Why must all faces be tweeners?

[Aaron E. Dangerously]

Watching RAW recently with HBK becoming more, idk, less clean cut is making me frustrated. Personally, I think HBK works great as a babyface. He's just so damn likable. But it seems like ever since Stone Cold went semi-retired, WWE keeps trying to make all their faces be total badasses. Isn't there a single wrestler that can work in this business with a shiny-tooth smile and still get acclaim?

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

Honestly I liked HBK best AS a frustrated face, when he had the brief uneasy alliance with Stone Cold against the Harts in 1997

And ask Rocky Maivia and Randy Orton how fans take to "clean cut, smiley faces"

[mysterydriver]

See: Lashley, Bobby for reaction to Clean-Cut Face.

[bjboston]

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone in wrestling has to be "nice." These guys fight each other for a living (in kayfabe). They should run the gamut from "perpetually grumpy" to "utter sociopath."

[Austin's Middle Finger]

Hell, even Hogan fought dirty back when Hulkamania was running wild.

In seemingly every match he would rake the eyes, or get somebody in the back with his nails.

[skskillz]

Wow. I couldn't disagree more about Michaels. He's so naturally unlikeable, that he works that much better as a heel.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

curly said:

Hell, even Hogan fought dirty back when Hulkamania was running wild.

In seemingly every match he would rake the eyes, or get somebody in the back with his nails.

Yeah, I loved the hypocracy at work, there. Face Hogan always raking eyes, threatening refs, and biting his opponents...especially hearing Heenan or Ventura complain about it, then Monsoon tries to defend it "WELL HE WAS ASKING FOR IT JESS!" or "WELL THE REFEREE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!" when the roles were reversed anytime a heel did it.

[cosmonaut]

skskillz said:

Wow. I couldn't disagree more about Michaels. He's so naturally unlikeable, that he works that much better as a heel.

Yeah, I agree. HBK was my favourite wrestler growing up, but I change the channel every time he comes on the air as a babyface.

[Austin's Middle Finger]

godz said:

curly said:

Hell, even Hogan fought dirty back when Hulkamania was running wild.

In seemingly every match he would rake the eyes, or get somebody in the back with his nails.

Yeah, I loved the hypocracy at work, there. Face Hogan always raking eyes, threatening refs, and biting his opponents...especially hearing Heenan or Ventura complain about it, then Monsoon tries to defend it "WELL HE WAS ASKING FOR IT JESS!" or "WELL THE REFEREE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!" when the roles were reversed anytime a heel did it.

One of my favourite Ventura lines is in the Hogan vs Warrior match at WMVI, when Gorilla comments on a dirty move from Hogan.

Ventura just yells at him, "Oh, you'd have enjoyed it if Warrior had done it, Monsoooon"

[The Boss]

I loved when Monsoon and Ventura would get into arguments about who's breaking rules. You almost got the fealing that there was another match going on behind the camera. Yet through all of this they never missed a beat. And if there was a screw up in the ring they were right there with the answer to cover it. They were the best announce team of all time.

[joeman]

Isn't Superman...John Cena a boyscout? I guess he is an exception.

[American Nightmare]

i miss the clean cut face. This is also a reason i think feuds have less heat. It makes the payoff match believable. When the heel has pissed off the face so much that the face no longer cares about the rules, you believe in the guy, and want him to get revenge, hence buying tickets to see him do it.

[AriadosMan]

joeman said:

Isn't Superman...John Cena a boyscout? I guess he is an exception.

Not really when you think about it, he was actually a heel most of the time before becoming a main-event face. Same path as Rock when you think about it.

[amsiraK]

bjboston said:

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone in wrestling has to be "nice." These guys fight each other for a living (in kayfabe). They should run the gamut from "perpetually grumpy" to "utter sociopath."

ROFL! No kidding! Their only method of resolving problems is kicking each other's ass. I don't see too many guys staying chipper through that.

And the Cleancut Babyface is a thing of the past. There always has to be an edge to them or "the fans won't be interested." Or something.

[Bobafett]

karisma888 said:

bjboston said:

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone in wrestling has to be "nice." These guys fight each other for a living (in kayfabe). They should run the gamut from "perpetually grumpy" to "utter sociopath."

ROFL! No kidding! Their only method of resolving problems is kicking each other's ass. I don't see too many guys staying chipper through that.

And the Cleancut Babyface is a thing of the past. There always has to be an edge to them or "the fans won't be interested." Or something.

how about an amoral crackpot gimmick where he finds it fun beating others up?

you could imagine it..laying on a beatdown..all the time laughing away to himself..that sorta thing

[Citizen Snips]

curly said:

One of my favourite Ventura lines is in the Hogan vs Warrior match at WMVI, when Gorilla comments on a dirty move from Hogan.

Ventura just yells at him, "Oh, you'd have enjoyed it if Warrior had done it, Monsoooon"

I always loved his standard SNME retort. McMahon would champion Hogan against anyone, and whenever Hogan did anything wrong...

"Oh, and I suppose you condone this, huh McMahon?"

[Austin's Middle Finger]

God, Ventura was great.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

I miss the days of babyfaces like Kerry Von Erich. He played the part of clueless (would always be distracted by heel managers like Gary Hart and Precious) clean cut babyface to a T. I blame the attitude era for this 'shades of gray' bullcrap we see now. But then again, I'm just an old fart so what do I know

[skiller]

edgeruleshardysux said:

I miss the days of babyfaces like Kerry Von Erich. He played the part of clueless (would always be distracted by heel managers like Gary Hart and Precious) clean cut babyface to a T. I blame the attitude era for this 'shades of gray' bullcrap we see now. But then again, I'm just an old fart so what do I know

To me Sting will always take the cake for stupidest babyface ever. How many partners have turned on him throughout his career?

But don't get me wrong, I love Sting.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

I would have liked to have seen Sting and Kerry team up. what a team that would have been