A well executed “turn” always resonates with the WWE UniverseWhile many note-worthy moments, ranging from long-awaited championship victories to surprise returns elicit loud reactions from the audience, few instances truly have the ability to induce lung-busting explosions or send gut-wrenching shockwaves through the arena.As historical highlights suggest though, one such occurrence is a well-executed “turn” from a babyface to a heel, or vice versa. Not only does a “turn” inevitably engender vociferous audience response, but the history of the WWE is punctuated with many examples of iconic Superstars that went on to majorly impact the very landscape of the product after successfully executing one.This article takes a look back at 5 such turns over the years that have not only elevated the Superstar in question, but also indirectly ended up affecting the complexion of the whole product that was put out from then on.
#1 Stone Cold cleans house!
While this was not a face turn that lasted too long, it deserves mention in this list purely for the eruption of an audience reaction that accompanied it. Portrayed in the months leading up to the Invasion angle as a heel who was in league with Vince McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s intervention for the WWE against the combined might of the WCW and ECW, was perhaps one of the more iconic moments in an otherwise patchy storyline.
Ever since assuming a mellow heel character, the audience was itching to see the beer-guzzling, trash-talking redneck resurface; a fact that made the eventual “turn” all the more enjoyable. In spite of playing their cards perfectly to set the ball rolling for the invasion angle, a distinct lack of star power unfortunately went on to hurt the legitimacy of the storyline in hindsight.
#2 The Window Break Kid!
While the Rockers had been a breath of fresh air in the WWE in the early 90s, their eventual split in 1992 did not completely take everyone by surprise; nonetheless, the manner of it certainly did. In a show of brutal aggression, Shawn Michaels viciously attacked his partner Marty Jannetty and planted his head through a window in that ill-fated reconciliation segment at Brutus Beefcake’s Barber Shop.
The audience was stunned into silence by the ferocity of the attack and Shawn Michaels went from being a heart-throb whose charisma particularly resonated with the newer generation audience to a self-centered and vengeful persona in a drop of a dime.
Not only did that “turn” signify the beginning of the end of Jannetty’s tryst with the spotlight but in cruel fashion almost, it also set the tone for the Hall of Fame career that Shawn Michaels then went on to have with the company.
#3 Triple H\'s Plan B
It comes as little surprise that the Cerebral Assassin had Plan B up his sleeve to dismantle The Shield even after they managed to brave the challenge of a re-united Evolution in a hellacious match at Extreme Rules. That Seth Rollins would defect to the Authority, hence turning his back on his Shield brothers was something of a less expected nature although.
In what was a chair shot to the back of Roman Reigns that was felt across the world, Seth Rollins cemented his cross-over to the dark side and consigned his friends to a merciless beat-down at the hands of the vindictive Authority.
When he stood tall alongside Triple H and Randy Orton at the end of the painful segment, Seth Rollins had bought into an insurance policy that has seen him elevated into the WWE Heavyweight Title picture and solidify his singles persona greatly ever since.
#4 The Ultimate Underdog!
With the reaction that Daniel Bryan received when he “shed the Wyatt’s skin” in the January of 2014, the writing was very much already on the wall that the upcoming year would indeed belong to the diminutive ring maestro. Perhaps the only clean babyface in the WWE other than John Cena, the audience was constantly cheering for him even throughout his sticky association with the heel faction, the Wyatt family.
With the momentum of a highly anticipated and well-received babyface turn under his belt, Daniel Bryan was then well-stocked to embark on a quest that would ideally culminate at Wrestlemania 30. In spite of the insurmountable odds stacked against his favour by the scheming Authority, his back-to-back victories at Wrestlemania 30 on the way to WWE Championship gold was as “official” a sign as one could hope for, that the Reality Era had finally dawned upon us.
#5 The Double Turn!
Perhaps the greatest effort that the WWE creative team had to put into working a ‘turn’ was during the all-time classic Submission match between Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13. Not only did the match feature the conversion of Austin from a heel to the most beloved babyface that the company had seen since Hulk Hogan, but it also underscored the transformation of Bret Hart into one of the most hated heels in the company.
Engineered brilliantly in the ring, the high level of showmanship that the match featured was complimented every step of the way by the convincing work done by the commentary team in putting over the significance of the double “turn” to the viewing audience at home. While Bret Hart’s career with the WWE would soon end in controversial fashion, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s babyface turn officially sparked off the most successful era in the company’s history that he would so characteristically go on to dominate.
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