The art of the 'face' turn

This topic is about the art of the 'face' turn, only, to be quite honest, there is no art. Let's say the art of the 'face' turn is that there is no art to a 'face' turn, if that makes any sense. Oh just ignore the first couple of sentences. Let's start again. A 'heel' turn is an easy move to make in wrestling. All you need is for a beloved baby-face fan favorite to attack some other baby-face fan favorite, side with a 'heel' or just go out to the ring and start bad mouthing the fans. Done and dusted. A 'face' turn would seem to be a little more difficult. Only, it isn't. For some reason it is just as easy to turn a wrestler from 'heel' to 'face,' as it is 'face' to 'heel.' It's not difficult to get people not to like you but one would think that it would be more difficult to get people who did not like you, to start liking you. At least that's what I thought. 

When The Rock made his first face turn back in 1999 [he was a face once before but this was his first turn from heel to face] the fans accepted it. What baffled me was, he didn't need to do much to get the fans on his side. He went out and talked about how he was screwed at Backlash. Then he went on to trash the number one face in the company, Stone Cold Steve Austin, only to call McMahon junior a piece of monkey crap, prompting Shane and the corporation to make their way out, give The Rock a beat down, thus turning him 'face.' 

How about Stone Cold Steve Austin after the Survivor Series PPV that saw the Alliance, with him as their leader, defeated? He attacked Kurt Angle [who turned on him to cost the Alliance the match] on Raw, took his title back, and that's it, he was a 'face.' Jerry Lawler said Kurt Angle deserved more respect from the fans during that segment, I agree [for story line purposes]. People just suddenly forgot that Stone Cold had spent the last few months as the leader of a faction that wanted to kill sports entertainment. It just seemed so odd. It was as if, with the click of a finger, he was a 'face' again, with no real effort put in to it. It just seems too easy. All they do is get to together and say 'okay get him to say this or attack this guy, that'll get the fans cheering again.' Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Similar stuff is going on now. Randy Orton is a 'face,' yet whenever he climbs that turnbuckle he just seems to arrogant and 'heelish.' Perhaps that's why people say he works best as a heel. No matter what he does, he just seems so slimy and easy not to like. How about The Miz? He is supposed to be a 'face' as well, yet he too has not done anything to merit being liked yet. I'm not sure if the wrestling fans at the shows are to blame. Why do they go from booing a guy to cheering him, just like that? Why don't they remember all the bad stuff the heels have done. At least an apology from the 'heel' for their previous actions would be nice. Then again, this is wrestling, who needs logic right? If a 'heel' gets cheered just like that then so be it, job done.