Is John Morrison’s Babyface Turn Already Ruined On WWE Raw?
John Morrison returned to WWE in early 2020 to no fanfare, siding with The Miz in a reunion of their old tag team. That run was full of insubstantial moments, long feuds, and very few high points. Their team imploded a few weeks back, signalling the start of a Morrison face run and potential push. A few weeks in, however, that push could already be ruined.
Morrison’s Underwhelming Return Was A Poor Start
WWE did no favours with Morrison upon his return, with him appearing in a backstage segment rather than having a grand return, and despite making a large splash on the independent circuit and in places such as Impact and Lucha Underground, he was once against presented as The Miz’s friend and tag team partner – a huge step backwards given what he was doing outside of the WWE.
Over the course of the year, the two bounced between feuds which lingered on the main event scene, filling holes between pay-per-views as glorified cannon fodder for the big stars. They would lose handicap matches and would be involved in some of the lowest-rated segments in Raw history. It wasn’t going well for the pair.
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Morrison Got Over With The Live Crowd
At the start of 2021, when The Miz would become a transitional WWE Champion, Morrison was still by the wayside, no more than a sidekick most of the time. They would also lose to music artist Bad Bunny in a featured Wrestlemania match. In all that time though, Morrison was still proving himself to be charismatic, funny, and at times, the star of the team. From an in-ring standpoint, he was putting on great matches with the likes of Riddle, Drew McIntyre, and Ricochet. Fans were taking notice of his comedic antics, and once the live crowds returned following the Thunderdome Era, they made their voices heard.
Chants of ‘Johnny Drip Drip’ hit live arenas, something which he got over himself, and fans took notice. Often in WWE, when this happens, there is a tendency of creative trying to undermine the things that their own talent gets over, such as Rusev Day and Zack Ryder’s 2011 rise in popularity. However, in a pleasant surprise, WWE decided to move forward with the ‘drip drip’ gimmick.
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Trouble in paradise would rise between the pair over a few weeks, leading to The Miz turning on his partner, cementing the fully-fledged face turn of Morrison. A face turn was the right move for Morrison, who would’ve grown stale in the heel tag team with The Miz, and it was the correct decision to try and take advantage of his surge in popularity.
WWE Has Booked Morrison Terribly So Far
However, his momentum has hit a hard stop. WWE has been overdoing the ‘drip drip’ stuff, with an awful Summerslam segment involving the ‘Drip Stick 2000’ which ended up just being a sponsorship deal. Since his face turn, Morrison has been presented poorly. His blissful ignorance was comedic as a heel, but as a face it just isn’t working. He is making foolish decisions which means the crowd will find it harder to get behind him. This is a recurring problem of WWE babyfaces looking like dorks.
On his first full week as a babyface, Morrison used the logic of being the ‘bigger man’ to challenge a ‘big man’ in Omos. Whilst this could seem like a courageous move for a babyface, after Omos stated that it ‘sucks to be you’, Morrison himself agreed. If he doesn’t take himself seriously, then the fans will find it difficult. Following that, Omos squashed Morrison with ease. This wasn’t the way to begin a fresh run for Morrison.
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One week later, Morrison once again talked himself into a match, this time against Karrion Kross. The result was another quick squash. Credibility is being lost by the week, and once The Miz comes back to reignite their feud, all signs point towards this just being a way to propel The Miz further up the card as a heel, rather than pushing Morrison as a face.
It’s Déjà Vu For Morrison And Miz
Everything that has happened is a worrying retelling of history. Back in 2009, Miz turned on Morrison, causing a push up the card for The Miz whilst Morrison remained in the mid-card as a face. Morrison’s initial face run in WWE didn’t work out as he had little character or development, and he wandered around the mid-card until he eventually left. If WWE doesn’t take Morrison seriously this time round, he is likely to suffer the same fate again.
It’s a shame since Morrison has successfully gotten himself over with his strong character work and showcasing his unique and consistently great in-ringtalents. So far, WWE has not taken him seriously as a face, and it seems like it will remain that way.
