Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time

1. Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins ends The Shield

Yes, this is it.

Taking the buildup, the heel turn, and the aftermath into account, Seth Rollins turning on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose and breaking up the Shield is the greatest heel turn in WWE history.

Want a reason? I’ll give you three. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Jon Moxley. These are 3 of the biggest names in pro-wrestling today, and while I’m not saying that these talented gentlemen wouldn’t be successful without this heel turn, this turn did play a big part in each of their careers.

Think about it, Seth Rollins became a megastar when he turned heel and aligned with the Authority. Dean Ambrose became the Austin-esqe anti-hero babyface when he went up against the Authority, which would ultimately lead to Jon Moxley being unleashed outside of WWE. And while Reigns may have failed initially as a babyface, this over-pushing of Reigns is what led to the Tribal Chief that we know and love or love to hate today.

Also, it’s surprising that WWE managed to book a stable perfectly from start to finish just 9 years ago considering what happened to the Hurt Business recently. The self-proclaimed Hounds of Justice burst onto the scene at Survivor Series 2012, attacking Ryack and John Cena and helping CM Punk retain his WWE title. They attacked everybody in Punk’s path even though they didn’t associate with him.

They defeated Ryback and Team Hell No in a TLC match in their debut and then went on a 6-man-tag tear. They were undefeated in the 6-man-tag competition, and the key thing that made them special is that even though they were relatively new to the audience, it didn’t stop them from attacking anybody and everybody. They destroyed legends like Cena, Randy Orton, and even the Undertaker. The Shield was an unstoppable force and Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins became major stars as a result of this union. They turned babyface and went against  Evolution, decisively beating Batista, Triple H, and Orton on two separate occasions, and right when they were at their strongest, Rollins sold out and attacked Ambrose and Reigns with a steel chair. It was a perfect and genuinely unexpected heel turn.

What makes this heel turn the best of all time in hindsight, is the aftermath. Rollins and Ambrose got embroiled in a blood feud and delivered classic matches for months, and Reigns became the Big Dog, and it was awful for years, which is also fine in hindsight, I guess, considering he’s arguably the best heel in the business right now.

There were multiple Shield reunions. Some okay, some horribly unimaginative, obviously, because WWE just have to keep repeating things that once worked for them. However, all is forgiven for the Shield, because the fans did pop for every single one of those reunions.

The Shield will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest factions of all time. It gave us 3 genuine main-eventers that define the wrestling scene to this day, it gave us classic matches and segments, and also, according to me at least, it gave the greatest heel turn in WWE history.