5 Best heel turns in WWE history

#1 Bret 'Hitman' Hart (1997)

Bret Hart locks Stone Cold in the match-winning sharpshooter

Unquestionably, the most memorable and greatest heel turn of all time came at Wrestlemania 13 during a match, pitting fan favourite, Bret Hart against rebel heel, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Entering the match, Bret Hart was the face, the longtime fan favourite and former 4-time WWF Champion. Stone Cold was the upstart heel, who had cheated his way to victory at the 1997 Royal Rumble at the expense of Hart.

In the weeks leading up to the show, Hart had begun to show visible signs of frustration at his perceived lack of support from the WWF front office as he was continually screwed out of WWF title opportunities.

Stone Cold for his part, had tapped into an anti-authority loving crowd who were beginning to warm to his unruly antics.

Refereed by former UFC superstar, Ken Shamrock, the match was one of the best in company history. During the bout, Hart began to grow increasingly wound up by his inability to put Stone Cold away and turned away from his usually clean-cut approach and resorted to heelish tactics to put his opponent away.

Hart finally applied the sharpshooter wherein a bloodied Austin refused to submit and passed out instead. Not content with the victory, Hart started assaulting Austin while he was unconscious to solidify his heel turn. It was a masterpiece in storytelling.

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