3 Reasons Why Carmella's Face Turn Is Terrible, And 2 Reasons Why It's Tolerable

Ever since making the transition from being a cheerleader to a professional wrestler, Leah Van Dale aka the woman known to the WWE Universe as Carmella, has gone from strength to strength. Signing with the WWE back in 2013, very few apart from perhaps 'Mella's longtime mentor Triple H would've thought that she'd make it this big in the world of sports-entertainment.

It was only recently that the WWE made a rather interesting choice of having longtime heel Carmella finally turn face. In fact, the company went all in with The Fabulous One's face turn; to the extent that they even permitted her to go back to her natural hair color, besides also stylizing her hair with shades of black and red -- marking a marked change in her on-screen appearance, attitude and actions.

With Carmella being one of the WWE's top female Superstars today, her heel turn has brought about several significant changes in the upper echelons of the company's landscape. Today, we are going to be looking at a few distinct factors in favor of as well as a few others against the WWE's perplexing decision to have Carmella turn heel...

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#5 Why It's Terrible: Natural Heel

Carmella is a natural heel

Firstly, we tackle the most glaring reason which suggests that the WWE may have made a blunder by turning Carmella heel at the zenith of her run as a notorious heel on SmackDown Live. The former "Miss Money In The Bank" is a natural heel!

The Princess of Staten Island is tailor-made to play the role of a villain in the WWE -- as was evident during her time as the Money In The Bank contract-holder as well as when she reigned supreme as the SmackDown Live Women's Champion. Carmella has mastered the skill of garnering heat from the loyal sports-entertainment fans who show up in droves at WWE events the world over.

Her style of trash-talking as well as the smooth efficiency with which Carmella delivers her heelish insults not only at her opponents but also at the fans, is nothing short of brilliant. Let's face it, in this day and age where most performers struggle to cut even a halfway-decent promo, a heel like Carmella is rare to come along...

#4 Why It's Tolerable: New Layers To "Carmella"

New layers of Carmella's character shall be unraveled in her run as a face on the WWE main roster

Carmella signed on the dotted line with the WWE in 2013, and made her in-ring debut for the company the following year in the 'E's yellow brand. Working as a valet for Enzo & Cass, Carmella didn't really attain much in terms of character value, as opposed to what she did in her run as a heel on the main roster since 2016.

Over the course of the last couple of years, Carmella -- irrespective of whether you love or hate her -- has established herself as one of the top heels in all of professional wrestling. Notwithstanding, despite solidifying herself as a villain in the WWE Universe, Carmella's on-screen character has always lacked the alternate facet -- in other words, she's never really been able to display the babyface side to her character...Well, now that WWE has turned her face alongside longtime fan-favorite R-Truth, Carmella has the opportunity to showcase the heroic facets to her on-screen character -- a small example of which can be seen in the Truth TV video below...

#3 Why It's Terrible: Toned Down Promos

Carmella's promos have definitely been toned down after her recent face turn

A rather subtle and resultantly unnoticed part of the Truth TV segment which featured Daniel Bryan, R-Truth and Carmella engage in a war of words with The Miz on SmackDown Live; was that Carmella seemed to be the most subdued of the group. That, in and of itself, is incredibly surprising, especially when you consider how free and creative 'Mella generally is on the microphone.

Well, the struggles that Carmella seems to be facing in her transition phase -- going from being a longtime villain to a fan-favorite hero -- has affected several pro-wrestlers in the history of this sport. In simple words, a WWE Superstar who's so very accustomed to playing the heel, is bound to find it a tad difficult when he/she turns babyface and is forced to tone down his/her promos -- making sure the promos don't come across as braggadocios and cocky...It's no surprise then, that Carmella's fire on the stick seems to have taken a hit with the sudden face turn...

#2 Why It's Terrible: Crowd Interactions

As a babyface, Carmella cannot trash-talk the crowd while cutting a promo

One of the most heated segments in WWE television history -- well, at least when you are to consider only the PG era, since the year 2008 -- took place on this week's episode of Monday Night RAW, when Elias and Kevin Owens were involved in a segment which saw them insult the crowd in attendance in Seattle, Wisconsin.

It's a bit tough to blame the fans for the aforesaid segment, since Elias and Owens touched on a rather sensitive topic there as they raked up the issue of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team which...well, is regarded as a dark spot in the history of basketball for fans of the sport in Seattle. However, the biggest positive of the segment was the reiteration of the fact that Elias and KO are two of the best promos and heels in the business today.

Similarly, Carmella could very well be regarded as the biggest heat-seeking female WWE Superstar apart from Alexa Bliss today -- with both Carmella and Bliss' heel promos driving the crowd crazy, and eliciting thunderous boos from one and all. Alas, now that Carmella has turned face, no longer can she rile up the fans with her terrific heel promos -- well, at least until she turns heel again...

#1 Why It's Tolerable: Clear Title Picture

The SmackDown Women's Title picture now has two of the most skilled wrestlers doing battle over divisional supremacy

Carmella dropped the SmackDown Live Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair at WWE's SummerSlam PPV back in August, and it's been Flair and Becky Lynch who've engaged in a monumental rivalry over the blue brand's gold ever since. The SmackDown Women's Title is currently held by Lynch, whose feud with Flair has reached a fever pitch.

Although Carmella did a commendable job during her time on the throne of the SmackDown Live women's division, a change in scenery was desperately required at the top of the blue brand's title picture. Well, as noted above, change did come, and brought us the magical ongoing feud between two of the greatest of this era -- Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.

Carmella's run as a face has rid her of her traditional heelish entitlement which probably would've seen her demand continual title shots despite losing, that then would've muddied the waters in the SmackDown Live title landscape. Now that Carmella is busy in her babyface angle alongside R-Truth against Zelina Vega and Andrade "Cien" Almas, the SmackDown Women's Championship picture is exclusively focused on the best facing the best -- Charlotte going to war with Becky for all the marbles!

Do you prefer Carmella as a heel or a face? Do provide us your feedback in the comments section below.