Three Top SmackDown Superstars begged WWE to let them be heels
The heel and face turns are an important aspect of storytelling that keeps the fans invested in the product.
Almost every WWE Superstar, as you may recall, has to play both sides of the fence. Some Superstars are natural heels, while others thrive in being the heroes we love to get behind.
Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods are the biggest fan favourites currently in the WWE but that was not always the case. The New Day began their run as heels and they were forced to turn babyfaces after they organically got over with the WWE Universe.
During the most recent edition of the faction's Feel The Power podcast, The New Day members opened up about their heel run and admitted that they miss rubbing fans the wrong way.
Kofi Kingston shared an example of an instance where he once proclaimed his disdain towards country music in the hometown of country music in Nashville. What's interesting here is that Kofi isn't a fan of country music in real life. That was an extension of his real self and not just a part of his wrestling character.
“When we go through promos, sometimes we’ll say some stuff that we don’t intend on saying on television. I said, ‘country music sucks.’ This is me, not my character. We were laughing backstage like, ‘he’s not going to say this.’ We got out there and I talked about my disdain for country music. For the most part, country music is not for me."
Big E went on to say that he misses being the bad guy in front of a live audience.
We did that in Nashville, the home of country music. I miss being able to open the cheeks up on a town and release my bowels. In Pittsburgh, we got the Terrible Towels and I rubbed it between my crotch. In Baltimore, we did something with Adam Jones, who played for the Orioles, and we were able to denigrate local sports teams and heroes. I really miss that."
The New Day turned babyfaces after their initial run as heels but they never really wanted to go ahead with the turn in the first place.
Xavier stated:
"We begged to turn heel, but we were fighting to turn babyface. We didn't want it. They told us we had to do it because it was too much of a stark difference when we'd be in matches with people."
Big E explained that they understood the company's decision behind the turn as they were getting tremendous babyface reactions.
"I guess it was good. I just didn't want to do it. But I get it. If you're a babyface and you're working with us and we're getting cheered and shaking our asses, I'd be annoyed with us too."
Woods concluded by citing an example of The Rock from the Attitude Era days:
I would imagine that Attitude Era wise, if you were wrestling against The Rock as a heel, you'd just be like, 'What am I supposed to do as a babyface?' I'm not saying we're The Rock. Just to make that clear." H/t Credit: Fightfull