"The Face" of WWE

[The One]

I'm not talking about face as in the opposite of heel, but rather as the term in use currently by WWE about the center figure of the company. Hearing Triple H mention "The Face of WWE" has led me to an interesting question in my mind...

Has Triple H ever been "The Face" of WWE?

When he debuted in McMahon's company, back in 1995, the company was in a somewhat transitional period as Bret Hart prepared to hand over the reigns to Shawn Michaels. Even Bret has admitted he was just holding a spot until HBK was ready to take center stage at Mania XII. From that point on Shawn was "The Man" for all intents and purposes until Steve Austin got biblical on Jake Roberts' ass and catapulted himself to rarified air in pro wrestling that had only been seen by the likes of Hogan and Andre decades before (and arguably not even then).

After Austin needed his neck surgery, The Rock kind of side stepped into the Rattlesnake's shoes, even filling in for Austin in his ongoing feud with Triple H himself. McMahon-Helmsley Era kept Rocky as the center man (not Helmsley), Austin comes back, Rock takes off to start filming his first movie, and once again Triple H is left as the foil, but not the focus. Then Trips gets the leg injury. He's gone. Invasion happens with Rock and Austin still the two undisputed key pieces of the company. Triple H returns, wins the Rumble, and is in a position to really take over as "The Face" of WWE…but then Rocky goes and has Rock/Hogan match, not only stealing Mania that year, but leaving people totally exhausted which meant an underwhelming reception for HHH's big win. Then we have a brand split, Triple H gets a chance to be the big man on the A-Show of Raw - but despite owning the A-Show, he still somehow plays second fiddle to WWE's new "Face" of Brock Lesnar.

Brock carries the torch, for a couple years until he up and decides he wants to play Football. And for a year, until Batista and Cena win their respective titles, WWE puts the little guys (Benoit & Guerrero) front and center. Even in that year gap, Triple H still never got to be "The Face." This most likely steams from the fact he was a heel, and usually "The Face" of the company is - surprise - a face. But this was probably his best chance to try and cement himself as the biggest draw, but instead he started Evolution (a remarkable stable in it's own right).

Enter Evolution member Batista who for a few moments people think might actually be the bigger star between himself and Cena. Low and behold, not so much, and Cena becomes, as Ric Flair would word it; The Man. Cena rips his boobie, and is gone for a few months, not really long enough to lose his position as The Face, but if he did, it would have default slide onto Batista's big shoulders. As soon as Cena returned, regardless of who has the belt, what the feud is, I think we can all agree that the true "Face of the WWE" has been Cena.

So since he's been a apart of the company, he's seen a lot of people come and go, rise and fall, and other than The Undertaker I can't think of a single wrestler who's spent as long as a bonafide main evener within one company…actually come to think of it, this entire thread could be extended to include Taker as well.

So, do you think Triple H (or Taker) has even been "The Face of WWE/WWF"?