Smark Out Moment

HEEL OR FACE is a specialty segment wherein we break down a particular wrestler and discuss their strengths and weaknesses on the Good vs Evil scale. There are three questions that are brought up in this: 1) are they better as a heel or a face, 2) should they turn from what they currently are, and 3) how would you turn them?

The sixth entry in this series is going to focus on someone who I feel is going to be turning in just over a week at Survivor Series....


A) BETTER AS A HEEL OR A FACE?

Face. It seems like any time WWE turns someone face, they strip them of any character they had and they just become do-gooder stand-up gentlemen who lose matches and then check on their tag team partners. The heels are the ones that get to actually have some fun and be memorable, which is why so many of them get cheered instead of the faces.

However, Dean Ambrose managed to find a way to be an exception to the rule and be even more captivating as a babyface than a heel. While I definitely don't dislike his heel run with The Shield, I think it was boring in comparison to The Lunatic Fringe. That is a character that can make fun of a heel and the fans can get in on the action instead of being adversarial and forced to boo his actions. Basically, Ambrose acted like a heel as a babyface in terms of character, and when he was a legit heel, he was as flat as a regular babyface would be. I don't want to see him turn heel if they make him pull a Chris Jericho where he has to stop being fun or else the fans will continue to like him. Then, Ambrose will just be a generic bad guy who happens to only be bad because he cheats to win against the good guys.

B) SHOULD HE TURN?

Sadly, despite what I said above, I think he has to, given the current climate of the company. They're not going to turn Roman Reigns heel and I definitely don't want to see Alberto Del Rio or Sheamus as the top heel, so it really falls down to either Kevin Owens or a heel Dean Ambrose to take that spot. Kevin Owens is someone I'm a huge, huge fan of, but I think WWE would mishandle him even more than they would with Ambrose, who hopefully they have enough trust in to let him steer his character in the right direction rather than forcing too many restrictions on him.

C) HOW WOULD I TURN HIM?

I don't want him to join The Authority, as that's way too easy and not in his character. I want that spot to go to Kevin Owens while Ambrose finds a different way to go heel, by merely being selfish and crazy. Once he finds himself in the finals of the tournament, it will get into his head that this could be the only chance he gets to win the title, so he decides to do anything he can to win it. After that, it's sort of like turning to the Dark Side or being in possession of the One Ring—Ambrose has tasted what it's like to have this power and he's damn sure not going to relinquish it, even if it means he has to crumble friendships and be a vicious psycho to retain his title.