One of the most effective things in professional wrestling is a well-executed face or heel turn. It can completely turn your opinion of a superstar on its head, giving that character a renewed sense of relevancy in the process.
When it goes wrong, however, it can potentially cripple their potential as a main event or upper mid card Superstar. Because of that, WWE tends to be pretty selective with when and how they execute them.
It makes sense, especially when you consider how poorly some turns have been received in the past.
After all, not everyone can be a top level superstar in the WWE and a lot of that is about having the all-round package. You need to be versatile enough to the point where you can switch back and forth between the two alignments with relative ease.
It's a quality that a lot of superstars do in fact possess - we just don't get to see it. In the modern era, there are a string of top wrestlers who are of such a high standard that they can thrive under any situation that they are put in.
It doesn't matter whether they're a heel or a face, they can entertain the crowds regardless. However, we do feel that it would be interesting to see what would happen if all these guys made the switch.
So with that in mind, let's look at five face or heel turns in WWE that would work brilliantly.
#5 Dean Ambrose (Heel)
Dean Ambrose has worked out better than anyone could've imagined as a babyface.
The Lunatic Fringe seemed destined to be the bad guy that came out of The Shield, but he's been able to transition into the good guy persona with relative ease. You may not like his style, but Ambrose has certainly had some interesting moments in his current alignment.
Also read: 5 WWE Superstars who MUST turn heel in 2017
With that being said, it's soon going to be time for a switch up. Ambrose proved with The Shield that he can play the arrogant and sleazy heel to perfection, and in all honesty, that's probably the role that most people were expecting to see from him.
Dean would thrive under a character change and it could completely reinvigorate his character, which has become quite stale to some.
Onto one of Dean's biggest rivals in the last few months.
#4 AJ Styles (Face)
AJ Styles has done better than anyone could've possibly imagined as a heel on SmackDown Live.
The former WWE Champion has made an outstanding impact since arriving in the WWE at the 2016 Royal Rumble, and he's surprised a lot of people when you consider that everyone was expecting him to be a babyface. He was for a while, but it was indeed as a heel champion that he really thrived.
But now it's time to turn the tables once again. Styles works brilliantly in both roles, but we've seen an extended run with him as a heel, it’s time for him to turn face now.
SmackDown needs some more top level babyfaces and if we can execute a number of the other changes on this list, then Styles could go on to literally be the "face that runs the place".
Speaking of which, let's talk about a man who has been heavily intertwined with AJ over the last few months.
#3 John Cena (Heel)
Your time is up, my time is now - as Mr Cena so often says. In the last few months, the 16-time World Champion has quite clearly been moving into more of a tweener role, with his attitude towards the business becoming increasingly interesting to watch.
For years, we as fans have yearned for the infamous Cena heel turn, but it's never quite come to fruition.
But 2017 may well be the year. As we heard during his interview with Chris Jericho, Cena is more than willing to step up to the plate when it comes to turning heel. It's become almost boring to hear fans go on about it week in and week out, but there is some substance to what they're saying.
If you want to make Cena feel fresher and more important than he has in years, this is the way to accomplish that.
Onto a man who Cena has met on the grandest stage of them all.
#2 Bray Wyatt (Face)
The greatest moment of Bray Wyatt's career in the last few years came when he teamed with Roman Reigns for one night only, becoming somewhat of a babyface in the process. The crowd were into it, Wyatt felt natural in the role and it was just the best thing that we had seen from him in a long time.
So what do the WWE do? Continue to book him as a heel.
Look, the whole angle with Randy Orton has been brilliant but it's time to see what the reaction would be like to a definitive Wyatt babyface turn.
The guy has an unreal amount of potential and can easily switch between the two alignments over the next few years, just like his 'predecessor' of sorts, The Undertaker. If you want the definition of "printing money" - it's Bray as a top good guy.
We conclude with the man who isn't good, or bad - he's just your friendly neighborhood Roman.
#1 Roman Reigns (Heel)
Roman Reigns is the most stale character in professional wrestling, and it's a shame. Some people may see that as sarcasm, but it genuinely is a grand old shame that Reigns hasn't quite worked out as Vince McMahon intended him to.
The guy is a solid wrestler in the ring and clearly has a lot of charisma, but it's just a case of utilising it in a way that doesn't make the WWE Universe want to rip their eyes out of their sockets.
Reigns is built for a heel role and the longer Vince goes without pulling the trigger, the more ridiculous it all seems. He wears body armour, he's been awarded numerous title opportunities and he's one of the cockiest performers on the entire roster.
Are we missing something here? Have we stumbled into some alternate universe in which he's popular?
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