Faces and Heels

[Totorob101]

Do they matter in pro wrestling anymore? I wonder if they should do away with that dynamic and let the workers be whom they want and the crowd will cheer and boo whoever they choose. It's bothered me for a while now how popular a lot of heels are with the audience while most baby faces today are boring, dull and uninspired. The workers seem to prefer working heel, the fans seem to prefer them and do people really want the likes of hugger Bayley back when she was cooler as a bad guy? Just let everyone have characters that are neither black or white or both rather then being good or bad.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

WWE is booming right now because they’ve got strong clear faces and strong clear heels.

[The anti-ratings Luddite]

Feb 24, 2024 15:36:51 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

WWE is booming right now because they’ve got strong clear faces and strong clear heels.

And when AEW was at its hottest, there were strong babyfaces (Jon Moxley, Hangman, Cody on a good day), and clear, defined awful people of heels (MJF, Jericho, Kenny Omega with Callis).

Shades of grey gets thrown out a lot as a term, but just because your good guy isn't a boy scout and your bad guy may have a good point here and there doesn't eliminate the fact they're the designated hero and villain, respectively.

Wrestling is ALWAYS at it's best when that basic tenant is respected.

[wankah]

I dunno, could we treat em like tecnicos & rudos more like?

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

No offense to the OP, but what top babyfaces right now in 2024 do you consider “dull and uninspired”?

[lildude8218]

Heels and Faces seem to matter quite a bit since these are all sold out.

zombiesailor.com/collections/wrestlings-heels-and-faces

[Bo Rida]

I agree for women's divisions. People's favourites are largely unchanging and not effected by the narrative anyway. It's just awkward when the likes of Rhea and Hayter were stuck as heels while being more popular than their face opponents.

A big reason why I love tjpw so much is that there's no real heels, just loveable nutcases and sociopaths and you just pick your favourite each match. It gives more options (especially for tag partners) on a small roster with many rookies and allows for more interesting relationships which is where most of the stories come from. I think other promotions would benefit for the same reasons, especially whenever the active roster is a bit thin.

People are more willing to go along with storyline for men and the major companies are pretty good at booking them in recent years so the traditional dynamic mostly works. The rosters are also deep enough to support it.

However the main driving force to most fans is who is going to be next star and the shuffle to alignments to fit that can be awkward. The general rule is that the freshest over act is the face. Which is a big part of why world titles are now so heel dominated which can lead to unwatchable misery booking.