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In wrestling, you have your popular Superstars, the babyfaces, and bad guys, the heels. It is a formula that wrestling has always needed to survive.
Without the popularity of Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena and more, WWE and all of the wrestling wouldn't be where it is today. But you can't just be as popular as these guys on your own.
Every step of the way they have each had different villains to do battle with to help keep the fans engaged. For every Hogan, Austin, Rock and Cena, we've had a Roddy Piper, Andre The Giant, Triple H, Vince McMahon and many more.
However, epic heel runs don't always go the way WWE want them to. Sometimes a heel can be so good at being the bad guy, that they become cool and thus too popular to hate. Here are ten of such.
#10 AJ Lee: 2012 - 2014
AJ Lee became WWE's top female Superstar in 2012. She participated in high profile angles with CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kane, John Cena and served as RAW General Manager.
She ended her fourth on-screen relationship, with John Cena, at the end of the year at WWE TLC by turning heel on John and aiding Dolph Ziggler in defeating him in a ladder match. From there, Dolph Ziggler, Big E and she feuded with Daniel Bryan and Kane, and she later had several reigns as WWE Divas Champion.
Although she feuded with these top male stars and every face female star, she was always cheered. It was evident that the fans just couldn't get enough of the geeky tomboy.
#9 Goldberg: 2000
'It's not just WWE who have had failed heel turns. In 1996, WCW Vince President Eric Bischoff made the incredible decision to turn the then most popular superstar of all time, Hulk Hogan, heel. And it worked!
By 2000, WCW's most popular Superstar was Goldberg. WCW were in a ratings slump and new head of creative Vince Russo looked at the Hogan heel turn as inspiration for something big, turning Goldberg heel. Hoping it will have the same reaction and ratings boost as Hogan's did, they made a wrong move.
Clearly, the heel turn just didn't click. At The Great American Bash, Goldberg turned on Kevin Nash during Nash's World Championship match against Jeff Jarrett and turned into a villain for the first time in his career, aligning himself with Russo's New Blood faction.
This didn't last long as fans just couldn't accept Goldberg as a heel. Although his initial turn received boos, he was still cheered during matches and segments. WCW realized this and turned him face, less than three months after the Bash.
#8 Mick Foley: 2006
Following his brutal Hardcore match with Edge at WrestleMania 22, Mick Foley returned to RAW two months later where he challenged Edge to a rematch, which the Rated R Superstar accepted. Foley then revealed it would actually be a Triple Threat, and introduced Tommy Dreamer as the third participant.
The match quickly turned into an angle where Mick turned heel on Tommy, aligning himself with Edge and Lita. Despite it being shocking for those at home, the reaction to the heel turn in the building that night was rather quiet.
In the following weeks, Foley would wrestle in the newly revived ECW brand. The only notable time he was booed during this feud was at the One Night Stand event during his match.
Foley would then feud with Ric Flair in a worked shoot. Mick received some boos during this time but not as much as a heel should. He turned face just before he was written off the TV in August.
Mick would also have a heel run in TNA Wrestling in 2009, which actually went down better than his 2006 one in WWE, but it to was ultimately cut short due to he eventually being cheered more than booed.
#7 The Rock: 2003
The Rock took a hiatus from WWE TV in 2002 when he lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. Rock was booed so much in this match (as a face) that he decided to cancel his farewell for the time being.
The Rock's next WWE appearance was a pre-taped 'via satellite' interview at the 10th Anniversary of RAW special in January 2003. Rock was booed so much during this you would have thought he was a heel. It was so embarrassing, when Rock did one of his trademark catchphrases, such as 'The Millions', the fans didn't respond, but it being pre-taped, Rock reacted as if they did. He was booed during the entire promo, even when ripping on heel stars.
Rock returned to the TV in February for a WrestleMania rematch with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out. Rock was again booed, but this time for the right reasons, he had turned heel the week prior in a segment with Hogan. The boos lasted just about a week as Rock then debuted his 'Hollywood Rock' persona, which was a pure comedy gold.
A mini feud with The Hurricane only brought out his comedic heel chops even more, and Rock was cheered even more. He received a fair reaction during his match with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 19 and was cheered during his feud with new face, Goldberg. He turned face again in June during the first 'Peep Show', with Christian.
#6 Sting: 2008 - 2009, 2010
TNA Wrestling tried to turn Sting, one of the most popular wrestlers of all time and the most popular in WCW history, heel, not once but twice.
The four-time winner of the PWI Award for Most Popular Superstar of The Year had an on and off run with TNA for about seven years and remained incredibly popular for the entire run. This wasn't going to stop TNA though, as they first attempted to turn him heel in 2008. Sting began an angle with babyface TNA World Champion Samoa Joe, over the young guys of the company not having respect for the older.
This would turn into a faction vs faction feud with Sting joining up with Kurt Angle, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner to form the Main Event Mafia, while Joe and AJ Styles formed the TNA Frontline faction. Kurt, Booker, Nash and Steiner would all be their same heelish selves during this time, but Sting wasn't.
Although feuding with top stars, and unlike his partners, he never once spoke out against the fans and continued to show them respect during promos and greeting them with handshakes as he made his entrance.
The same thing happened again in 2010. While feuding with then-babyface Hulk Hogan, Sting turned heel and led viscous attacks on popular stars like Rob Van Dam and Jeff Jarrett, and also feuded with the said top faces, yet still respected the fans both in promos and handshakes as he made his entrance, thus resulting in not being booed.
#5 Edge: 2010
Edge turned heel for the first time in his solo career in 2004 and immediately got over as the new best heel in town, quite the accomplishment, as Triple H still led Evolution at the time.
From late 2004 until his torn Achilles tendon in July 2009, Edge was the best heel in all of WWE, and maybe wrestling as a whole. Edge had become so good at being a heel that he would begin to be cheered during matches, shortly before his injury.
Edge would return as a face at the 2010 Royal Rumble, winning the match and then feuding with Chris Jericho for the World title. Following the conclusion of their feud, Edge was drafted to RAW, where he immediately turned heel by attacking Randy Orton and starting a feud.
However, fans weren't into it. They wanted to continue to cheer for Edge and so they did, until the following October when WWE moved him back to Smackdown and quietly turned him face once again, which he remained until he retired the following April.
#4 Becky Lynch: 2018
Now while Becky Lynch is just really likeable as a babyface, which is what many say is why her heel turn failed, this one just really suffered from really odd booking by WWE.
Before this past SummerSlam, Becky Lynch had been the most popular women's wrestler on Smackdown, yet hadn't had a WWE Women's Championship match in just about a year and a half, and SummerSlam was finally her time.
WWE then decides to add Charlotte to the match, who, although popular in her own right, was nowhere near as popular as Becky. Yet WWE still decides that Charlotte should not only take away Becky's hard-earned moment, but the one who is right in all this when she very clearly wasn't.
Becky was booked as an underdog the whole way leading to the match, and Charlotte was dividing the room. Strangely, upon Becky's post-match attack on Charlotte at SummerSlam, WWE expected her to be booed, and Charlotte be portrayed as the victim. But reality struck here, and fans stayed loyal to Becky, cheering every assault on the new Champion.
We got some more colorless booking from WWE on the following Smackdown when Becky had to cut the usual deluded heel promo, which is beyond stale and was so obvious, fans cheered her even more.
To date, one wrong has been righted as Becky Lynch is now the new Smackdown Women's Champion. Alas unfortunately for WWE, reception towards Charlotte, the supposed face in the program, is still lukewarm at best, and things don't look like they will change.
No matter how dirty and underhanded Becky becomes, the more she gets cheered. Doesn't it sound familiar? Oh Hell Yeah!
#3 Daniel Bryan: 2012
Daniel Bryan has always been incredibly over, long before the Yes moment. He was the most popular Superstar on the first real version of NXT and caused a huge outcry when he was released from the company for choking Justin Roberts during the Nexus debut.
He maintained his popularity throughout 2011, but now as World Champion would turn heel in early 2012, as a jealous boyfriend of AJ Lee. At WrestleMania 28 he loudly chanted 'Yes' as he made his way to the ring, and from then on, the fans chanted it continuously at WWE shows he wasn't at and even at non-WWE events.
Bryan officially remained a heel until around September of the same year, maintaining his overbearing popularity the entire time, which included rifts with The Rock.
Bryan turned face when he formed a tag team with Kane and hasn't looked back since.
#2 AJ Styles: 2016 - 2017
The wrestling world was shocked in 2016 when Mr TNA, AJ Styles, finally joined WWE. Naturally, AJ debuted to a monster pop and has been every bit as incredibly popular ever since.
Just after his feud with Chris Jericho, culminating at WrestleMania 32, AJ would feud with Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship. AJ wasn't officially a heel for this feud but did show some heel signs, but despite this, AJ was cheered far more than the Champion (partially because he was facing Reigns).
Following the conclusion, Styles would feud with John Cena, this time officially turning heel, but it was really hard to tell. I mean sure, Cena received his usual back and forth response from the fans, but Styles was cheered a lot during all their matches.
'The Phenomenal One" then feuded with the very popular Dean Ambrose for the remainder of the year but was also cheered over him. AJ remained a heel coming into 2017, where following his WWE Championship loss, he would feud with popular SmackDown commissionaire Shane McMahon and was still cheered.
Finally, WWE gave up on AJ as a heel and officially turned him face again as he feuded with Kevin Owens. The only constant during AJ's heel run, was the deafening chants of ''AJ Styles, AJ Styles, AJ Styles''.
#1 Hulk Hogan: 2002
Following the end of the Invasion angle, WWE was in need of something big, and that became the NWO. The biggest heel faction of all time, and arguably the biggest heels of all time, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash returned to WWE in 2002 and were set for dream feuds with WWE's two most popular superstars, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As per the fan reception, things went according to plan with Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall, but things took a major turn for The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. Last time the fans had seen Hulk Hogan on WWE TV, it had been 9 years earlier, and he was sorely missed.
Hogan received very loud cheers during segments from the NWO leading up to WrestleMania X8, but I don't know if anyone was expecting things to go down the way they did in his match with The Rock.
All of the near 70,000 in attendance at the SkyDome in Toronto went insane for Hogan, cheering everything he did and booing The Rock. Much of the happenings in the match changed on the fly because of it. The following night on RAW, Hogan, still in NWO colors, came out to perhaps the loudest reception in RAW history, and officially turned face.
