5 Wrestlers who were far better as Babyfaces than Heels

Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the author and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's views

In my previous article, I talked about how some wrestlers/characters are bound to fit a particular mould and cannot be repackaged and presented as anything else. I talked about WWE Superstars who were far better as heels than as babyfaces. Like everything, there's a flipside to this as well as there are wrestlers who have fared far better as Babyfaces than as Heels.

So for every Randy Orton or Edge, there will be a John Cena who has always been the good guy. Because some characters are built a certain way (or sometimes because of a lack of flexibility on the wrestler's part) there are only a few fixed ways in which a particular character can be portrayed and made to work.

That is exactly what happens with some characters as sometimes both the characters and the fans suffer from inertia and the change is not welcomed as well as anticipated.

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#1 Stone Cold Steve Austin

The Baddest, toughest wrestler to have graced the wrestling ring would just not work well as a cowardly heel

Stone Cold, ever since he turned face in the match against Bret Hart, built up a character of a tough no-frills redneck who didn't care about anyone or anything around him and he played that character to perfection every time he walked down the ramp.

Throughout his prime, he was a face/tweener and it worked pretty well with the character that he was portraying. In between though there were two separate occasions where he turned heel, once against The Rock during their second match at WrestleMania and then later in his career as a cowardly heel in his feud against Kurt Angle (the second instance tanked horribly).

But with the persona that Stone Cold portrayed it was just too tough to accept him as a heel and it never really got as over with the crowd as the "Texas Rattlesnake" gimmick.

#2 Hulk Hogan

It just took one match at Wrestlemania against The Rock to turn a "Heel" Hulk Hogan into Face

Hulk Hogan had an admirable heel turn in WCW and most of his career in WCW he remained a heel and got great success doing that. But in WWE, it was a completely different story.

WWE built up Hulk Hogan as the American dream, an All American who could do no wrong, who was a hero and turning that affable persona into a dastardly heel was a bridge too big. Even during Hogan's stint post WCW when he came back to WWE as a member of the NWO (and a heel) but it only took one match against The Rock for WWE to turn him face again.

The character of "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" was built over the years and it was just too big a thing for the WWE crowd to turn against Hogan and boo him out of the ring. Hulk was always a fan favourite (arguably still is) and could never justifiably get over the crowd as a heel.

#3 Bobby Lashley

You've got to admit that Bobby Lashley's new avatar as a heel is just not sticking with anyone

Bobby Lashley stepped into WWE as a one-man wrecking machine in his first stint. WWE has done a perfect job in identifying Bobby's strengths and weakness. He was a powerhouse but at the same time, he was not a good talker.

For starters, WWE kept him away from the mic and eventually even when he got to speak it was minimal and it helped in keeping up the elusive persona. All in all, it helped him have a great first run with the company where he wondered over numerous fans and was a favourite for many.

But then ever since Bobby has come back for his second stint, he has been turned heel and by all measures, his stint has been underwhelming at best. He lacks charisma, he never was a speaker and even now he can't despite having a mouthpiece in Lio Rush next to him.

All the posing exercise just doesn't go with the persona that WWE had built up for Bobby in his previous stint. It won't be far-fetched to say that Bobby Lashley as a heel has been a downright failure and he just hasn't looked the part at all.

#4 Batista

Despite multiple championship runs, Batista's most impressive stint has always been the one where he won the Heavyweight Championship against Triple H at Wrestlemania

It could be argued either way and even Batista in his interviews when talking about why he left WWE has said that he wanted to play the bad guy. But then on the other side of the coin, the biggest success of Batista's career came when he was a babyface and challenged Triple H for the title after winning the Royal Rumble.

He was able to go on a successful run as a champion in a campaign that lead him to defend his title on multiple occasions. During the same stint, Batista was involved in a great feud with The Undertaker where both of the contenders picked up wins against each other at different junctions.

Even though Batista was able to have multiple stints as a champion his very first stint as a babyface still stands out as that was the time when he was the most over among the crowd.

#5 John Cena

The eternal face of WWE

John Cena's case is peculiar. He started as a heel and slowly transitioned into becoming a babyface and ever since has remained there and never turned heel. There has hardly been any divergence in his character and it has more or less been the same throughout.

There has been clamouring in the past by the fans wanting to see John make the switch but it never happened (arguably because of the effect it would have on the merchandise sales).

But in many ways when you build a character around the slogans of "Hustle Loyalty Respect" and "Never give up" you can assume it would be really difficult to make a switch to the dark side and make it work (The chants "Let's Go Cena, Cena Sucks" might help though).

Even then it would be safe to say that maybe for someone with Cena's wealth of talent and ability, it was worth a try. Wasn't it?