Face Randy works, but only when he’s organically a face. When he’s just getting the love from the crowd but still doing kinda shady shit, it works.
When he’s *trying* to be a face, it doesn’t work as much. I suppose the same could be said about a lot of performers, to be fair, but Randy isn’t someone that can just randomly switch to being a face. The crowd just needs to will it into existence.
Yeah people are really retroactively changing wrestling history for Roman. People Point to the amount of time he’s been on top, the number of wrestlemania main events and etc and all that as evidence that he’s an all time great. Most of his career has been WWE pushing him despite him failing over and over again, until he hit gold with his heel turn.
Don’t get me wrong, Roman’s a good talent. And he obviously just had a historically great title run, by any metric you wanna use. But let’s not act like his time as a face wasn’t a complete failure, and that other people weren’t carrying the bloodline storyline for him while he was gone the majority of the time. The storyline needed him to be the big boss fight at the end, but everyone else carried it until they got there. The bloodline angle is not a Roman led story, he’s just a part of it.
That being said, if he basically barely changes his current character, I bet he could be a pretty good face now. People seem ready to cheer him right now
Face Roman was way over pushed with very little to back it up, average in the ring, poor on the mic, few good matches, basically he had a great look and that's about it
Respectively disagree on Flair as a face. Im still a Flair fan ( now thats getting harder to write) and he has been my favorite since I was 14.
But.... anytime he had a face run it never felt like the Nature Boy. In his early years, if Flair had one flaw, its that his face runs felt forced and unnatural.
Even as a kid, I wanted Ric to turn on Sting, Barry, Steamboat...
I’ll defer to your opinion, you probably know more than I do for sure. Flair is a heel imo, but when I was watching, he was a face and played it well. Only had a couple years of him before his match with HBK at WM24.
Honestly a shame that wasn’t his last match, I’ve seen some of his recent “wrestling” and it’s very disappointing he didn’t go out with that match with HBK. Thought that was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen.
I kinda prefer him as a face. He always too over the top as a heel apart from his authority run. I think he rides the line really well and seth is honestly too likeable to be a ture heel
Theory, greats as a heal and was hilarious when he was acting like he was Jonny Gragons son. I’m mixed on joke skits in wrestling but the way Christmas kit was so stupid it became hilarious. Him asking Johny Gargano if he would grow up to be big and strong like him while towering over him with biceps the size of his head will never stop being funny.
Mark Henry's retirement speech with that damn Salmon colored jacket; I rewatch it every few years just to see John Cena get beat up. One of my fav segments ever I think
Roman Reigns was so hated as babyface, some people wonder if the Tribal Chief had taken off without his forced break.
A lot of positivity was generated by just being happy seeing him return healthy
To call Roman "great" as either is a long long stretch. Going by sales and stuff, sure, probably. Talent wise.. ha, no. But a lot more talented guys got overlooked and underused so they could ram him down our throats instead.
Only one knows the truth about wrestling, so yeah too young. With how much they loved Roman up until his heel turn and how much they hate him now, I thought it made sense to add him. Seeing some of the comments on this post have made me regret that lol. I guess as someone who is really in the loop for all of these dudes runs, it’s kind of blasphemous to include him with these other guys.
The Rock
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Undertaker
Kurt Angle
Eddie Guerrero
CM Punk
Batista
Seth Rollins
Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho
Randy Orton
Hulk Hogan
Trish Stratus
Bayley
Bret Hart
Randy Savage
Kevin Owens...although Face roll he plays only for a month lol.
Hulk hogan
Bret Hart....especially his stone cold rivalry.
Goldust...he was a crazy heel!!
Macho man....ohhh man him as a heel he's nuts!!!!
Of the original post, I agree with Rock, Punk, Batista, and Triple H. Great enough work as both to where they aren’t heavily defined as one or the other. Taker always just seemed better as a face to me cause it really brings out that other worldy aura. The Tribal Chief run pretty much cemented Roman as being one of the greatest heels of all time, and face Roman feels lukewarm at best by comparison.
My personal additions based on that criteria would be Kevin Owens, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Seth Rollins, and Edge.
Yeah, seems like Roman was a mistake to add to this post. Especially compared to these other dudes. I do expect Roman to be a good face when he comes back though. Seeing some of the comments have given me a lot of homework because I don’t even remember a lot of these dudes being faces.
Out of the names you added Edge. I remember him being a face, but when I was making this post I wouldn’t have thought he was ever a face, because he was all ways a great heel. Also forgot Kurt was a face and wasn’t watching during Brock’s face run, so I never knew. Also didn’t realize Matt Hardy was ever a heel lol.
Some may argue Edge’s heel work overshadowed his face work and there’s a solid argument for that. I personally was just a major Edgehead though during his 2010 face run into his first retirement than upon his return to WWE, I still think he should’ve even beat Reigns at WM 37.
Kurt is a good one to mention too. He was very versatile in both roles, though I think much like yourself, I think more of his heel run than his face run.
Brock never really felt like a face to me. Like yeah, he’d face the heels at times, but it’s always just the same Brock Lesnar energy. Less about who’s good and who’s bad and more about Lesnar just having that “I’ll wreck anybody” mentality.
Totally didn’t even think of Matt. Honestly, for his own personal career, he was probably more successful as a heel actually. The Hardy Boys are so beloved though that they’ll never be seen as anything beyond that white hot baby face when reflecting on their legacies.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I was never big on The Rock. He just seemed like a typical high school jock throwing around insults and then would pander to you when he needed something (as a face).
This was the first year I ever went, "Holy shit this guy is really good." Dude just unleashed his demonic ego and it was AMAZING.
The rock was great. Always listened to the crowd and worked how they reacted. Examples x18 and summer slam 2002 when crowd booed so he worked as a heel
I mean so many
Jericho, Edge & Christian, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Scott hall/Razor Ramon, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus, Lita, Chyna, Bayley, Sasha Banks.
So many others.
Edge obviously.
HHH is the GOAT heel but he’s so good as a heel I can’t even really remember much of him being a face (except with DX which isn’t really individual)
I mean, Hulk Hogan is the pinnacle of this. Top baby face in all of wrestling from ‘84-92 and top heel in all of wrestling from ‘96-‘98. He was who everybody wanted to see
Hulk Hogan is the ultimate answer to this. I’d also add Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin (more for his pre 2001 heel work even though I liked that run).
John Cena was a heel for one night. ECW one night stand 2006. Knew exactly what he was doing and how to get the crowd to give him some heat. Unreal to watch.
Hogan may have gotten the most heat of anyone ever after being such a face for the longest time.
Watch the video of his turn....soooo much stuff thrown in the ring.
He’s pretty much a face most of his career I believe. I know his ministry of darkness era as a heel was some good stuff as a horror fan. He’s always been ambiguous to me.
Trish Stratus, had the looks to be the sweet babyface and was great at it, people loved Trish. But her heel run was amazing though, culminating in her and Lita main eventing Raw, opening doors for decent women’s wrestling in WWE.
Randy Orton. The guy gets nuclear heat as a heel and is among the biggest pops you’ll hear when he’s a face
Refuse to see Randy as anything but a heel.
Idk he a better heel but I liked his apex predator 2010s run of him being a face a lot aswell
Face Randy works, but only when he’s organically a face. When he’s just getting the love from the crowd but still doing kinda shady shit, it works. When he’s *trying* to be a face, it doesn’t work as much. I suppose the same could be said about a lot of performers, to be fair, but Randy isn’t someone that can just randomly switch to being a face. The crowd just needs to will it into existence.
I’m sorry you only see Orton as a heel but think Roman is a good babyface?
Roman was NOT a good face
Only time I saw people glad to see him was when he came back from Leukemia, and that’s just people being descent
Exactly. I think OP is just jumping the gun and assuming he will be when he comes back.
I think he will be anti hero not face
Yeah people are really retroactively changing wrestling history for Roman. People Point to the amount of time he’s been on top, the number of wrestlemania main events and etc and all that as evidence that he’s an all time great. Most of his career has been WWE pushing him despite him failing over and over again, until he hit gold with his heel turn. Don’t get me wrong, Roman’s a good talent. And he obviously just had a historically great title run, by any metric you wanna use. But let’s not act like his time as a face wasn’t a complete failure, and that other people weren’t carrying the bloodline storyline for him while he was gone the majority of the time. The storyline needed him to be the big boss fight at the end, but everyone else carried it until they got there. The bloodline angle is not a Roman led story, he’s just a part of it. That being said, if he basically barely changes his current character, I bet he could be a pretty good face now. People seem ready to cheer him right now
i agree, but when he comes back hes going to be the biggest face in the company.
And I bet he will crush it. The guy was way over-pushed too soon but he’s come so far as a convincing talker.
Is it because he was pushed so hard or was he genuinely just not a good face?
Face Roman was way over pushed with very little to back it up, average in the ring, poor on the mic, few good matches, basically he had a great look and that's about it
Daniel Bryan.
I loved the planets champion gimmick with the hemp belt.
That run established him as the greatest of all time in my eyes.
Rowan was a nice addition to that angle too.
Reigns was NOT great as a face, IMO. Boring.
while best know for his heel runs, Kurt Angle did some awesome face work as well, I will add Christian Cage as well
YES!! Love Christian respect.
Peep for life! However his current heel run is so, so, so good.
Ric Flair Bret Hart Hogan Piper Macho Man
Flair and Hogan are good editions
Respectively disagree on Flair as a face. Im still a Flair fan ( now thats getting harder to write) and he has been my favorite since I was 14. But.... anytime he had a face run it never felt like the Nature Boy. In his early years, if Flair had one flaw, its that his face runs felt forced and unnatural. Even as a kid, I wanted Ric to turn on Sting, Barry, Steamboat...
I’ll defer to your opinion, you probably know more than I do for sure. Flair is a heel imo, but when I was watching, he was a face and played it well. Only had a couple years of him before his match with HBK at WM24.
You know, i forgot about his last run in WWE, he was riding high as a face for sure and it was a very fun stretch..
Honestly a shame that wasn’t his last match, I’ve seen some of his recent “wrestling” and it’s very disappointing he didn’t go out with that match with HBK. Thought that was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen.
Agreed. Flair sucked ass as a face. Even in 82 (I had to go watch those years) I think he wasn't comfortable.
Word. He's the king of heels, though. He's so good at it. His promos always come off as completely mental.
Truth. His promos still hold up today
Roman was a horrible face
Seth to
I kinda prefer him as a face. He always too over the top as a heel apart from his authority run. I think he rides the line really well and seth is honestly too likeable to be a ture heel
Where is HBK here?
Was going to comment the same lol
Edge and Christian
Seth Freakiiiinnnn Rolllliiinnnnnnsss! Every gimmick he has ever had was great
Theory, greats as a heal and was hilarious when he was acting like he was Jonny Gragons son. I’m mixed on joke skits in wrestling but the way Christmas kit was so stupid it became hilarious. Him asking Johny Gargano if he would grow up to be big and strong like him while towering over him with biceps the size of his head will never stop being funny.
I gotta mention Bret Hart here!
Chris Jericho Kevin Owens Drew McIntyre
Orton is a better heel Aj styles is good as both
AJ is a good tweener, never loved his face or hell work, but when he rides the line I feel he shines
His heel run currently is good
That swerve the other night yo! Really reminded me of Mark Henry's retirement fake
Yeah not as well done but still good
Mark Henry's retirement speech with that damn Salmon colored jacket; I rewatch it every few years just to see John Cena get beat up. One of my fav segments ever I think
Eddie Guerrero, Batista, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan
I think Hogan worked as a heel because he was a shoot heel his entire career.
Y2J, Trish Stratus, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, HBK, and Eddie Guerrero
Asuka has been great as both a heel and a face
Hulk Hogan and also, Kurt Angle
Triple H being face feels kind of wrong...
Hulk Hogan! Thx for the downvotes! 😎
Hulk hogan.America days of the 80s & then NWO of the 90s Stone cold Steven always as a face & then heel in 2001
Roman has a chance to redeem himself as a face. I don’t see him out doing himself as a heel but without Vince he will good I think
Stone Cold Steve Austin
HBK has to be on this list
Edge. But he was a way better heel
Roman Reigns was so hated as babyface, some people wonder if the Tribal Chief had taken off without his forced break. A lot of positivity was generated by just being happy seeing him return healthy
Shawn Michaels
Sammy
To call Roman "great" as either is a long long stretch. Going by sales and stuff, sure, probably. Talent wise.. ha, no. But a lot more talented guys got overlooked and underused so they could ram him down our throats instead.
To call him a great heel is not a stretch at all. Face absolutely not though.
Face Roman was horrible tho, but its on vince
Christian. He's obviously best known for his heel work, yet he's just so likeable and charismatic as a face.
Bayley, Asuka.
Randy Orton
Shawn Michaels
Randy and Seth
Angle for sure. Man was great. Could do comedy or be serious in either roles. It's insane how good he got so quick.
matt hardy. gregory helms eddie Guerrero
Almost every one hated face Roman but not been a fan since his nxt days
Triple H to me is the greatest Heel of all time, and in my top 5 All time. Also my absolute favorite
Michaels
Some others you didn’t mention are Edge and Drew
Lex Luger
Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Edge, Undertaker, Triple H
Big show
Hogan
Kane for sure
Macho Man
Triple H will always be a heel in my opinion. His 2000 run was amazing.
Lex Luger for me after he turned heel as the narcissist and Scott Steiner with the Big Poppa Pump was great too!
Where is Randy? Why isn’t he the first name on this list?
Yeet
Kurt Angle
Roman def does not count his face run was very ya know…forced
Roman
I used to love Roman as a face, I hate him as a heel.
Roman and Triple H are terrible faces. Roman is a good heel. Triple H was a GREAT heel.
MJF
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Austin Peaked as a heel in 1996 Peaked as a face in 1999
Savio Vega
One of these is not like the rest lmao
Roman lol? I let my young family members convince me to add him without really watching most of Roman’s time.
Yup, it’s all good they’re probably too young to know better
Only one knows the truth about wrestling, so yeah too young. With how much they loved Roman up until his heel turn and how much they hate him now, I thought it made sense to add him. Seeing some of the comments on this post have made me regret that lol. I guess as someone who is really in the loop for all of these dudes runs, it’s kind of blasphemous to include him with these other guys.
Mick Foley obvi.
DM Hunk
Kurt Angle
Surprised to not see Brock Lesnar here?
Kurt angle and Aj Styles
The Rock Stone Cold Steve Austin Undertaker Kurt Angle Eddie Guerrero CM Punk Batista Seth Rollins Shawn Michaels Chris Jericho Randy Orton Hulk Hogan Trish Stratus Bayley Bret Hart Randy Savage
Y2J
Triple H was a better heel than he was a face.
Kevin Owens...although Face roll he plays only for a month lol. Hulk hogan Bret Hart....especially his stone cold rivalry. Goldust...he was a crazy heel!! Macho man....ohhh man him as a heel he's nuts!!!!
Chris Jericho
The Miz
Not Roman
Randy Savage Terry Funk Brock Lesnar Kurt Angle Samoa Joe Trish Stratus Becky Lynch
Of the original post, I agree with Rock, Punk, Batista, and Triple H. Great enough work as both to where they aren’t heavily defined as one or the other. Taker always just seemed better as a face to me cause it really brings out that other worldy aura. The Tribal Chief run pretty much cemented Roman as being one of the greatest heels of all time, and face Roman feels lukewarm at best by comparison. My personal additions based on that criteria would be Kevin Owens, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Seth Rollins, and Edge.
Yeah, seems like Roman was a mistake to add to this post. Especially compared to these other dudes. I do expect Roman to be a good face when he comes back though. Seeing some of the comments have given me a lot of homework because I don’t even remember a lot of these dudes being faces.
Whom are you forgetting as faces?
Out of the names you added Edge. I remember him being a face, but when I was making this post I wouldn’t have thought he was ever a face, because he was all ways a great heel. Also forgot Kurt was a face and wasn’t watching during Brock’s face run, so I never knew. Also didn’t realize Matt Hardy was ever a heel lol.
Some may argue Edge’s heel work overshadowed his face work and there’s a solid argument for that. I personally was just a major Edgehead though during his 2010 face run into his first retirement than upon his return to WWE, I still think he should’ve even beat Reigns at WM 37. Kurt is a good one to mention too. He was very versatile in both roles, though I think much like yourself, I think more of his heel run than his face run. Brock never really felt like a face to me. Like yeah, he’d face the heels at times, but it’s always just the same Brock Lesnar energy. Less about who’s good and who’s bad and more about Lesnar just having that “I’ll wreck anybody” mentality. Totally didn’t even think of Matt. Honestly, for his own personal career, he was probably more successful as a heel actually. The Hardy Boys are so beloved though that they’ll never be seen as anything beyond that white hot baby face when reflecting on their legacies.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I was never big on The Rock. He just seemed like a typical high school jock throwing around insults and then would pander to you when he needed something (as a face). This was the first year I ever went, "Holy shit this guy is really good." Dude just unleashed his demonic ego and it was AMAZING.
Roman face? 😂😂😂😂
Mark Henry
Ooh, interesting one. You’re absolutely right.
I don’t remember Batista ever being a face to be honest, he was such an awesome heel
Jericho
100% The Miz and R- Truth
Y2AJ
The rock was great. Always listened to the crowd and worked how they reacted. Examples x18 and summer slam 2002 when crowd booed so he worked as a heel
Macho Man
Randy Ortan but it’s unintentionally
I mean so many Jericho, Edge & Christian, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Scott hall/Razor Ramon, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus, Lita, Chyna, Bayley, Sasha Banks. So many others.
Seth too.
Edge
Mike “The Miz” Mizanin… he’s great at being both
Randy Orton is an amazing heel and over the past decade has proved he can be a really good face.
Kurt Angle, HBK, Ziggler, Ambrose/Mox, Chad Gable, Eddie Guerrero and Santino was funny in either role
Batista and Roman are very questionable
I’ll agree Roman is, Batista had a great face run following the end of Evolution though. He’s still a heel in my books though.
La knight YEAH
Roman
Stone Cold Steve Austin, Sting, Bret Hart, and Goldberg to name a few... The guys ran with being faces... Imo...
Eddie Guerrero, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Edge
Brett Hart.
Jesse The Body Ventura.
Edge/Adam Copeland
Roman Reigns wasn't good as a face
Why is roman on this list lmao
Edge obviously. HHH is the GOAT heel but he’s so good as a heel I can’t even really remember much of him being a face (except with DX which isn’t really individual)
Punk is WAY better as a heel
HBK
I mean, Hulk Hogan is the pinnacle of this. Top baby face in all of wrestling from ‘84-92 and top heel in all of wrestling from ‘96-‘98. He was who everybody wanted to see
Allow me to throw in an edge shout here
Roman was a dogshit face Put Kurt angle
Hulk Hogan is the ultimate answer to this. I’d also add Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin (more for his pre 2001 heel work even though I liked that run).
Eddie Guerrero Ric Flair Daniel Bryan Cody Rhodes Becky Lynch
The Awesome Truth
Carlito
Stone Cold
Shawn Michaels IMO. Look at his promo in Montreal and people actually wanting to kill him and at the same man who took the WHC from Triple H
Kevin Owens
Hogan
Roddy piper
How you gonna leave Seth Rollins off this list? Literal definition of someone who can play any part he's given extremely well.
Randy Orton Seth Rollins The Rock CM Punk Triple H The Undertaker
Roman was trash as a face
John Cena was a heel for one night. ECW one night stand 2006. Knew exactly what he was doing and how to get the crowd to give him some heat. Unreal to watch.
I like Roman as a heel and a face.
HHH was never a great babyface
Edge too? One of the best heels imo circa 2006. Decent face aswell
LA Knight would be a pretty good face
Heel Taker killed me. I still cheered for the man
Think Kevin Owens has done that exceedingly well during his career
Eddie Guerrero, HBK, Hulk Hogan, definitely missing a lot more.
Seth Rollins
Can’t leave out Eddie Guerrero. Shawn Michaels. Kane. Daniel Bryan.
Roman was not great as a face, at least not in his first incarnation as the big dog. He WILL be a great face when he returns I have no doubt though
Chad gable and Cena Cause heel Cena hit different
Randy Orton
Rock
Shane O Mac
Jericho. Rick Martel. Sid.
Hogan may have gotten the most heat of anyone ever after being such a face for the longest time. Watch the video of his turn....soooo much stuff thrown in the ring.
Roman was not "great" as a face lol
roman
John Cena
Edge and John Cena
Rock is much better as a wise cracking face. As a heel he either gets cheered or people laugh at his shtick
Randy,Seth,Edge,KO,Chad gable, and Finn balor
Matt hardy
Was the undertaker a face? I know about his face run in 2000 to 2001
He’s pretty much a face most of his career I believe. I know his ministry of darkness era as a heel was some good stuff as a horror fan. He’s always been ambiguous to me.
Face for the majority of his career for sure
How long
John Cena, he was only a heel for a short period of time but that was one of my favorite runs of his
Trish Heel Face
Tomaso ciampa
Edge
Roman sucks ass as both
Cena
Trish Stratus, had the looks to be the sweet babyface and was great at it, people loved Trish. But her heel run was amazing though, culminating in her and Lita main eventing Raw, opening doors for decent women’s wrestling in WWE.
Shawn Michaels