Best WWE Face/Heel Turns of 2018

It has been a year for heel turns
It has been a year for heel turns

A character turn can be crucial to a professional wrestling career, especially one in the WWE. It could be lead to numerous outcomes and shape the direction of the industry as illustrated by the vast number of turns over the past year.

With the emergence of WWE UK and the prominent rise of WWE NXT, character turns now have increased importance and has put added pressure on the WWE Creative to come up with the goods with the more-than-necessary resources in availability.

The bigger-than-life storylines behind the turns are what captivate the wrestling audience and make them strive for more, and over the past year, WWE have come up with a number of character turns, though some were more successful than others. Here are the best and most successful face and heel turns of 2018 in the WWE:


#1 Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose, turning against his partner Seth Rollins after winning the Raw Tag Team Championship
Dean Ambrose, turning against his partner Seth Rollins after winning the Raw Tag Team Championship

Ever since the return of the Lunatic Fringe, Dean Ambrose, on the Aug. 13, 2018 episode of Raw, there have been constant rumors floating around on Ambrose's impending heel turn. Ambrose was slated to turn heel the previous year itself before a bicep tear put him on the sidelines.

With the Shield back in full force to tackle the dominant-yet-complicated trio of Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, and Dolph Ziggler, WWE Creative regularly teased Ambrose's heel turn. But what made this heel turn all the more sadistic is the time and place.

On the Oct. 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Roman Reigns relinquishing the Universal title due to leukemia had already made it a very intense episode, with the main event involving a Raw Tag Team Championship Match between Ambrose/Rollins and Ziggler/McIntyre. Upon gaining the pinfall to win the championships, Seth Rollins was abruptly and brutally attacked by his former partner, much to the shock of the WWE Universe.

With Dean Ambrose's sadistic on-screen nature and his knack for cutting devilish promos already in full force, WWE Creative has created the best possible opening for Dean, whose career has been stuck in the mid-card level ever since he lost to AJ Styles at TLC 2016. Though the heel turn was brilliant, only time will define its success.

#2 Elias

Elias during one of his segments on Raw
Elias during one of his segments on Raw

Elias has been a great addition to Monday Night Raw, with his segments being one of the most awaited ones. He has portrayed a heel ever since his introduction in 2017 on the night after Wrestlemania.

After Roman Reigns had waved goodbye to the WWE Universe and Dean Ambrose turned heel, there was a dearth in the number of faces on Raw. With the witty segments he put up, there was a sense of a change in the WWE reaction every week which ultimately forced WWE's hand in turning Elias face.

In order to establish Elias, who was a solid performer both on and off the mic, all WWE required was the time and person to turn face on. The emergence of Baron Corbin as a lousy authority figure gave them just that.

On the Oct 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Elias was rudely interrupted by none other than Baron Corbin and was instructed to leave the stage at once. Elias replied with a beating down of the now-General Manager Elect with his beloved guitar.

This has propelled Elias to an upper mid-card player possibly leading up to a role as the leading face in the future. With Corbin at his abusive best, Elias seems to be person enlisted by WWE officials as the one to fill the void left behind by Roman Reigns.

#3 Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura turning heel on AJ Styles at Wrestlemania
Nakamura turning heel on AJ Styles at Wrestlemania

The 2018 Royal Rumble winner, Shinsuke Nakamura had sealed a dream match against then-WWE Champion AJ Styles at Wrestlemania. Despite the officials booking arguably the best performers against each other, it was visibly clear that the on-screen chemistry and promos were lacking. This was due to no room for creativity with both AJ and Nakamura being portrayed as faces at that time.

This changed during the aftermath of their highly anticipated match at Wrestlemania, with Nakamura turning on the Styles with a low blow paving way for fresher storylines between the two.

Despite losing to AJ Styles twice, Nakamura was able to use this break to win the US Championship after beating Jeff Hardy at Extreme Rules. He has managed to hold the title since then and has been able to consolidate his image as "The Face of Nak-America"

#4 Roderick Strong

Strong betraying Dunne and joining the Undisputed Era
Strong betraying Dunne and joining the Undisputed Era

Despite NXT being the feeder for bright talent for the main roster, the storylines are quite intricate and mouth-watering, as indicated by the astonishing heel turn of Roderick Strong.

Strong had always been portrayed as an underdog who would give in everything yet come up short. Bouts with the likes of Andrade Almas always ended with him on the losing end, and it seemed Strong was destined to be a loser.

But destiny had other ideas for him as Strong was slated to partner WWE UK Champion, Pete Dunne in the Dusty Rhodes Classic. In the finals, Strong and Dunne, along with the Authors of Pain, were attacked by the Undisputed Era which resulted in a Triple Threat Tag Team match for the NXT Tag Team Championships at NXT Takeover: New Orleans.

With Adam Cole out of the picture and Dunne knocking out O' Reilly, Strong stunned everyone in the arena by taking out his partner with the End of Heartache and handing the Undisputed Era the win.

While Adam Cole lay on the ground in shock, Strong took Cole's Undisputed Era armband and posed with the trio concluding a very intense and well written storyline. This was one of the best storylines to come out of WWE and has resulted in subsequent success for the group.

#5 Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch during the aftermath of Monday Night Raw
Becky Lynch during the aftermath of Monday Night Raw

How could we forget about the heel turn of arguably the hottest talent in WWE right now?! The Relent-Lass, Becky Lynch, was the first female to be drafted to Smackdown Live during the 2016 Draft and was also the first-ever Smackdown Women's Champion.

Ever since she lost the title to Alexa Bliss later that year, Lynch was stuck in the mid-card. Despite her impressive in-ring talent, Becky Lynch was overlooked in favor of the likes of Carmella, Naomi and recently Charlotte Flair.

After losing to Charlotte at Summerslam, Becky snapped and took her anger upon Charlotte and proclaimed herself to be the best. She backed up her words with a career-defining title win over Charlotte, thus basking in her new-found persona of a Stone-Cold esque character.

With crowd firmly behind her, Becky has become the most-sought after superstar in the WWE after becoming the first female to top the ESPN WWE Power Rankings. Her punishing beatdown of Ronda Rousey reiterated the WWE official's view of Becky Lynch being the new face of the women's division.

With images of a bloody-yet-cocky Lynch instilled into the minds of the WWE audience, WWE would be proud of this heel turn, which will be remembered for a very long time!

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