Welcome to the first edition of The Alignment from Dits on Wrestling. Every month I’ll give you five WWE characters who I feel should either turn face or turn heel.
There’s always plenty to debate when it comes to wrestling; Storylines, matches, results, ratings. Chief among those are the wrestlers and their characters. I’ve always been a fan of the face and heel dynamic despite it not being much as much of a big deal in the current era. This compelled me to start this article and give you guys the opportunity for another debate about the thing we love – wrasslin’.
Before I get started, and for now this will remain a trend, I am going to resist the urge to include John Cena and Roman Reigns in this list. Both are far too obvious and take up two spaces which can be filled by more interesting options. Besides, they are both polarising and sit in that Face / Heel limbo anyway. And so we begin…
5. Shelton Benjamin 
The Gold Standard made his much anticipated return to WWE 2 weeks ago as a face. Daniel Bryan immediately paired him up with Chad Gable as a like-for-like replacement for Jason Jordan and it made a lot of sense. Both have amateur wrestling backgrounds and both have similar styles. However, I am already clamouring for him to turn on Gable and start a mouth watering feud between two of the most technical and athletic guys on the roster. I don’t know if many people noticed but during a double-team manoeuvre early in their debut match against The Ascension, Benjamin pushed Chad off of Victor so he can go on the attack. The signs are showing already and we’re only two weeks in. It doesn’t necessarily need to happen but the matches they’d have together would be sure to steal any show.
4. Bayley
Have you heard the crowd reaction for Bayley recently? She has been getting more boos than some of the heels and she’s supposed to be one of the biggest babyfaces that the company has! Hell, she even got booed by the fans in NXT during Takeover Brooklyn III and that’s her spiritual home. Personally, I think the fans are starting to reject her because of poor booking by WWE. Everything that made Bayley the lovable babyface down in NXT has pretty much evaporated. She’s now portrayed as a loser who has never kissed a boy. What happened? She needs a reset and a heel turn will do just that. How they would portray her as such would be interesting to see but embracing the boos would be the best move for her right now.
3. Sasha Banks 
The best female heel that NXT has ever had. That statement is hard to argue. When she first moved up to the main roster, she remained heel for a short while (but without the edge she had in NXT) until WWE cashed in on her popularity and turned her face. The way I look at it, she was popular because she was a damn fine heel. Plain and simple. You only have to look at her match with Bayley at the first Takeover: Brooklyn to see just how good she is playing that role. She was cocky, aggressive and oozed star power. As a babyface, everything that makes Sasha a good character is non-existent. Her title reigns since turning face have been underwhelming having never successfully defending the RAW Women’s Championship. A heel turn for Banks is a necessity to get her back on track. There’s a reason she was a favourite in NXT. When she does turn heel, attacking her best friend Bayley is the way it should go (if Bayley herself doesn’t turn). That would help Banks and it sure as hell would help Bayley with them facing each other properly on the big stage.
2. Dean Ambrose
If it wasn’t for recent events that have led to a mini Shield reunion, Ambrose would be my number one. With Rollins, he’s back to being relevant and hasn’t really leaned on the corny comedy that has held him back over the last year. Ambrose is at his best when he’s unpredictable, vicious and sadistic. Not when he’s giving people Christmas light jackets and dressing up as a bear! I’ve seen many videos of his Jon Moxley days in CZW and I want to see him use some of those elements with his Ambrose character. Obviously we are in a PG era now so the Moxley character wouldn’t fit but you could take that attitude and viciousness, give it to Ambrose, and he’d reach his full potential. All of this is befitting of a heel. What better way to do that than attacking Rollins with a chair from behind, just like Seth had done to him. It would cement his heel turn, help Seth get over as a babyface, and give us matches that would be hard-hitting and enjoyable. I’m all for it.
1. Randy Orton 
I don’t enjoy Orton as a face nor do I enjoy Orton as a heel paired with an authority figure. I prefer Orton as a heel out on his own, being a predator and physically dissecting his opponents in the ring. Randy is one of my favourite wrestlers in WWE (my t-shirt collection speaks volumes) and I hate to see him unmotivated and frankly bored. He has said it himself that he much prefers working as a heel and I think the majority of the fans are with him. Look at his feuds he’s had in the last year; Lesnar, Wyatt, Jinder and now Rusev. All of these have underwhelmed even though two of the feuds were around the WWE Championship. Remember the punt? Imagine the moments you could create now with a heel Orton punting the likes of Nakamura and Styles. It’s one thing he won’t do as a face and it’s a shame to keep that locked away. One RKO to the right person will be enough to change his alignment to heel. This has to happen to keep Randy fresh and more importantly, motivated. Randy Orton works better when he’s enjoying himself. Give him the platform to do so.
So there we have my top five characters who need a change of alignment. Agree or disagree with any of my choices? Shout out in the comments
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