Here are a few others that are worth mentioning: 1. Larry Zbyszko turning on Bruno Sammartino in 1980. 2. The Fabulous Freebirds turning on Kerry Von Erich in Kerry's NWA World Championship match against Ric Flair. This would start the long-standing rivalry between the Von Erichs and the Freebirds in World Class Championship Wrestling. 3. Ric Flair turning on Dusty Rhodes in 1985. This would lead to not only their world title match at Starrcade but also the formation of The Four Horsemen.
@@boltelectric Undertaker was a full hero who took on and killed Hulkamania to us Brits. You've also just pulled out my No1 and No2 wrestlers in history. I hated it when them 2 wrestled each other as a kid. lol
One heel turn that was not "epic", but is still worth a mention is Rick Martel's turn on Tito Santana at Wrestlemania 5. Martel's "Model" character lasted from 89 till around 1993, which is fairly impressive considering the circumstances.
To this day I'm mad about Strike Force breaking up. They were great! Tito went with the El Matador gimmick which ruined his career. He still wrestles today!
The Andre turn made me smile (I was fed up with Hogan at that point). The only shame was that Andre's health wasn't good enough to allow him to have a short run with the belt (squashing all the faces) leading up to WrestleMania 3.
What's really interesting is that I was in the live crowd at X-Seven. Without commentary there was a huge group of us who thought that Vince McMahon had actually turned face. There were a lot of cheers from various sections. Guess we couldn't of fathomed Stone Cold turning heel. Was only the next night on Raw that we realized what actually went down.
Most people don't remember before Wrestlemania 1. The Orndorff / Hogan tag team & subsequent Flower Shop segments are a little too old school for some.
The Orndorff Hogan cage match from Saturday Nights Main Event was much better than Hogan Bundy at Wrestlemania 2. If Andre hadn't turned, I wonder if Mr. Wonderful would have headlined Wrestlemania with Hogan.
If you're looking for a second top heel turn list here are some recommendations: Jake Roberts turning heel in 1991, Shawn Michaels in 1997, Scott Steiner in 1998, Triple H in 1999, JBL in 2004, Christian Cage in 2006, Kurt Angle in 2007, Chris Jericho in 2008, CM Punk in 2009, Christian in 2011, Bobby Roode in 2011, Daniel Bryan in 2018, MJF in 2019.
the interesting thing about andre heel's turn is it was also a piper face turn. piper was getting cheered after WM2. when he showed concern for hogan, this solidified the turn.
One of the best face turns was Mr. Perfect in 1992 on Prime Time Wrestling. Warrior was gone and Macho Man had to find a partner against Razor Ramon and Ric Flair. I do believe it was last minute, but the general idea made for some interesting content. It was worth watching through it. Heenan, the legend he was at the time, helped bring the whole thing together with his reactions and banter.
Great video, it really must have been fun to make. Vincent finally standing up to The Million Dollar Man was a really good babyface turn although it lead to nowhere for him. 😄👍
Funny thing is that I am a French Canadian and we had a Quebec feed in 1988. So they always gave the Rougeaus the legitimate benefit of the doubt for the most part! hahaha.
@@kynoble the pink dress shirt? Sweat....it was probably hot with all of those lights for Pipers Pit. And because he was so tall they were probably so hot 🔥 🥵
A really good babyface turn I can think of off the top of my head is the Daniel Bryan one when he attacked Bray Wyatt. The way the crowd reacted to it, it was beautiful.
Fave face turn is 2001 Kurt Angle during the Invasion. I was an Angle fan from day one and it was so gratifying when all my friends who dissed him/me were converted essentially overnight lol.
Shawn Michaels …. I heard about it when I was 6 years old by some kid in my class , couldn’t and wouldn’t believe it , didn’t actually see the footage until I was 15! Life before the internet !
Big Taker fan here. But I thought Ministry was something awesome, similar to the Voldemorts, Saurons etc character. So well portrayed. Also Big Evil heel was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed Rock turning heel in 2003 because at first he'd say some questionable things and then play it off as a misunderstanding. Then, he straight up asked the fans, "Are you sure you wanna keep booing the Rock?" lol
Dude Love turning on Austin with the one arm tied behind his back match to join the corperation was a good turn. Scott Steiner turning on his brother Rick Steiner. Shane Mcmann giving Austin the finger as special guest reff was another good one
Face turns use to be cool. Two that come to mind for me were both in 1992. First Undertaker's face turn. I didn't see the PPVs and hadn't heard of the intenet yet so I had no clue of the positive reactions Taker was getting and so I was shocked to see he protected Savage and Elizabth from Jake. Then the completion of the face turn on the funeral parlor when Jake slammed the casket lid shut on his hand was cool. The other was Mr. Perfect in the fall. He wasn't just transitioning from heel to face but also from manager/commentator back to in-ring performer. I think the show was called Prime Time wrestling when Savage asked him to be his partner. It was a panel show that included both Perfect and Heenan along with a few faces. Perfect initially scoffed at Savage's request but throughout the show you could see the wheels turning, especially whenever Heenan would accidentally blurt out something dumb. By the end of the program Perfect had completely changed his mind and accepted Savage's proposal. It was beautifully done.
An underrated one in my opinion was Undertaker’s heel turn 2001 at the time especially with his matches as big evil we got some classics against Jeff Hardy on Raw, the match at WrestleMania 18 against Ric Flair and his promos were also good too.
Probably the most underrated Babyface turn would be Billy Kidman at Fall Brawl 98. He was the one who actually benefitted from breaking away from the flock and the pop he got was huge to the point that you forget that Perry Saturn led the charge of breaking away from the flock. Great vid as always ☺️
I was a kid in the 80s, mega powers blew my mind, Shawn Michaels barber shop made me cry, Andre Hogan was crazy, got older didn't watch for years, heard about Hogan NWO stuff, was totally insane!!! Haven't watched since
Owen's turn was my favorite, even if it was predictable. Even though he botched that line during his promo, I thought it kind of worked, seemed natural. Think of where his kayfabe mental state was at the time. I thought it made perfect sense that something so nonsensical would come out as he's venting his frustrations about his brother. Also this was a rare PPV with Ted DiBiase on color. Dibiase's laugh of approval to Owen's kick, and everything else Owen did and said, was fantastic.
One of my favorite heel turns was Triple H turning on DX at Wrestlemania 15. He pedigreed X-PAC and helped Shane win the European belt. To me it was similar to Seth Rollins heel turn because it wasn’t expected. Triple H went on to become WWE top heel for 7-8 years.
Ciampa turning on Gargano just hit me so hard. They even brought up the copyright notice on the screen, which usually indicates that the screen is about to go black and it felt like never in the history of WWE had anything interesting happened after that notice appeared, just usually a lingering shot on someone looking victorious or defeated. And it was so brutal and they just sold everything so well.
Stone Cold's turn at WM17 literally killed the height of his run. He was never able to recover to quite the same level after that, nor was the Attitude Era in general.
it flew over some people's heads just why He was repackaged as "the heartbreak kid" not only because he was the "Sexy Boy" of the group and all the ladies wanted him, but He broke the hearts of all the fans once he turned heel, so the name was a Twofer!!
A lot of folks, forget that the Honkytonk man was originally a baby face before he turned, heal against Jake, the snake Roberts, and defeating Ricky, the dragon steamboat to become one of the most successful IC champions of all time.. II look at opposites, the turn from heel to face by Roddy Piper, was quite shocking as well. I thought the Mr. wonderful Paul, Ondroff’s turn from face to heel was quite significant too. i’m not sure why I never felt that sting was a heel when the four horsemen flipped on him.. one of the worst turns was when Bill Goldberg briefly went from face to heal
I think Savage's heel turn was the most memorable for me. I was still a kid, so I got super invested in the drama...kind of miss that. So when Savage went heel and crazy, it was some of the greatest wrestling moments with him and Hogan. I was in Savage's corner, cause, sick of Hogan... Great video, thank you!
If you're going to have Michaels turning heel on here the commentary has to be included as well. Heenan made that moment just as great as Michaels did.
Eddie Guerrero 05 heel turn on Rey Mysterio was great and Batista’s 09 heel turn on Rey Mysterio was also great. We can’t forget get about Hollywood Rock and Also i think Bayley’s heel turn in 2019 was great too.
Tucker turning on Otis rocked wrestling to it’s core and changed the direction of the industry forever.. who could forget the amazing rivalry between them afterwards..
Chris Benoit's 2001 face turn when he left the Radicals. Eddie Guerrero's 2003 face turn against John Cena. John Cena's 2003 face turn in the Survivor Series build up. Macho Man's 1987 face turn. Seth Rollins' 2016 face turn when he was betrayed by Triple H. Triple H's 2006 face turn when he Pedigreed Vince McMahon. The Rock's 1999 face turn against the Corporation.
André the Giant was the first heel turn I ever saw .. ( in the early hours on Australian TV ) Even though André was a heel, he was such a favourite that we still cheered for the Giant Watching how fans threw trash at him and Bobby Heenan, to this day makes me feel sad
Its funny how these turns happen in wrestling, between 1998 and 2001 The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley and even Ken Shamrock had multiple turns, yet while all this happened there was one thing that did not change, Austin being a baby face, which made his turn in 2001 more impactful because for many this was the guy who made the Attitude era what it was, why WCW went out of business, hell the only reason he wasn't at WM 16 (or 2000) was because he was overworked and needed time for surgery, but the guy put in so much work into his character for 3 years to then turn on all of that and side with his worst enemy. His turn however could have been handled a lot better, WWE knew at the time the invasion was coming so they could have held off on his turn until it was in full swing, which they technically did but it didn't really make it better since he was already a heel at the time so it made sense he would side with WCW instead. Had they waited for the invasion to turn him it would have had a bigger impact because it would have meant WCW got the biggest baby face the WWE had to turn heel and try to help them take the company down.
Two things. First is that looking back I feel so lucky to have been able to see Bret and Owen wrestle each other live back in 1994 - my friend and I made a huge Owen Hart sign (though I don't think he actually saw it). Secondly. I still can't believe the cowardice of Marty Jannetty when he jumped through that window to try and escape...
I remember that breakup of the Rockers and Shawn Michaels turning heel by throwing Marty Jannetty through the glass window of the Barbershop. After Jannetty went through the window, Bobby the Brain Heenan said Jannetty dove through the window to try to escape like a coward. Followed by Gorilla Monsoon's trademark line: "Would you stop!"
I kind of disagree that Owen's slip up at the end of his promo overshadowed the heel turn. Owen was perfectly playing the whining, resentful brother. Think about it sometimes when we get angry or just speak in general we trip over our words. I think it in a weird way it just put over even more how upset Owen was.
Not as memorable, but I remember Tugboat turning on the Bushwhackers, rebranding himself as Typhoon, and joining Earthquake as The Natural Disasters. That was my first "heel turn" as a kid....
After Seth's turn on the Shield my friends and I were talking about it the next day and I was saying how there were little round things bouncing around in the ring after the volley of chair shots and I said "I think he beat the buttons off him" meaning Dean's outfit. That became out new phrase for any knockdown, drag-out fight in wrestling or MMA "He beat the f'n BUTTONS off him!" Subsequent viewings have led me to believe they were the caps off the ends of the chair legs, lol.
Stone cold was never really a straight babyface, his character was a badass who kicked ass and did whatever the hell he wanted to do. His heel turn wasn't that shocking. Also imagine if Bret had never left WWE and stayed on in to the ruthless aggression era instead of being wasted in WCW.
Triple H turning heel on HBK wasn’t surprising since he was heel moat of his WWE career.Bret Hart only turned heel in America but was beloved everywhere else . The biggest heel turn was Hulk Hogan . Macho Man looking back was justified on being pissed at Hulk
To me one of the best and most unexpected face turns was Andre the giant at wrestlemania 6 just wish it had come a year earlier so we could have got some good Andre face matches to wind up his career.
Wow someone else who enjoyed Steve Austin's Mania17 heel turn! I thought it was great. The guy was always a heel from day one, the fans just loved it. It wasnt until Hunter ended up with the Leg injury that Austin's heel turn started going down hill with the comedy act
