.gif)
Face (professional wrestling)
Encyclopedia
In professional wrestling
, a babyface or face (in British wrestling traditionally referred to as a blue-eye, and in lucha libre
as a technico or técnico) or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a hero
ic relative to the heel wrestler
s, who are analogous to villains. A face wrestler is expected to be loyal towards the audience and to receive a positive response from the audience. However, a face wrestler is not supposed to do only heroic acts. The only factor that makes or maintains the face persona of a wrestler is the crowd response, no matter if his acts are against the rules. Face attitude is either adopted by a wrestler since his debut like that of Sin Cara
in WWE or after a heel run, like The Undertaker. Different wrestlers have used different ways to become a face, by giving cheerful speech to the audience, or by using cheerful entrance songs or by reacting positively before, during or after the match. However, in rare cases, a wrestler, in spite of disrespecting and speaking against the crowd, becomes a face when he proves himself as a technically excellent wrestler. Also, a face does not need to react to the crowd when being cheered. To keep on his face run, he only needs to impress the crowd in any manner whatsoever, even if he loses a match. In fact, sometimes the good performance of a heel or an emotional or sad reaction after losing his match turns him into a face.
Traditional babyfaces are classic good guy characters who do not break the rules, follow instructions of those in authority such as the referee, are polite and well-mannered towards the fans, and often overcome the rule-breaking actions of their heel opponents to cleanly win matches. While many modern faces still fit this model, other versions of the face character are now also common.
, the start of World Championship Wrestling
's nWo
storyline, and The Attitude Era
of the World Wrestling Federation. During this time, wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin
and Sting
used tactics traditionally associated with heels but remained popular with the fans. Although wrestlers such as Dick the Bruiser
, Crusher
and Freddie Blassie had been babyfaces while using such tactics well before this, the Attitude Era is usually credited with this new kind of face.
Conversely, Kurt Angle
was introduced to the World Wrestling Federation with an American hero gimmick based on his gold medal win at the 1996 Summer Olympics
. In his promos, Angle presented himself as a role model
and stressed the need to work hard to realize one's dreams. Although such a personality appears appropriate for a face wrestler, Angle's character was arrogant, talked down to the audience, and behaved as if he thought he was better than the fans. Angle's character served as a meta-reference to how wrestling had changed. Although his character was intended to be a heel and behaved accordingly, some commentators speculated that if Angle attempted to get over as a babyface using a more heroic version of the same character, he would have failed. Notably, Angle did not use any of these heroic mannerisms when playing a face character, instead acting as somewhat of an antihero with a few elements of the "lovable loser" character archetype. Angle's "well-meaning, but arrogant" type gimmick is also effective with wrestlers like Matt Striker, a retired school teacher who belittled the fans, due to their alleged lack of education, and the Straight Edge Society
, who were straight-edge, and were very obnoxious about it, and held themselves to be better than the fans and their opponents.
Fans sometimes boo babyface wrestlers despite the way they are promoted. Some reasons this may occur include repetitive in-ring antics, a limited move set, a lengthy title reign or repeated incessant title wins, lack of selling his/her opponents' moves, having an uninteresting character or being in the heel opponent's hometown or country. This often results in wrestlers who are supposed to be cheered receiving a negative or no reaction from the fans. The Rock, who initially wrestled as Rocky Maivia (November 1996 to August 1997), was depicted as a classic babyface, but the fans despised him. His constant attempts to get the crowd on his side struck them as obsequiousness and made him even less popular. Ironically, The Rock would achieve widespread popularity among fans when he took heel turns, during which his attempts to humorously mock the crowd would often be met with cheers. John Cena
has a history of receiving mixed reactions and even full heat from crowds despite being presented as a babyface.
Some face wrestlers would often give high fives or give out their own personal merchandise while entering the ring before their match, such as T-shirts, sunglasses, hats, masks, etc. to the fans. Bret Hart
made this popular in the modern era as he would drape his signature sunglasses to a young kid in the audience. Other faces who have given out free merchandise in the past and present have been Finlay
and Hornswoggle, DX
, John Morrison, Edge, Rey Mysterio, John Cena
, Batista, Randy Orton
, and Zack Ryder
. Heels have also followed this practice, such as Gorgeous George
, who gave out garlands of flowers and "Georgie Pins" to the audience and Cody Rhodes who hands out paper bags before his matches. Some other heels have mocked this, by telling the fans to buy their own merchandise.
With the change in time and the audiences' thinking, the face persona has seen many changes. As earlier, a rule following a well-behaved wrestler was said to be a face, whereas now a wrestler who entertains the crowd either by his entrance, his signature moves (for e.g. - Randy Orton
has always been receiving a high scale positive response while performing his signature maneuver RKO) or his performance. However, nowadays, performance has also become one of the major determinants of a wrestler's persona. A recent example for this is The Miz who on the account of his performance in his match at WrestleMania XXVII
become a tweener (however, he again turned heel a few days later as he never changed his heel-like persona). Sometimes, a single action of a wrestler can turn him face like Daniel Bryan
who at-once turned face after teaming up with team WWE at Summerslam 2010
, or Alex Riley
, who turned face after just attacking The Miz, who fired him as his manager. Whereas, a similar situation applies on a heel persona e.g. CM Punk
who turned heel after cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Jeff Hardy
, Mark Henry
who turned heel after betraying John Cena
and Christian in a six-man tag team match, R-Truth
who turned heel after just attacking John Morrison, and Christian, who turned heel after hitting Randy Orton
in the head with the World Heavyweight Championship. In many cases, a face wrestler turns heel when he tries to attack or give a speech against a fellow face wrestler.
Since the performance is not the only factor responsible for an individual wrestler being a face or heel, an impressive performance of a heel might not be able to turn him face if not followed by a good response to the crowd. Also, a wrestler becomes face when he either fights against a heel or supports a face. After turning face, in order to maintain the face persona, it is important for an individual wrestler or an alliance to respond to the crowd or to other fellow face wrestlers positively.
A separate mention is well deserved by the situation recently occurred with CM Punk. During the June 27, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw, Punk, heel and leader of the New Nexus at the time, and about to have his contract expired after a WWE Title match at Money In The Bank
2011, cut an almost shoot promo about how he was very disappointed with the company and the people in charge of it, even going as far as insulting Vince McMahon
, his daughter Stephanie and his son-in-law Triple H. While the promo was still very harsh and full of remarks against the fans, during the following weeks Punk got bigger and bigger reactions, culminating in an unbelievable "mega pop" in his own home town during the last night of his WWE contract, in which he won his third major title against John Cena, leaving the promotion with it.
When he came back two weeks later, Punk had become a full time babyface, playing the crowd and thanking the fans, saying they were the main reason of his immediate return. Ted DiBiase, Jr.
has become a face after punching Cody Rhodes, who paper bags DiBiase while disguised as a fan.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, a babyface or face (in British wrestling traditionally referred to as a blue-eye, and in lucha libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
as a technico or técnico) or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
ic relative to the heel wrestler
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
s, who are analogous to villains. A face wrestler is expected to be loyal towards the audience and to receive a positive response from the audience. However, a face wrestler is not supposed to do only heroic acts. The only factor that makes or maintains the face persona of a wrestler is the crowd response, no matter if his acts are against the rules. Face attitude is either adopted by a wrestler since his debut like that of Sin Cara
Místico
Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, working on its SmackDown brand under the name Sin Cara...
in WWE or after a heel run, like The Undertaker. Different wrestlers have used different ways to become a face, by giving cheerful speech to the audience, or by using cheerful entrance songs or by reacting positively before, during or after the match. However, in rare cases, a wrestler, in spite of disrespecting and speaking against the crowd, becomes a face when he proves himself as a technically excellent wrestler. Also, a face does not need to react to the crowd when being cheered. To keep on his face run, he only needs to impress the crowd in any manner whatsoever, even if he loses a match. In fact, sometimes the good performance of a heel or an emotional or sad reaction after losing his match turns him into a face.
Traditional face
Transformation of faces
The portrayal of face wrestlers changed in the 1990s with the birth of Extreme Championship WrestlingExtreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
, the start of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
's nWo
New World Order (professional wrestling)
The New World Order was a professional wrestling stable that originally wrestled for World Championship Wrestling . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation after the purchase of WCW by the WWF...
storyline, and The Attitude Era
The Attitude Era
The Attitude Era was a period in World Wrestling Federation and professional wrestling history that began as a direct result of the Monday Night Wars, a television ratings conflict between the WWF and longtime rival promotion World Championship Wrestling that lasted from 1995 to 2001...
of the World Wrestling Federation. During this time, wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin , better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler...
and Sting
Sting (wrestler)
Steven James "Steve" Borden , better known by his ring name Sting, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
used tactics traditionally associated with heels but remained popular with the fans. Although wrestlers such as Dick the Bruiser
William Afflis
William Fritz Afflis , best known as Dick the Bruiser, was an American football player and professional wrestler.-Early life:...
, Crusher
Reginald Lisowski
Reginald Lisowski was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Crusher ....
and Freddie Blassie had been babyfaces while using such tactics well before this, the Attitude Era is usually credited with this new kind of face.
Conversely, Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle
Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion...
was introduced to the World Wrestling Federation with an American hero gimmick based on his gold medal win at the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
. In his promos, Angle presented himself as a role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
and stressed the need to work hard to realize one's dreams. Although such a personality appears appropriate for a face wrestler, Angle's character was arrogant, talked down to the audience, and behaved as if he thought he was better than the fans. Angle's character served as a meta-reference to how wrestling had changed. Although his character was intended to be a heel and behaved accordingly, some commentators speculated that if Angle attempted to get over as a babyface using a more heroic version of the same character, he would have failed. Notably, Angle did not use any of these heroic mannerisms when playing a face character, instead acting as somewhat of an antihero with a few elements of the "lovable loser" character archetype. Angle's "well-meaning, but arrogant" type gimmick is also effective with wrestlers like Matt Striker, a retired school teacher who belittled the fans, due to their alleged lack of education, and the Straight Edge Society
Straight Edge Society
The Straight Edge Society was a villainous alliance in the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment that appeared on its SmackDown brand....
, who were straight-edge, and were very obnoxious about it, and held themselves to be better than the fans and their opponents.
Fans sometimes boo babyface wrestlers despite the way they are promoted. Some reasons this may occur include repetitive in-ring antics, a limited move set, a lengthy title reign or repeated incessant title wins, lack of selling his/her opponents' moves, having an uninteresting character or being in the heel opponent's hometown or country. This often results in wrestlers who are supposed to be cheered receiving a negative or no reaction from the fans. The Rock, who initially wrestled as Rocky Maivia (November 1996 to August 1997), was depicted as a classic babyface, but the fans despised him. His constant attempts to get the crowd on his side struck them as obsequiousness and made him even less popular. Ironically, The Rock would achieve widespread popularity among fans when he took heel turns, during which his attempts to humorously mock the crowd would often be met with cheers. John Cena
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, rapper, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE as a member of its WWE Raw brand....
has a history of receiving mixed reactions and even full heat from crowds despite being presented as a babyface.
Some face wrestlers would often give high fives or give out their own personal merchandise while entering the ring before their match, such as T-shirts, sunglasses, hats, masks, etc. to the fans. Bret Hart
Bret Hart
Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and Semi-retired professional wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College...
made this popular in the modern era as he would drape his signature sunglasses to a young kid in the audience. Other faces who have given out free merchandise in the past and present have been Finlay
Dave Finlay
David John "Fit" Finlay Jr. is a Northern Irish professional wrestler and road agent. He is perhaps best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling and WWE as an active wrestler and later as a road agent...
and Hornswoggle, DX
D-Generation X
D-Generation X was a professional wrestling stable in WWE . The group originated in the midst of the WWF's "Attitude Era" from 1997 to 2000...
, John Morrison, Edge, Rey Mysterio, John Cena
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, rapper, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE as a member of its WWE Raw brand....
, Batista, Randy Orton
Randy Orton
Randal Keith "Randy" Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE wrestling on its SmackDown brand...
, and Zack Ryder
Zack Ryder
Matthew Joseph Cardona, Jr. better known by his ring name Zack Ryder, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE and works on the Raw brand as a wrestler and the SmackDown brand as an assistant to SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long.Cardona wrestled mostly with his tag...
. Heels have also followed this practice, such as Gorgeous George
Gorgeous George
Gorgeous George, the stage name of George Wagner , American professional wrestler*Robert Kellum, a professional wrestler who wrestled as Gorgeous George III, after his great uncle, George Wagner...
, who gave out garlands of flowers and "Georgie Pins" to the audience and Cody Rhodes who hands out paper bags before his matches. Some other heels have mocked this, by telling the fans to buy their own merchandise.
Current trends
Randy Orton
Randal Keith "Randy" Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE wrestling on its SmackDown brand...
has always been receiving a high scale positive response while performing his signature maneuver RKO) or his performance. However, nowadays, performance has also become one of the major determinants of a wrestler's persona. A recent example for this is The Miz who on the account of his performance in his match at WrestleMania XXVII
WrestleMania XXVII
WrestleMania XXVII was the twenty-seventh annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , held on April 3, 2011 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia...
become a tweener (however, he again turned heel a few days later as he never changed his heel-like persona). Sometimes, a single action of a wrestler can turn him face like Daniel Bryan
Bryan Danielson
Bryan Danielson is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he wrestles on its SmackDown brand as Daniel Bryan, and currently holds the SmackDown Money in the Bank briefcase, which enables him to have a World Heavyweight Championship match at any time of his choosing...
who at-once turned face after teaming up with team WWE at Summerslam 2010
SummerSlam (2010)
SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , that took place on August 15, 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for the second consecutive year...
, or Alex Riley
Alex Riley
Alex Riley is a TV and radio presenter.Born and brought up in Sheffield, Riley started performing with the city's Crucible Youth Theatre during which time he originated, and appeared in, dozens of sketches and devised pieces, as well as appearing in a number of plays and farces at the Library...
, who turned face after just attacking The Miz, who fired him as his manager. Whereas, a similar situation applies on a heel persona e.g. CM Punk
CM Punk
Phillip Jack "Phil" Brooks , better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE and working on its Raw brand currently serving his second title reign as WWE Champion....
who turned heel after cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy
Jeffrey Nero "Jeff" Hardy is an American professional wrestler, who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where he is a former two–time TNA World Heavyweight Champion...
, Mark Henry
Mark Henry
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. He is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic...
who turned heel after betraying John Cena
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, rapper, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE as a member of its WWE Raw brand....
and Christian in a six-man tag team match, R-Truth
Ron Killings
Ronald Aaron "Ron" Killings is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He is currently signed to WWE working on its Raw brand. Since working for the company, he has been a one time United States Champion under the ring name R-Truth and a two time Hardcore Champion under the ring name K-Kwik...
who turned heel after just attacking John Morrison, and Christian, who turned heel after hitting Randy Orton
Randy Orton
Randal Keith "Randy" Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE wrestling on its SmackDown brand...
in the head with the World Heavyweight Championship. In many cases, a face wrestler turns heel when he tries to attack or give a speech against a fellow face wrestler.
Since the performance is not the only factor responsible for an individual wrestler being a face or heel, an impressive performance of a heel might not be able to turn him face if not followed by a good response to the crowd. Also, a wrestler becomes face when he either fights against a heel or supports a face. After turning face, in order to maintain the face persona, it is important for an individual wrestler or an alliance to respond to the crowd or to other fellow face wrestlers positively.
A separate mention is well deserved by the situation recently occurred with CM Punk. During the June 27, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw, Punk, heel and leader of the New Nexus at the time, and about to have his contract expired after a WWE Title match at Money In The Bank
Money in the Bank
Money in the Bank may refer to: In literature:*Money in the Bank , 1942 comedy novel by P. G. WodehouseIn films and entertainment:*Money in the Bank ladder match, a professional wrestling match held since 2005...
2011, cut an almost shoot promo about how he was very disappointed with the company and the people in charge of it, even going as far as insulting Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
, his daughter Stephanie and his son-in-law Triple H. While the promo was still very harsh and full of remarks against the fans, during the following weeks Punk got bigger and bigger reactions, culminating in an unbelievable "mega pop" in his own home town during the last night of his WWE contract, in which he won his third major title against John Cena, leaving the promotion with it.
When he came back two weeks later, Punk had become a full time babyface, playing the crowd and thanking the fans, saying they were the main reason of his immediate return. Ted DiBiase, Jr.
Ted DiBiase, Jr.
Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase Jr. is an American professional wrestler and actor signed with WWE, where he appears on its SmackDown brand...
has become a face after punching Cody Rhodes, who paper bags DiBiase while disguised as a fan.
See also
- Heel (professional wrestling)Heel (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
- Glossary of professional wrestling terms