The industry of professional wrestling relies heavily on great characters and just as importantly, storylines. What kinds of storylines are used to keep interest in the fans? A good backstabbing story. In life, everyone will be betrayed by friends, family members, and so many other people. Which is why, when backstabs happen in wrestling, fans can relate it to them.
We’ve seen countless Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers and the average joe wrestler do the unthinkable. Some of the greatest moments in the history of WWE have featured some of the most shocking backstabs.
So here are 10 major backstabbing’s that shocked the WWE fan base to its core.
#10 Batista & Rey Mysterio
At Bragging Rights, 2009, Batista and Rey Mysterio were two of the best friends you could find in wrestling (and had been for a long time), both men were playing the face role for as long as any fan could remember and some thought it was maybe time for a change. But that all changed once The Undertaker defended his World Championship title in a Fatal Four-Way match.
Mysterio broke up a pinfall that Batista had on Undertaker what would have surely won the match. The Undertaker ended up getting the win and Batista ended up going on a rant and began saying he was sick of being “stabbed in the back” and began brutally assaulting Mysterio.
This turned him into an instant heel in the process. This came as a shock to many of the wrestling fans but also came as a welcomed change to his usual face role.
#9 HHH (Evolution) & Randy Orton
At SummerSlam 2004, Orton became the youngest World Champion in the history of WWE. Not only was he given a win at SummerSlam, he also successfully defended his title in a rematch on Monday Night Raw the following night. Ric Flair, Batista, and Triple H, Orton’s Evolution allies, came out to celebrate with Orton on his success.
Batista put Orton on his shoulders, and Triple H (playing the role perfectly) flashed him the thumbs up at Orton and then slowly turned them upside down, and then proceeded to order an attack on Orton. Triple H was disgusted that one of his men would take his title.
To complete the face turn, Orton spat in Triple H’s face when The Game demanded Orton hand him the belt. Evolution was a great stable and more importantly no one expected that Triple H would bid farewell to one of his own so early on.
#8 Andre the Giant turns on Hulk Hogan
Andre the Giant was a popular wrestler among fans. Who couldn’t love a man that stood over seven feet tall and played a gentle giant-like character, who meant no harm. He had an incredible undefeated streak and was a top babyface in the company. That certainly wasn’t the case after a shocking betrayal of friend Hulk Hogan.
Andre was working with a long-time enemy, Bobby Heenan, who convinced him that Hogan wasn’t as good of a friend as he thought. Hogan begged Andre to listen to him, but the Giant challenged him for his World Heavyweight Championship match, where he attacked him, ripping Hogans t-shirt off and breaking his necklace.
This set the stage for arguably the most iconic feud in history and also to their massive WrestleMania 3 main event.
#7 Y2J turns on AJ Styles
After a short, successful run as a tag team, the duo known once know as Y2AJ was no more. Chris Jericho and AJ Styles joined forces on an episode Raw to challenge the New Day for WWE Tag Team Champions in what was nothing short of an incredible match. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough, and the New Day got the win after Big E hit the Big Ending on Jericho.
The real shocker, though, came after the bout. AJ Styles was helping Jericho up, when Y2J snapped and hit the phenomenal one with three Codebreakers. And if that wasn’t enough, Jericho went a step further and shoved a Y2AJ t-shirt in the unconscious Styles’ mouth.
The two had a great rivalry with a heel Jericho (who could even turn his hometown against him) and a face Styles battling it out on the grandest stage of them all at WrestleMania 32.
#6 Shawn Michaels turns on DX
The former DX leader Shawn Michaels, who was the commissioner at the time turned on DX after costing X-Pac a WWF Championship match against The Rock. DX continued to feud with Michaels throughout late 1998.
Things got even worse when Michaels reversed Billy Gunn's Intercontinental Championship victory against Ken Shamrock and even cost The Outlaws the Tag Team Titles.
He then even managing to lure the New Age Outlaws to The Corporation on an episode of Raw Is War. This turned out to be a ruse though as the Outlaws quickly revealed this to have been a trick and they ended up backstabbing the Corporation that same night (sweet karma).
#5 HHH turns on Shawn Michaels
As close as Michaels and Triple H were for all those years prior to Michael’s big return, seeing their split was a jaw-dropping moment that many people didn’t see coming.
After years away from the ring because of a back injury, Michaels returned to Raw in 2002. What looked to be a D-Generation X reunion turned into the genesis of one of the best feuds in WWE history.
Triple H later told fans that he thought Michaels was weak and that HHH himself was now "The Show Stopper". Some of Triple H's best work came after this heel turn, including his merciless treatment of Michaels. Also, Shawn played the babyface role very well in this feud selling his back injury for HHH to the best of his abilities making HHH look like even more of a heel than he was.
The shock of the moment in 2002, of two long-time partners becoming enemies in an instant makes this the best heel turn in Triple H's career and one of the greatest backstabbing’s in the history of the WWE.
#4 Seth Rollins & The Shield
The Shield started out as an incredible heel faction, but then as time progressed, they became the main faces of the WWE by feuding with Evolution/Authority, one of the best feuds they ended up having. Once Batista left Evolution after their loss to the shield in an epic match at Payback,the Authority appeared to be shorthanded.
Triple H walked down to the ring on Raw with a sledge hammer in his hand and began to initiate “Plan B”. In a shocking manner, Rollins attacked Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns in brutal fashion with multiple steel chair shots, showing where his loyalty really was.
This moment was absolutely brilliant storytelling on WWE’s behalf as nobody seen this coming. Rollins has been a great heel since, while Reigns (arguably) and Ambrose remain two of the most popular faces in the WWE to date. But why this ranks so high is because honestly, nobody saw this heel turn coming.
#3 Chris Jericho turns on Shawn Michaels
In April 2008, Chris Jericho began his transformation from Attitude Era Y2J to a completely new man for a new era (which was admirable). Jericho had insisted on being the special guest referee for the match between Michaels and Batista at the Backlash PPV. During that match, Shawn faked a knee injury which caused Jericho to restrain Batista, allowing HBK to hit him with a little Chin Music for the win.
Jericho accused Michaels of faking the injury but Shawn maintained his innocence and Jericho apologised believing Michaels was innocent. Eventually, Michaels finally admitted he faked his injury.
During an episode of the Highlight Reel, Jericho pointed out that the crowd still cheered Michaels even though he attacked Jericho, faked and lied about a knee injury to win a match (which was fair enough). Jericho had finally had enough and delivered a low blow to Michaels before sending him crashing into the JeriTron screen. The backstabbing by Jericho may have kicked off arguably the best feud in wrestling of the modern era.
#2 Heart Family Betrayal
Bret and Owen Hart may have been the greatest sibling duo in the history of professional wrestling. Which is why WWE was smart to turn it into a long-standing feud between the two best wrestlers of the Hart family.
Owen was frustrated with Bret for screwing up a Survivor Series match that got Owen eliminated. In part, Owen was also slightly jealous of how well his brother’s career was going and how his own didn’t seem to be going in the same direction. Owen would then leave matches, abandon his brother. He also thought Bret always craved the spotlight when they wrestled together.
Bret tried making amends when they fought in tag team match together at the Royal Rumble. But Bret had kayfabe hurt his knee during a match, and the ref stopped it, only for Owen to snap and brutally attack his brother. Owen became a heel after this and the full backstabbing to his brother had been completed.
#1 Shawn Michaels turns on Marty Jannetty
Shawn really has been through many backstabbings throughout history. This one though is arguably the greatest of all backstabbing’s in which skyrocketed Michaels’ career to unprecedented heights.
This was also another moment that just made for great television. Shawn Michaels would break that glass ceiling of his career (literally) by superkicking Jannetty and smashing his head through the window of the barber shop set.
Although Marty’s career didn’t go as well at least Marty did get his revenge when he won the IC title from Shawn on an episode of RAW. But for the most part, this was all about putting the spotlight on Michaels, and well, we all saw where that went. All it took was one kick through the glass and an extremely good backstabbing for Michaels to get his career going off the right direction.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
