Austin from heel to face

[cage]

I was thinking how easy it is for a wrestler to turn heel and get cheap heat most can do it (unless they have the charlie hass curse), but turning face is a completely different story, you have to get the crowd behind you, be interesting, and maintain a certain level of interest

Anyway the point of the thread is I had remembered back during the Invasion when Austin turned on the WWF and sided withe WCW, the fans hated Austin and the character he played, for several months (and I think fans were much mores passionate about the product back then). Then all of a sudden after Survivor Series in which WCW lost, the next night on Raw Austin comes out with his heel music, beats up Kurt Agel (who turned and helped WWF win) and Vince and gets and standing ovation.

Is this the fastest heel to face turn around, and could any superstar of today make a seamless jump from heel to face in a matter of hours?

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[The Todd]

Sure you can. All you need to turn face is to beat up the most over heel, as Austin did there. Remember RAW on Monday night? Ted jr seemingly turned face for his match with Orton, because he was fighting the biggest dick on the show. After the match he slapped Ted Sr, turning him back into a heel in the fans eyes. The week before it happened with Henry. It is incredibly easy to get the initial face reaction, it is keeping it the problem. Obviously Austin had no problems at all.

 

[_SCSA_]

i remember that night when austin came down and took back his title, i was cheering ever since he came in, and when he turned his back on the fans and went with vince and the inasion angle, i was still cheering for him (he did it once before when "the old stone cold" came back on raw and stunnered everyone in sight, the crowd went nuts for someone who was a hell last week, i remember when they came to my town and austin was the champ, i was the only one who cheered for him (hes my fav wrestler, gotta support your fav no matter what right?)

another one that comes to mind for face to heel, is john cena, not so much that he turns heel, but one night he could be the most over guy in the arena, the next, the most hated and then right back to being loved again

 

[powerade]

also you seem tobe completely forgetting the fact that Austin was a face before for a long period of time where he was one of the (if not the) most popular wrestler with the company...

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

The reception for Austin here is hardly impressive. I might be the biggest Austin mark on the forum, and I can honestly say that those cheers are far more for Naitch than for SCSA. Austin is tweener, at best, here, as the fans really have no idea whether they should trust him or not. This is clear in their reluctance to cheer for him when he was beating up Angle and Vince.

So, in conclusion...no. This isn't even a heel to face turn...so in no way can it be the fastest in history.

 

[ShowStealer]

austin became a heel after wm17 especially when teamed with hhh he was sick,twisted and psychopathic put after hhh went of and kurt came along austin character tended towards comedy i mean who didnt like austin and cheered for him when he was hugging mcmahon or playing the guitar and even after the invasion austin get booed for a little while but soon get cheers back when he created what plus i think austin especially at that time people would cheer him what ever he did

 

[avi01]

I think Austin was starting to win back part of the fans (so to speak) pretty much before survivor series...I guess after his feud with Angle ended. However, a there is a food portion of the fans that he simply never lost. Besides there was those talks of him jumping ship back to wwf and the smile to Vince before S.Series. Slowly he was winning fans back. Thing is that Austin is Austin, he got the heat as the heel but fans just simply loved him.

Austin at mania 17, beating the hell out of the Rock the next night, beating good ole JR, alliance with HHH, solid feud with Taker and Benoit but after he went for a more comedy side with Angle and Vince. I love it, most fans loved it. Maybe he was booed but fans loved this and simply couldn`t stop laughing. Even in the alliance (minus perhaps the feud vs.Angle around 9-11), he was the heel people loved. It`s not as if the face Austin was some saint.

That being said, like someone mentioned, as per Stone Cold standard, it wasn`t that big of a pop. It was a crazy situation, Ric Flair just bought half of WWF and Austin comes out...bound to get cheered(they didn`t really build up Angle as a face that night).