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Alberto Del Rio and the curse of the babyface in WWE

6K views 52 replies 43 participants last post by  Phantomdreamer 
#1 ·
So when Del Rio first turned face he was doing a fantastic job, even getting the types of fans who cheer for mainly heels to buy into him and cheer him. The booking was brilliant. As were his matches. It was refreshing to see a character change for him after his bland heel persona which never got a reaction.

However it seems recently that he's going down the path to becoming another typical babyface in WWE. The video with him and Ricardo pretending to be Swagger and Coulter was terrible. Plus some of his jokes have been corny and dumb.

When he was first turned I was expecting this to happen eventually and it's sad to see because the types of faces the WWE have in 2013 are not likable. Del Rio isn't as bad as Sheamus, Cena etc yet. But it looks like it won't be long before he is another cookie-cutter face.
 
#36 ·
His WM entrance is going to be something incredibly cheesy and difficult to like, like some Mexican band playing shitty music.
 
#37 ·
I posted the following response in the RAW 1/14/13 official discussion thread. I believe it was either the first or second RAW after Del Rio's abrupt, senseless face turn and there were actually users here who were getting behind him. I couldn't believe it because quite frankly he's been so factually, and predictably... bad.

Anyways this is what I posted in that very thread.

You know I'm seeing a lot of people getting behind face Del Rio right now and I hate to be the party pooper but I'm sorry, I don't see it. He's now no different than every other face on the roster. Lame jokes, insults, and gags. Sheamus was pretty much the irish Cena, now it appears that Del Rio is a the latino Cena.

You will get tired of this very soon, just as you all did with Sheamus. The WWE knows no other way to build a face outside of turning them into smart asses.
No need to say I told you so. I'm pretty sure anyone with half a brain saw it coming.
 
#38 ·
They did it to Sheamus and they are doing it to ADR. I've been on and off the ADR wagon before his face turn and I was actually a little excited but still worried that WWE would ruin it. And ruined it they have. Why do all the faces have to be carbon copies of Cena (Corny, pandering, and goofy). Shouldn't the WWE have a damn clue that A LOT of people hate Cena for these characteristics? I marked for Sheamus since the day he debuted on the main roster and at first loved his face turn. Remember his first encounter with Mark Henry? *Oh yeah I want to fight! face* while saying "I'll fight him!". That was golden. Now I can't even stand to look at Sheamus anymore. His matches used to be really good now they are Cena-esque. And now ADR travels down this road. Just boils down to WWE being out of touch.
 
#41 ·
problem is they're booking him as if the fans are idiots. just having a guy come out saying "'murica is for everyone, ESE!" is not getting over in 2013 when a lot of regions have smark crowds, faces have to be funny and edgy to get over now, not just boy scouts like Cena. Case in point.. if Cena debuted today he would not be the face of the company with his current gimmick that gets him booed by 50% of the crowd.
 
#44 ·
Here we go again, classic IWC. While some of you sour on guys turning babyface realize that those guys become more attracting to the younger audience. But most of you can never comprehend the value of the younger demographic for the WWE. What you people see as corny can be looked at as entertaining for the younger minds that watch WWE. Take Daniel Bryan for example. The younger audience never gave a crap about him when he was a face, but they started reacting to him when he became "goat face." The younger fans don't react to DB because of in ring talent; they react to him because of his character.
 
#48 ·
Since when do main event faces have to be catered directly to children? when i was young my favorite wrestlers were Stone Cold, The Rock and crow Sting. Kids will cheer for whoever is supposed to be the "good guy" and who everyone else is cheering for. Yes, the younger audience will support cookie cutter Del Rio but there's no point in alienating a large part of your fanbase when said younger audience would support the good guy no matter what his character was like. And now that i think about it, this post goes for Cena and Sheamus as well.
 
#45 ·
Writers are stuck in the 80's mentality with babyfaces making them all about homemade cookies and milk. Babyfaces these days don't have an edge or a struggle to fight through. I still believe that the anti hero much like in AE is the type of face people connect to. And that is a problem with character.
 
#46 ·
Don't understand why there's only one *type* of babyface that a wrestler could be in the WWE nowadays. Just like there are many different types of heels, there should be many different types of babyfaces. Hogan, Savage, and Warrior all had different face characteristics. So did Sting, Luger, Steamboat in WCW. Bret, HBK, and Diesel were different during the New Generation. Austin, Rock, Jericho in the AE, Benoit, Cena, Batista, etc were all different in the Ruthless Aggression Era. Now they all seem to be carbon copies of each other and it's no wonder why faces can't seem to get over as well as they did in years past.

I would definitely be :mark:ing for an ass-kicker Sheamus (like I was at the beginning of his face turn in mid-2011) rather than a smiley, happy-go-lucky Sheamus whom I'm completely apathetic about.

As for Del Rio himself, it actually doesn't bother me as much since I think this is more natural for him whereas with Cena, he just kept getting blander and staler as the years went by.
 
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#47 ·
The thing is, many sympathize with Swagger and Dirty Dutch's position, but are afraid to tell anyone due to the "you're racist" arguments. Thus, the mocking comedy of Del Rio seems to actually point out that "'maybe they have something there".

95% of people who are against illegal immigrants are against the "illegal" part, not the immigrant. If they chose to come in legally by actively seeking citizenship, then no problem as far as I'm concerned. Welcome to the USA.

But if you're coming across the border illegally, most often, you're bringing a lot of troubles with you. Who knows what disease or drugs come with them? We don't because we don't even know they're here until an incident occurs.

The mocking videos take away from the seriousness of this issue. Not everything is fodder to the comedy gods. As to the canadian bit, I don't know very many griping about it as they usually come for a quick visit.(check around, most often it's to get quality healthcare that socialist free healthcare doesn't deliver. However, since we have the same crap now, watch them crossing the border for this dwindle to nothing). The only illegal stuff from Canada use to be cigarettes or booze during prohibition.

Del Rio as a face has been entertaining, until recently. His moveset was very interesting and his 'latin temper' vs Big Slow made him have a personality. It's still time to stop this nonsense and return to what worked.
 
#50 ·
I'm sorry, but for as bad as the wwe manages baby faces, the heels are the ones with the "curse".

Every heel in the company is made to look like a pussy. The exceptions are the guys who play monsters. There's no middle ground in the wwe anymore--for faces and heels alike. The only difference is that the wwe books heels to lose at such a high loss rate, that when they finally win a title, no-one gives a fuck.



Sent from my Galaxy S3
 
#52 ·
Incredible wrestler, I liked him as a heel but they never took him anywhere with their horrible booking, and as a face WOW he is almost worst than Sheamus.
WHY CAN'T THEY THINK OF AN "ADULT" FACE GIMMICK?!?!?!
 
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