New Day rocks, just not in a way that’s sustainable. Throughout their well-documented journey of failure-turned-ironic success, all three members of the group have grown significantly as performers and evolved into sentimental favorites for many fans. With that said, the way they’ve been booked threatens to burn out a roster that’s already light on credibility.
When New Day transitioned from being unintentionally corny youth pastors to intentionally impish summer camp counselors, they clearly won over the crowd with their over-the-top antics. However, WWE decision-makers continued to pit the three against babyface opponents. The first victims of this process were the Prime Time players, who barely survived feuding with New Day in spite of their own recent resurgence. Since the matches were effectively face-face, fans simply chose New Day and PTP became “the less cool other guys.” The feud was only partially effective: it was successful in elevating New Day, but also a failure because it damaged their opponents so badly.
Not even the Dudley Boys, a team with both fresh faces and Attitude Era credibility (somehow still the currency of wrestling stardom), could effectively get over against New Day. The crowd popped for their moves out of nostalgia, but it was clear throughout the match that the fans wanted to cheer for New Day. Three months later, the Dudleys need to be paired with John Cena to remind fans that they are stars and New Day hardly seem shined by rubbing shoulders with legends.
The problem: New Day are cool heels.
Granted, cool heels are cool, but by definition, they are also world-eaters. Too often, fans assume that the cool heel is a versatile character because ostensibly he or she can feud with babyfaces or other heels and still get over as an act. However, the reality is that it’s almost impossible for either heroes or villains to get over against cool guys.
A babyface can’t hold a candle to the cool heel because he or she just seems like an edgeless goody two-shoes by comparison. On the other hand, traditional heels can’t get any heat in the ring with a cool heel because the cool guy’s heel tactics will always be portrayed as smarter and more skillful than those of the traditional heel. What seems on the surface like flexibility is in fact a destructive rigidity. When the cool heel defeats an opponent, they are beaten in a way that is far harder to overcome than if they were to lose to a standard oppositely-aligned opponent because the cool heel doesn’t just win, they prove themselves to be smarter, funnier, and better in a way that’s supposed to be reserved for good guys.
What’s truly bizarre about this whole situation is that it was and is entirely preventable. Were WWE simply to acknowledge New Day’s popularity with fans and push them as babyfaces, then the entire midcard wouldn’t have live in fear of losing all their heat wrestling New Day. Rather than taking this one simple step to fix their own problem, however, WWE would prefer to hold course and put the credibility of the whole roster in jeopardy.
Follow Wrestledelphia.com contributor David Gibb on Twitter at .
David Gibb
Latest posts by David Gibb (see all)
- The Wrasslin’ Essay: AJ Proves WWE Right… They Think - December 30, 2016
- The Wrasslin’ Essays: False Dichotomies - December 12, 2016
- The Wrasslin’ Essay: Less Would Be More, WWE - November 7, 2016
