"WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new blog at JRsBarBq.com in which he says 100% pure heels and babyfaces in wrestling is over or likely ending soon.
“The days of being a 100% babyface or 100% villain in pro wrestling are likely over and if not over certainly nearing an end and at best is on life support. Smart booking, in ring execution, creative tweaks, etc likely won’t change this trend that is society influenced more than it is wrestling influenced in my opinion. Something as straight forward as the broadcast of the NFL Draft and how the live audience responded over a three day period is certainly proof that our society is one of overt defiance and for being outspoken in essentially all forums which would have been unheard of just a few years ago. This is not a sign of the end times for pro wrestling but it does indicate that decision makers must create with these issues in mind and present their products more smartly and with today’s ticket buyer/TV viewer in mind more than ever. It will also affect how broadcasters present the product, too. Times they are a changing and this isn’t our granddaddy’s rasslin’ business any more.”
Exactly. His point of no one being loved or hated 100 percent is ridiculous.
There are always contrarians who will dislike someone or something regardless of what the truth is.
Take american politics: hilary clinton is the smartest, most accomplished, honest and patriotic woman in us history, but you still have people who dont like her.
If you can dislike her, anyone can be disliked.
As for wrestling, just book characters. If fans boo, push them that direction. If theyre cheered, keep doing what youre doing and make some merch for them.
Vince? He wants his own reality. Cant blame him, its his show.
And its why it sucks. If wwe had an ounce of competetition theyd be doomed.
Man...JR is so boring. Even though he's not with WWE anymore, they're still selling his sauces online and he wants to be able to have WWE-affiliated guests on the podcasts, so he doesn't say anything with any real bite to it.
In other words, Reigns isn't turning heel, like some of us have said, and he will be his same boring self who can't even cut a good 5 minute promo. Awesome.
JR being a human shield for WWE. Bryan was a pure face and that wasn't long ago. Punk pulled it off, fairly certain Sami and others could too. JR just sees the writing on the walls with Reigns, that he is remaining the babyface of the company.
that worked wonders for the divas division over the past year. OR or this might sound crazy....maybe you should let the people who get cheered be faces and the one's who get nuclear booed just go with it.
I think what the reality is is that wrsetling companies can't choose which wrestlers are faces and which are heels so easily. Social media and a better informed audience means that if the audience doesn't like someone, all the clever booking in the world won't change that any more, whereas in the past it could overcome a lot of resistance.
Its also not new, Rocky Maivia was supposed to be a babyface, it didn't work for long. He ran with the hate, today they fight against it.
New Day, Shane O Mac, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan at the time (both face and heel), no mixed messages there from the audience, so it hasn't gone away.
Think that's an easy out for WWE honestly, and I honestly don't think it's true. Clever booking by nature compels the audience to feel either which way. If you wanted it to be so, and it wasn't so, the booking wasn't truly clever to begin with.
Being a clear and popular babyface or hated heel has been over since 1996 when Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Sting, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall all blurred the lines from black and white to shades of grey and then later The Rock did the same. After that era WWE attempted to go back to the original formula but it wasn't possible and now it's likely to NEVER happen again, it's not a new thing though as its been this way for nearly 20 years.
I think he is pretty right just because of the smark fans. There is never going to be pure reactions like you used to have to a Hogan or Flair. Someone is going to hate the good guy and cheer for the bad guy. No matter how well you write the character there is going to be a percentage of the fan base that doesn't go along.
Its kind of bullshit and pathetic but you could easily get appropriate face/heel reactions by just making all iwc/smark favourites face and all the ones they hate heel - the kids/families/casuals will cheer faces and boo heels anyway so you just unite those 2 differing crowds.
The moment the antagonist and protagonist are eliminated from a story, you have no story and eventually no viewers for a product. It kills me that this company seems to think that with a program that runs every week live, all year long, doesn't need a clear direction for it's show. They forget each week isn't fresh and that what happened eight months ago still matters. You are writing stories for a show that goes all year. There has to be a connection between each week with something from the weeks prior. Then, eventually you end the "said story". There has to be a main plot for all other plots to orbit around, or gravitate towards creatively. This up in the air, weekly booking, shit is awful and has gotten worse over the last two years.
All of this guys sucking Roman Reigns dick gonna turn him into a **** lol, it's so hard to be a real man and just say, Roman it's being over pushed and crowds naturally are rejecting him.
Wonder whats next; Stephanie McMahon: ''crowds cheering in pro wrestling are over'' ?
Sheamus and Del Rio are "100% heel". It could be argued that it's the wrong type of heat but they get the desired reaction nonetheless. Sheamus even got Roman over as a babyface for a brief period. :lol
Bull, and people parroting this and essentially attempting to let talent and the company off of the hook for not doing their job adequately is more than a little old. It's a copout.
I agree with J.R and been having these thoughts for a while. I see people are saying he's wrong but Kevin Owens is the perfect example of why he's actually right in saying the concept is dead. Owens is the biggest asshole in the WWE right now but do people boo and sneer at him? No he's treated like a god amongst the smarks and his antics cheered on. According to WWE you are doing it wrong and destroying the concept they laid out for their big heel. If you think about the biggest faces of modern times in WWE they didn't even attempt to act like a babyface (Steve Austin/The Rock)
Then look at other fighting sports like UFC/Boxing where fighters with cocky attitudes and swagger (all classic heel traits) carry a huge fan base behind them that cheer them on to victory. Times have indeed changed and the old traditional face/heel roles is going the way of the dodo just like kayfabe.
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