Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time
8. Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens turns on Sami Zayn on the night he won the NXT Championship
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens fought at WrestleMania 37 as well, which just goes to show that this feud is never going to end. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are two guys who’re best friends in real life, they’ve traveled the world together, and they’re pure magic in the ring together, as a tag team and as opponents.
Interestingly enough, their feud heading into WrestleMania this year had Zayn as the cowardly, annoying heel and Owens as the valiant babyface, which is a complete opposite dynamic from their rivalries in PWG, ROH, NXT, and even WWE back in 2016.
The reason why fans never get tired of watching these two go at it is simple, they’re two of the very best in the world today and even though WWE doesn’t utilize them as such, they’re both complete performers and potential main-eventers. The fact that they got a WrestleMania spot even with a complete change of dynamic in their feud is a testament to both men’s skills.
Sami Zayn, who’s perhaps the best pure babyface NXT has ever had is equally as good as a whiny heel, and Owens, whose reign of terror in NXT is legendary in terms of heelwork, works just as good as a fiery babyface and can get fans behind him. Now, I’m not saying they’re as successful today as they were in NXT, but that’s because of bad booking.
Owens and Zayn, along with Finn Balor and Neville, are the guys who helped build NXT into the brand that it is today and they absolutely deserve to be recognized as two of NXT’s greatest ever. And their feud, at least before Gargano and Ciampa came along, is perhaps the best NXT feud of all time.
As the DIY split and the Bayley/Sasha Banks feud have proved, NXT knows how to do traditional babyface vs. heel storylines well and as Tomasso Ciampa and Finn Balor have proved, they also know how to do heel turns. And Owens turning on Zayn the night he finally won the NXT title was the crown jewel of heel turns.
As Owens debuted on the same night, he wasn’t really part of the buildup to this turn. However, Zayn’s emotional journey to the top more than made up for that. In the main event of TakeOver R Evolution, Sami Zayn finally beat Neville for the NXT title. The entire locker room came out to celebrate, Neville hugged Zayn, fans cheered loud, Zayn had a moment with his debuting friend Kevin Owens, and then Owens power bombed him on the ring apron. On his very first night, Owens showed his true colors.
The feud that followed saw a relentless Sami and a remorseless Owens. We witnessed Owens win the NXT by referee stoppage, as he kept powerbombing Zayn repeatedly until he got the belt. This feud put NXT firmly on the map and would lead to NXT being recognized as a third brand eventually.