3 WWE heel turns in 2019 that worked and 2 that didn't

Kevin Owens and Ronda Rousey also turned heel in 2019
Kevin Owens and Ronda Rousey also turned heel in 2019

After a five-year run as a babyface in NXT and WWE, Bayley finally turned heel on the September 2 episode of Raw when she attacked Becky Lynch and realigned with Sasha Banks.

The timing of the storyline development came as a surprise, especially as Bayley is preparing to take on one of WWE’s biggest heels – Charlotte Flair – at the upcoming Clash of Champions pay-per-view.

WWE previously planned to build towards a Champion vs. Champion match between Banks and Bayley at Survivor Series, as reported by Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue, so it will be interesting to see whether the reunited allies will soon become enemies again in the coming months.

For now, though, it appears that “The Hugger” has joined a long list of WWE Superstars to become a villain in 2019 – something that has worked well for some people and not quite as well for others.

With that in mind, let’s count down three WWE heel turns this year that succeeded and two that, as of the time of writing, look to have failed.


#5 Heel turn worked: AJ Styles

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AJ Styles had a year-long reign with the WWE Championship as a member of the SmackDown Live roster between November 2017 and November 2018.

Following his unexpected title defeat against Daniel Bryan shortly before Survivor Series 2018, “The Phenomenal One” lost a ton of momentum as a good guy and did not look like a serious contender to regain the title in rematches at the TLC and Royal Rumble pay-per-views.

After teasing a possible heel turn during his brief rivalry with Seth Rollins after WrestleMania 35, Styles officially became a bad guy when he won the United States Championship from Ricochet and realigned with fellow Club members Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to form The OC.

Since then, the three-man group has quickly established themselves as the top faction on Raw, with Styles arguably being more entertaining now than at any stage of his babyface run.

The only problem, as we saw during the Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman contract signing, is that fans appreciate Styles’ good work so much that they want to chant his name!

#4 Heel turn didn't work: Rusev

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Rusev cemented his status as one of the most popular Superstars in WWE during his “Rusev Day” run alongside Aiden English and Lana throughout 2017-18.

Although the man himself has said in media interviews that WWE failed to fully take advantage of the fan-driven phenomenon, it looked as though “The Bulgarian Brute” would receive a renewed push as a good guy following his United States Championship triumph over Shinsuke Nakamura on Christmas Day 2018.

However, that did not turn out to be the case, as WWE’s decision-makers opted to put the two rivals together as a heel tag team when their feud came to an end after the 2019 Royal Rumble.

The team of Rusev & Nakamura, managed by Lana, got off to a winning start against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson on SmackDown Live before failing to win any of their next eight televised matches as a team.

Despite remaining on the same brand in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, the two men separated shortly after WrestleMania 35, with Rusev taking a break from WWE television.

#3 Heel turn worked: Robert Roode

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Two months ago, we counted down five WWE gimmick changes in 2019 and made a decision on whether the change was really worth it. The majority of character alterations turned out to be improvements (e.g. Bray Wyatt becoming The Fiend), but Bobby Roode’s switch to Robert Roode seemed to be a total waste.

At the time of writing, the former NXT Champion had ditched his moustache and completely disappeared from WWE’s main-roster programming, with all of his matches coming on Main Event.

Fast forward to the September 2 episode of Raw and, although it took a while, it now looks as though Roode’s post-WrestleMania 35 heel turn was worth it after all.

Initially, he struggled to hold down a regular spot on Raw following his split from Chad Gable. Now, with Dolph Ziggler as his new tag team partner, Roode is finally getting opportunities to show what he can do again as a heel.

With a Raw Tag Team Championship match on the horizon against the dysfunctional Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman, we might even see Roode & Ziggler as tag champions in the near future.

#2 Heel turn didn't work: Kevin Owens

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One of the strangest storyline developments of 2019 so far came after WrestleMania 35 when Kevin Owens betrayed Kofi Kingston to set up a WWE Championship match between the two men at Money In The Bank.

Two months earlier, Owens became a babyface for the first time in his WWE career when he introduced a crowd-popping new finisher – a variation of the Stone Cold Stunner – and cut babyface promos alongside his family from his car, bowling alleys and other locations outside of WWE.

Then, even though his new character initially proved popular with fans, the former Universal Champion’s short-lived alliance with The New Day came to an end when he returned to his villainous ways by attacking Kingston and Xavier Woods.

Owens’ work as a bad guy was good, as always, but the timing of the heel turn was questionable as he did not seem like a realistic contender to win the WWE Championship from the New Day member.

Now, five months on, KO has been a babyface for the last two months and his heel run has been totally forgotten about.

#1 Heel turn worked: Ronda Rousey

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WWE had little choice but to turn Ronda Rousey into a heel shortly before her WrestleMania 35 Triple Threat main event against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

Sections of the WWE Universe never fully got behind the UFC Hall of Famer as a babyface, and it became apparent following the negative response she received at Survivor Series 2018 that WWE’s decision-makers had to portray her character in a different way.

With the majority of fans wanting Lynch to emerge from WrestleMania as the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champion, Rousey finally turned heel in March 2019 when she viciously attacked “The Man” on Raw and criticised fans for not accepting her.

From that moment on, “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” was no longer a lifelong WWE fan trying to emulate the likes of Bret Hart, Roddy Piper and Steve Austin. Instead, she had made it her mission to disrespect the wrestling business and the lifestyle of the company’s full-time performers.

Regardless of what Rousey does next in her career, fans will debate for many years about whether WWE should have handled her initial one-year run differently, but very few people will have any complaints about her brief run as a heel.


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