Should Christian turn heel at WrestleMania?

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's been no accident that Christian has scored two victories over the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title these past two weeks on SmackDown!. Since returning from his injury, Christian has been treated as a pretty big deal, and audiences are actually starting to respond to him as such. He even gets the babyface camera pan across the audience when he makes his entrance.

Rumours have suggested that there is some consideration in adding Christian to the Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio match for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania. There are some that are all for that in the IWC, due to the pretty much universal love for the very talented Christian, who has "never had his shot," but there are some that like he's being built up over time to be a threat to the World Heavyweight Title.

Right now, Christian is one of those few guys who has "dream-fulfillment" stamped all over his first World Title win, if or when it happens. As a babyface, his first World Title victory could lead to tears of joy from Captain Charisma, as streamers pour from the ceiling. But there are many who really feel that Christian was at his best, and a truly special performer, as a heel. We haven't seen a heel Christian in the WWE for five or six years now.

Do you think turning Christian heel at WrestleMania would help Christian? Does he have a better shot at being the bad guy and succeeding than the plucky underdog who fulfills his dream? He's on perhaps the strongest booked path of his WWE career right now, though. Does turning heel throw a lot of that momentum away? If Christian turns on Edge, regardless of if he wins that feud or not, does Christian sort of lose his place in line by getting distracted with that program? Or does he rediscover that niche that made people want to see bigger and better things for him back in 2005? Does he have what it takes right now to be a main event-level babyface?

What would you do with Christian at WrestleMania XXVII?

[XL]

I almost thought he was gonna clock Edge with the chair on SmackDown to turn heel pre-Mania.

It's really hard question tbh. Firstly, I don't know how over Christian is a babyface. yes he gets a reaction on SmackDown but is it piped in? Therefore I fear that he's not as over as he at first appears and thus a Main Event babyface position might not come off very well.

It is much, much easier to get over as a heel and if they want Christian in the Main Event and over, it might be better as a heel.

Either way they need to capitalize on it quickly. He can't chase the title for too long as people may get bored of it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, I think Christian's reactions are pretty genuine. He gets chants, and people visibly react to his stuff.

[Londoner]

Nah, he's had a heel run before it would be good to see him have a face run as champ or atleast just being booked well for once.

[MoFo]

We need 2005 Christian back.

2011 Christian is shit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If by shit you mean "consistently one of the best workers the WWE has," then yes.

That being said, there are some things about babyface Christian I don't like. A lot of his humour has been taken away. Granted, sometimes being a comedic character can play against a guy and his chances in the main event -- but Christian was a sheer force of entertainment as a heel.

I also miss Christian's ring jackets. Maybe that was his choice to cut out, but I felt that the ring jackets were an awesome part of who Christian was as a performer. A lot of Christian's showmanship has been cut-out for a "I'm serious and really trying now guys" demeanor.

But with that being said -- a heel turn for Christian right now would probably be mega-serious. He'd likely be bitter about beating Alberto Del Rio twice and not getting a main event title shot; and Edge being willing to throw his away when Christian has been 37 years without one. In some ways, it'd probably be pretty similar to Chris Jericho's heel turn during his most recent run, where he reinvented himself, and cut out a lot of the stuff that made him the old Christian.

[Nicky Fives]

Christian stays the same, Edge is the one that turns......

[Londoner]

Am bored with Edge turning all the time, keep him face also.

[Schlomey]

yes!!!

[seapig4]

I don't like him being put into the wm main event this late but he could maybe end up costing edge the win and then having a three way at backlash and going over del rio then you could have edge and christian both being faces and fighting over the title. I don't see why you can't just have two faces fighting for the title.
So to answer the question No Christian shouldn't turn heel.

[Kane Knight]

It should be a triple turn!

[Testicle]

No. I think that Christian is a very good face and his last two matches have shown that. They have tried the heel thing before and for whatever reason it did not lead to anything. He is very over as a face right now and I see no reason to screw with that.

[Madness42]

A Christian heel turn, then a feud between them for the world title would be cool. Even if Del Rio wins the belt, the resulting feud between the two would be really cool IMO.

[Londoner]

Christian would just be over shadowed by Del Rio right now if he turned heel. That's my fear.

[XCaliber]

At the last SD tapings I went to he had the biggest pops throughout and he came out on 3 seperate occasions so there's no doubt the guy is over. With that said I don't believe making him a heel would be that great but Edge on the other hand if he were to cost him the WHC could be good. Personally I've never really been a fan of as a solo talent but somehow I found that TNA did a much better job of pushing him which is a rarity.

[RiX1024]

They havent got much faces, stick with him and build the story up to Extreme Rules.

[Ultra Mantis]

While I would love to see Christian as a heel now isn't the time to turn him. He's getting over as a top-tier babyface and picking up huge wins, let him gather some momentum and gain popularity, maybe even have a short run as champion and then turn him heel only once he's become considered a "main event" guy.

[Lock Jaw]

Smackdown is short on main event faces, but they have lots of heels already.

Therefore Xtian has a better chance of making it as a face.

[The Jayman]

As TPWW's #1 Peep, I approve of Christian staying as a face

[slapmesilly]

go for it

[dronepool]

Go for the gold. Do it.

[One Eight Sven]

For Christian to really get over on his own, I think he needs to be the opposite of whatever Edge is at the time. When they're both faces, Christian is basically Edge's running buddy. It was the problem for Matt Hardy. That's my opinion at least.

[jskinnyg]

Christian stays the same, Edge is the one that turns......

Agreed... Edge is a better heel dammit... Christian is one of the few faces I like...

[Londoner]

Bet these people calling for Christian heel turn were the same ones begging for E&C to come back, now we've had them back together sort of for a few weeks people want Christian to turn heel straight away. :D

[One Eight Sven]

Well as wrestling fan I enjoyed seeing E&C back for nostalgia. But as a Christian fan I don't see him growing much from nostalgia.

[Londoner]

Doing well atm, though. He wont get anywhere for abit as a heel with ADR around either. Probs best to turn him later in the year.

[One Eight Sven]

Doing well atm, though. He wont get anywhere for abit as a heel with ADR around either. Probs best to turn him later in the year.

I agree. There is no need to rush it. They really don't even need Christian to turn on Edge. I just think having both E&C as faces limits Christian's growth.

[Emperor Smeat]

I'd wait at a later date to either setup the heel turn or to actually turn him and let the Del Rio-Edge feud finish first.

It would work better as a gradual turn starting with maybe Christian accidentally hitting Edge to cost him the title to counter Clay/Rodriguez cheating in the title match and then let the bitterness between Edge and Christian grow.

If Edge somehow keeps the title and wins the rematch at the next ppv, then Christian could win the #1 contendership from Del Rio and later turn saying he was jealous of Edge's success and the desire to be a champion is stronger than staying friends and not being a champion.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Something to keep in mind is that the draft could be happening again soon. If a lot of the top heels on SmackDown! are "promoted" to RAW, then it would create a vacuum on SmackDown!.

[Tom Guycott]

As TPWW's #1 Peep, I approve of Christian staying as a face

I would challenge you for that title, but I never got my match for the McDonalds belt. :'(

As far as the situation with Christian, his first win should be as a face. He can get all the celebratory "finally won the big one" fanfare much like Shawn got at his first WWF champ run, complete with ("...for the benefit of those with flash photography...") a requisite hand-raising/hug photo-op with Edge. He can degenerate into a heel after that... maybe even snapping over losing the belt or something. They can cross that bridge after he starts his first run AS A FACE.

However, after he gets the strap, they should bring back the badass hoodies and pants.

[Gertner]

As long as Del Rio wins Christian can do whatever. He's good at both.

[Theo Dious]

I'd approve of Christian being added to the match and turning Edge heel when Christian beats him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I would love to see Christian win the World Heavyweight Title, only for Edge to turn on him claiming it was "his moment, his match, his title, his WrestleMania," but there's only one problem with this scenario: Alberto Del Rio.

Del Rio has been built up so strongly and so well so far, but he's taken some losses in recent weeks. The guy seems to have legitimately boosted business for the WWE in Mexico, and although he is a heel, if he loses, where does he go from there?

Now, I'm all for holding off big wins until the timing is right. Last year, although Wade Barrett could have very easily been booked to win the WWE Title, I think it was the right call to hold it off, and to really continue to build Barrett a bit more. Del Rio will be a big deal no matter what, and can lose this match and still be fine -- but the timing for Del Rio seems about right. The only option for Del Rio is he loses is to become a bit more introverted, snap, and start taking people out left, right and centre. The WWE could very easily go that route, and it could work, but I could also see them fucking it up, and Del Rio becoming "just another guy."

It might be a better option to have Christian take out Brodus Clay and Ricardo Rodriguez, only for him to miss Del Rio and nail Edge with a steel chair, and as the ref stirs, Christian has to bail and Del Rio gets the big win. This seeds the tension between Edge and Christian, but it might be wiser to hold back on pulling the trigger until Extreme Rules.

Now if the WWE wanted to go with The Miz retaining, I think something like you suggested would be the best thing the WWE could do to counter-balance it. But then you have The Miz and Christian as your World Champions. Is that enough fire-power?