WWE: 10 Stars That Could Be Tweeners

In recent times, it seems like wrestling has had a lot of good characters that can tread the line of both a heel and a face very well.

Randy Orton acts like a heel, and is Smackdown's top face. Edge, often had heel-like tendencies, himself. CM Punk was cheered while he was around, despite being affiliated with The New Nexus and R-Truth, as well as The Miz both get something of a pop when they come out, (if only because people like The Miz's catchphrases and think R-Truth is funny).

My point being, things have changed a good deal in the WWE as of late, and the characters that are booed and cheered are reflecting that change.

Now, looking at the Money in The Bank PPV and seeing Daniel Bryan winning it, (how many people, myself included, said this was gonna be either Barrett or Rhode's match?) has me thinking, WWE needs a No. 2 face on Smackdown. But my question is, why use Bryan?

I know he's good—one of the best—but I think a few guys could have turned while holding the briefcase to fill the role of No. 2 face, which got me thinking of how a lot of guys could use a tweener character, shifting alignment to suit themselves/the situation.

So, with that said, here are the 10 stars that could be viable tweeners. 

Alberto Del Rio

Now, I'm sure a lot of you may think it wrong to make Del Rio a tweener at any point. Personally, I like heel Del Rio, but I think he could be just as good, if not better as a tweener.

Del Rio has been touted, and has become a top heel in the company since his arrival, and it looks like a WWE title run is all but assured to The Essence of Excellence. So how would a tweener Del Rio go?

Well, let's say for example, Drew McIntyre shows up on RAW, spouting about how he feels unappreciated in the WWE and in America in general. Then out comes Alberto Del Rio.

Del Rio doesn't tell Drew outright he thinks he's wrong. Instead he merely counters with all the positives of being in America—maybe pointing out a problem or two—and goes on to call McIntyre a baby, because he's whining he hasn't gotten what he feels is owed to him, commenting on how Del Rio's proven himself since he arrived in WWE as opposed to McIntyre who had success handed to him by Vince.

McIntyre takes exception to that, challenges him to a match, Del Rio wins—but in summation, that is how a tweener Del Rio would handle a situation.  

Cody Rhodes

The man who I picked to win the Money in The Bank Ladder Match unfortunately came up short this year, though I believe a main event push isn't far for the formerly "Dashing" superstar.

Cody's had two impressive gimmicks as of late. One was his "Dashing" persona, and the other one, for lack of a better term, is the the one he currently uses: "Scarred."

The Dashing gimmick was pretty good while it lasted—especially considering at its base, it was a classic narcissist gimmick. But Cody really went and made it his own—and it payed off. It landed him his own segment of grooming tips, he won his first WWE Tag Team title, and was given a pretty significant push. It really showed what Cody could do on the mic—at one point, he had me thinking he was turning face.

Lately, it's hit me that Cody Rhodes could really use this new persona, just as he could the dashing one, as a tweener character. 

Scenario: Wade Barrett is talking about how he's done taking a backseat to guys like Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, and plans to take the first steps toward becoming World Champion by beating anyone in the back. Out walks Cody Rhodes, who does his usual bagging. But he doesn't spend too much time on the fans, as he'd much rather run down Wade Barrett.

Wade would argue he's proven himself on his own, while Cody could counter he hasn't been alone since he started in the WWE and that if anyone's going to be champion it'll be him.

On the flipside, Cody could very well play the role of a victim—shunned by others for his own antisocial behavior. He thinks it's because they find him ugly and instead, maybe have someone like Ted turn on him, call him a freak, attack him, showing a more vicious side, while showing a vulnerability in Cody.

The gimmick has a lot of wiggle room to work with, if you ask me, but for now, he's not bad off.

R-Truth

The Truth has been on a roll since turning heel, though he has yet to win any gold along the way. But maybe a tweak in gimmick for the man, who I call the most entertaining man in WWE, would be just what he needs.

The Truth plays the role of a heel very well and has proven he's gold on the mic and in the ring, regardless of age (if you didn't look it up, it'd be hard to tell about how old Truth is). That said, I think a tweener tweak would be very easy to pull off, and would come off as natural.

Truth plays the role of a conspiracist (I suppose that's a good word to use), so who's to say he couldn't be under the impression some of the heels as well as the faces are all out to get him.

For example, say Truth is in the ring, and calls out The Miz—who was calling himself "The Most Must-See WWE Champion in History." Maybe in Truth's mind, that makes him just as guilty of being a propaganda tool, (let's say for teenagers/people who watch MTV, and such, as it did with John Cena), prompting him to tell The Miz he's going to "Get Got."

Frankly, R-Truth is a loose cannon, so why not run with that, and just have him fire on everyone—the heels, the faces, the fans, the commentary, etc.

Christian

The World Heavyweight Champion is another superstar who could pull off the tweener character well. He did it for awhile when his feud with Randy started and we were unsure of who was going to make the turn, so I don't see why we couldn't do it again.

Christian is an odd one, as it seems that even as a heel, he can't shake being cheered, which makes a perfect formula for a tweener—being able to be cheered and booed. And yeah, the Orton fans and those that just don't like The Captain will boo regardless of their actions.

Add to that, the WWE has had the perfect chance to do just that sort of turn with Christian, and could still do it, what with how Christian lost his title due to a fan poll. Maybe after a few weeks as champion, Christian could apologize, realizing that not EVERYONE is to blame (maybe holding a grudge against a few key cities) for making him defend his belt.

How would a tweener Christian handle things now? Well, let's say Christian (I'm assuming he's going to remain a heel in reality) is challenged by Sheamus to a match.

Now of course he'll pull the usual Christian wit on the mic and make some heelish moves in the ring, but I expect something of an Eddie Guerrero-esq style type of ring psychology. Maybe some antics in the ring to make Sheamus look stupid. That sort of thing. 

John Morrison

John Morrison is something of an interesting case. He's got all the talent in the world and is top face material, but his detractors cite his mic skills as the key focal point for the argument for why he can't be the top guy.

So, I think the best solution is to give him the best of both worlds, and make him a tweener instead. I mean give him the leeway to say what he wants about everyone. Maybe go back to his original style as John Morrison—a brawler with flashy moves thrown in occasionally.

With this Morrison, I think we could really get something special with this guy, and along with that, I think the WWE could really do well with him, in a similar fashion as Edge in his last few months on Smackdown.

Let him go out there, make fun of people (like he did in the Dirt Sheet), maybe talk a bit about his abs (but let him be goofy with it, not so arrogant), and all that other good stuff he did as a heel. A perfect example of how well this could go would be in a program with John Cena.

John could come out, talk about John Cena's haircut, fashion sense, etc, drawing Cena out to a match—before being interrupted by The Miz who claims John is trying to do a one-man Dirt Sheet and failing. This makes Morrison start to bash him as well, with Cena filling out the argument, before a triple-threat match is made. I think handled right, this character could be just what Morrison needs.

Randy Orton

Randy Orton has every aspect of the tweener character down, really—he's just not being presented in that role. Instead, they've opted to make him the top face of Smackdown.

I mean, sure he's a violent, at times an unstable person and he's been known to kick people in the head on more than one occasion, but why the heck not go ahead and slap the label of good guy on him?

Seriously though, it's really odd that they haven't had Orton regress as of late to something more resembling his Legend Killer gimmick—the brash, arrogant kid with the silver spoon in his mouth that used to roll with Batista, HH, and Ric Flair in Evolution. The whole "Viper"/"Apex Predator" thing is just to tweener to be top face material.

That said, I can't really come up with a scenario for Orton because, in reality, he's already a tweener. He's just being treated as a face.

JTG

He may be a low mid-carder at best, but the whole roster should be entitled to something that can make the product better, and at this point, JTG can't get much worse.

JTG hasn't done much since Cryme Tyme was put to an end some time back, except for a one-night thing as one of Tyson Kidd's many managers in a losing effort against Kane.

So, what could we do with JTG as a tweener? Well, pretty much anything you'd expect from his character, because, let's face it, JTG plays the character of a stereotypical thug. Kind of hard at his size, but still, that's what he is. So, lets make that more prevalent.

Let's have him running around stealing stuff, talking to people's girlfriends and jumping people from behind from time to time (though not that he's the one starting things intentionally).

Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett has proven in his WWE career to be an exceptional heel—and if NXT has shown us anything, probably the most complete superstar FCW has ever produced in every aspect of the word.

Wade boasts a Slammy Award, winning NXT1, and the Intercontinental Championship to his name, but I believe Wade is far from done tasting success and one way that can be validated is with a tweener character for the man.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "how could Wade fit as a tweener when he's never been a face?" I'll say that while it could have happened, the ship has sailed for now. My original idea would have involved the destruction of The Corre before it's implosion in a manner similar to what happened with Legacy.

Remember how Orton got tired of Cody and Ted messing things up? Well, apply that to Wade getting tired of Heath, Justin and Jackson, culminating in a fatal-four-way for Wade's I.C. Title, after which Wade could have started a decent run with the title with a character similar to Orton's.. But let's make him more of an honor-bound character.

Wade seems like a gentleman, so play on that. Have him be ruthless in the ring, but not a cheat. Have him run down anyone he wants and back it up. Maybe even have him form something of an alliance with Randy out of respect.

The Miz

"The Most Must-See WWE Champion in History" has been on a slippery slope as of late that looked to be taking him back to the mid-card. But it looks like the powers that be have seen fit to make him a World Championship-caliber guy again after this past Monday.

It's been stated WWE sees him as someone who could one day be the replacement for John Cena, so I'm not all that surprised, but WWE really shouldn't make the same mistake they've done with Cena and make him a one-dimensional face. No, I think Miz is better than that. and would make a great tweener.

The Miz is another one of those guys who is a heel but is recieiving something of a mixed reaction with people both cheering and booing him, while saying his catchphrases along with him. So the potential is there, just not being utilized.

I think the best route to go with Miz would be, actually, just keep doing what he's been doing. Maybe bring back the "awesome" catchphrase more, tone down the arrogance (just a bit) and you've got what could potentially be "The Perfect Miz." But I would tell him to give Edge his coat back.

Sheamus

The Celtic King is a former two-time WWE Champion and former United States Champion. However, his title runs (with the WWE Championship) were,poor at best—and he was a much better U.S. Champion, in my opinion.

Now, like most of this list, Sheamus isn't a bad heel when he's booked properly and what kind of person could Sheamus be as a tweener? Well, I'll answer that question by stating that as a tweener, I think Sheamus could play a bit more on his Irish roots. Nothing stereotypical, or even major.

The character, would be slightly similar to Finlay's in that he's just a tough, big guy who loves to fight, will do anything to win, but is also respectful of his opponents if they show him the same respect. He would be somewhat similar to Wade Barrett, really, which makes me think they would make a good tag team—and would probably have a decent feud with Miz and Morrison, but that's talk for another time.

The End

Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.