3 Drastic WWE character changes that worked and 3 that did not

One of the biggest WWE storyline developments of 2020 so far came at SummerSlam when Roman Reigns returned to WWE television for the first time in five months.

The former Shield member attacked “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman after the main event, showing a more aggressive side to his character in the process, and it emerged five days later on SmackDown that he has aligned with Paul Heyman.

Since then, Reigns (w/Heyman) defeated the aforementioned duo in a Triple Threat match at the Payback pay-per-view to become a two-time Universal Champion, and his new attitude has been received well by the majority of the WWE Universe.

The Big Dog had been heavily pushed as WWE’s top babyface for six years following The Shield’s separation in June 2014, so his alliance with Heyman and attitude change was long overdue.

However, drastic alterations to WWE Superstars’ personas do not always go as planned, as fans have seen on multiple occasions in recent years.

In this article, let’s take a look at three WWE character changes that worked, as well as three that did not work.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda.

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#6 WWE character change worked: Sasha Banks

Sasha Banks returned to WWE with blue hair

After a four-month absence from WWE television, Sasha Banks made her return in August 2019 on the post-SummerSlam episode of RAW.

Having been a babyface for almost her entire run on WWE’s main roster until that point, it looked as though The Boss might continue to perform as a fan favorite after she consoled an emotional Natalya following her loss to Becky Lynch in a RAW Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam.

Banks then showed a completely different side to her character by attacking Natalya, then Lynch, as she quickly cemented her status as the top heel in the RAW women’s division.

Even the biggest Banks fans will admit that her WWE persona had become stale during her babyface alliance with Bayley in 2018-19, so her long-awaited heel turn was the perfect way to remind everybody exactly why the former NXT Women’s Champion believes she is the best women’s wrestler in the world.

Banks went on to feud with Lynch before forming another alliance with Bayley, this time as a villainous duo, over the course of the next year.

#5 WWE character change did not work: Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose betrayed Seth Rollins on WWE RAW

On the same night that Roman Reigns announced that his leukemia had returned, Dean Ambrose (now known as Jon Moxley in AEW) turned heel by attacking Seth Rollins following their RAW Tag Team Championship win over Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in the main event of WWE RAW.

In theory, the timing of the betrayal should have made Ambrose the biggest heel in WWE, with The Shield’s demise becoming the top storyline on RAW in the last few months of 2018.

In reality, Ambrose's new character was booked to wear gas masks and take rabies jabs to protect himself from WWE audiences, and his storyline with Rollins was so badly received that WWE fans chanted “Boring! Boring!” during their match at TLC 2018.

Speaking on Talk Is Jericho in 2019, Moxley discussed the creative frustrations that he had when performing as the Ambrose character in WWE during that period of time, especially when he received a memo from Vince McMahon saying he had to stick exactly to the script.

“Notes from VKM: Dean needs to understand why he needs to insult the audience. Dean needs to read his promos verbatim and not try to rewrite them.”

Moxley left WWE in April 2019 and debuted with AEW one month later at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

#4 WWE character change worked: Becky Lynch

Given that WWE officials originally wanted Becky Lynch to work as a heel after SummerSlam 2018, her drastic character change during that time could arguably belong to either of these categories.

Lynch attacked Charlotte Flair following their SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat match (also involving Carmella) at SummerSlam, and the Irish Lass Kicker went on to question fans’ loyalty to her on the next episode of SmackDown.

The WWE Universe refused to accept Lynch as a heel and continued to support her even when she acted as the villain in certain storylines and segments, such as when she mocked Edge’s neck injury on SmackDown and when she got herself disqualified against Charlotte Flair at Super Show-Down 2018.

That left WWE’s decision-makers with little choice but to embrace Lynch, who reinvented herself with her The Man persona, as the top fan favorite in the entire company.

Lynch’s rise to the top of the women’s division led her all the way to the main event of WrestleMania 35, where she defeated Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair to win the RAW Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship in the first women’s match to go on last at WrestleMania.

#3 WWE character change did not work: Ruby Riott

Ruby Riott returned to WWE RAW and attacked Liv Morgan

Unless WWE always planned for Ruby Riott to lose 11 matches in a row as part of a long-term storyline after her 2020 return, it is fair to say that her character change did not go according to plan.

Unlike the other examples in this list, Riott had a drastic change of attitude towards her friend when she returned from double shoulder surgery in February 2020, as opposed to a complete change in her personality.

The returning Riott attacked Liv Morgan following her victory over Lana on RAW, but the Riott Squad leader’s long-awaited comeback was immediately overshadowed by Lana’s post-match beatdown of Morgan.

As the weeks progressed, Riott lost matches against Morgan, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay on RAW and Main Event, leaving her with next-to-no credibility as a possible RAW Women’s Championship contender.

In August 2020, Riott and Morgan officially reformed The Riott Squad as a babyface tag team, and it did not take long before they entered the Women’s Tag Team Championship picture.

#2 WWE character change worked: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt emerged in 2019

With Erick Rowan and Luke Harper by his side, Bray Wyatt was among the most compelling characters on WWE television between his 2013 main-roster debut and The Wyatt Family’s initial split in 2014.

Unfortunately, Wyatt’s eerie character suffered a series of high-profile losses – notably against John Cena at WrestleMania XXX and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31 – which seriously damaged his believability as one of WWE’s top villains.

In early 2018, Wyatt’s persona began to undergo a transformation when he formed the Deleters of Worlds tag team with one of his fiercest rivals, Matt Hardy, after he was thrown into the Lake of Reincarnation during their Ultimate Deletion match.

One year later, the former WWE Champion took his character change to a whole new level when he returned with two different personas: “Firefly Fun House” Bray Wyatt and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.

Within the space of a year, “The Fiend” became a two-time Universal Champion, while Wyatt had more items of merchandise on WWE Shop than any other full-time WWE Superstar.

#1 WWE character change did not work: Seth Rollins

When a major WWE babyface is ruled out for several months, it is not uncommon for WWE’s higher-ups to make drastic changes to another Superstar’s on-screen personality.

In October 2018, for example, Braun Strowman and Elias suddenly became good guys on WWE RAW after the brand’s top babyface, Roman Reigns, had to take time off due to his battle with leukemia

Two years earlier, Finn Balor had been heavily pushed as one of WWE’s main babyfaces in the build-up to him winning the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2016, and his serious shoulder injury left the WWE RAW roster short of good guys.

Ironically, Rollins – the person whose powerbomb move injured Balor in the first place – suddenly became a babyface to fill the void left by the Irishman.

The former Shield member revealed in a 2017 interview with Sporting News that he did not originally want to turn babyface when he came back from injury in May 2016, but he agreed to the character change due to the circumstances.

“I could have been a babyface when I came back but it didn’t feel right at the time. Then we had stuff go on with Finn Balor’s injury and stuff like that.”

Rollins gained a lot of momentum as a good guy in 2017-18, but he initially struggled to receive support from fans after his post-SummerSlam 2016 face turn.