Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time

At its core, pro wrestling is just a TV show, complete with heroes, villains, anti-heroes, and everything else in between. However, the catch is that it’s a never-ending TV show, so it constantly needs changes in the cast and characters to freshen things up for the viewers.

Sometimes, that means hated villains becoming unlikely heroes or, on the flip side, beloved heroes turning to the dark side. Well, it’s mostly heroes who aren’t working as heroes who conveniently decide to turn to the dark side, but I guess we as fans can accept that as a part of this crazy world.

Another thing that we’ve learned to accept is that a lot of these character changes don’t make any sense. Like, we all saw Walter White become Heisenberg and turn to the dark side with a slow build spanning 5 seasons. That’s long-term storytelling done well.

On NXT, however, Johnny Gargano went from being a workhorse babyface to an annoying comedic heel. I mean, the turn itself was justified because who wouldn’t turn on Ciampa after all he did, but his character becoming a coward just because he attacked Ciampa doesn’t really make sense, when you think about it.

These are things that we have to accept as wrestling fans. Yes, the apron is the hardest part of the ring. Yes, every weapon is made of steel. Of course, Undertaker can teleport. Yes, referees are made out of the lightest feathers, and yes, wrestlers immediately start hating crowds, cheating in matches, and blindsiding other wrestlers as soon as they turn heel.

The important factor in all this is the heel turn itself. A good heel turn can create a heel who the audience despises, and if it’s done in the form of a backstab, it also creates a babyface who the crowd will feel sympathetic for and get behind for wanting to see them kick the backstabber’s behind.

A well-executed heel turn usually has a lot of build into it and a lot of aftermath as well. It gives the promotion months and years of content. Over the years, there have been countless heel turns in wrestling because apparently they’re all horrible people just waiting to turn on each other. Some good, some bad, and some downright stupid (most of Big Show’s turns), and here, we’re going to list some of the best.

Some honorable mentions include Roman Reigns finally turning heel, Trish Stratus turning on Chris Jericho, Andre turning on Hulk Hogan, Adam Cole turning on Kyle O’Reilly, Dean Ambrose turning on Seth Rollins, CM Punk turning on The Rock, HBK turning on Marty Jannetty, Christian turning on Edge, Matt Hardy turning on Jeff, Dakota Kai turning on Tegan Nox, Finn Balor turning heel in NXT, Triple H turning Evolution against Randy Orton, Triple H turning on Shawn Michaels, on Ric Flair, on DX, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, and a lot of other guys Triple H might’ve stabbed in the back. All of these were amazing heel turns but didn’t quite make the list for not having enough buildup and/or aftermath. Becky Lynch’s heel turn propelled her to superstardom but the fans never saw her as a heel, only the company did.

Some great heel turns outside of WWE are Hulk Hogan joining the NWO, CM Punk turning in the Summer of Punk in ROH, Prince Devitt forming the Bullet Club, Evil turning on Naito in NJPW, MJF turning on Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho in AEW, and countless more that I can’t mention because then the whole article would just be the honorable mentions.

With that out of the way, here are the 10 greatest WWE heel turns of all time.