I think you're just reading into it too much, OP.
But about Gabriel... it's funny, because when he debuted, like everyone else on here I thought this guy is just a natural face, period. He's gonna be hugely popular with all of the demographics due to his ability to wrestle, he's gonna be a big merchandise seller, all that good stuff. And then I realized that this is a big guy we're talking about. People initially call him a high flyer, but he's a solid 225 pounds and works a ground game with bigger opponents. So thanks to his size, he can adapt to whoever's in the ring with him, which gives him main event potential. Next up, people said there's no way this guy will make it with his lack of mic ability. He responds to that by cutting a great promo after his NXT elimination and from that point forward, hasn't cut a bad promo since. So much for the no mic ability argument. The one last blockade? Surely, surely this guy can't play a heel.
And then Nexus happened.
We've seen that he can play on both sides of the fence, and do it very well. So, now we know just how versatile this guy is.
Now, I'm almost to the point where I don't want him to turn face just yet, unless that face turn is involved in a BIG angle. The crowd wants him to turn face, and I think that's something WWE should take advantage of in a big way, and not just a Hart Dynasty sweep-under-the-rug sort of way. Let this guy continue to play a heel. He's doing so good at it as it is. Let him continue to show that he's more than just a high-flyer, because he's shown that in droves. I think too many people have classified him as a high-flyer simply because of his finisher, and not enough people have paid attention to what he can really do in the ring. By keeping him a heel, that keeps him on the ground -- in a way, you can almost bet that WWE would ask him to go in the air more as a face than he might be wanting to do, because he probably doesn't want that classification, either. In the WWE, if you're classified as a high-flyer, you're classified as a mid-carder. Justin Gabriel is capable of so much more than that.
I see no rush for a face turn. Let him continue to show what he can do as a heel, and then, when the timing is right, pull the trigger and make the face turn a big deal. If they take advantage of this guy, he can do great things for a long time for the company. He's already one of the best in-ring workers the company has to offer. There's a lot of promise.