Are we due to see an influx of heel turns?

[rge2010]

Wrestlemania was 6 months ago and since then we have seen a lot of face turns from heels within the WWE. I don't mind WWE 'blurring the lines' and face and heels are not always needed for stories to progress, but wrestlers doing bad things has always entertained me and is very much needed.

There seems to be a distinct lack of heels in the business at the moment. Over the last 6 months the following superstars have changed their characters from bad guys to good guys.

• Big Show
• CM Punk
• Cody Rhodes
• Dolph Ziggler
• Mark Henry
• Tensai

We have also seen the returns of Christian, RVD and sooner or later Rey Mysterio will return to make the mid-main event stacked with fan favourites.

To combat this, there have been a few changes from face to heel.

• Alberto Del Rio
• Ryback

We have also seen the introduction of characters like Curtis Axel, Fandango and The Wyatts.

When you add the popularity of Daniel Bryan, just has now edged out CM Punk as WWE's 'number two guy' and of course Punk turning there really seems to be a distinct lack of top level heels. Sure there is Brock Lesnar but he is only part time, The Shield are floating around but they are now firmly in the mid event and Ryback is booked really bad to get over as a top heel.

Of course Randy Orton is the obvious solution in all this. But I have a feeling there could be a major swerve on the cards as this is far to obvious. With the introduction of Triple H to the Summerslam main event, I would not be surprised to see him turn. And if there was ever a time to turn Cena, it probably is now. Working a programme with Bryan as a face would get both characters over immensley. But of course, this is very unlikely to happen.

I will also add that turning Miz back would really help the situation. I also think Kane will return after his hiatus as the monster we all love.

 

[TempestH]

I think Miz should stay face. While the singles ranks may need a few heels, the tag team division could seriously use a strong face team. Pair Miz up with another underutilized face talent such as Alex Riley, R-Truth, or Zack Ryder could help. As a former WWE Champion, Miz would be strong enough to defeat the Shield, while his low level partner could keep him "in check" and keep the team from becoming too dominant and steamrolling the whole tag division.

I think WWE is expecting the stables to carry most of the load on the heel side. WWE probably thinks that they only need enough available heels to book their World Title matches, and then the rest of their faces can be kept busy by feuding with The Shield or the Wyatt Family.

 

[atkinson1717]

Although I love heel behaviour as well i don't see a need for a lot of turns. If you think about it apart from John Cena every other title is held by a heel. The Shield, ADR, Curtis Axel and even AJ Lee.

There are a lot of potential people who could turn and I would like Randy Orton to turn heel but the usual suspects always creep up. Why not turn Cena heel, why not turn Kofi heel? I would much rather prefer to see guys like Mark Henry turn heel again. This face transition could destroy what he has built over the last 2 years.

I think 1 big heel turn could change everything. Maybe even a heel return by someone.

 

[sjdigitall]

Look to get the combination of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk into legendary status they would need to have The Rock or John Cena to turn heel and work a program with them.

The Rock's hollywood character seems like its a perfect fit at the moment. Can brag about how he is now a big movie star, work when he wants, plus also work off the heat he got when he missed the Raw after mania.

Cena, is unproven yet as a heel but can be just as valuable. Obviously would need a big reason for him to turn heel and that big reason can be Daniel Bryan and how he feels he doesnt deserve to be in his class.

These two heel turns are right now the biggest heel turns that can happen at this point in time in the WWE.

 

[Redemption-2012]

I agree, we have seen many face turns and less heel turns. I would say The Wyatt's are probably the most interesting heels at this point in time along with The Shield and Dean Ambrose is the standout in that group. The guy has awesome mic skills and could becomes the top heel one day. The guys we have as heels currently are Curtis Axel, The Shield, The Wyatt's and maybe soon Randy Orton. If Orton goes heel at Summerslam, I don't think we will see another heel turn for a while.

 

[rge2010]

Look to get the combination of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk into legendary status they would need to have The Rock or John Cena to turn heel and work a program with them.

The Rock's hollywood character seems like its a perfect fit at the moment. Can brag about how he is now a big movie star, work when he wants, plus also work off the heat he got when he missed the Raw after mania.

Cena, is unproven yet as a heel but can be just as valuable. Obviously would need a big reason for him to turn heel and that big reason can be Daniel Bryan and how he feels he doesnt deserve to be in his class.

These two heel turns are right now the biggest heel turns that can happen at this point in time in the WWE.

As much as I love 'Hollywood Rock' it would make absolutely no sense commercially for him to turn heel. Rock as a face is a bigger draw than Rock as a heel. And Rock dissing fans and the WWE could harm him promoting his films through WWE programming. Rock is too big and too much of a legend to be taken seriously as a heel now.

I agree on Cena. He would make a great heel. His character is stale but he is brilliant on the mic and has alot of intensity he could use to portray a great heel. Again though, it all comes down to commercials. Punk and Bryan are both great at what they do, but neither has that 'it factor' to be the face of the company in my opinion.

 

[boozinjedi]

I think there will be a number of heel turns soon, If we've had a good number of face turns recently THEN.... We need new heels for them to battle against.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Randy Orton has to go heel. His face character has run its course and he's great as a heel. I think they're setting up the turn perfectly (cashing in on Bryan). Cena turning heel now would be intriguing. The timing is right with the McMahon power struggle storyline. Maybe he aligns himself with Randy Orton and Vince against Daniel Bryan, Punk and others other something. Cena could easily turn heel at Summer Slam by losing to Daniel Bryan and then "snapping" and helping Orton cash in Money in the Bank on Bryan.

As for others, Punk was a great heel but I think the face or tweener turn is good for now.

Trips - I just can't see it. Vince is the heel in this feud, I can't see how they'd flip it.

The fact is, they do need more top heels right now. Heel Miz, probably isn't a bad thing and what about Christian? Heel Christian might not be a bad option right now.

 

[hatehabsforever]

We don't need a series of heel turns to offset the sudden splurge of face turns. All we need is one heel turn: the heel turn, which if executed properly could be absolutely epic. The question is, does WWE have the balls to try to pull it off? Or are they content to continue the status quo, to keep their cash cow exactly where he is. I realize it's near blasphemy to suggest it, but I think it is time.

 

[Sweettre15]

Sheamus, Christian, Orton and maybe (just maybe) trying their hand at turning Cena heel would do well in keeping the faces champions with viable heels to have programs with. While that is going on, They could build Wade Barrett, Bray Wyatt, R-truth, Damoien Sandow and Miz's credibility as heels for singles competition.

 

[smizzy]

Absolutely not. Consider that Cena and Sheamus, the top face and arguably the number three face, will be missing significant time for the rest of 2013; are we really going to turn the other top faces heel? Who will the kids be able to cheer for? Think about the children!

 

[Mitch Henessey]

With these rumors of Cena taking time off, and Orton holding the Raw MITB briefcase, I think we'll see Orton take the reigns as the top heel in the company. Since CM Punk vacated the top spot of #1 heel, WWE has been struggling to fill that void. Del Rio wasn't up to the challenge, Swagger fucked himself over before Mania 29, Ryback's heel turn was forced, and he never clicked with the fans, and Henry's heel run came to an end after the match with Cena at MITB.

With the WWE Championship around his waist after the cash-in, Orton will be the ideal choice for the top bad guy in the company. And after that happens, WWE won't need a barrage of heel turns, because (and this is assuming Cena takes time off) they'll have a top guy with the top championship in the company as a heel.

And as much as I would love to see it, I think it's about time we get over the possibility of John Cena going heel. Just listen to the promo he cut against Bryan on Monday. Does that sound like a guy, who's preparing to turn heel anytime soon? With Orton, we've had months and months of foreshadowing, and the dropping of little hints leading up to his inevitable heel turn, and Orton winning the Raw MITB briefcase just confirmed a future heel turn, because damn near everyone, who holds the case is either a heel, when they win it, or they turn heel after cashing-in.

So if WWE is going to drop hints for Randy Orton turning heel, I have to believe they'll do the same for Cena. It's not going to be some blindside, out of the blue turn. Plus, let's be honest with ourselves. IF Cena goes heel, you don't think the fans will cheer him more for that? We live in a time, where fans and smarks like to cheer for the bad guys, and if Cena returns to something reminiscent of his Doctor Of Thuganomics character, you know he'll get more cheers than boos, making the heel turn useless in the long run.

Truth be told, last year was probably the perfect time to turn Cena, when he was feuding with The Rock, as Rock went out of his way to really push all of Cena's buttons. But WWE never pulled the trigger. And since then, the perfect opportunity to turn Cena heel has come and gone.

 

[MCMG]

Well lets look at it, the top faces right now are: Cena, Bryan, Punk, Orton, Sheamus (injured) Ziggler, Christian, Rhodes, Kofi The Miz, Rvd, Henry, The Big Show plus part-timers such as HHH, Taker, Jericho and The Rock. There is undoubtably a lot of talent in that group but lets compare that to the heels:

ADR, Barrett, Sandow, Axel, The Shield, The Wyatts, The Real Americans, Ryback, Fandango and Brock Lesnar. That is a serious, serious imbalance. There are some talented superstars that are currently heel but nothing compared to the faces. This comes across on television with Alberto Del Rio being the top heel which is slightly embarrassing.

They will turn Orton, there is no doubt about that, thereafter I'm not sure. The Miz would be my preferred choice but that would be difficult as he seems to be over with the younger audience and is the host of SummerSlam. Sheamus is injured which is slightly annoying but when he returns that could be another option. Ziggler is better as a heel, in my opinion, but having just turned I doubt they would change him back to heel so suddenly.

They need to either a) turn some of the faces so there is a better balance and simply greater quality in the heel department b) Push some of the lesser heels such as Barrett, Ambrose and Wyatt so they are competing at the top of the card.

 

[thenextbigthing]

Truth be told, last year was probably the perfect time to turn Cena, when he was feuding with The Rock, as Rock went out of his way to really push all of Cena's buttons. But WWE never pulled the trigger. And since then, the perfect opportunity to turn Cena heel has come and gone.

I really do agree with this statement, and believe it 100%

I prayed in front of my TV during Wrestlemania this past year that the Rock/Cena three year long feud would culminate in the John Cena heel turn.

It didn't happen.

And it won't happen. Ever.

Too much make a wish, too much merchandise, too much positive publicity and a young fan base to push WWE's popularity into the future to boot.

Turning Cena heel has become even worse for business. And that's what it's all about, folks.

I'd like to add, at one point I was a firm supporter of the Cena heel turn. I thought John Cena the man, the performer, deserved an evolution within his character to keep him challenged and busy for the next leg of his career. Now I'm not so high on it. Why turn Cena heel when he essentially is one already? Cena is both heel and face to two different demographics. When he wrestles heel Ryback in front of 18,000 people, 9,000 of which are screaming children, he's a face. When he wrestles "tweener" CM Punk in front of 18,000 people in Chicago, he's the biggest heel the industry has ever seen. Why change that about the character? By adjusting Cena's character you're throwing away one or the other, either a top face or a top heel on any given night.

To stay on topic. Randy Orton goes heel with his cash in and most likely aligns himself with Vince and Maddox. They run things for a bit, colliding with Trips, Bryan and Punk while Cena takes a bit of time off to heal. As others on the thread have said before, Orton's heel turn will be legitimate enough if handled correctly to "bring balance to the force."

 

[rge2010]

I really do agree with this statement, and believe it 100%

I prayed in front of my TV during Wrestlemania this past year that the Rock/Cena three year long feud would culminate in the John Cena heel turn.

It didn't happen.

And it won't happen. Ever.

I agree with your sentiments but to state 'Ever' is a very bold statement. We all know in the world of professional wrestling anything can happen and all 'good' things come to an end eventually.

Cena will turn one day, I am not one of these obsessed by a turn because I dont hate the guy and understand WWE's decision to keep him face but he will turn one day.

Hogan turned, Austin turned, Vince bought WCW, Bischoff came to Raw, Bret returned, Warrior is returning, etc etc.

A Cena heel turn is small fry compared to some of that.

 

[kadroan]

I think they're fine with the amount of faces and heels they have. They just need to unify the WHC and WWE and US and IC, it's not enough credible superstars to compete for each championship