WWE NXT Takeover 2 Results: Bull Dempsey Destroys Declining Mojo Rawley

Thursday’s NXT Takeover 2 live special featured a match between scowling heel Bull Dempsey and happy-go-lucky babyface Mojo Rawley.

Their contrasts couldn’t be any more pronounced. As part of a minimalist look, Dempsey dons a black singlet and black boots. He’s a sadist billed as a dangerous and pugnacious wrecking machine, a bulldozer who lives by the credo “destroy everything.”

Dempsey is a throwback to vintage heels such as Mad Dog Vachon and Ox Baker. Accordingly, Dempsey—along with WWE announcers—fancies himself as the last of a dying breed.

Rawley’s act is one of an animated babyface. Rawley’s entrance sees the former collegiate and pro football player spring from the stage before sprinting around the ring in an attempt to manufacture fan support.

Rawley's gear consists of neon trunks, knee pads and boots. His catchphrase reads like a motivational poster for brohams during a pregame: “I don’t get hyped, I stay hyped.” If Dempsey is Ox Baker, then Rawley is the Ultimate Warrior.

These two styles sound like ideal foils for one another as Rawley and Dempsey prepared for a singles match. But instead of a match, fans were given a message.

Sure, there was an official contest—one that Bull won in a matter of minutes—but the message was simple: Mojo Rawley, not Bull Dempsey, is the last of a dying breed.

The days of a basic babyface with a standard motivational catchphrase are long gone. In fact, the Attitude Era brought about a landscape that demanded character depth beyond a smile and a high-five to a child. It’s why Stone Cold Steve Austin, the biggest babyface of that era and arguably of all time, was a beer-drinking redneck who regularly assaulted his boss.

WWE has come to realize the ineffectiveness of that type of babyface to the point where Kurt Angle’s heel gimmick was as the try-hard babyface. The same can be said of Bo Dallas today. These characters are evidence of WWE admitting that preachy good guys are now seen as obnoxious do-gooders and are best portrayed as villains.

Rawley’s loss came after weeks of recent jeering from NXT fans, who chanted “thank you Bull” as the heel attacked Rawley on a recent episode. The cynicism embedded in the Reality Era is poison to smiling, fist-pumping good guys, but this has been the story with WWE’s fanbase for close to two decades.

So why did WWE think the Rawley experiment would work?

Just as NXT serves as a developmental territory to wrestlers, perhaps WWE was attempting to train its fans to root for good guys again.

It’s not particularly difficult to get over in the gimmick-heavy promotion, which is housed in a small arena at Full Sail University. This was especially true with Adam Rose, Emma and other stars who found it much more difficult to connect with crowds on the main roster.

Maybe WWE was trying to slip this Mojo Rawley thing by fans, hoping they’d render the same fervent support they provide to much of the rest of the NXT roster.

Even if the jury is out on Rawley types, a staple of WWE has been to rehash old concepts and gimmicks that didn’t work in the past. Bray Wyatt, who is basically a repackaging of the failed Waylon Mercy gimmick, is evidence that this stubbornness sometimes works.

WWE’s job is much easier when fans are following the script, supporting designated babyfaces while booing the heel. This prevents the very hijacking that upset the applecart and forced the promotion to change direction during WrestleMania XXX. It’s a problem that could potentially be corrected by retraining fans on who to cheer for.

Unfortunately for WWE, that’s a lesson plan that seems obsolete even for training purposes.

Fan rejection of Rawley at the NXT level proves that any standard babyface gimmick will die in developmental. And while Dempsey is billed as the last of a dying breed, the fact that he’s being booked like a monster, using the same basic game plan as that of WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, shows that the throwback heel has survived.

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