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From Big Cass and Enzo Amore on Raw to Mojo Rawley and Sami Zayn on SmackDown Live, 2017 has been a year of back-stabbings and betrayals in the crazy world of WWE.
However, if you look back at the pro wrestling rumour mill from the last 12 months, the most high-profile heel turns that we all expected to see are still yet to happen.
Remember when Sasha Banks turned on Bayley? Or when Dean Ambrose destroyed The Shield? Or, most recently, when Jason Jordan cost Kurt Angle at Survivor Series? Well, no, because none of those much-anticipated heel turns ever occurred.
With that in mind, and with a whole host of good guys just waiting to turn bad, we predict the next five current WWE Superstars who will turn heel over the next few months.
#1 Bayley
There’s no greater role model for young wrestling fans than Bayley. She achieved her dream of making it to WWE, held the company’s Raw Women’s Championship and, most importantly, she hugs people.
But that, unfortunately for the former NXT Women’s champion, isn’t enough for her to win over older members of the audience, especially men, who have turned against her since she lost the Raw Women’s title in April 2017.
Since then, an unthinkable heel turn has been rumoured on numerous occasions, possibly on her best buddy Sasha Banks, but we’re yet to see it.
The best heel turns happen when we least expect it, and with Bayley set to join up with her fellow Four Horsewomen for a feud against MMA’s Four Horsewomen in 2018, don’t be surprised if we see a significant change to her character once that rivalry is settled sometime after WrestleMania 34.
#2 Randy Orton
Of all the potential heel turns we could see in the next few months, Randy Orton’s inevitable attitude change is the most long-awaited and, judging by comments from the man himself, probably the most wanted.
“The Viper” was born to be a heel but he has been playing a good-guy character ever since he was kicked out of The Authority in the build-up to his WrestleMania 31 match against Seth Rollins.
He has faced almost every heel there is to face on the SmackDown Live roster since the 2016 brand split, so it’s safe to say we’re set to see a more aggressive side to Orton’s persona in the not-too-distant future.
The 13-time WWE champion was recently a guest on Edge & Christian’s Podcast of Awesomeness, where he made his feelings clear regarding the role he is currently playing. “I’m sick of this babyface thing, that’s for sure,” he said.
#3 Dean Ambrose
During The Shield’s original 18-month run on WWE’s main roster, only one member of the three-man group had ‘heel’ written all over him, and that was Dean Ambrose.
The unpredictable former United States champion was, in Ambrose’s own words, the “a**hole” of the trio, and he admitted during a recent Table For 3 episode on the WWE Network that he didn’t know if he would be able to win over fans as a babyface.
In the end, it worked out well. He quickly became one of the most-liked good guys in WWE and his popularity grew to such an extent that he was made WWE champion in June 2016.
However, if recent reports are to be believed, his days as a babyface could be coming to an end. Rumour has it that “The Lunatic Fringe” will turn against Seth Rollins in the next few months, just like Rollins did to Ambrose in 2014, leading to a match between the two at WrestleMania 34.
#4 Jason Jordan
It just has to happen, doesn’t it? Jason Jordan has been an overwhelmingly smiley babyface since joining the Monday Night Raw roster in July and he's become a character that absolutely everybody just loves to hate.
He receives boos every time he enters an arena and the WWE Universe is waiting week after week for him to turn on Kurt Angle – his ‘biological father’ – and reveal that he made up the whole thing so he can receive more opportunities in the company.
If that was his character’s motive, it certainly worked. Jordan has been a constant presence on our screens since his move from SmackDown Live and has faced the likes of Roman Reigns, John Cena, Finn Balor and Kane in high-profile matches.
The more WWE makes fans wait, the better his much-anticipated heel turn will be. Unless, of course, they plan on giving him the Reigns treatment for the next few years. But they wouldn’t do that, would they?
#5 Bobby Roode
When Bobby Roode first joined NXT, he was an energetic crowd-pleaser who would shout the word “glorious!” at the drop of a hat to get a favourable reaction from the audience – just like he’s doing now on SmackDown Live.
However, it didn’t take long for the veteran to show his true colours and he went on to have a successful run as a heel – and as NXT champion – before he was called up to WWE’s main roster in August 2017.
His first few months on SmackDown, dominated by a feud with Dolph Ziggler and the build to Team Blue’s Survivor Series elimination match, haven’t been bad but it’s fair to say he hasn’t exactly set the world alight.
With Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn rumoured to be switching to Raw, a position could open up on SmackDown for a new heel at the top of the card. If that’s the case, WWE needs look no further than “The Glorious One”.
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