5 Obvious Heel Turns in WWE That Worked

Moments before Randy Savage turned on Hulk Hogan.
Moments before Randy Savage turned on Hulk Hogan.

WWE, over the years, has done its best to provide us with shocking twists and turns, heel turns and face turns that nobody saw coming.

There have been recent ones such as Dean Ambrose turning on Seth Rollins (it was expected, but very few people thought he would do it the night Roman announced he was taking a leave of absence due to his cancer diagnosis) and Bayley turning on Becky Lynch and seemingly aligning herself with Sasha Banks. Older ones include Shawn Michaels putting Marty Jannetty through the glass in the Barber Shop and Steve Austin aligning with Vince McMahon at the end of WrestleMania x-Seven. An, of course, there's Hulk Hogan being the 3rd man at Bash at the Beach 1996, joining Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the nWo.

But how about turns that we all saw coming, or ones that were heavily rumored and then happened just as people anticipated? Those are fewer and further between, but they have happened, and in WWE history, many of them have actually worked out well.

Whether it was the culmination of a long-term storyline that people knew had to eventually come to an end, or one that people weren't exactly hoping for but at least ended up giving us some great matches, WWE has had some predictable occasions in which good guys have turned on their pals to join the dark side.

Before we get to the five best obvious heel turns, here are two honorable mentions. One of them isn't a heel turn, but a great betrayal that everyone knew was coming, and another was fairly predictable, but nobody was really fully sure it was actually going to happen. Let's briefly dive into those before we tackle the most expected heel turns in WWE history.

Honorable Mentions

Chris Jericho realizes that Kevin Owens is no longer his friend.
Chris Jericho realizes that Kevin Owens is no longer his friend.

Kevin Owens Betrays Chris Jericho

This wasn't actually a heel turn, because Owens and Jericho had spent many a month as a heel duo, keeping a tight grasp on the Universal Championship. They teased a Jericho babyface turn multiple times and had the crowd in the palm of their hands as it always turned out to be a ruse. They fooled the fans, and they fooled their opponents, who expected Jericho to finally say "enough is enough" when it came to being treated like a tool for Owens to continue to claim victories.

This all led to Chris Jericho's infamous Festival of Friendship. It had become more and more obvious in the weeks leading up to this event that Owens no longer had any use for Jericho, but Jericho could not read the writing on the wall. Jericho presented Owens with gifts, a magical painting, and a wonderful party. Owens gave Jericho a gift as well -- the List of Owens, and the only name on that list was Chris Jericho. It was the outcome of that segment that everyone expected, but it was as perfect as a betrayal could possibly be.

Stephanie McMahon Turns On Vince McMahon and Joins Triple H

This heel turn was anticipated by many fans as well as pundits and writers on the internet at the time, but it was mostly speculation. Based on WWE's predilection to do "swerves" in which a character who seemed to lean heavily to one side suddenly jumped to the other, Stephanie betraying the trust of her father became a likely, but not guaranteed, occurrence. At Armageddon 1999, Vince McMahon battled Triple H in a No Holds Barred Match.

A Triple H victory would give him a shot at Big Show's WWF Championship and force Stephanie to remain married to him. If Vince won, the forced marriage between Stephanie and Hunter would be annulled. As it turned out, Stephanie McMahon was in on it all along, because she wanted to overtake her overbearing father and gain control of the company, and knew that siding with Triple H, the conniving heel, would help her do just that. The turn changed the WWF forever and while many people expected that it could happen, they were still unsure until it actually did happen, and it remains an amazing moment to this day.

5. Cody Rhodes Turns On Hardcore Holly

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At the inaugural edition of WWE's Night of Champions (although the year before they did subtitle the annual Vengeance PPV with the "Night of Champions" tagline), Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes were set to defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against Ted DiBiase, Jr and a mystery partner. For a bit of backstory, Cody's first storyline in WWE involved getting his butt kicked by Hardcore Holly (a lot), and it led to the rookie earning the respect of the grizzled veteran. After a number of losses to Holly, Hardcore decided to start teaming with the second son of the son of a plumber.

The duo won the belts in December 2007 on the Raw 15th Anniversary show and held the belts for close to seven months. Cut back to the end of June 2008, and what would be their final title defense. Another up-and-coming second-generation star, Ted DiBiase, Jr, had come onto the scene and earned himself a title shot. He didn't have a partner, and many people expected it to be a call-up from developmental (such as third-generation wrestler Joe Hennig, AKA Michael McGillicutty, AKA Curtis Axel). Instead, nobody came out with him on the night of the event.

After a few weeks of Cody acting like a kid who had let success go to his head, being cocky and even refusing to tag Holly into their tag matches, it became apparent that the team was going to come to an end sooner rather than later.

Cody immediately turned on Holly, and less than two minutes after the bell, Cody was no longer one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with Hardcore Holly -- he was one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with Ted DiBiase, Jr. They would go on to create the Legacy group and the rest is history.

4. Christian Hits The One-Man Con-Chair-To on Edge

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Christian was always seen as the second banana in his team with his storyline brother, Edge. While Christian was the first to hold singles gold in WWE (he was Light Heavyweight Champion for a brief period of time), he was not the star. In fact, he was the low man on the totem pole in The Brood, as well. Before Edge turned heel and joined Gangrel and Christian, the veteran Gangrel told Christian what to do, and the rookie would do it. Edge was brought into the company and immediately treated like he was going to be a top star.

The team had a lot of success from 1998 into 2001. Interestingly, their seven reigns as champions (second of all time after the Dudley Boyz) came in an extremely short period of time. They were in the picture for the better part of a year before finally winning the Tag Titles for the first time at WrestleMania 2000. Between April and December of 2000, the team would hold the belts on 5 separate occasions. Their 7th, and final, title reign, started exactly 364 days after the beginning of their 1st reign. That's a lot of switches.

As 2001 progressed, however, Edge began to further pull ahead of his partner. He was already the better-looking and more popular one, the taller one, and thought of as better than Christian in most ways. As Edge made his way through the King of the Ring tournament in 2001, Christian's jealously started to show deeper and deeper. Both men made the final four that year, and when Edge won, Christian started to carry the trophy around for him, and even their grandmother, "Gran", liked Edge more. Edge winning the Intercontinental Title at SummerSlam was the last straw. Only a few weeks later, Christian turned on his brother and used their famous tag team chair shot on his own, crushing Edge's head between two chairs.

The turn was really a long time coming, but the build itself made the eventual turn extremely obvious at the beginning of June and lasted for three months before Christian attacked Edge at the beginning of September. Edge would still go on to become the bigger star and the heel turn didn't do as much for Christian as most people expected, but he still went on to win a number of singles titles - including two World Heavyweight Championships - and a few more tag belts as well.

3. Stone Cold Steve Austin Joins The Alliance

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The face turn wasn't going to last long.

On April 1, 2001, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven by selling his soul to "the devil himself" and beating The Rock. In a complete role reversal, Vince McMahon helped Austin beat the Rock, instead of helping Rock beat Austin. Stone Cold became something of a comedic-yet-vicious heel, and it worked out pretty well.

When the Invasion angle started coming to a head, Austin became the hero that the WWF needed. The story was that people were unsure if he would do anything at all, but during a gigantic brawl between WWF Superstars and ECW/WCW invaders, the glass shattered and Austin stormed down to the ring, handing out Stunners to every non-WWF guy he could get his hands on. This was on the final episode of RAW before the InVasion PPV, and Austin was slotted in as the final member of Team WWF in the "Inaugural Brawl" 10-man tag team match.

"The Old Stone Cold" existed for less than 6 days. The Inaugural Brawl ended when Austin attacked the man who had previously been leading the charge for the WWF, Kurt Angle and allowed the WCW/ECW Alliance team to score the victory. Based on the fact that Austin hated Kurt Angle, had been feuding with Vince McMahon since 1997 and was still extremely unstable and paranoid, it made sense that he wanted to protect his spot. He couldn't trust Vince or Kurt, and he knew that staying on the side of the WWF meant that he would be at McMahon's beck and call. He was stronger than Shane and Stephanie, so he knew he could control his destiny by being the leader of The Alliance. Many people on the internet at the time were surprised that the match went as long as it did (nearly half an hour) before Austin made his turn. It was actually suspected that he was going to walk out early and not even be part of the match, either to come back and turn at the very end or wait until the following RAW.

It may sound odd to say this was a turn that actually worked, but you have to consider the circumstances. Stone Cold had been playing the exact same character for 5 years (though he did lose 10 months toward the end of that run due to a broken neck) and it needed changing. Austin was a very dynamic performer, and although it took a bit for the crowd to buy into his turn, Austin's complete 180-degree overhaul was very refreshing and entertaining. During the Invasion storyline, Austin would go on to have some great matches, including a legendary war with Kurt Angle at SummerSlam 2001.

Yes, it was dumb to have the WWF's biggest star become the leader of the WWF's biggest opposition, but the turn helped Kurt Angle become a true star, and Austin was very entertaining.

2. Batista Ends His Long Friendship With Rey Mysterio

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Rey Mysterio and Batista were a classic pairing of unlikely friends. One was small, the other was big. One liked to entertain the wow the crowd, and the other was usually focused and intense. Their friendship spawned from Batista's real-life (and brief storyline) friendship with Eddie Guerrero. Mysterio and Guerrero were closely linked as friends and (mostly) foes for many years, but when Eddie unexpectedly passed away in mid-November 2005, Rey took on the Guerrero legacy and battled on behalf of his Mexican brother.

It was Batista and Guerrero who had become reluctant friends, which included Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Eddie at No Mercy 2005. Eddie passed away one month later and their storyline, which would have seen Batista turn on Eddie before Eddie got a chance to turn on him, stopped abruptly.

Instead, WWE decided to do something similar with Batista and Rey. After saving Rey from Kane and Big Show, the men became fast friends, bonding over the passing of Eddie Guerrero. They would win the Tag Team Titles in December of 2005, but Batista was injured shortly after. Due to that, the story of Batista potentially turning on Rey (after they lost the titles and a rematch) was halted.

It wasn't until nearly 4 years later that the pot boiled over and Batista lost his mind. Rey Mysterio offered to team with Batista to take on Chris Jericho and Big Show for the Tag Titles, in a match that they lost. The following month, at the Bragging Rights PPV, Batista and Rey were involved in a 4-way match (with CM Punk and World Champion The Undertaker). Mysterio broke up a pinfall attempt near the end of the match, costing Batista the title, and when Undertaker eventually scored the victory. Batista had been becoming increasingly upset and angry after being unable to become World Champion again, and he took it out on his friend. He screamed at Rey "You're supposed to be my friend!" while continuing a brutal assault on the much smaller man.

While this turn wasn't immediately obvious, it had been hinted at after unsuccessful tag title challenges and Batista having to save Rey multiple times from being attacked by larger men. And when Rey broke up the pinfall in the 4-way match, it was the last straw. It became apparent that Batista was going to go after Mysterio, and he did it only moments after the match. Rey never got proper revenge on Big Dave, being destroyed by him in multiple matches, and Batista eventually did win the World Title again, and their friendship was over forever.

1. The Mega Powers Explode

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How could this be anything but number one?

It was one of the best partnerships and one of the best rivalries in WWF history. Randy Savage won the vacant WWF Championship in a tournament at WrestleMania IV, and Hulk Hogan, who was eliminated early on, helped Savage overcome Ted DiBiase and an interfering Andre The Giant. Hogan would celebrate with his friend and, essentially, take some of the spotlight for himself.

This led to Hogan and Savage, the company's two biggest stars and fan favorites, becoming allies. Savage started to wear the red & yellow, they prevailed in Survivor Series matches and various other tag matches, and Savage would continue to successfully defend his WWF Championship.

At the same time, however, the always-jealous Savage did not like how close Hogan was getting with his wife and valet, Miss Elizabeth. Hogan and Miss Elizabeth had always been friendly, but to Savage, Hogan had crossed the line with her multiple times. Hogan put her in harm's way by requesting that she act as his valet in matches against large, dangerous opponents. Add in Hogan eliminating Savage from the 1989 Royal Rumble match, and things started to get messy. During a tag team match on the February 3 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Savage was tossed into Elizabeth and inadvertently hurt her. Hogan would abandon Savage to bring her to the back to get her medical attention but did return to the match. Savage, in turn, did the same to Hogan and walked out on him, but Hogan was still able to secure the victory.

Backstage, Hogan and Savage would argue over Elizabeth, with Savage getting out of control, yelling and screaming (more than usual) and accusing Hogan of trying to steal his wife. Hogan, of course, denied this and ended up taking a title belt to the face in the end.

The Mega Powers were no more, and in one of the most legendary matches in WrestleMania history, they exploded. Hogan would end Savage's year-long reign as champion. Miss Elizabeth didn't choose a side and would end up getting replaced by Sensational Sherri. Miss Elizabeth disappeared for two years due to the jealous rage of her husband, which eventually culminated in an emotional reunion for the pair after Savage lost a retirement match at WrestleMania VII. The retirement didn't last long, and Savage and Miss Elizabeth were together again as a babyface power couple.

Are there any obvious heel turns that worked that we missed? Let us know in the comments! And make sure you follow us on Twitter to get notified of all our WWE content!

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