Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time
10. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan turns heel and low-blows AJ Styles to win the WWE Championship
Starting with one that’s still fresh in fans’ minds. It’s always tricky to put something recent into any “all-time” list because there’s always going to be recency bias, but this has to be on the list because it’s one of the most compelling runs the modern era ever produced.
What’s amazing is that on paper there are so many things about this that shouldn’t work. First of all, there’s turning Daniel Bryan, one of the most beloved babyfaces in history and a guy who’s just come back from a career-ending injury, heel and expecting the fans to boo him. Then, there’s the fact that he won the WWE title from AJ Styles on the SmackDown before Survivor Series 2018 via a low blow, and his first match as the WWE Champion is going to be a heel vs. heel affair against Brock Lesnar in which he’s most definitely going to lose. But, much like most of Bryan’s career, this run is more about the aftermath than the buildup.
First, there’s the match with Brock. It’s probably the greatest heel vs. heel match I’ve ever seen. It was that good. In the beginning, Lesnar drops Bryan repeatedly on his head with some German Suplexes, and just when it looks like there’s no hope, the ref goes down and Bryan connects with a low blow. The crowd erupts as Bryan hits a Running Knee and Lesnar kicks out at the last possible second. The match is filled with amazing near falls, including a Yes Lock that felt like it would actually put Brock Lesnar down. Even though Bryan lost, it was clear that a new beast was created. This indeed was a new Daniel Bryan.
Then there’s the run itself. As far as mic work goes, this was undoubtedly Bryan’s career-best run. He cut scathing promos on the fans for damaging the environment and received more heat than any other heel in the company at the time. In-ring, he was having great matches including a very good Triple Threat against Kevin Owens and Mustafa Ali, and an excellent rematch with AJ Styles.
And then, there was KofiMania. Kofi Kingston’s rise from a B+ player to the WWE Champion and in what was an unintentional yet beautiful coincidence, it was Daniel Bryan who stood as a roadblock in Kofi’s path. The same Daniel Bryan who had crowd-surfed his way to the main event of WrestleMania and the WWE title back in 2015. And again, all of this wasn’t supposed to happen.
This run proves that Daniel Bryan is too good to be messed up, even by WWE, who seem to mess up so many amazing wrestlers. It’s a testament to Bryan that he seems to always end up in the spotlight even though he’s never supposed to. This remains true to this day as he was recently inserted in the Universal title match between Roman Reigns and Edge at WrestleMania 37.
Also, on a side note, that eco-friendly title was simply gorgeous.