When it comes to character alignments in wrestling, some wrestlers are much more suited to one rather than the other. It's not a bad thing, it just means that if a Superstar's persona were to get incredibly stale then they'd be in a bit of a pickle when it comes to reinventing themselves. But then again, if they're so good at being one rather than the other then they shouldn't have a problem, right?
Alas, we digress. With WrestleMania coming up once again it's almost time to turn the page into a new year for WWE, with The Showcase of the Immortals being the equivalent of their season finale. As such, we should start analysing which Superstars we believe are most likely to either turn to the dark side or finally see the light and completely turn their character upside down.
We aren't saying that all of these guys and girls are completely stale, and some of them are actually doing some great work - but pulling the rug out from underneath the fans is one of the most effective tools you can have in professional wrestling. Obviously, you don't want to do them all at once, but gradually the 10 competitors on this list should be changing their ways relatively soon.
With that in mind, here are 10 Superstars most likely to turn face/heel after WrestleMania.
#10 Roman Reigns (heel)
Alright, alright - this one is unbelievably obvious but it needs to happen and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Obviously, we'd prefer for the turn to take place on the night of or before WrestleMania 33, but if we have to wait until the night after then so be it. Roman Reigns has been stale for a long time, and the guy is in need of a big change.
Turning against The Undertaker would be the smartest possible thing for WWE to do with Reigns because there's just no way in hell that people are going to boo the Deadman. Sure they've tried to do it recently, most notably when he faced Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2015 - but it's never going to happen so they may as well steer into the skid and get Roman over as a bad guy instantly.
Don't you dare be sour.
#9 Big E (heel)
As much as people love and adore The New Day, their time together as a cohesive unit needs to come to an end. Whilst they're still one of the hottest acts in wrestling they aren't quite what they used to be, with some fans coming to that realisation more than others. As such, when it eventually happens we need to try and divide the group in a way that benefits everybody.
One of the big ways to do that is by having Big E absolutely destroy Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, getting an absolute tonne of heat on himself in the process. His last run as a singles heel didn't really work out all too well but that's mainly because he didn't get a chance to showcase his charisma. Now that we've seen that side of him, there's no doubt in our minds that he can be successful on his own.
From Big E to the beast.
#8 Brock Lesnar (face)
Two years ago coming out of WrestleMania 31, Brock Lesnar was potentially the biggest babyface in professional wrestling. Unfortunately, it would be an understatement to suggest that he's failed to maintain that kind of momentum since that point, with poor matches against the likes of Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose really dragging down his run in 2016.
However, all of that could change following WrestleMania 33 as WWE have a golden opportunity to turn him face once again. Once he's seen off the challenge of Goldberg and won the Universal Championship, there's a whole host of top heel talent on Raw that could go after the belt - Braun Strowman, Sheamus, Roman Reigns (hopefully) and Kevin Owens to name but a few.
Speaking of the Celtic Warrior.
#7 Sheamus (heel)
Sheamus has somehow fallen back into something of a babyface role alongside Cesaro, and it needs to stop immediately. The WWE really screwed up this guy's booking following his return in 2015, and he needs to return to his monster heel roots that made him so popular once upon a time. It won't be easy and it won't happen overnight, but eventually it'll lead him back to the main event scene.
If you have him go out there and kick the heads off of numerous mid carders while calling himself the one true warrior of WWE, you've got yourself a guy that the fans will hate. He could even build a capable stable around him, but the key is that Sheamus wouldn't necessarily require their services to win a match - they'd just be there in case he needed help in terms of the numbers game.
Over to the women for this next selection.
#6 Paige (face)
We haven't seen Paige in a good old while, and there's a lot of reasons for that. However, what we would like to focus on is her character alignment upon return as it hasn't really been made crystal clear. Obviously, the natural thing to do would be to keep her as a heel, but given how many bad girls there already are in that division it wouldn't really make a whole lot of sense.
Plus, Emma & Sasha Banks seem poised to turn in the near future anyway so why add to that? Besides, Paige was a fun babyface for the fans to cheer when she first debuted on the main roster as she had a bit of a tweener edge to her. It wasn't anything too overwhelming, but it made her feel unique and if they can pull off that character once again it'll be like capturing lightning in a bottle.
They don't want none.
#5 AJ Styles (face)
How good is AJ Styles? Very good is the answer - or phenomenal if you're a fan of puns. Even as a heel Styles has been putting on some of the best matches in the company and it's that kind of talent that led him to become Wrestler of the Year for 2016 in the eyes of many wrestling publications. Pretty soon, the fans are going to just turn him face themselves based on their support.
WWE Wrestlemania 33: 10 stars most likely to return/debut on the Raw & SmackDown after Wrestlemania
Following Mania and a likely victory over Shane McMahon, the smartest possible move for WWE would be to turn Styles face and give him the much deserved one on one title rematch that he has earned - against Bray Wyatt. It'd be a fascinating feud between the two talents and even if he doesn't reclaim the gold, it would prove that the guy is still a main event player.
Onto a man who knows AJ quite well.
#4 Dean Ambrose (heel)
The majority of us are pretty sick of Dean Ambrose's good guy persona, and even if you aren't you can't deny that he's a fantastic heel. His work down in FCW and with the Shield is impeccable, and during those runs, we barely scratched the surface of what this guy can do. Seriously, if you let him go back to his roots then there may be no way that you can stop him.
Plus, he's pretty-much-done everything he can as a babyface. He's attempted to build the blue brand up, been outshined by Cena and Styles, won the IC title and even held the WWE Championship for a short period of time. Let's try and make him feel a little bit fresh again following a likely loss to Baron Corbin on the grandest stage of them all.
You can look, gentleman - but you most certainly cannot touch.
#3 Nikki Bella (heel)
Let's just drop it now, please. Let's drop the whole Fearless persona and the cringeworthy on-air displays of affection with John Cena. Nikki Bella is a natural heel and if you need any proof go back and watch her run with the Divas Championship - because it's actually quite good. Honestly, we think this may be the most obvious entry on the entire list.
It would be easy to do if you shift things around a little bit on SD Live, and it would just make the world of sense. You could even save the turn for when she's involved a title match, meaning you could set the groundwork for a double turn with a current heel Superstar. Who might that be, you ask? Well for that answer we'll go straight to the next entry.
It's time for Little Miss Bliss.
#2 Alexa Bliss (face)
Alexa Bliss' tale of fighting against all the odds and making it to WWE is an inspirational one, and it's the story of a babyface as far as we're concerned. Whilst she is tremendous as a heel she can always return to it later down the line, as we believe she's best suited to a double turn in a title bout against Nikki Bella. Think about it - how badly would people want Alexa to win the belt back afterwards?
Bliss has been called a young Trish Stratus during her first few years with the company, and if you want to follow in the veteran's footsteps then seeing what Bliss can do as a babyface would be a great start. She's already extremely popular, has a tonne of potential and is still young enough to the point where she can have an extremely long run in the business. Make this happen, WWE.
We conclude with a man who many people undervalue.
#1 TJ Perkins (heel)
When TJ Perkins won the Cruiserweight Championship back in the summer, it was one of the best wrestling moments of the year. It was the culmination of one of the most entertaining tournaments in a long time, and Perkins came out of it looking like a star. Unfortunately, that hasn't translated so well onto the main roster, and the guy is in need of a change.
It's so simple to pull off, too. TJ's persona should exemplify everything that people hate about modern wrestlers - video games, dabbing, overconfidence. If you utilise all of these factors and make Perkins extremely cocky whilst also being able to back up what he says, you could turn him into a guy that's capable of breaking away from the purple ropes and competing on the actual main roster.
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