WWE: Why Are Heel Factions Returning on Monday Night Raw?

Vickie Guerrero's faction consisting of Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger has made Monday Night Raw their stomping grounds for some time now. John Laurinaitis has on many occasions enlisted the help of David Otunga, Tyler Reks, and Curt Hawkins. Big Show has also recently aligned himself with the General Manager. Finally, Abraham Washington has lent his managerial talents to former WWE Tag Team Champions Epico and Primo.

It would seem that factions are in style once again. Actually, to be more specific, heel factions are on the rise. But what exactly called for the return of the heel stable?

A decade ago, a heel faction by the name of Evolution helped turn Randy Orton and Batista into the main event stars they are today. Perhaps the point of these stables is to take new and midcard talent and groom them into the stars of tomorrow.

In the case of Vickie's faction, many have argued that Ziggler's involvement is only delaying his inevitable rise to the top. While that  may be true, it's pretty clear that Swagger is getting much more television time as a result of his involvement with the group.

A similar thing could be said about Reks and Hawkins' association with Laurinaitis. By being the go-to guys for the GM's dirty work, they have earned themselves a recurring role on the WWE's flagship show. This is a huge step up from being almost exclusive to NXT.

In addition to that, the use of strong heel factions could be integral in countering the select few babyfaces that have achieved near-untouchable status.

The embodiment of this elite brand of babyface is John Cena. In today's WWE, it's hard to believe that many people can decisively defeat him. For this reason, these elite babyfaces have an adverse effect on storylines because there are very few heels that can actually win. In essence, 

If one single heel isn't enough to believably contend with one of these untouchables, perhaps a band of strong heels would be. The aforementioned factions won't likely run Raw the way Evolution once did. However with good booking they could definitely knock Cena down a few rungs.

Soon enough, Raw will become a three hour broadcast. Even more so than before, it's important for the WWE to have compelling stories. The numbers have shown that the WWE has trouble retaining viewers from hour one to hour two of Raw. If they want to hold viewers for a three-hour show, they're going to need to work on some things.

After all, if we already know the good guy will win, why bother tuning in?