My list 10: Big Show (Wrestlemania 36) 9: Big Show (Bragging Rights 2009) 8: Big Show (Smackdown 1000) 7: Big Show (Wrestlemania 26) 6: Big Show (Survivor Series 2014) 5: Big Show (2002; he turned on Austin to rejoin NWO) 4: Big Show (ECW, July 4, 2006) 3: Big Show (Royal Rumble 2000) 2: Big Show (joins Undertaker and forms the Unholy Alliance, 1999) 1: Big Show (Survivor Series 2002) Thx for making it to the end of the comment
You missed No Way Out 2008! When he turned on Rey during his babyface *return speech* . Also, mid-2000 (coming back to get revenge on Shane; turns on Taker same night); and of course Over The Limit 2012 turning on Cena (the first time 🤣🤣). Your list *wasn't even full!* 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Although, some of those, he was already heel going in; granted, it was impossible to tell...
could look at it as this, wm38 brock was in the main event of night 2, fast forward to this year and brock lesnar was in the opening match of night 2 while cody main evented
Brock Lesnar is constantly doing random crap attacking people at random being at the top of the list attacking Cody Rhodes is just him doing what he does best start fights
After their match at Backlash, I don't get two things: Number one, why do they need a rematch?? Brock lost clean, with no interference whatsoever. And number two, why would the match occur at "Night of Champions" wherein one of them isn't even a Champion or holding a title?? Even Triple H is on the creative, WWE still doesn't have any logical sense when it comes to booking. Their long-term booking isn't working for other audiences because it is really hard to understand even a simple logic. 🤦♂
*There are various reasons why Stone Cold’s heel turn in 2001 was just so pitiful* - It marked the end of the Attitude Era - It didn’t make sense for him to team up with Triple H and Vince McMahon who were his biggest enemies during that time - As a heel he didn’t really have credible babyface opponents with the exception of The Undertaker - The timing was just downright awful - the fans just didn’t wanna hate Austin - It created the worst chant in wrestling history that still drags on to this very day “what?”
And also remember when buff bagwell and Booker T faced each other? Both Steve Austin and Kurt angle were getting cheered when they jumped bagwell and booker despite being heels which is also another indication of the fans not wanting to boo steve austin
My first honorable mention goes to Becky Lynch at Summerslam in 2021. Granted, she played Big Time Becks pretty well. But fans were still cheering The Man and didn't want to boo her. The second honorable mention is Brock Lesnar on RAW in 2023. The dumb kayfabe reason Brock turned on Cody Rhodes was because while Cody was in the Wrestlemania main event, he was in the opening match. If that was the case, why did he not attack Roman Reigns as well? And Brock did open up Wrestlemania 35 in 2019 so why did he not go after Becky, Charlotte, and Ronda? (Don't answer that. I know WWE rarely does male on female violence)
@@kennethmorris9793 They tried it in 1996 and 1999 by having him lambast Vince for firing him twice when he had Bell's Palsy. What Vince didn't realise is that fans agreed with JR about what a prick he was, even in '96 when he was "just a lowly commentator" (🤫🤫🤥🤥)...
I never could convince myself that Rikishi was a heel after all that went down. He was so much better when he was dancing with Too Cool. He was better suited to heel it up as part of the Headshrinkers/Samoan Swat Team years earlier.
I never realized that Jr was a heel in early 1999😂. When I was watching those old RAW episodes, I didn't once see a single fan boo him. Why on Earth would anyone want to boo Jr?
Fun fact when Paul Wight joined AEW he actually poked fun at all the stupid flip-flopping between being a Face and a Heel WWE made him do as Big Show with this hilarious line "No need raise to your hands you all saw this turn coming at least it was a turn that I willingly chose to do and not one of the 10,000 turns my former employers had me do."
When I saw Nikki A.S.H. beat the hell out of Rhea Ripley, something didn't really add up. I wouldn't have wanted to boo the since renamed Nikki Cross anyway.
@marcus813 the Nikki A.S.H. gimmick was so bad. I know it was her idea. I blame Vince for letting her change it. As Nikki Cross she should've never been a baby face. She's way better as a heel. The SAnitY crazy heel was great.
I think Ambrose's heel turn in the moment was perfectly timed. Some might say it was disgusting to do it the night reigns announced his leukemia, and that's fair. But too me, it was perfectly timed. What made it bad was the character that followed it. Bleh. It's like WWW knew he wanted to leave and wanted to make his life little bit more miserable. We wanted a psycho who just loved hurting people and the taste of his own blood. We got a germo-phobe. Ugh. Such a wasted opportunity tbh
The irony of Moxley being a germophobe. IRL, he'll bleed buckets on purpose via blading, and he'll do it in any part of the arena, including the crowds and backstage areas...
@tomseville2345 It's funny how wrestlelamia claims that the fans didn't want to see dean as a heel which couldn't be future from the truth. I literally remember every week the stupid fans online were saying they wanted that stupid heel turn. But since it didn't work out how they wanted it too, they acting like they never wanted it. 😂🤦♂️ BULLSHIT
I loved Austin just as much during that time. When Kurt Angle was put in and they were constantly trying to one up each other was hilarious. My cousin actually called the heel turn because of the way Austin talked to the Rock in the build up. All the 'I need to beat you' talk and then the new shirt with the red skull had him convinced and I was like how the hell would Stone Cold be able to turn heel? He beats up anybody regardless of alignment and people eat it up. Never once considered siding with Vince.
Except he was also your main play by play announcer. Who was being an obnoxious prick while calling every single match, that can never work he had go away heat in the worst way.
Titus O'neil turning heel on Darren Young twice are still out of place for me 😅. Not to mention they didn't elevate them much. Even though between the turns, they won tag team title once. I mean their gimmick was heel initially. But they then became popular with fans.
Brock Lesnar‘s recent heel turn was unnecessary. I was enjoying a new side of Brock Lesnar and they literally just broke that. And y’all remember tuckers heel turn if you don’t, that proves my point 😂
Heel Austin was hilarious! What? I said Heel Austin was HILARIOUS! He was WWF champion during that time and did not deserve the bad treatment he has gotten at times! What?!
I had to read that thumbnail twice. Trying to find ANYTHING logical in a company run by that half senile, sociopathic man child Vince is always going to be a hard task!😂😂😂
Kane's Heel turn in 2000 prior to Summerslam deserves special mention. It literally made no sense for him to turn on The Undertaker and the Heel turn came completely out of nowhere. Kane explained his Heel turn by saying that he's a monster, which didn't really do much to shed light on things. Not to mention, fans just didn't want to boo Kane during this time
I still have absolutely no idea why Brock is so annoyed with Cody. There's zero progression and story. Also, Linda turning heel and kicking JR in the nuts was stupid. Oh, and Big Show turning heel in July 2000 after returning and joining back up with Shane and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit was so stupid and pointless
Stone Cold turning heel in 2001 is the worst thing WWE ever did. It was the downfall of the Attitude Era and fans couldn’t bring themselves to hate on Austin. He was the poster boy for the Attitude Era and having him team up with his biggest enemies made no logical sense. The fact Stone Cold himself said that it was a bad timing for him to turn heel speaks volumes.
Austin as a heel in 01 gets such unfair criticism by RU-vidrs. It was a hilarious great run. The guy had amazing matches and feuds with Benoit, angle, the brothers of destruction, Jericho. I love heel Austin from 01, pure gold.
I’m a bigger fan of 90s wrestling now than I was as a kid then, but as a kid I always thought Taker was a “bad guy” who was so cool people cheered foe him anyway. It’s not until recently I realized he was a face for much of his career.
Big Show was able to turn multiple times within a year. In 1999 he turned 4 times: started as a heel, turned face after mania, turned heel in summer and again face near Survivor Series and again heel in December). In 2008 he turned 3 times: At No Way Out returned as a face and turned in the same promo, he turned face in the feud with Floyd Mayweather and turned heel against The Undertakerl
Idk about that last line “Fans cite Stone Cold’s heel run as the reason they switched off WWE forever” or something along those lines, I never heard that ever
Dean was already supposed to leave before his heel turn, thats why Vince did it, to kill his momentum before leaving and concerning Austin, well he was the one wanting this heel turn
I remember that angle that saw the Undertaker turn heel on Jim Ross and I think that took place in Oklahoma, JR's home state. I guess WWE forgot that by 1992, it became apparent that Taker was best used as a babyface.
Honestly, a heel Austin isn't a bad idea in itself, the timing was just really poor & the crowd wasn't ready to boo him. He had just come back not too long ago. In fact, Heel Austin could have happened the year prior & that was the rumoured plans back in late 1999. Plus there was a brief period around late 1999 where The Rock was getting slightly louder reactions than Austin was. They did have to force it during the Invasion storyline to make it work.
I remember big show would turn heel so many times, there was one interview where it was said that during an event for kids that was held by wwe live on tv, if he was there any longer he would have punched a kid. I was baffled back when I read that and he ended punching another wrestler. It was like around 2014-2019. I dont recall when but i did read that somewhere on a wwe post.
One turn that didn't make sense personally was R-Truth in 2011. Don't get me wrong, the whole thing with Little Jimmy was hilarious. But as a kid at the time, I didn't understand why that turned him heel. John Morrison came out to challenge Truth and won the match to take his spot in the steel cage match for the WWE Championship, effectively stealing away his chance to win it. So obviously he's gonna be mad and beat the crap outta Morrison.
Though technically not a part of WWE, the one time they tried to do a heel turn for Sting in WCW failed horrendously. Like Hulk Hogan just returned to the red and yellow, and Sting attacked him with a bat. The fans cheered him on. Even Sting was shocked.
I agree with the Austin take. Til this day I don’t understand why he’d turn heel to beat someone he’s beaten (storyline wise) at Wrestlemania just 2 years prior and then side with the person who masterminded him being out of action (storyline wise) for an entire year. In terms of story telling and the character it made absolutely zero sense. Would’ve made more sense to beat the Rock senseless and then stun McMahon at the end to continue the DTA moniker but being the heel that beat the Rock up with a chair.
the night for and of Ambrose's heel turn was perfect, I mean think about it, dude didn't want to team with Rollins coz he saw him as a rat who could turn on him at any second. He mainly returned to the shield for Reigns, and when Reigns (the only one Dean Ambrose truly trusted) got sick and was out of action, he was stuck with Seth Rollins, a man he didn't trust. With that fear of being alone with the one who hurt him before he decided it was best to attack first. Anything after that where he was a germaphobe is down right dog water though.
"The heel run that followed was a total failure" It wasn't a failure because of the character. The character was actually quite good and original. It was just the fans not booing him that made it flop and feel like an unfunny joke was said and repeated many times because nobody laughed. They forced it for months when it clearly wasn't working. Also the first week of him as a heel he handled the first promo so well and the man didn't even say anything and was already playing the heel role well and better than expected just by looking at Rollins like a badass while he was talking. All because the WWE Writers couldn't come up with anything to say so he never had a script in that promo. And something he neglected to mention is that the heel turn was initially supposed to be at Wrestlemania 34 which obviously didn't happen because of Jon's shoulder injury in December 2017. WWE just delayed it for 6 months 2, not counting the 4 months after Wrestlemania before his return. They felt to make him look like a real asshole doing it on that night Romans Leukemia came back after 11 years. And he definitely knows how to play a heel judging by his heel work in his feud with Kenny Omega in AEW. The only thing that really didn't make sense was that he said "I don't owe you an explanation. I don't owe these people an explanation. I don't owe anybody anything" a month before giving us an explanation that WWEs Creative Team initially didn't think of
Undertakers heel run in late 2001 and most of 2002 made complete sense. It sucked that he attacked Jim Ross but thats a way to guarantee immediate heat. Taker went on to dominate with the Hardcore title and have great matches a lot of people as the Undisputed WWE champion.
Strowman’s heel turn did make sense, The Shield screwed him over when he tried to cash in his MITB contract. He was COMPLETELY justified in what he did!
