BreakTheWallsDown2

When he turned face I was pumped because we all knew his heel ran it's course. And after the backstage segment with him giving the keys to Ricardo it was off to a really good start. And then creative decides to inject their usual babyface garbage on him, and make him into another sheamus, ryback cena.

1)He doesn't drive out in cars anymore? The reason, people make the point "Oh that's for rich heels". Wealth doesn't have to be associated with evil, and the cars were cool. It added something different to his entrance. It had an epic feel to it. Now he just comes out like anyone else.

2)They gave him one of those cringeworthy warmup taunts for his finisher. This seems like a new thing WWE likes to down with their babyfaces. Del Rio joins Kofi, Sheamus, HBK, Ryback and probably others I can't remember, with that turnbuckle taunting as their opponent gets up. I don't mind if one person has it, but it seems they like to stick it on every babyface and it gets old quick. I understand they are trying to get the crowd into it but at least think of something new.

3)He has already been teaming with the usual bunch of ME babyfaces such as Sheamus and team hell no. He should have had a tense relationship with the other faces, and slowly overtime gains their trust. All of a sudden he shakes hands with Sheamus and he's in team babyface.

4)He already won the Championship, so his popularity could very well peak. Holding the WWE championship for too long is usually a heel thing because people get tired of it very quickly. However, if Del Rio drops it soon, he will look weak (ie Drops it to Ziggler via MITB). So where do they go from here with this?

5)All of a sudden he becomes this super proud cultural guy? They make him use spanish in almost all his promos. That's well and good but it comes off as pandering. Such as the smackdown where he had everyone count from 1 to 10 in spanish. It's important to know where you come from, but in the WWE apparently they have to show it in every promo and every match. How many times do we hear Sheamus is Irish? How many times are we reminded Cesaro is European? These country gimmicks can work for heels, but not faces.

I really really like Del Rio, and am a huge fan. But I could feel it beginning to go down the wrong path very quickly, and see him turning into another Sheamus in a matter of months. Just being a straight up cornball.

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I agree about the cars and the taunts and I do think he should have a more tense relationship with Sheamus, similar to how Randy was developing one, but I think it's fine that he panders and has won the title. Heels don't always go back to being faces very well, and cheap tactics is the best way to ensure that they work out.

Brye

I think they've been doing fine with him.

Hasn't he always been really proud of his heritage though? At least in character.

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TripleG

They haven't completely blown it with him by any means, but that is strange to me. Why can't he have the cars still? I mean why be humble now?

Just because a person goes heel to face doesn't mean his core attributes have to change. I can't believe I am using this example, but remember that crappy straight to video sequel of Aladdin, Return of Jafar? Well in that movie, Iago turns into a good guy and helps Aladdin, but he's still a greedy and mean spirited character...he just softened just enough for audiences to buy it (audience of course being dozens of kids that'll get their parents to buy anything with a Disney logo on it).

I wouldn't say Del Rio is a failure as a face as his pairing with Ricardo showed more of a believable human side that I could connect with. But come on. Keep the cars! Let him be flashy.

I totally agree with this. One of my big wrestling booking pet peeves is that all faces have ot be friends and all heels have to be friends. That's just how it goes, but I think that is lazy and uncreative. Remember, these characters are human beings and just because the fans might cheer for the same two guys, that doesn't mean those two guys should get along and it doesn't also mean that a face can't be friends with a heel either.

One of the best subtle touches WWE has ever done was after Diesel turned heel at Survivor Series 1995. He attacked Bret Hart and started to say things like he never liked doing things the way the bosses told him too and smiling all the time. Guess what? Him and Shawn Michaels stayed friends and Shawn was the top babyface in the company. Why should Shawn care if Diesel attacked Bret? Shawn & Bret, two faces, aren't friends, so why should that effect his friendship with Nash? Eventually, they led to where Nash turned on Michaels and set up their match in April 1996, but I liked that it wasn't immediate. They didn't have Shawn go "Oh you're mean, I don't want to be your friend anymore!". They slowly built up the dissolving partnership, and that was more believable.

Going back to Del Rio, I didn't see it, but if it is true, him tagging with Sheamus is ridiculous. After the feud they had last year, if I were Del Rio, I'd spit in Sheamus' face every time I saw him. I'd hate being tagged up with him.

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RandomLurker

It doesn't even take that much effort to convey an uneasy relationship between Del Rio and random face tag team partner. Have the commentators mention their past history or have Del Rio cautiously eye his partner before/after a tag is made. But nah, he's a good guy now and friends with everyone

Not sure if they don't know how to develop characters, are told not to, or just too lazy.

ninealevyn

Honestly, I think WWE may have been looking for a way to cut cost too. He had to have one of the most expensive entrances of all time, he had a different rental car every time and pyro. John Cena doesn't even get pyro, so I think they figured now was a good as time as ever to drop the cars. It's not a heel or face thing, Guerrero came out in a lowrider as a face.

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Brodus Clay

ADR face turn is one of the worst it only works because the guy was a face for a long time so it feels natural for him it looks like hes enjoying himself, is funny Miz face turn was actually build pretty good and he even got a rub from Flair but the result is barely decent, hes so much of a natural heel to try being face I guess.

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JY57

regardless of the turn itself. ADR is much more natural as a face (spending his entire career except last two years in WWE as one), he gets very decent crowd reaction now, and most importantly it seems ADR is enjoying what he is doing now. During heel persona it seems like he wanted to kill somebody for real,

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Shelter

He was trying to get over taunts like the destiny thing and slaps to his arm way before the face turn. As much as like ADR his taunts has always being cringeworthy.

I never liked the cars but I can understand that some people did. I think that more than the face turn it's related to the money wasted but kinda agree that his entrance is not that especial anymore. They should give him the pyro back at least.

Seems clearly to me that his reign was clearly transitional at the beginning, as all his reigns, and a gift for the cities with big Latin population who they were visiting. Now he most likely will keep the belt until EC and if he keeps going well as a face I can see a nice feud with Ziggler for Wrestlemania.

The cultural thing, I kinda agree. It's just very basic booking by WWE. The generic foreign heel/face is always present but kinda complicated to get over, ADR is doing right for what he is given.

About Sheamus, they acknowledged their past, even the lolborrowed, and IMO it made sense (for wrestling standars at least).

I think that WWE can make it better but start saying that he's becoming garbage is exaggerated.