The concept of “Babyface” promoted wrestling as long as it existed. hero. A good man. It has taken many forms over the years, from the “stay school” type to the bad guy with back talk, but even so, a babyface was always needed to burn the WWE fire.
We look back over the years of the wrestlers who carried the company.
10
The ultimate warrior
Experience more than a wrestler
Say what you want about the man behind the mask, but the ultimate warrior has been messed up with his prime.
He wasn’t great in the ring, but that didn’t matter. His entrance, songs, and crowd reactions were hyped.
The Warrior lit the crowd with fire at the entrance, picking up a Gorilla Press Slam opponent despite the limited move set in his ring, followed by a splash, and the crowd was on board.
His run at the top of the wrestling world was pretty short, but there’s no doubt that his legacy will resonate for a long time.
9
Goldberg
You had to be there
What I enjoy right now is that Goldberg is a bad wrestler and isn’t good in the ring. I say it’s totally nonsense.
Sorry, except for another bald and goat superstar, I’ll see it later on this list. Goldberg was a man from the late 90s.
Goldberg was an absolute sense in WCW, and his squash match drew the crowd into deafening roars. Once he reached WWE, that didn’t change and it was a good time while he was temporarily there. If you don’t believe me, see his appearance in his removal room.
He will erase all the top names of the company at that point, so the crowd will absolutely be hooked. Even after returning to WWE in the late 2010s, he still had the crowd by his side, regardless of the matchup.
Something has to say about his appearance and his ability to sell his battles, or rather his lack of it. Goldberg personified badass and it was so cool to see him destroy people.
8
Shawn Michaels
Two career stories
Shawn Michaels is one of the most legendary wrestlers of all time, and many would call him the greatest ring-in performer of all time.
In the 90s, HBK won the Superstarm by defeating Bret Hart in the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 13, from which the star grew, but mainly as a heel.
In the late 90s, he blurred the lines a bit with the invention of Degenerate X, which was far from the stabilisation of your typical babyface, but the crowd still got hooked for him.
After putting his back injury in danger for four years, he made his second run in WWE, which lasted from 2002 to 2010.
He was great on the microphone, but that was in the ring where HBK made you cheer him on. There was no better storyteller between the ropes than Sean. He sold better fights and battles than anyone I could think of, and it’s no wonder Sean Michaels is involved in some of the best matches of all time.
7
Macho man Randy Savage
oh yeah
When you think of the term “wrestler,” there are names and faces that come to mind right away.
For me, it’s Randy Savage, a macho guy. Simple and simple, its top wardrobe, crazy smile, catchphrases, promotions, this guy was it.
He was all about Hulk Hogan, but he was able to surprise you with the ring, popularize the elbow flying from the top rope, and put some of the funniest matches on television ever on a daily basis.
Don’t get me wrong, he made many faces jumping between the heel roles, but when he was a babyface, the crowd got violent for him.
A hundred years later, macho man Randy Savage remains a common name. That alone shows just how important this guy is as a star. His legend lives on, despite him passing before his time.
6
Cody Rhodes
New face
WWE was almost dying because another babyface would accumulate in this current era. Roman rule served as the dominant heel he was always intended, and it required a pure face for Seth Rollins to fly between the two.
It will come not inside, but rather in the form of forgetting the central parking lot that turned into an undeniable draw and coming back.
When Cody returned to WWE in 2022, the crowd’s response quickly showed what kind of star he became. It’s an incredible reaction, and those reactions haven’t stopped for more than two years.
In 2024, his feud with the Roman rulers and rocks were the rockets that WWE needed to cool wrestling again. The “finishing the story” story is the hottest thing in the sports world, and ESPN jumped into the action.
Cody is a fan favorite, WWE’s brightest star, and for quite some time, it appears that for quite some time, WWE has a replacement for John Cena, who is waiting to grab the torch and run.
5
Bret Heart
Hitman had it all
Bret Hart was a man. He has been a transporter of the next generation of wrestling since the early 90s, and he did so in a great way.
He was a typical heroic wrestler, winning championships, selling merchandise, and handing out sunglasses to the kids in the crowd.
His promotion was sound and he preached diligence and perseverance. It was very easy to take root, especially in the new generation.
Brett was the typical good guy in so many iconic feuds, from Sean Michaels to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Yokoyama.
He is Canadian, but he was treated like an American hero. He took the reins from Hulk Hogan and became a major draw for the company for a long time.
Brett finally turned his heels when he entered a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This was because the crowd couldn’t get enough anti-heroes in Stone Cold, but he remained the mainstay of the main event painting until his final and unfortunate departure following the infamous Montreal screwjob.
4
John Cena
The champion is here
John Cena is a difficult case when talking about her beloved babyface. He has been with WWE for over 20 years and has been the face of all of them up until the last few months.
But whether he was truly loved depends on who you ask. The children loved him, the women loved him, and the men hated him.
When Cena placed the doctor from Thuganomics Gimmick in bed, the crowd’s reaction was so mixed together that it was impossible to know if he was face or snatch.
But the crowd reaction aside, he was always on his face. It was very confused. He got a big pop for his promotion, which was always great, but when his entrance music hit, he was booed.
Half of the crowd chanted “Let’s go, Senna,” and the other half cried “China sucks.” It was a phenomenon we had never seen before. But no matter what, China always gets a response.
They love cheering for him and booing him. He was different to the rest in that respect, and all of the above sparked his incredible heel run.
3
rock
The most inspiring man in sports entertainment
Locke was only full-time for about five years at WWE, but during that time he redefines what it means to be a babyface. Shy, selfish, wearing expensive clothes, this behavior certainly isn’t that of a babyface, right?
Ironically, by embracing everything that makes the perfect heel, the rock became the face of the company in many ways, and the crowd roared for him, whether he was in the ring or in the microphone.
In the era of attitude, UP was down and the cheap superhero types were thought to be uncool, so naturally, the rock’s obvious charisma and slightly heeled persona would resonate.
Lock has returned several times since retiring as a full-time wrestler. Every time his music gets hit, it’s one of the biggest pops ever.
At this point it’s not an opinion, but the fact that Rock is the most popular wrestler of all time. His popularity extends to the big screen, where he has made himself one of the richest men in the world.
2
Hulk Hogan
Hulkamania ran into the wild
This is just a list based on the crowd’s reaction to wrestlers at the time based on who they were in their political beliefs and who they were in their personal lives.
With a completely objective mind, there is no denying that Hulk Hogan is a man known all over the world. His driving in the 1980s was the setting for the global megasensation in the late 1990s.
His larger-than-life persona destroyed the TV and engaged both children and adults when he cut off his high-octane promotion. Buildings, whose second hit was his iconic theme song, shook from the crowd’s response.
He had so many iconic moments, from his body smacking the giant Andre to his feud with the ultimate warrior and macho man Randy Savage.
When he switched to WCW, he redefines what it means to be a heel, but in the end he returned to WWE as a face, eliciting an unparalleled crowd response, even in his 50s.
For some reason, whether it was a look, a promotion, or just an aura, this guy was loved by someone who saw himself as a wrestling fan.
1
Stone Cold Steve Austin
The toughest SOB in WWE
The era of attitude was all about dismantling authority, and if there was a poster boy for disorder in the WWE roster of the time, it was a rattlesnake.
Steve is the face of this bad era, and as far as buying into the character is concerned, people have never resonated with the blue-collar butt kicker who wanted to beat hell from the boss.
Feuds with icons like Bret Hart, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Rock are a must-see television, and the pop that happens still does so to this day when the glass has to sound trustworthy.
He is the only wrestler who can think of anyone with a potential heel run that was completely rejected in the point that they quickly reversed the course. The audience couldn’t hate Austin. Because in so many ways he built the era that made wrestling the mainstream name of today.
