The path to success...

In professional wrestling, the path to success is a good heel run. Edge is a good example of this. His comedic heel days with Christian helped to establish him. Once they tried to push him as a singles wrestler, he floundered. He was very stale, as most babyfaces are. Then, he gets a decent heel run and, in no time, he's a success. He went from shocking many and ending John Cena's first title reign to a multiple-time World Champ that has feuded with the Undertaker. At some point in the next couple years, they may turn him face. However his success will have been built on a heel foundation.

Several of the top guys in WWF/E, over the last 15 years or so have come from a good heel background. That is to say, they really got over and established themselves as heels. Bret Hart was in a heel tag team, the Hart Foundation. He went on to be the face of the company for some time. Shawn Michaels was another bland babyface, whose success as a singles wrestler began when he turned heel and threw his partner through a window. Kevin Nash, as Diesel, held the WWF Title for about a year. He began, in the WWF, as a heel bodyguard. Scott Hall, as Razor Ramon, was hugely over and held the Intercontinental title four times (which was a record, at that point) and he first got over as a heel. Steve Austin, one of the company's top faces of all time, really built up momentum and gained a loyal following during his heel days. The same with The Rock. They tried pushing him as just another generic babyface and everyone was sickened. Once he turned heel, he got over with the people and, eventually, became the company's top babyface. Even out of the current crop, Cena and Batista, both, made names for themselves as heels. It was the momentum that they built up back then that has allowed them to coast along as faces. If either one had debuted as they are now, and remained that way, I guarantee they'd have never gotten over.

It seems that, for the most part, the fans are tired of wrestlers that debut as bland babyfaces and get pushed to the moon. Somehow, for most, working as a heel allows them to really develop some sort of character that later transitions from heel to face.