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There are two major ways to get a babyface over. You can legitimately make the audience empathize with the good guys' struggles, often because that good guy is genuinely likeable, or you can make the good guy a take-no-prisoners ass kicker who the audience loves to see beat everyone up, especially the bad guys.
Unfortunately, WWE has often forgotten both of these things. Babyfaces instead are usually booked like hapless individuals with the attention span of goldfish. Not even Ronda Rousey has been immune to this. Is there anyone that can get behind a wimpy star? Not really.
To the extent that babyfaces are successful these days, it's because they've been able to break this pattern enough to create compelling programming:
#5 Becky Lynch
Despite her year and a half of meandering, the Irish lass kicker never lost her devoted fans, so when it looked like she was finally going somewhere, the audience got more and more excited.
Becky Lynch is naturally sympathetic, which is why her match with Carmella a couple of weeks ago was better than Charlotte's and Asuka's, as those two individuals fit better into the second, ass-kicker babyface category. Seeing them struggle against a poor worker like Carmella shatters the illusion that pro wrestling is supposed to cast on its audience, but Becky is sympathetic enough to pull it off.
Becky's hot streak secured her a title shot at SummerSlam, only for Charlotte to now muscle her way into the picture. This upset a lot of people, showing how powerful a connection Becky has with her fans.
I want to say that a good story will come from this, but I also can't say I have any faith. For now though, Becky's summer has proven that she's a vastly underutilized commodity, and has pushed her onto the list of one of 2018's best babyfaces.
#4 Braun Strowman
Though he's been struck by Dumb Babyface Syndrome of late, all Braun Strowman needs to do to stay over is another crazy stunt. People love seeing Braun Strowman break things and beat people up. It's why he turned babyface in the first place. His popularity that came from doing those things last year (and to Roman Reigns in particular) was too much to ignore.
It remains to be seen if there will ever actually be a payoff to all of this. His upcoming match with Kevin Owens at SummerSlam leaves it in some doubt, but for now, Braun Strowman remains one of the most effective babyfaces on the WWE roster.
#3 Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan's comeback promo remains the best segment of 2018. It's unlikely to be topped. He hasn't been utilized as effectively as he could have been, though that might now be changing with the start of the Bryan vs. Miz feud. Despite all of that, Bryan remains among the most organically over star on WWE's main roster. He might not be as hot as he was during the Yes Movement, but he's bulletproof. Fans will always be behind him.
When bigger things come his way, the crowd will be more than ready to anoint him as its champion again and will be firmly behind seeing another monumental payoff for his epic and miraculous comeback.
#2 Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano should ordinarily have been the clear gold medalist, but his recent defeats at the hands of Tommaso Ciampa has sent him down a path of mental derangement. He's becoming everything he hates, and it remains to be seen how he gets out of it.
He will though, and when it happens, fans will be fully ready to embrace him again. For now though, he got chants of "You deserve it!" for eating the Black Mass. He's fallen a bit. He needs to recover. We'll surely be enthralled in watching that happen.
#1 Seth Rollins
Far and away the main roster's best babyface this year, Seth Rollins has hit a career-high that hasn't been matched, even during his 2015 WWE Championship reign. Fans are thoroughly invested in him, which is what makes the feud with Ziggler and McIntyre the only worthwhile program on Monday nights (it helps that those two have done a good job as heels).
Unfortunately, it isn't clear that there will be a big payoff to his 2018 journey, but should that possibility present itself, the fans will be ready to explode in support. He should have been the one to face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, that's for sure.
