More Awesome Pro Wrestling Heel Turns 

If you have charisma, you have to be a heel or at minimum a tweener.

Die Rocky die comes to mind

Very hard to hate him Randy orton can be apart of this conversation in a way

I would say that Randy Orton started to reach that level around 2008, I remember at No Way Out when he faced Cena, he slapped the referee to get himself disqualified to retain his title and the whole place popped hard. So I would definitely include him in the conversation

I liked Nation of Domination and adding The Rock rocketed it to a whole another level.

I’m glad The Rock took shots at those fans for booing him as a babyface, and his promos were gold

Agreed

@@starastro4591 I loved that faction feud

@@starastro4591 that wasn't the beginning

Pretty much 1 year after that, he was already getting a mixed reaction & even being cheered on occasion. The reaction he got at Summerslam 1998 after he hit the People's Elbow, the fans popped huge for that spot. And they stopped booing him after that.

I can't remember but were Batista and Mysterio tag team champs at the time of the turn or had they lost the titles?

They had lost the titles... But honestly, I felt for Dave in the turn and was praying for a Rey heel turn instead... It would have been even more unexpected...

@@kurtpaulsen6579 yep, Dave was screwed and had every right to be pissed

That really was an underrated moment. It also makes me crack up because I don’t think he was playing (like for real).

Pumps more than Big papa pump !

I too watch OSW Review

Damn that sucks for Orndorff.

I wonder if he'd regretted it

may he RIP

@@DamanKingBear I doubt it. Back then guys weren't on guaranteed contracts. If you didn't work, you weren't getting paid. Plus, a series of houses where you were main eventing with Hogan back in 86 was worth a LOT more money than he would've been used to. It was THE spot every heel wanted, and I'm sure most of the babyfaces too. If Orndorff left for even just a few months, that opportunity may not have still been there waiting.

Great call. That’s a fantastic turn. I’m a big Beer Money fan, they also worked well as opponents.

It was the week after BFG 2011.

To put it in perspective it was such a shocker they still shared theme music at the time.

I remember that back in the day he will always be remembered as beer money to me

Good friends better enemies and it lead to several get back together episodes too

Agreed

He stopped kissing babies and hugging fat girls.

I was smiling wide because I was worried they wouldn't turn him heel. Heel Batista from late 09-spring 10 was wonderful.

Wrestling Bios is the best

Not when I was 11. Haha. Watching Orndorff turn made me sad. Haha

If Magnum TA doesn't get into the car accident Nikita's face turn doesn't happen when it does.

Heel turn 23 was particularly memorable, you know the one it was in that match he had with that guy.

@@freddiejohnson6137 still gives me goosebumps.

@@freddiejohnson6137 omg I know! That match was bigger than Hogan Vs. Andre

Or how he was the mystery partner ever single time.

@@BENNY_MAC especially when he done that thing that really shocked the crowd to this day I can't even mention it in conversation as it is hard to put into words

Bro, the Outsiders breakup was legitimately emotional.

How did it exactly happen? Was it an in-ring segment?

Was that really a heel turn? I'm to understand it was more of a face turn for Taue when they ended their feud with a handshake.

@@exe2517 yeah, japanese wrestling don't really have "backstage sgements" or do storylines in the traditional american pro wrestling sense (at least, before gedo sadly americanized it in recent years NJPW). The storylines were mainly through what happened in the matches, and the closest things to "Angles" as we know it were simply post-match moments like handshakes or a non-microphone argument or brawl in the ring, as well as real press conferences with journalists or a wrestler speaking to the journalists and photographers backstage after his match, or newspapers and magazines telling the stories (like the old days of the 50s and 60s territories) Anyways, the kawada heel turn was that, for years, Kawada was in the shadow of Mitsuharu Misawa, who led the youth rebellion against the All Japan establishment, represented by Jumbo Tsuruta. Misawa was the one who beat Tsuruta cleanly and won the triple crown, while Kawada was essentially his tag team partner/bitch. Kawada then had enough with Misawa getting the spotlight, so after the 1993 champions carnival match (was it the final? I don't remember) against Akira Taue (who was the protege of Jumbo Tsuruta, Misawa and Kawada's sworn enemy), Kawada and Taue shook hands, seeing as they shared a lot of things in common (namely being in the shadow of more famous/higher profile wrestlers and hating Misawa). As such, they shook hamds after their champions carnival match and teamed up to form the holy dempn army and kickstart the king's road era of All Japan.

@@Carlitonsp1 it was more of a "we hate the same guy and we both want out of our leaders's shadows, let's team up." type of thing. Taue was the protege of Jumbo Tsuruta, and he was seen as just his lackey, and he grew resentful of that. Kawada saw that he had a lot in common with Taue, and so after their match, he convinced Taue to team up in order to help themselves.

"I'm a one man conglomerate!" 🤣 JBL was awesome

It was probably the most legitimately shocking since hulk Hogan at bash at the beach.

The should've gave Mark a title run after that promo. They dropped the ball with that one.

Y'all bunch of puppets.

@@romacechina you ok princess? You getting the attention you need now?

Mark did so well. I truly thought he was retiring.

You mentioned Dave's sadness coming through. I think that was him actually unintentionally breaking kayfabe. Eddie's death hit EVERYONE HARD in real life backstage. Everyone loved Eddie in real life.

Biker Undertaker also had one of the best responses to the "What!" chant. Can't really write it here, but most of you know what I'm talking about.

I'd argue that the whole Vince/Trips/Steph arc of turns in late 99 and at Mania 2000 could all be in videos like this.

The weird thing is Big Show has been turned so many times without any fanfare that it seemed to change week to week.

Yeah, Tatanka's turn is truly one of the few shocking heel turns in any major North American promotion of the New Gen time period. That and Owen's at RR 94 are my two favorite in the WWF from that time.