The "Ask the Specialists" Roundtable is the latest spin-off from the "Ask the Torch" feature. CSI led to CSI: New York and CSI: Miami, which is where you'll find the Specialists tackling a daily topic submitted by PWTorch readers to askpwtorch@gmail.com.

Ask the Specialists Roundtable #62

- Question from PWTorch reader R. Jack: How do you fix the current WWE problem where heels are cheered and faces are booed? Dolph Ziggler was a heel cheered to the point of an early face turn. The Shield, when they were heels, would be cheered by fans for the most part. Current examples are heels such as Damien Sandow, Cesaro, and Bray Wyatt being cheered by the crowd because they are cool characters with cool moves. How did WWE end up in this situation, and more importantly, how can they fix it?

- "Hits & Misses" Jon Mezzera responds: Well, I would try to create more cool babyfaces like Dean Ambrose. I would also try to book my babyfaces with more admirable qualities so that the fans can actually look up to them. I would have the heels act in despicable ways and have the announcers go out of their way to show outrage over those actions. I would encourage the heels to act like Seth Rollins, trying to just be heels and not trying to be cool heels who get cheers by a portion of the audience. More consistency would help, too.

- "Common Fan" Jimmy Eaton (@TheCommonFan) responds: Right now, most of the WWE babyfaces are either unlikeable, boring, or stale. That's the initial problem. Fixing it is a whole other problem and albeit a more complicated one. They've painted themselves into a corner with most of their "heroes" where they end up using heel tactics that make it hard for kids to get behind, or there isn't a "cool" factor with older viewers.

It's also difficult in general because some fans respect workrate, and many of the heels are more talented in the ring and/or bump well (see Ziggler when he was a heel). I think it's still a fixable issue if they make babyfaces act like babyfaces. Simplify the writing, stop making things so much about shades of gray because in those situations I think lead to people tending to cheer heels more than the select few who root for the good guys. Not an impossible fix, but an uphill battle for sure. Thanks for the question!

- "Instant Reaction" Ben Tucker (@BTuckerTorch) responds: One of the biggest problems is that good guys don't do good things in WWE. Many of them act like an anti-hero, which generally equates to being a watered down heel. Others are so one-dimensional that there's no reason to get behind them. Heels, on the other hand, break the mold and are much more likely to have some sort of fresh gimmick that the crowd can latch onto. And they, too, create a problem by not acting dastardly enough. Good guys need to be more good, bad guys need to be more bad.

- "Mr. TV" Justin James (@Justin_M_James) responds: I think you answered a lot of your own question there: stop giving heels cool moves and cool characters! Why is Bray Wyatt or Cesaro a “heel?" Because they beat up John Cena, who half the crowd hates anyways? In fact, that is a lot of it right there! Putting a heel against Cena immediately draws cheers from a portion of the audience that dislikes Cena. Can we get a better reason to hate a character other than “they don’t like John Cena or apple pie?"

If Cesaro or Bray Wyatt were truly presented as heels, who would cheer them even if they did cool moves? And if John Cena were a universally accepted babyface, or who actually practiced what he preached (instead of being nowhere to be found when Daniel Bryan was facing The Authority, for example), having him as a foil for the heels would work much better as well.

- "Showstopper" Shawn Valentino responds: Thank you for your question, R. Jack. I believe this is an easy answer. WWE's issue with heels being cheered and faces booed is because they have forgotten how to create cool heroes, and the bad guys are often showcased as cooler, more interesting characters. The Shield were the badass rebels in black that did what they wanted. The Wyatt Family was a dark, mysterious gang of outcasts with an amazing entrance, haunting music and a charismatic leader. Cesaro is a man of incredible strength with some really cool moves. Dolph Ziggler as a heel wore cool suits, and had a hot girl and an up-and-coming star in his entourage. Brock Lesnar is an overpowering outlaw that doesn't give a damn about the company. Compare these guys to the faces and it is obvious why bad guys are getting cheered.

Unfortunately, the good guys are mostly a bunch of dorky goofs that are often embarrassing to watch. John Cena is extremely popular, but he could easily get cheered by the male demographic if he did not come across so nerdy with his awful facial expressions and terrible sense of humor. Daniel Bryan is popular, but he is a dweeby everyman, hardly a cool larger-than-life character. Even when WWE has a potentially cool face, they do not know how to portray them. Michael Cole incessantly hyped C.M. Punk as the "Pipe Bomb," which instantly took away any rebellious element to his character. Now we are seeing the same problem with Dean Ambrose. They are having him do juvenile goofy stunts with lame props like slime, hats, mannequins, and hot dog trucks. Thankfully Ambrose is cool enough to pull it off, but the more Cole calls him the "fringe lunatic," the worse he looks. Roman Reigns has the potential to be that cool top guy they have been missing. I actually was a big fan of Batista, and it is his injuries and age that slowed him down, but Reigns is younger and more athletic than Dave. Hopefully, they can build some character depth and not put him in lame contrived situations.

I think a great start to making the product cooler is to fire the entire commentary team. They are absolutely atrocious, probably the worst commentary team I have ever heard. They need more respected voice that sound genuinely passionate about the product. They do not need to look like models. Obviously Cole, Lawler, and JBL are not exactly Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt so the main thing is to have a team that the fans can believe in, and can properly build the faces as cool, heroic guys worth getting behind. I believe one of the biggest problems in wrestling is lack of cool faces because that is what creates a wrestling boom period.

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[ FYI: The specialists consist of a mix of current PWTorch contributors providing their opinion on today's wrestling scene and modern wrestling history questions, including Shawn Valentino, Michael Moore, Ben Tucker, Jon Mezzera, Justin James, Brian Leahy, Jimmy Eaton, Nathan Kyght, Tony Donofrio, and Mike Roe. ]

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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