Top Babyface Roster Will Recover from Injuries and Heel Turns

With two of WWE’s top babyfaces out for months with injuries and two others recently completing heel turns, one cannot help but think that the company’s good-guy roster might be looking a little depleted these days.

Depleted, yes. Devastated, no. The next few months bring opportunities for these faces to step out of the shadows normally cast by those stars and prove to the fans—and the WWE booking team—that they are worthy of performing at star levels normally reserved for guys like John Cena and Sheamus.

Both Cena, nursing a bad arm, and Sheamus, with a banged-up shoulder, have undergone surgeries and will be out for up to six months rehabbing.

Randy Orton recently completed his long-awaited heel turn, but he was unexpectedly joined in that pursuit by Triple H. As a result, Orton now is WWE champion, and Triple H is running WWE as if he just got a degree in despotic business administration from the University of Fear Me.

This combination of storyline and non-storyline events has created the perfect storm in WWE for current faces to show their stuff. And we actually are starting to see little seeds being planted.

Let’s look at the babyfaces who will play lead roles in the recovery from those losses.

Daniel Bryan

Clearly, Daniel Bryan has emerged in Cena’s traditional role as the company’s top babyface.

He already was getting the loudest pops of anyone on the roster, including Cena. Now with Cena on the shelf, Bryan is the major crowd favorite.

Surely he will build on that popularity and his feud with Orton to emerge as the leader of the inevitable mutiny against Triple H’s reign of terror. While I do not expect Bryan to recapture the title at Night of Champions, I do see the program as the centerpiece of Triple H's power play. That means it likely will go as long as Survivor Series, when Bryan will finally take the belt.

CM Punk

The always reliable CM Punk definitely will shine during this time. He is capable of pulling off two storylines at the same time, and he will do just that over the next few months.

Expect Punk to be a thorn in the sides of Paul Heyman and Intercontinental Championship titlist Curtis Axel while also keeping his finger firmly poked in Triple H’s eye.

Punk is the ultimate anti-authority activist, and this era in WWE is tailor-made for him to show the world once again why he is the best rebel with a cause in the company.

It also helps that he has history with both Triple H and Orton. Matter of fact, all the talk by Triple H of everything being “good for business” sounds like a repeat of a program he had back in 2011 with Punk and Kevin Nash.

The top talker in WWE is going to have a field day with this plot,

Rob Van Dam

Even though he is considered part time, Rob Van Dam is solidly as popular as any of the full-timers. While he is focusing more on World Heavyweight champion Alberto Del Rio rather than Triple H, RVD eventually has to take on a role in the brewing face revolution.

And he will do so with Del Rio’s title around his waist.

Rob Van Dam will provide the face roster with the Rolling Thunder it needs to make lightning strike down the Triple H reign.

Mark Henry and Big Show

Both men have jumped the face-heel fence many times during their long careers, but right now in their twilights, the World’s Strongest Man and the World’s Largest Athlete are poised to enjoy their biggest face runs ever.

At Night of Champions, I expect them to contribute to the cause by beating Shield members Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins—who have joined Dean Ambrose as the anointed palace guards of Triple H and Orton—for the Tag Team Championship titles.

All of the aforementioned faces are established stars. But over these next few months, we obviously will see some breakout performances by mid-level performers that should elevate them to an elite position.

Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes, previously a reliable heel, is seeing his stock rise as a face while he seeks revenge on former partner Damien Sandow. With each match, Rhodes is shedding the image he once had as an egotistical pretty boy with a caterpillar on his upper lip and a chip on his shoulder.

Rhodes has held titles in the past, but he always has been on the cusp of greatness only to have it yanked away. Now, with the crowd firmly behind him, Rhodes could shatter the roadblock that kept him from the uppercard.

Because he and Orton have history, he could emerge as a sideline problem for the new WWE champ over the next few weeks. When the mutiny finally overthrows Triple H, Rhodes will have cemented his place as a top face and maybe grab some steam headed into 2014.

By the way, the caterpillar that was supposed to be a mustache now is gone.

Dolph Ziggler

The next few months will be make-or-break time for Dolph Ziggler’s face run.

This run, which showed so much promise following his WHC loss to Del Rio in a double-turn, looks like it has stalled lately. Ziggler is not a factor in the WHC picture because the booking team has mired him in an unimposing program with former protégé Big E. Langston that is going nowhere fast.

Ziggler’s cocky, Ric Flair-esque style begs for him to rebel against authority, especially one that appears so tyrannical. He needs to bring the sizzle back that got him so much notice early in his WWE career and rage against the Triple H machine. To do anything less will keep him stuck in the midcard mud.

The Primetime Players

In my opinion, though, the breakout faces of this time in WWE will be Titus O’Neil and Darren Young.

The Primetime Players were supposed to be heels, and they were booked as such, But their “Millions of Dollars’ shtick and their out-of-ring antics always seemed to endear them to the fans, no matter how bad they tried to be.

Recently, though, they have been coming out to big crowd pops and even a few high-fives with ringside fans. And the Millions of Dollars move has replaced Fandango-ing as the dance of choice by the arena crowds.

Look for O’Neil and Young to really step up their game and finally achieve the potential we all thought they had.

Conclusion

So while we wait out the rehabbing of major injuries and the malice of the Triple H regime, one thing is clear: There will be lots of legacy building and legacy cementing over the next few months by the men who make up the depleted—but far from devastated—babyface roster of WWE.

It will make for some fun watching, don’t you think?

Who do you see from the babyface roster stepping up over the next few months? Share your thoughts in the Comments section. And don’t forget to follow Bill Atkinson on Twitter at @BAtkinson1963.