Vince built his empire on strong faces, so why?

[Deleted]

Why completely neuter every single babyface that steps up to the heel?

Why make them look inept and stupid? 

I get the WWE has been more profitable than ever, so it's clear they're in "WDGAF" mode, but how hard is it to just do what worked for you for literally 50 years going back to Vince Sr? 

It really does just seem like spite booking, sometimes, but that would require a level of care about the audience that the WWE is incapable of having.

[CubsFan71]

Because he’s a senile old man who doesn’t what the hell he’s doing anymore and doesn’t have enough sense to get the hell out

[Bo Rida]

It's a reflection of how he sees himself and the world.

Once he was the plucky upstart taking on bigger rivals and the government. So he booked faces that took on all-comers and won.

Then he won the Monday night war and became the powerful giant that others wanted to take down. So he books the biggest heel to win everything all the time and makes anyone who dares challenge them look stupid.

[celtics543]

To be fair we did just have 15 years of John Cena the uber-babyface who never lost.

[millionurkle]

It’s Brock. It all starts and ends with Brock. Not 2012 Brock but 2004 Brock. Vince booked Brock so strong and the man decided he didn’t like travel and left (Great for him). But ever since then it’s like almost every baby face that is being organically built has to go through some kind of struggle. And it’s not because of the storyline but because they have to show loyalty to Vince that they will do what he tells them and won’t leave.

[theironyuppie]

His strong-babyface instincts are all concentrated into booking Bianca.

[wildojinx]

The thing is, all of the top face champs, save for maybe Bret, Shawn, and Austin (and even he started getting more musclebound around the time he was champ), were more muscular guys like Hogan, Savage, Rock, Batista, Cena, HHH (when he was a face). Guys like Cody, while not skinny, are more svelte, but not a bodybuilder type like the aforementioned guys. Remember, Vince wanted Tom Magee to be the next big thing in the 80s just because of his look alone.

[Bang Bang Bart]

WWE took away the wrong lessons from Daniel Bryan's rise and assumed that people just love to see eternal underdog babyfaces constantly chasing dominant heels, not realizing that maybe people just want to see the heroes look like badasses.

[Legion]

Because they just like having 'the guy.'

It doesnt matter if heel or face really, as long as it's one dominant person who sales stuff.

And Roman is that.

Why they never learnt from the Attitude era's 5-6 top guys at once, I dont know. I guess because it takes less effort to just have one.

[nisidhe]

Apr 4, 2023 11:51:09 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Why completely neuter every single babyface that steps up to the heel?

Why make them look inept and stupid? 

I get the WWE has been more profitable than ever, so it's clear they're in "WDGAF" mode, but how hard is it to just do what worked for you for literally 50 years going back to Vince Sr? 

It really does just seem like spite booking, sometimes, but that would require a level of care about the audience that the WWE is incapable of having.

Vince built his empire on strong faces because, back in the day when strong faces were more the norm, he had a bunch of his father's people telling him essentially how the business worked and that the audience needed to go away happy.

Trips was the NWA mark who saw value in faces chasing long-term heel champions/main eventers. Vince may have picked up on this and simply ran with it, utterly ignoring the dips in ratings after the Attitude Era came to an end and, without anyone left to tell him no, the issue persisted. With Vince holding the football, very few babyfaces can hope to step up and be able to kick it before Vince swipes it away. And those fans still holding out hope for those rarer and rarer moments are wearing more and more egg on their faces until they decide the only way to win is not to play.

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

i don't know and i genuinely think vince doesn't know why either

you can't reason with the kid back in first grade that goes around biting people, vince is that child

[Lizuka #BLM]

It genuinely feels like being forced to change the Mania 30 plans made Vince so spiteful that he's spent the nine years since deliberately going out of his way to make sure fans aren't happy.