Credit: WWE.com
Last night, Bayley won back the championship she lost on Sunday. I am a fan of pointing out Charlotte Flair having 10 championship reigns between WrestleMania 32 and now is hotshotting like a MOTHERFUCKER. She might win 30. But Bayley. The latest example of a surefire babyface that flopped then everyone wanted her to turn heel and now everyone is happy. Until they want to see her turn face again until they want her to be heel again. I feel like fans think WWE doesn't listen to them. I know WWE listens too much.
I am pondering: why is it that WWE can't book a likeable babyface? Why do fans only like heels until they turn babyface? Whenever you talk to fans about who the best heels are, it's always the cool heels everyone likes. And sometimes people miss the point by saying they don't like certain heels. A lot of people don't like MJF. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE MJF. Then there's how people don't like Baron Corbin. There's wanting to see someone lose or get beat up. Back in the day, if you could cause a riot or attempted murder you were a great heel. Now, I think a lot of fans wish they could Thanos snap Baron Corbin out of existence. Fans used to hate heels because they cheated and took shortcuts. Now fans hate heels because they consistently get booked.
Back to Bayley. When she was in NXT, I remember fans saying she was the most can't miss babyface since Daniel Bryan, that she would be beloved and sell merch by the boatload. That wasn't how it went down. I blame hotshotting. Fans are conditioned to want everything right this second. The thing about people is that you also don't trust that. Say you're a guy reading this. You don't want the girl that makes you wait for marriage for sex. Unless you're into that. At the same time MOST guys also don't want the girl who gives it up too easily. Because people are complicated. You want that happy medium between instant gratification and waiting too long. With ALL of the Four Horsewomen, an argument can be made that all of them were pushed to the moon so fast it could not at all be considered organic. The wrestlers I grew up watching, from Hulk Hogan to Stone Cold, those guys were in the business a good decade before they were the man. Now it might take a year or two. Maybe that's where WWE went wrong with The Shield. After like 2-3 years all of them had been main eventers and won world championships. None of them got the "you deserve it" chants people like Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt got.
To my last point, I perceive that wrestling fans prefer you not be the first choice. Or seem too much like you were chosen all. Most fans seem to lack the understanding that everything they see on tv is a work. That if a guy is being pushed it is not because we the fans dragged Vince kicking and screaming into it. I love reminding you: when fans were crying that Daniel Bryan was being held back and buried circa 2014-2015 he was finishing up a run in which he had main evented SummerSlam and beat John Cena clean. You can literally name all the wrestlers who have beaten John Cena clean because they don't just do that for any and everybody. Or at least they didn't back in 2013. By 2015 Bryan completed the grand slam just for fans to STILL be saying that WWE didn't want him to be a top star. I don't understand what goes into this logic.
A year ago, I was writing that Roman Reigns is not being booked like he is WWEs top guy. Some of you told me Seth Rollins is the guy. I told you, "yeah he's your guy NOW but just wait, a few months and now it's someone else." And now, the People's Champ is Bray Wyatt. WWE swerved us at HIAC. At some point they'll push the button on him and then fans will turn on him too. Because for some reason that's what we do when WWE listens.