Best Babyface

Award Description:

To be given to the person who best portrayed the hero this past year. This
person should get lots of fan support. Match quality is not paramount
here; this award should be based primarily on how over the wrestler was in
the past year.

Previous Winners:

  1990: Hulk Hogan
  1991: Brian Pillman
  1992: Sting
  1993: Bret Hart
  1994: Bret Hart
  1995: Shawn Michaels
  1996: Shawn Michaels
  1997: Steve Austin
  1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin
  1999: The Rock

**2000**: The Rock

576 first place votes
555 second place votes
536 third place votes

285  75  46 1742   Rock
 89 112  68  917   Mick Foley (Mankind / Cactus Jack)
 51 131 103  854   Chris Jericho
 32  49  84  475   Booker T.
 28  63  47  423   Steve Austin
 33   1   6  180   Survival Tobita
  5  13  22  108   Ric Flair
  5  10  25  105   Goldberg
  6  13  11   91   Undertaker
  8   5  11   77   Triple H
  3  12  13   77   Sting
  7   7   7   70   Rob Van Dam
  2   9   8   53   Tommy Dreamer
  0  11  10   53   Jerry Lynn
  1   8   3   35   Magnum Tokyo
  3   2   4   29   Great Sasuke
  2   3   5   29   Rikishi
  3   0   5   25   Ryuji Yamakawa
  1   2   6   23   Crash
  2   2   3   22   Yoshihiro Tajiri
  1   4   1   19   Ayako Hamada
  2   1   1   15   Lita
  1   1   3   14   Alexander Otsuka
  0   3   2   13   Tomoaki Honma
  0   1   5   13   Scotty 2 Hotty
  1   1   1   10   Al Snow
  0   1   3    9   Steve Corino
  0   1   3    9   Matt Hardy
  0   2   1    8   Meiko Satomura
  0   1   2    7   Kenta Kobashi
  0   0   3    6   Eddie Guerrero
  1   0   0    5   Super Delfin
  1   0   0    5   Shawn Michaels
  1   0   0    5   Ricky Marvin
  1   0   0    5   Hayabusa
  1   0   0    5   H (Eiji Ezaki)
  0   1   1    5   Kane
  0   1   1    5   Jeff Hardy
  0   0   2    4   Shark Boy
  0   0   2    4   Norman Smiley
  0   0   2    4   Kevin Nash
  0   0   2    4   Jerry Lawler
  0   0   2    4   Chyna
  0   1   0    3   Toshiaki Kawada
  0   1   0    3   Onryo
  0   1   0    3   Momoe Nakanishi
  0   1   0    3   Jushin Liger
  0   1   0    3   Hardcore Holly
  0   1   0    3   General Rection
  0   0   1    2   Terri Gold
  0   0   1    2   Stevie Richards
  0   0   1    2   Steve Blackman
  0   0   1    2   Mike Awesome
  0   0   1    2   Masato Yakushiji
  0   0   1    2   Little Spike Dudley
  0   0   1    2   Cima
  0   0   1    2   Buh Buh Ray Dudley

REJECTED

  0   1   1        Hardy Boyz (ineligible)
  0   0   2        Dudley Boyz (ineligible)
  0   1   0        Duplicate votes
  0   1   0        Molly Holly (ineligible - time)
  0   0   1        "Tie" votes

C. JOSEPH HOFFMAN: Sentimental, ain't I? 

DON DEL GRANDE: Goldberg is like the Road Warriors and Jimmy Garvin
(pre-Freebirds);  you can make them act like heels, but the fans know
better.

HIRO: These three gets the best face pop in the WWF (until Rikishi turned
heel of course) in that order IMO. Why Rikishi? Well, he has that stink
face move which pops huge when applied on everyone and anyone, faces and
heels alike. Also, the dance with Too Cool was the most over non-wrestling
move/thing. Rock and Jericho are self-explanatory, and Rock is on top
because he is the number one face just as Triple H is the #1 heel. Austin
arrived too late to figure much this year.

DEAN RASMUSSEN: The snakeskin pants, the bleached hair, the Journey
"Separate Ways" entrance music- ah, you are Ryuji Yamakawa and YOU rock my
little world, Hoss.  Ayako Hamada had the tiny pants and Sub-Mariner
eyebrows that made her favorite of mine. Especially at shower time!
HAHAHAHAHA!  But I kid the ballot... Meanwhile, Survival Tobita created
the coolest things in all of the entire planet earth to wrestle. He
defended Japan and also defended MY world with thorough balls-out abandon
while being totally unencumbered by wrestling skill. Tobita is a hero we
can all look up to in these otherwise cynical, stupid, fucked-up times.

MICHAEL BANKER: Ric Flair would have been higher than #3, but he was gone
for too much of the year.

ROBERT STRUPP: No contest, really. Rock is the Rock, against all evil,
whether is Big Show, Hunter, Benoit or Rikishi. The Top Face in the Top
Promotion. Booker is so underrated, had a very good run against Jarrett.
Jericho got good matches out of Chyna, and had a great feud with Benoit in
the summer. The best upper-mid card face, plus he was a face throughout
the year.

CHRIS OSTER: I interpret this to mean, "Who gets the fans on their feet
and keeps them there?" By thaose criteria, The Rock is the runaway winner
of this category. Second (and a rare WCW vote) goes to Booker T, who rose
above a stupid, insulting gimmick and kept the fans interested in him.
Chris Jericho, who was probably the second-biggest face in wrestling in
mid-year, gets third. It helps that he provided my single biggest markout
moment of 2000 by winning the title back in April.

EDC: I put Scotty 2 Hottie there because of one reason only: the WORM. At
its height, the pop for Scotty doing the Worm was incredible, rivaling the
Rocks or Austin's Pop. I remeber people would tell me that they would be
upset because they didnt get to see the worm on a RAW, or in a House show.

DUDICALY2K: BEST FACE: In this, the age of blurred lines and worked-shoots
and sports entertainment, there are very few face wrestlers who are indeed
heroes. The premise of SPWC is simple-- an area of Japan is attacked by a
cadre of monsters. One man fends them off. That is the definition of
babyface-- and that is the definition of Survival Tobita. ATTACK ALL
MONSTER, FIGHT ALL ENEMY-- it is a catchphrase more appropos of a true
good guy than "smell what the Rock is cooking." Survival Tobita is a god
among men, a true visionary and a hero to those who live in suburban
Tokyo. Chris Jericho's populism is also catchy.  He's been criticized for
his goofball routine-- I see it as he's someone who CAN make it to the
next level and be a champion but he'd rather have fun. And Corino as "Old
School Hero" was a hoot.

DANIEL HERMAN: There is no babyface who compares to the slayer of
monsters, HE'S JUST JAPANESE ROCK AND ROLLER

SCOTT W.: The Rock is the best babyface.  The crowd is in his hands for
everything.  Very hard to turn this guy heel.  No one can come close to
this guy in the vote department.

DONNIE VOMIT: Mick and The Rock were the only 100% faces in the WWF this
year.  Mangum Tokyo has a really neato entrance, so I'll give him third.

MARCUS SPARKS: Booker T went from hopeless midcarder to world champ in WCW
on the backs of the fans.  Steve Austin is still the anti-hero people
love.  Jericho is just too much fun to watch.

JOHN C.: The Rock is the obvious winner here as he usually received the
most pops all around the world. Booker T. had a great year in WCW even
though he rarely performs in front a big crowd, he has to deal with inept
bookers and it took far too long for him to reach the top but once he made
it there he proved just how good he is. Even though Mick Foley retired in
February (only to come back for WrestleMania) he gets my third spot
because during his last three months in the WWF he got tremendous ovations
from the crowd who thanked him for his fantastic work over the years.

JOSEPH MICELI: Consistant pops for the top 2, as for the third, well, you
watch the show too so you know what i mean

MATTHEW HUBARTT: I intentionally left off Steve Austin due to his inaction
for most of the past year. However, no one can deny the size of the pops
he still gets.

STEVE SHIVES: Booker T really deserves this one.  Not only that rarest of
things--a deserving champion--but also an equally rare commodity in
today's wrestling environment:  an actual babyface.  Not an egotistical
ass like The Rock, not a rogue like Steve Austin, just a good guy who
cares about his World Title, and defends it like a champion.  The Rock
gets second place because, even though he's an egomaniac and a jerk, he's
still over as shit, and, since his face turn last year, he's always done
the right thing when it comes down to it, which for me is always the true
mark of a good babyface.

TONY LING: Again, this is absolutely no contest. It would have been,
though, if Austin'd come back earlier.

ANDY P. GOSS: Best Babyface is a tough category.  People like Austin,
Jericho, Nash, et al., didn't behave like faces, but became such.  Rock,
Sting, and Goldberg were true babyfaces, and each held the crowd in the
palms of their hands.

DARREN MANTLE: I think Dreamer sucks as a wrestler, but the fans love him

STEPHEN TISZENKEL: You know how much of a bad year for babyfaces this was?
I was forced to vote for Goldberg, with whom I'm not particularly
enthralled, in third place. Besides my top two picks, there was just
nobody else who did a credible job as a babyface.

JON WALTON: The Great Sasuke's overwhelming popularity in nearly every
match I've seen him in, combined with his charisma make him a natural
choice.  Honorable mention to The Rock who is just gonzo over and Booker T
who did an admirable job as babyface champion

SCOTT CRAWFORD: Has any single tag team wrestler (Road Dogg's "Ladies and
gentlemen..." shtick included) ever gotten the kind of pop that Scott
Taylor gets for The Worm? Plus, he just gets that GREAT look on his face.

MARKUS: Let's face it, I may not be as high on the Rock as I was back in
the day, but the kiddies still like 'im, and he's good at keeping it that
way. Jericho is still coming into his own, and Foley just rocks, how can
you not love the guy?

JONAH ROSCH: I went traditional with this pick. I like the babyface who
has to overcome adversity and claw his way up to the top and somehow
triumphs in the ring. Booker T fits that profile. After languishing in
pointless feuds, Booker gets pushed to the top of WCW and stays true to
the character that he has created all these years. He's a likeable guy,
who we want to see succeed, whereas other babyfaces are ones that you know
will succeed regardless.

COLIN MORTON: Is Triple H a face or a heel?  The slow build to a turn has
been going on for months.

DEWEY: Kind of a weak year for babyfaces, IMHO. I was tempted to put HHH
in there as one of the top 3, but I think that would've been stupid, but
truth be told, he was pretty effective when booked as a quasi-face. Stone
Cold would be definetely number one if these were only based on the last
half of the year.

EDDIE BURKETT: I think Mick Foley, especially in Jan/Feb, was really
rockin the babyface vibe.

JAMES HOWARD: Remember the days of the Unstoppable, Undamagable Babyface?
Poof! They're gone. Call it a telling sign of the times we live in, but
the fans don't seem to like indestructable folks as much anymore; they
want people who will take an absolute shitkicking for them. Chris Jericho,
the Rock, and Booker T have had their asses handed to them consistently
the entire year, and still the fans rallied behind them. All three were
great faces this year, but I have to give it to Jericho this year. He has
had the fans behind him all the way ever since going face, and can't
possibly have won more then ten televised singles matches all year. The
man lost to *Viscera*, lost to *Chyna*, lost to Kane over and over without
once getting a *win* back, lost to *Triple H* over and over without once
getting a win back that wasn't immediately repealed, lost to the *Rock*
over and over without once getting a win back that didn't involve the
entire Facgime interfering, and throughout all that he *still* hasn't lost
the slightest amount of heat. Go! Jericho! Go! Go! Jericho! Go! :)

DOUG CORTI: Now that we have entered the days in which a promotion's top
babyface is a man who beats up women, throws the bird and will use
language that would make George Carlin blush, it is refreshing to finally
have a hero that the whole world can cheer. While other so-called
babyfaces might cower at the concept of trying to save the world from
anti-littering robots and virtual pets that have come to life, the
legendary Survival Tobita is the one soldier that will take up the noble
goal of trying to save the earth from these menaces. We all know that he
would rather relax in his true career, that of just being a Japanese Rock
'n' Roller, but Tobita has made a brave sacrifice for our society. It is
up to us a society to teach our children and our children's children about
this person, whose mission, as he crudely puts it, to "attack all
monster". He was not content to sit by and watch as a giant tree named Ken
attacked villagers. Despite the fearsome Swinging Branch Punch, a move
that has reduced thousands upon thousands of men to mere quivering masses
of Jello, Survival Tobita took up the challenge of an creature that has
been nicknamed "Ken The Box" by a cult-like group of fanatics. Tobita may
have failed in this mission, but he could hold his head up high that he
pushed Ken to its limits, thereby showing Ken that his attempts to attack
villagers will not go unanswered by humanity. Even families that have
their hearts set on evil are unable to perform their nefarious deeds
without having to answer to this hero first. One can only imagine the
mayhem that the Lantern Ghost Obake and his son would unleash on humanity
if Tobita was not present to protect us all. Some might say "Why should I
exalt a man who fights a giant turnip and a cardboard box?". Before you
scoff, just imagine what the world would be like if not for Tobita. Giant
cardboard boxes as our leaders, with us humans being forced to bow down to
them as masters. Can you imagine that? That is why you should accept
Tobita as the top babyface. We know that he battles these monsters to
challenges the limits of humans. Thus, we as humans, are all elevated
through his battles. We respect your calling in life. Rock on noble
fighter. Rock on Survival.

BOB MORRIS: Say what you want about the Rock's workrate or his
repetitiveness in his mic work, but there's no question that this man
holds the crowd in the palm of his hand every time he steps out from
behind the curtain. The fans eat up everything he has to say, and
everything he does inside the ring, and the heat for him just won't die.
That's the mark of a great babyface.

JEREMY SORIA: No one got a crowd more fired up than The Rock this year.
You had to love Mick Foley's last few months wrestling; it was nice to see
him have fun one last time. Stone Cold Steve Austin gets a crowd fired up
even better than the Rock, but given that he was only in wrestling 2
months out of the year this time, the Rock gets the nod for the top spot.

RICK SCAIA: The Rock combines the industry's most powerful arsenal of
catchphrases with a genuinely quick wit and likability that means he can
adapt to different situations and still be appealing.  The response he
gets from fans is distressingly Pavlovian at times, but even when I try to
be cynical, I can't deny the Rock's earned those cheers.  Mick Foley spent
part of the voting year as one of the more popular babyface wrestlers, and
then came back a few months later and proved he could translate that
popularity into a non-wrestling Commissioner role; he's my #2 top
babyface.  Third place was a tough call, but I decided to bounce Goldberg
from the list (the magic is seemingly gone, and a failed heel turn didn't
help matters any) in favor of Rob Van Dam, who pretty much OWNED every ECW
crowd he performed in front of.

JEREMY DELINE: 1999-2000 wasn't a year with many pure babyfaces. Booker T,
however, managed to be compelling and sympathetic all year long-even
during his stint as G.I. Bro..and he managed to climb to the top of WCW
and win the belt as well.(admittedly, not that great a feat at the
moment..but still) Mick Foley gets a vote as number two for his feud with
Triple H, his retirement, and the fact that this is the last year I'll be
able to vote for Foley. Austin gets number three-despite the fact I don't
really think he's a babyface, he gets mammoth face pops every time he
twitches an eyebrow, so he must be doing something right.

NATHAN LONEY: Mick Foley was a very sympathetic character the entire year,
and he deserves this first place vote for moving me the way he did.  
Steve Austin has been hailed as a returning hero, and rightfully so.  
He's also opened up some wrestling ability that hasn't been seen for a few
years.  And time in, and time out, The Rock gets a great response from the
fans.  I can't tell you why... hell, I like the guy myself!  Why do the
fans like a guy who's an out-and-out asshole?  All that matters is that
they do.

BILL LEHECKA: People love Mick Foley.  There's just no way people can hate
him.  I mean, his constant "cheap heat" is priceless.

NATE PATRIN: Special Honors go to the Radicalz during their first week in
the WWF as McMahon-Helmsley Regime-taunting faces.

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: I hate the Rock. I despise the Rock. It's one of my
least favourite gimmicks in the world today. I have nothing against Dwayne
Johnson, but there's something about the character of the Rock that just
galls me. Unfortunately, even I am willing to admit that he's the single
most popular wrestler on the face of God's green earth. Sad, but true.
Steve Austin (who conversely, I still very much like) gets second. The
fact that every PPV with an appearance from him was among the top few
buyrates of the year must mean something, after all. Third place should go
to Mick Foley, since the people still absolutely love him, but I have to
give Chris Jericho props for being the second biggest babyface in the
world for much of the year, so he gets it instead.

TANVIR RAQUIB: The People Champion is truly the Champion of the People.
Steve Austin makes people make loud noises involuntarily.

MIKE PLYLEY: The Rock has kept the crowd behind him all year long, and the
size of the pops hasn't changed, even during his 5-month title reign.  
Easy winner.  Chris Jericho still gets massive face pops despite being
mired in the midcard, and Mick Foley's cheap pops are still getting pops.

COLIN MacKINNON: I'll admit I feel a little dirty about giving Rock one of
my votes, even though it wasn't the first place vote, but in terms of
being one of the best babyfaces...  Rock is 100 times better than Survival
Tobita.  And I don't feel dirty saying that at all.

TOM CRUZ: The Rock, Mick Foley, and Scotty 2 Hotty are so over as faces
that they really don't have to do anything. The fans just cheer regardless
of what they may say or do. Austin would have easily been on this list, if
he hadn't been injured all year. W-O-R-M

JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: I think Mick Foley at the beginning of the year was
about the best babyface ever and the most likeable in the way his career
ended.  Simply an AWESOME angle folks. Rock is #2 because he's improvemed.  
Booker T gets the third spot for doing an admirable job despite being in
some bad angles.

PHIL PRZYBYLO: The Rock=the guy you probably want to be.  Foley=the guy
you probably are.  Flair=the guy you probably look up to.

C McMURTRY: Not only as commissioner, but also as Cactus Jack in his
stretch run at the beginning of the year, Mick Foley as a babyface is able
to interact with fans better than anyone. From his promos to his
wrestling, Foley is a character any fan can look to for inspiration, even
in today's "balls to the wall" wrestling era. Though he is good as a heel
too, Chris Jericho's in ring style of a resilient babyface works so well.
And Tajiri because he did what the Vince Russo's of the world would like
you to believe is impossible, he was able to make fans care positively
about a foreign wrestler.