Evolution of a Face

In light of CM Punk's recent surge of popularity with the WWE fans, it would appear that a new WWE Face is born. This feature looks at the history of WWE's biggest faces and how CM Punk's current style is breaking the mold.

Let's first look at WWE's first HUGE face, the Immortal Hulk Hogan. When Hulk first started in the WWE he was very green displaying limited wrestling ability wrestling under the monicker 'The Fabulous' Hulk Hogan. While Hulk's in-ring ability was limited, Hulk had great mic skills and a personality which came across well on TV.

The ultimate good guy, wholesome to the core, Hulk was always preaching that we should 'eat our vitamins' and 'say our prayers', to any parents watching the show, he was the type of person you wanted your children to look up to and as a result of the popularity boom due to the birth of Hulkamania, it was very rare we would see the Hulkster lose a match and on the rare occasion that he did, it would usually be to the Heel cheating or taking an unfair advantage.

In a nutshell, the Hulk Hogan era was great for the WWE, it allowed parents to feel safe knowing their kids had someone they could look up to, Hulk was a cash cow by selling the most merchandise and he was quick to become a household name even branching out into movies and commercials. However, after a certain point Hulk decided to make the jump over to WCW leaving Vince without a mega star to push as the top babyface. In step - Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.

Bret was similar to Hulk in many ways, he was very wholesome, always wanting to be a hero for kids and be someone honourable they could look up to. Bret was never the best on the microphone, he was good but he wasn't the type of character to be really energetic and flexing his muscles, Bret was always more of a laid back, cool type of guy which was polar opposite from Hulk. The biggest difference between the two however was the fact that Bret was the best wrestler in the world, the 'Excellence of Execution', Bret was a shoot wrestler with great submission skills and was so technically gifted he could put on a great match with anybody and make them look good.

Bret might not have sold as much merchandise as Hulk, be as big of a household name, or be starring in movies (unless you want to include his guest appearance in The Simpsons) but his wrestling ability was unparallelled having some of the best matches of all time. Bret did a great job of carrying the WWE on his back at a time when all of Vince's top talent was jumping ship to the opposition and beating the WWE in ratings. Carrying a company like WWE on your back is hard enough to do without fierce competition let alone when the company is crumbling around you.

However the wrestling audience began to change, tired of the tried and true method of good guy vs bad guy, the fans began to grow unrest with the good guy and thus the anti-hero was born. The anti-hero who started it all was 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

Stone Cold was born at the King of the Ring, having just defeated Jake Roberts in the finals who was using a bible-bashing gimmick at the time, Austin uttered the phrase 'you talk about your psalms, you talk about your John 3:16, well Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass'. This catchphrase was one of the most known in WWE history and instantly launched Austin into the spotlight and into top selling merchandise territory.

Austin, who was meant to be a heel began a feud with Hart who was at the time the company's biggest face. It was at Wrestlemania 13 where we saw a very rare double-turn. After Hart locked Austin in the sharpshooter, who was bleedong perfusely from his face, Austin passed out. Hart who was unsatisfied by the fact Austin never tapped decided to unleash further punishment on him by attacking him with a steel chair, this made Austin a face for never giving up and Hart a heel for attacking his foe while he was down.

Austin was a complete anti-hero, he never did anything wholesome, never did anything good and he was certainly not the type of character you would want your kids looking up to. But the thing with Austin was that he tapped into everyone's naughty side. Deep inside every one of us, there have been times when we'd like to kick our boss' ass, when we didn't want to obey the rules, when we just plain wanted to raise some hell - and Austin did that on a daily basis, much to the admiration of fans.

Eventually Austin's injuries got the better of him and along with the second biggest face 'The Rock', Austin left the WWE. I could include people like The Undertaker and Triple H in this column, however the focus is on the WWE's biggest faces - a void which the WWE had for a long time leading right up to John Cena.

The comparisons between Cena and Hogan are made constantly and in all honesty there is good reason. Cena has the five moves of doom, and limited ring work - like Hulk Hogan, he has a great physique and is a strong guy - like Hulk Hogan, he is charasmatic and great on the Mic - like Hulk Hogan, he is idolised by kids and sells the most merchandise - like Hulk Hogan and he is a role model for kids telling them to never back down - again, like Hulk Hogan.

It would appear that History has repeated itself and we have gone almost full circle, problem is that the fans are still the same as they were in the Attitude Era and frankly, the superman full fledged hero doesn't work in today's current product, yet the WWE have stuck with this angle for a long time to the point where Cena is forced down the throats of the Attitude Era fans.

Never before has the company's top face recieved such a mixed reaction. The crowd has always been a little mixed for Cena but in recent weeks, you can really start to hear more boos than cheers and it seems that the one guy who is taking those cheers for himself is CM Punk.

Unlike Punk following this cycle by being a Bret Hart character, instead he is a mix of both Bret and Stone Cold. He has great wrestling ability and is a technical and submission wrestler a la Bret Hart, however he is anti-establishment, he refuses to follow the rules and be a corporate slave like Austin. Combine this with one of the fastest selling T-Shirts of all time (so much so that they are currently out of stock and having to make more) it would appear that CM Punk is the new kid on the block.

Punk appeals to all of the adult males who are tired of Cena, cuts promos like no other and has really brought wrestling into the present with his use of social avenues and the internet to further this. For the first time in a long time, WWE has made people want to tune in to see what is going to happen, how far Punk will go this week and it makes for some great TV.

Was Cena as big as Hogan? No, he wasn't. Will Punk ever reach the heights of The Hitman or The Rattlesnake? Not likely, but for the first time in a long while we now have two Tweeners with Cena the top face for Kids and the Women and Punk the top face for the Men, talk about breaking the mould.

Who knows where this storyline is going, who knows what is to come? The fact that we don't is the reason why I am looking forward to Monday Nights now more than ever!

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This post was written by: Karl Rowlands

Karl Rowlands is the creator of Raw Deal Wrestling. Follow him on Twitter