Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
In the case of Jimmy and Jey, they went from being stale babyfaces to the most entertaining heel tag team in the company earlier this year. A few years ago, Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods were lost in the midcard shuffle. Then, WWE put them together as a trio, and it resulted in the stable selling more merchandise than anyone in WWE during the week of WrestleMania 32. Not long ago, Strowman was a lackey for Bray Wyatt as a part of the Wyatt Family, and now, he is obviously developing into one of WWE's biggest attractions.
But for every New Day or Strowman, there is another WWE star who hasn't been as fortunate.
While WWE is loaded with talent, many of those superstars are struggling to gain their footing. For some, that's because the booking has done them no favors. For others, it's because their characters simply aren't connecting with the crowd. For many, it may be a combination of both. In the case of all of them, however, there's one obvious way to help those stars recover: Reinvigorate their characters.
Here are five superstars who would benefit tremendously from a character change, whether that be a heel/face turn or an entirely new gimmick.
Randy Orton
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Even Randy Orton himself will tell you that he wants to be a heel. Here's what "The Viper" had to say about that on Edge and Christian's podcast E&C's Pod of Awesomeness (h/t Sportskeeda) in late September:
I love it and I'm gonna use that, hopefully sooner than later when I turn heel again because I'm sick of this babyface thing, that's for sure.
Orton is in one of those weird spots where, as a well respected legend, he's wildly cheered as a babyface even though the widespread thought is that he's best suited to be a heel. From 2006 to 2010, Orton was arguably the best heel in WWE, and though he's spent some time as a villain since then, he's primarily been a babyface for the last six or seven years, which has to be considered a head-scratching decision when you consider how weak the heel side of SmackDown has been at times.
WWE obviously has enough faith in Orton to keep him in a high-profile role that has consistently made him one of WWE's highest paid stars and one of its strongest draws based on recent YouTube data. But the questionable decision to keep him as a babyface has really limited what his current character can do, as it primarily revolves around hitting "RKOs outta nowhere" and not much else that fans can sink their teeth into.
With Orton even realizing that he's better (and possibly more motivated) as a heel, WWE would be wise to consider reverting Orton back to that role. And the great thing is, it wouldn't require much of a character change for Orton, who essentially works like a heel when he's a babyface anyway.
Bayley
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Bayley is the definition of a white meat babyface, who always does the honorable and respectable thing and rarely, if ever, has any shades of gray.
That seemed to work for her in NXT as Google Shopping searches (h/t Fightful) indicate that she was likely WWE's No. 4 female merchandise seller in 2016, when she spent most of her time as the female face of NXT. Her undeniable popularity in NXT had some speculating that she could be WWE's female equivalent to John Cena on the main roster, serving as an ideal role model and being a huge merchandise mover because of it.
But even way back in 2015 when Bayley was arguably at her peak in NXT, there was concern about whether she would thrive or fail miserably on the main roster, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc):
Regarding Bayley, there's been some discussion over whether she will be the biggest female star in WWE history or if she will fail on the main roster. According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the feeling in WWE is that there's no in between for Bayley. Some people see Bayley as a female John Cena, with the idea that she could do charity work and bring in younger female fans.
If you had to label Bayley as "the biggest female star in WWE history" or a "failure" on the main roster, it would undoubtedly be the latter. Her shtick simply hasn't worked since she made the move to Raw, and a star who was once the most popular performer in NXT regardless of gender was actually booed out of the building back in August when announcing she had suffered an injury. That marked an incredible fall for Bayley, who hasn't been able to win over the mainstream audience the way she did in NXT.
Why? Because fans aren't buying Bayley's white meat babyface character, and it's clear she needs to develop more of an edge if she wants to avoid being one of the biggest main roster flops in recent memory.
">WWE fans know that a change in character can work wonders for a superstar, like it's done with the Usos, The New Day and Braun Strowman.
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
In the case of Jimmy and Jey, they went from being stale babyfaces to the most entertaining heel tag team in the company earlier this year. A few years ago, Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods were lost in the midcard shuffle. Then, WWE put them together as a trio, and it resulted in the stable selling more merchandise than anyone in WWE during the week of WrestleMania 32. Not long ago, Strowman was a lackey for Bray Wyatt as a part of the Wyatt Family, and now, he is obviously developing into one of WWE's biggest attractions.
But for every New Day or Strowman, there is another WWE star who hasn't been as fortunate.
While WWE is loaded with talent, many of those superstars are struggling to gain their footing. For some, that's because the booking has done them no favors. For others, it's because their characters simply aren't connecting with the crowd. For many, it may be a combination of both. In the case of all of them, however, there's one obvious way to help those stars recover: Reinvigorate their characters.
Here are five superstars who would benefit tremendously from a character change, whether that be a heel/face turn or an entirely new gimmick.
Randy Orton
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Even Randy Orton himself will tell you that he wants to be a heel. Here's what "The Viper" had to say about that on Edge and Christian's podcast E&C's Pod of Awesomeness (h/t Sportskeeda) in late September:
I love it and I'm gonna use that, hopefully sooner than later when I turn heel again because I'm sick of this babyface thing, that's for sure.
Orton is in one of those weird spots where, as a well respected legend, he's wildly cheered as a babyface even though the widespread thought is that he's best suited to be a heel. From 2006 to 2010, Orton was arguably the best heel in WWE, and though he's spent some time as a villain since then, he's primarily been a babyface for the last six or seven years, which has to be considered a head-scratching decision when you consider how weak the heel side of SmackDown has been at times.
WWE obviously has enough faith in Orton to keep him in a high-profile role that has consistently made him one of WWE's highest paid stars and one of its strongest draws based on recent YouTube data. But the questionable decision to keep him as a babyface has really limited what his current character can do, as it primarily revolves around hitting "RKOs outta nowhere" and not much else that fans can sink their teeth into.
With Orton even realizing that he's better (and possibly more motivated) as a heel, WWE would be wise to consider reverting Orton back to that role. And the great thing is, it wouldn't require much of a character change for Orton, who essentially works like a heel when he's a babyface anyway.
Bayley
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Bayley is the definition of a white meat babyface, who always does the honorable and respectable thing and rarely, if ever, has any shades of gray.
That seemed to work for her in NXT as Google Shopping searches (h/t Fightful) indicate that she was likely WWE's No. 4 female merchandise seller in 2016, when she spent most of her time as the female face of NXT. Her undeniable popularity in NXT had some speculating that she could be WWE's female equivalent to John Cena on the main roster, serving as an ideal role model and being a huge merchandise mover because of it.
But even way back in 2015 when Bayley was arguably at her peak in NXT, there was concern about whether she would thrive or fail miserably on the main roster, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc):
Regarding Bayley, there's been some discussion over whether she will be the biggest female star in WWE history or if she will fail on the main roster. According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the feeling in WWE is that there's no in between for Bayley. Some people see Bayley as a female John Cena, with the idea that she could do charity work and bring in younger female fans.
If you had to label Bayley as "the biggest female star in WWE history" or a "failure" on the main roster, it would undoubtedly be the latter. Her shtick simply hasn't worked since she made the move to Raw, and a star who was once the most popular performer in NXT regardless of gender was actually booed out of the building back in August when announcing she had suffered an injury. That marked an incredible fall for Bayley, who hasn't been able to win over the mainstream audience the way she did in NXT.
Why? Because fans aren't buying Bayley's white meat babyface character, and it's clear she needs to develop more of an edge if she wants to avoid being one of the biggest main roster flops in recent memory.
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