Unlike in the real world or in comic books, where heroes remain heroes while the villains try to destroy the society, professional wrestling offers “swerves” and “turns”, where the good guys turn bad and the bad guys become good.
This has been a long followed tradition in the industry, and has made the wrestling fans sit on the edge of their seats, staying intrigued by the storylines and angles. Unlike movies or other forms of art, this “turn” is quite common in professional wrestling. Since professional wrestling was considered to be “real” before the 1950s, these turns came about only once in a while, which was followed by angry mobs chasing the newly turned bad guys out of the arenas!
Since then, the more famous “heel turns” were followed by the loud chorus of boos and profanities from the audience. The art of a heel turn depends upon the kind of reaction the audience generates. A successful heel turn is one which produces the shock factor, resulting in the outpour of anger from the live audience and those watching at home. There have been quite a few successful heel turns, which sent shockwaves in the wrestling industry and around the world. In this article, I take a look at the top 10 heel turns in the modern era of professional wrestling.
10. Chris Jericho turns on Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho’s childhood hero was none other than “The Heartbreak Kid”, Shawn Michaels. In 2008, WWE decided to go ahead with their feud, and while they feuded before in the WWE leading to an outstanding match at WrestleMania, their 2008 feud was undoubtedly the feud of the year. It all started with the Highlight Reel, as Jericho brought out Shawn Michaels as his special guest. Jericho then proceeded to call Shawn a fraud and a liar, and things escalated from there.
Jericho and Shawn started to brawl, and Jericho got the upper hand with a low blow. Jericho then proceeded to break the Jeritron 5000 by driving Michaels face first into it, reminding everyone the infamous Barber shop incident between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. This led to a series of outstanding matches through the summer between Jericho and Michaels.
9. Triple H turns on Shawn Michaels
When Shawn Michaels came out of retirement in 2002, everyone was happy but his best friend and the other founding father of D – Generation X, Triple H. With Shawn Michaels taking away the spot light from Triple H, the cerebral assassin had other ideas. He told Shawn they should have a DX reunion for one night, but as it turned out, it was all a plot against Michaels.
Triple H delivered the pedigree to an unsuspecting Shawn Michaels, turning his back on his former best friend. This led to some amazing matches and a long drawn feud between the two degenerates, and led to Shawn winning the World Heavyweight championship.
8. Shawn Michaels betrays his partner
Long before Shawn became the icon in the WWE, he was a part of the tag team known as The Rockers, along with Marty Jannetty. As Michaels wanted to pursue his singles career, he wanted to go his own way. This led to the memorable Barber shop incident, where Brutus had Shawn and Marty as his guests. As things would have it, Shawn turned on Marty, leading to an official split.
Shawn delivered a super kick to Marty, and threw him head first through the window, which is now one of the most iconic incidents in the WWE. What added to this turn was the genius of Bobby Heenan, who implied that Marty was trying to escape through the window! Those are the times that will never return in the WWE.
7. Vince McMahon stuns the world
How can you not include the greatest heel in wrestling history, Vince McMahon? After his intense feud with Austin, Vince patched up with Stone Cold, who saved his daughter from the clutches of the evil “Ministry of Darkness”, or as it appeared to the fans. As a new character emerged, known as the “Higher Power” who controlled the ministry, he was revealed to be none other than Vince McMahon himself!
This reignited the feud between Vince and Austin, and led to the other members of the McMahon family getting involved in the storylines. It was undoubtedly one of the most shocking incidents in the history of professional wrestling.
6. Randy Savage dissolves the Mega Powers
Savage is one of the greatest superstars in WWE history, and was a part of the Mega Powers, along with Hulk Hogan. Tensions started to brew between the two superstars and reached a boiling point when Miss Elizabeth got injured in an accident. This led to Randy Savage turning on Hulk Hogan, beating him down as Miss Elizabeth looked on helplessly.
The feud ended with Savage dropping the then WWF title to Hogan, and the Hulk Hogan era once again resumed in the WWF. This was one of the most iconic moments, as Savage then had a great run as a bad guy in the company.
