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The year 2018 has definitely been the year of shocking heel turns in WWE. Initially starting with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, who shocked the world by turning heel on AJ Styles following his WWE Title loss at WrestleMania 34, the heel turns have just kept on coming.
The likes of Nia Jax, Braun Strowman, Nikki Bella, and even The Big Show, who is somewhat considered as the master of turning face and heel simultaneously, recently also turned heel in 2018 and for the past several decades, the WWE Universe has been continuously treated to several shocking heel turns which took place over the years.
If done right, not only does a heel turn help in turning around a particular superstar's character but also helps the babyfaces get over with the WWE Universe in a unique fashion. That being said, in this article, we'll take an in-depth look at five of the most shocking recent WWE heel turns.
#5. Randy Orton
After a brief hiatus in the early stages of 2018, 13-time World Champion Randy Orton made his return to WWE TV at this year's Extreme Rules pay-per-view and immediately got into a confrontation with Shinsuke Nakamura, who by this point had already cemented his place as a manipulative heel.
Just when it seemed like we were in for yet another stale Randy Orton babyface run upon his return, 'The Viper' struck out of nowhere and hit Nakamura's opponent Jeff Hardy with an RKO, turning heel once again in the process.
Orton's current run as a heel was certainly very surprising and has done wonders for his career, to say the least. 'The Apex Predator', since his return, has made Hardy's career a living hell and speaking of hell, at this year's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, Orton pulled off one of the most sickening acts when he twisted Hardy's earlobe with a screwdriver.
See it for yourself:
Since then, Orton has put out Tye Dillinger out of action and has also shifted his focus towards the returning Rey Mysterio as well.
#4. Becky Lynch
After being screwed out of the SmackDown Women's Championship at this year's SummerSlam pay-per-view, much to the WWE Universe's demand, Becky Lynch finally turned heel on her long-term best friend Charlotte Flair.
Attacking Flair ruthlessly following her win over Lynch and Carmella at SummerSlam, The Irish Lass Kicker quite arguably became the hottest act in all of WWE, as not only did she win the SmackDown Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell. but she also started labelling herself as 'The Man' and proved why she is considered as one of the best in-ring superstars' on the present day WWE roster.
At the inaugural WWE Evolution pay-per-view, Lynch once again stole the show when she successfully defended her SmackDown Women's Title against Charlotte in a Last Woman Standing Match and this past Monday night on Raw, the WWE Universe all around the world witnessed something historic when Lynch along with the SmackDown Women's Division led an all-out invasion.
Lynch, who for the past few weeks has been putting Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey on notice, walked into Rousey's very own show and beat the living hell out of her. The heel turn has surely done wonders for Becky Lynch so far and has turned her into an absolute star.
#3. Johnny Gargano
Shifting focus to NXT now and one of the most interesting storylines that the NXT creative has been building for the past few months: Aleister Black's mystery attacker.
After losing the NXT Championship in shocking fashion to Tommaso Ciampa on the 25 July episode of NXT, thanks to an inadvertent strike from Gargano, Aleister Black was later attacked in a car-park by a mystery assailant and written off television for two months.
This all took place On 8th August 2018 when Black finally got a shot at revenge against Johnny Gargano in singles competition. However, Black would never make the match, with NXT officials finding him unconscious in the parking lot, setting off one of the best WWE mysteries in recent memory.
Due to the attack, not only did Black lose his shot at the NXT Championship but the NXT Universe also became curious as to who the mystery attacker was. After two months off television, Black finally made his televised return on October 17th and quickly discovered that it was in-fact, Johnny Gargano who had attacked him.
Gargano, who till this point was considered as one of the purest babyfaces in WWE history, had turned heel and shocked the entire WWE Universe in the process as well.
2. Daniel Bryan
On this week's episode of WWE SmackDown Live, the unexpected happened when Daniel Bryan of all people turned heel for the first time in years and defeated AJ Styles to become the WWE Champion for the fourth time in his career.
The night initially started with Bryan and Styles arguing over the lack of respect for each other, which eventually lead to a title match between the two as the main event of the evening. The two men had an outstanding back-and-forth match, up until the point when Styles accidentally took out the referee and Bryan, much to the entire Universe's shock, hit 'The Phenomenal One' with a low-blow, followed by a running knee to win the WWE Championship.
Fans around the globe were left stunned, as one of the all-time favorites had cemented his place as the next big heel in WWE and in addition to that, Bryan also now sees himself facing off against the current Universal Champion, 'The Beast' Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.
#1. Dean Ambrose
Could it get any worse and shocking than this one? It's hard to argue with!
On an emotional night for the entire Pro Wrestling industry all around the globe, 'The Lunatic Fringe' Dean Ambrose finally snapped and turned his back on everyone. On 22nd October, 2018, Roman Reigns had announced that his leukemia had returned after 11 years and unfortunately, 'The Big Dog' was forced to relinquish his WWE Universal Title as he began his remission.
Later on in the very same night, Reigns' Shield brethren Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose challenged their arch-rivals Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships, winning the titles eventually in what seemed like the conclusion to one of the most emotional episodes' of Monday Night Raw.
However, there was apparently a lot more to the story, as Rollins and Ambrose celebrated their historic win, the latter finally did the unthinkable and hit 'The Architect' with a Dirty Deeds. A stunned WWE Universe, couldn't believe their eyes and 'The Lunatic Fringe' took out all his frustrations of Rollins and finally turned heel.
