WWE: The Top 15 Best Current Babyfaces

It's hard to succeed as a babyface these days.

The age of the Internet has once again made it "cool" for wrestling fans to prefer heels, and the PG era has really limited what faces can do on the microphone, resulting in it being much more difficult for the good guys to get over.

Still, there are plenty of babyfaces in the WWE who do just that, who somehow manage to get the crowd to cheer them on a consistent basis.

WrestleMania season has limited the opportunities for a lot of baby faces to rise up the ranks, but the ones that are getting on TV are over, and perhaps the WWE's babyface side isn't as bad off as many of us seem to think it is.

But which of these good guys are at the top of the company right now? 

Well, let's take a look at the 15 best current baby faces in the WWE.

Note: I'm talking about right now, not in the WWE overall. If I was taking the last year into account, these rankings would likely look much different.

15. R-Truth

Although I liked R-Truth much better in his crazed heel role, he's done about as well as I would have expected as a comedic babyface.

Of course, he's not getting anywhere near the TV time he was during the peak of his heel run last year, but he's the perfect guy to simply use wherever he's needed.

Truth will be a member of Team Teddy at WrestleMania, and he's right about where he should be on the card: Not used too little, but not in too big of a role, either.

He can wrestle, he can cut hilarious promos, and he's a reliable veteran in the ring. He's in precisely the spot he should be in, and he's managing to stay over with the crowd despite any type of a real push.

Kudos to Truth for getting himself and Little Jimmy a spot on the grandest stage of them all.

14. AJ

AJ may be aligned with Smackdown's No. 1 heel, Daniel Bryan, but make no mistake about it: She's a babyface.

The former NXT standout is performing well in a storyline that we've seen play out countless times before. She's the lovestruck babyface Diva who's stuck with the heel WWE superstar.

We've seen Bryan treat AJ like absolute crap over the course of their entire relationship, and she's done an excellent job showing that she is hesitant about staying with Bryan, but just can't resist him, no matter how bad he's treated her.

As a result, most wrestling fans are beginning to feel one of two ways about AJ: We either think she's stupid, we feel bad for her or sometimes, even both.

In the end, though, we're behind AJ as arguably the top face Diva and want to see her cut ties with the controlling Bryan. 

13. Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder has taken a tremendous plunge down the card, which can be contributed almost entirely to bad booking.

He served as Kane's personal jobber for a while, lost his United States Championship, was written off TV for several weeks and then did some quick job duty to Daniel Bryan on this week's Raw.

Yet, through it all, Ryder has still managed to keep the support of the fans. Somehow, some way.

Ryder has been booked like a complete d-bag for about three months now, but he's still chugging along and trying to work his way back up the card. That doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon, but at least Ryder still has a legion of fans out there supporting him.

12. Teddy Long

You know what's not a good sign? When the SmackDown general manager is one of the WWE's most over babyfaces.

Seriously, I've hated Teddy Long's "Holla, holla, holla" nonsense and all the other crap that comes along with him for a while now, but thanks to his feud with John Laurinaitis, he continues to be one of the company's most popular faces as we head toward WrestleMania.

I'm not sure if it's because the fans like Long or if it's because they hate Laurinaitis so much, but it's clear that the fans want to see Long become the GM of both Raw and SmackDown.

Maybe if the WWE pushed its wrestlers like it pushes Teddy, we'd have a few more babyfaces that the fans actually care about.  

11. Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston is another one of those babyfaces who is so reliable that he'll always have a spot on the card, even if it doesn't mean he's in a very high-profile match or feud.

That's evidenced by his current standing in the WWE.

Although Kingston was one of the stars of the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, he's been thrust into this lame general manager feud that no one really seems to care about.

The bad thing about it is that it's a lame GM feud that no one really seems to care about, but the good thing about it is that it's helping keep Kingston relevant.

Despite never getting a sustained main event run, hardly getting any notable feuds and generally being used as the guy who simply improves the quality of matches, Kingston is as popular as any mid-card babyface there is.

He's very talented and really exciting to watch. He just can't seem to make that leap out of the upper mid-card.

10. Big Show

Though I firmly believe that Big Show is in desperate need of a heel turn, the WWE seems hellbent on pushing him as one of its top baby faces for all of eternity.

While I certainly don't love Big Show in that role, he's actually performed really well in it and continues to be one of the WWE's most popular superstars.

The fans are into Show's matches, his Weapon of Mass Destruction finisher and even his recent feuds with Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes.

Although I don't think anything about Big Show (other than his size) particularly stands out, he's proven to be a great veteran presence on Smackdown and has held things together on that brand when some of its top faces (like Sin Cara and Randy Orton) went down with injury.

Props to Big Show for being the Blue Brand's glue over the last six months or so.

9. Santino Marella

Santino Marella is a comedy character, sure, but obviously, people love jokes because it's borderline ridiculous how over this guy is right now.

While it's still hard to take Santino seriously as an in-ring competitor, I can't deny how funny he is or how well he's done when in the spotlight.

Santino was given a high-profile role during the Royal Rumble match and thrust into SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match when Randy Orton got injured, and he delivered big-time on both occasions. He's also went on to become the United States champion and the captain of Team Teddy at WrestleMania 28.

If nothing else, Santino is proof that anything can happen in the WWE and that comedy characters can become outrageously popular when given the opportunity to do so.

8. Randy Orton

I honestly feel bad for Randy Orton.

He's stuck in a pointless mid-card feud with Kane after having one hell of a 2011 in which he was the most valuable superstar on the Smackdown brand. Yet, I can't feel too bad for him because he is still arguably the second-most popular superstar in the WWE.

Although Orton's TV time has been limited lately, his recent TV matches have even really good, and he's been able to make fans at least somewhat interested in a feud with Kane that is pretty damn bad.

How? Well, quite simply, it's because of how big of a baby face he is.

There's just something about Orton that fans like, and as long as he continues to deliver in the ring like he has been, it's hard to imagine the that changing anytime soon.

7. The Undertaker

Although The Undertaker hasn't wrestled a match in almost a year, it's like he never missed a beat.

Since returning for Part Two of his feud with Triple H, Undertaker has quickly reestablished himself as one of the most polarizing figures in the WWE and is involved in one of the top WrestleMania 28 feuds.

Though his TV appearances are relegated to long ring entrances and promos, the reaction of the crowd tells the whole story. Fans miss The Undertaker, and even if he was gone for five years, he'd come back and instantly be one of the WWE's best babyfaces.

It's not necessarily because of anything that he does, either. It's simply because of his aura and his mystique.

The Undertaker can generate a reaction easier than just about anyone else in the WWE, and he can do so, quite simply, because he's The Undertaker.

6. Shawn Michaels

Man. How much have I missed Shawn Michaels?

Although he's retired from wrestling and is only serving as a special guest referee at WrestleMania 28, that doesn't change the fact that the WWE fans absolutely love him.

HBK is stuck in somewhat of a tweener role in the middle of this rivalry between Triple H and Undertaker, but the fans respect the holy hell out of him, even if what he says isn't exactly what they want to hear.

Michaels continues to be a great liaison of sorts between Undertaker and Triple H, and despite no longer being an active wrestler, he's managed to add some really interesting elements to one of the WWE's top feuds.

You still got it, HBK. You still got it. 

5. Triple H

Maybe it's just me who thinks this, but I've found Triple H to be the star of his feud with The Undertaker.

Triple H has delivered countless great promos throughout his career, but some of the ones we've seen from him recently are among the best he's ever done. While Undertaker has struggled with his promos at times, you can feel the realism and sense the genuineness whenever Triple H speaks.

The Game hasn't needed to wrestle a match or even get physical to build up the hype for his WrestleMania match with the Undertaker and make this one of the most anticipated rematches in wrestling.

I know we like to joke a lot about Triple H being Vince McMahon's son-in-law, but he's a rare talent who is proving how valuable he is to the WWE without actually wrestling.

4. Sheamus

Sheamus' feud with Daniel Bryan is falling far short of expectations, but I blame that on the creative team, not Sheamus himself. 

The Celtic Warrior has done a fantastic job over the last several months of increasing his fan base and making us forget that eight or nine months ago he was still a heel.

He has quickly established himself as the No. 2 babyface on SmackDown (behind Randy Orton) and one of the top four full-time heels in the WWE, and his popularity has continued to expand since winning the Royal Rumble two months ago.

Fans like Sheamus, they want to see him destroy Bryan, and they want him to become World Heavyweight Champion.

I can't blame them either because Sheamus is an incredibly talented big man who can cut a promo and put on really good matches with just about anyone. He's a rare talent for a man of his size.

3. The Rock

I know that The Rock isn't technically a full-timer, but as of right now, he is.

The Rock has been on every episode of Raw since Elimination Chamber, and when he has been on TV, he's been--despite what some people seem to think--pure gold every time he cuts a promo.

We haven't seen The Rock get physical in quite a while (aside from his Rock Bottom on Mark Henry), but he's made his mark with his fantastic history lessons, his Rock concert and his in-ring promos with John Cena.

The Rock has not missed a beat or "lost it." He's still the same old Rock that he's always been.

And despite the fact that he hasn't been a full-time professional wrestler since 2004, all it took was a couple of appearances on Raw for him to establish himself as arguably the most popular man in the business.

2. CM Punk

CM Punk has cooled off considerably since "The Summer of Punk" in 2011, but let's not act like he's just completely fallen off the map.

The Straight Edge Superstar has held the WWE championship for roughly four months now, he's put on a boatload of great matches with guys like Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan recently, and he is the centerpiece of what I think is the WWE's most entertaining rivalry with Chris Jericho.

Punk may not be cutting worked shoots every week or threatening to leave the WWE with the WWE championship, but he still delivers every time he grabs a mic or steps into the ring.

He is still the best in the world, and he is still one of the top babyfaces and most popular superstars in the WWE.

1. John Cena

Love him or hate him, John Cena has been doing his thing on Raw lately.

What most Cena haters wanted to see from him was more of an edge, more of a reason to like him and more of a reason to not want to throw the remote at the TV screen every time he appears on it. Thankfully, that's exactly what we've gotten.

Cena has been phenomenal on the microphone since Elimination Chamber, and you can tell by the audience reactions that some of the older fans are starting to like/respect him more because of it.

Gone are the cheesy, campy PG era promos, replaced by emotional, edgier promos that don't seem like they were written by the creators of a chid's cartoon.

Cena did not have to turn heel to get more fans to like him. All he had to do was get better, and that's exactly what he's done.

He's always generated a reaction, but now it's a good one that's established him as the best babyface in all of the WWE.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring orTwitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.