name at WrestleMania, as someone eventually has to end his undefeated streak.

The problem I had with the presentation of the Big Show-Rusev match was the mixed messages the commentators were sending. At one point, JBL, who is the heel voice on the announce team, began putting over Big Show while Cole, one of the babyface voices on the announce team, began gushing about Rusev. The way Cole and JBL were produced during this segment was confusing. Why was JBL gushing over Big Show? Why was Cole suddenly gushing over Rusev instead of pointing out the negative aspects of his act alongside Lana during the match?

Fans need more consistency on Raw. Babyfaces need to be consistently promoted through their actions as being heroic and heels need to be presented as unlikable in all aspects. The way WWE’s announce team and creative team work in concert to undermine these two important things is damaging WWE’s product and sending a confusing message to fans.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

The progression of the Seth Rollins-Dean Ambrose feud has been a letdown. I’ve touched on this before, but I felt their feud had great potential. Adding Cena into the mix after SummerSlam watered things down. Instead of presenting Rollins and Ambrose alone with Ambrose fighting his way through The Authority to get his shot at Rollins, Ambrose had to fight his way through The Authority and Cena. Winning a Contract on a Pole match to get a shot at your rival is a convoluted way to get to a blow off match, but WWE seems to have their hands tied right now with Brock Lesnar disappearing, so they had to find something for Cena to do at the expense of the progression of the Rollins-Ambrose feud… Beyond Wrestling had a show cancelled when there was a shooting outside of the venue they run the night before the show was set to take place last month and Fete Music was forced to shut down shortly before bell time. The good news is that Fete Music has opened back up and they are returning with a double shot at Fete Music on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. Beyond Wrestling took a big blow with their show being cancelled, so it’s good to see the company come back with a double shot Thanksgiving weekend. The Young Bucks have already been announced for both shows… Sometimes I feel like Jimmy Jacobs is one of the most underappreciated talents on the independent scene. Jacobs is an amazing performer in a lead heel role, especially when he’s the lead voice in a stable. He is a great talker. Watching him cut a promo on CHIKARA’s 2014 King of Trios: Night 2 release. I was totally captivated listening to him talk about the war between his stable, The Flood, and CHIKARA. Jacobs is a veteran of the independent scene, but I would love to see him get a shot on a bigger stage. He’s a great talker and would be perfect in lead heel role as a manager or a talent…