5 great heel turns we still talk about today

We've been spoiled for choice recently in terms of top wrestling heel turns.

From Finn Balor and Dakota Kai's betrayals in NXT, to MJF throwing in the towel for Cody and Seth Rollins' apparent return to the dark side, creative are getting a lot of things right across the board.

It's amazing just how much a wrestler can benefit from a well-executed heel turn. It can see a career on the verge of faltering revived in an instant or it can be the catalyst to send the next big superstar on their road to greatness.

As a result, we often ask the question of what is the greatest heel turn ever? So many factors go into answering such a question: the shock factor involved, the resulting pay-off and the overall execution of the turn.

Podcast Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet recently broke down all the factors to produce their all-time greats, and we certainly can't argue with the choices made.

Indeed, many would say that these turns are the ones we often look back on more regularly than others.

So here they are 5 great heel turns that we still talk about today.

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#5 Stone Cold Steve Austin sides with Vince McMahon

Stone Cold Steve Austin shakes hands with Vince McMahon

Heading into WrestleMania 17 in 2001, Stone Cold Steve Austin spoke of how he'd do whatever it takes to dethrone The Rock and regain the WWF Championship.

Never in a million years did we expect him to go as far as he did!

After battling for nearly 30 minutes in the show's main event, 'The Rattlesnake' grew desperate in his failure to put away The Rock.

As Vince McMahon came to the ring, we expected him to once again cost his long term rival Austin on the grandest stage.

However, it turned out to be quite the opposite, as he pulled Rock off of Austin after a People's Elbow. It was clear then that Austin had made a deal with the Devil, sealed when McMahon handed him the chair he used to level the WWF Champion sixteen times before finally pinning him for the 1-2-3.

The success of this turn still receives mixed reviews to this day. Whilst it certainly shocked the crowd, the fact that WrestleMania was in Austin's home state meant he still received cheers. Indeed, fans never fully embraced bad guy Stone Cold in the months that followed, and he closed out 2001 once again a fan favourite.

#4 Kevin Owens turns on Chris Jericho

The moment Chris Jericho realized he was on Kevin Owens' list

In the second half of 2016, the highlight of WWE TV was undoubtedly the friendship/partnership of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.

Indeed, many would say this spell marked some of Jericho's best WWE work to that point. The combination would equally prove fruitful for Owens, who was reigning Universal Champion and used Y2J to aid him in retaining the championship on a number of occasions.

Despite it being a beneficial friendship for both, it was clear that Owens, at times. would grow frustrated at Jericho's over-the-top antics.

Owens and Jericho would remain a duo right up until February 13, 2017, where Jericho planned on holding a Festival of Friendship to celebrate their partnership.

All the stops were pulled for the party, including Friendship The Magician and a 'Creation of Kevin' painting. The most significant gift, though, was from KO to Jericho: a new list.

It wasn't just any list though, it was the List of KO which had just one name on it: Chris Jericho.

That moment caused the heartbreak for many fans, as Owens proceeded to dismantle his now-former friend all across the ring and ringside area.

It could have been a great moment that led to an epic rivalry. Instead, it fell flat, with the Universal Championship removed from the feud and placed onto Goldberg, whilst their pay-off match ended up going on second at that year's WrestleMania.

#3 The New World Order is born

Hulk Hogan reveals himself as the third man.

It was the moment that shook the fabrications of wrestling forever.

It was 1996 and the Monday Night Wars were well underway. In the weeks leading up to WCW's Bash at the Beach, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, known previously as Razor Ramon and Diesel in WWE, began appearing on WCW TV.

Portraying themselves as outsiders coming in to take down the company, they promised they'd soon be joined by a third member at the PPV.

But as the pair traded off with WCW's team of Lex Luger, Randy Savage and Sting, there was no third man to be seen.

That was until Hulk Hogan made his way to the ring, presumably to help Savage and co. Instead, he would drop a leg on the Macho Man, revealing himself as the third man.

With that, the nWo was formed, and the industry would never be the same again.

It is a heel turn we still talk about to this day, for the gigantic impact it had on the sport.

Without the nWo, WCW would not have had the new found edge they exhibited following the show. Without that, they'd have never dominated the early Monday Night Wars, and WWE would have never countered with the Attitude Era that would eventually help lead to the demise of WCW.

So if the nWo never formed, we may not have a WWE right now. Try picturing that.

#2 Tommaso Ciampa turns on Johnny Gargano

Ciampa ends a long friendship with one knee to the face.

As fans, we are programmed to take the watermark at the bottom corner of our screens to indicate the end of a wrestling show.

You never expect anything to follow this. Fade to black, see you next week. That all changed the moment that Tommaso Ciampa struck.

Ciampa and his partner Johnny Gargano had just gone through a brutal match together against the Authors of Pain. They were unsuccessful in their bid to regain their NXT Tag Team Championships from AOP at NXT Takeover: Chicago 2017.

As the show was drawing to a close, the pair stood arm-in-arm reflecting on what looked like their last shot. Clearly more frustrated than his partner, Ciampa would proceed to grab Johnny Wrestling by the head and launch him into the LED wall.

It was a turn many had long expected, but nobody was sure exactly when it would happen. WWE planted the seeds for it during the Cruiserweight Classic when the pair squared off the year prior.

Doing it at this point certainly had the desired effect, as the fans were getting ready to turn off their TVs, when, all of a sudden, a man was being hurled head first into the entrance set.

How successful this turn would have been had Ciampa not missed the rest of the year injured beggars belief; we were still treated to what was the greatest and most drawn out feud in NXT history. Definitely a winning turn here.

#1 Seth Rollins betrays The Shield

Dean Ambrose sees the wrong side of the chair courtesy of his former brother

It's fitting that in the week that Seth Rollins seemingly turned heel again that we talk about his original turn to the dark side.

It was June 2nd, 2014, and The Shield were off the back of the biggest victory of their career, clean sweeping Evolution the night before at Payback.

Many presumed that they were all set to skyrocket to the top of WWE as their most popular group in years. That was until Triple H unveiled his Plan B.

Somewhere over the course of that night's RAW, The Game was able to persuade Rollins to betray his brothers and join The Authority.

It was the perfect moment. The visual of Seth hitting Roman Reigns in the back and the look of shock on the face of Dean Ambrose will live long in the memory of fans worldwide.

The timing of the turn was shocking given the events at the PPV the night before. Whilst many knew they'd split eventually, it's safe to say that just about nobody expected it to happen here.

It led to a chain of events that built successful singles careers for each man. Whilst their journeys have taken different paths in 2019, you can't argue in hindsight that this was the perfect time to end The Shield.

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