Greatest Heel Turn of all time and WHY?

[CaptainZaltan]

As soon as I saw the title of the thread, the first answer that popped into my mind was 'Hogan, NWO'. And I hate Hogan. In all fairness though, that turn ushered in the biggest era for WCW.

I would also include Vince Mcmahon becoming Mr. Mcmahon as well. Similarly, that helped to usher in the biggest era for the WWE.

Those might not have been my personal favorite turns, but they were definitely the most significant.

 

[jgregist]

The first heel turn I remember and let's face it you always remember your first, was Barry Windham turning on Lex Luger and joining the Horsemen.

I grew up in Florida watching Championship Wrestling from Florida and was the biggest Windham mark ever and when he gave Luger the larriat I was devastated and had to wait until the following Saturday night to see what happened. I still have that on VHS tape and it has not lost anything to me. This was when I was still young and thought wrestling was real and was just devasted that my hero had joined Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and JJ Dillon.

What most people forget about that night is The Midnight Rider (aka Dusty Rhodes) followed Barry into the bad guy locker room to confront Barry and was attacked by the entire locker room only to be saved by Sting, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and Nikita Kollof. They took the Rider's mask which was huge because if the Rider was shown to be Dusty then Dusty would be fired.

Just a great night, huge turn, and made the Horsemen stronger than ever before.

This led to the first NWA PPV featuring Sting/Nikita vs Tully and Arn, Dusty vs Windham, Flair vs Luger, Midnight Express vs Rock n Roll Express and the Tower of Doom match with The road Warriors, Garvins and Dr Death vs Kevin Sullivan Mike Rotunda, Ivan Kolloff, Al Perez, and The Russian Invader 1.

 

[Azogan v.2.0]

Yeah, im pretty much with everyone else...hands down, Hulk Hogan's heel turn at the Bash. I remember watching his E True Hollywood story years back and him talking about when Eric Bishoff says to him "Hey, how about we make you a heel?", even Hogan was shocked! But Hogan understood the magnitude of this, and i do agree that it changed everything. I can never really remember watching WCW before that, but i was like everyone else at that time, (and i was in elementary school) i had to watch Nitro the next night to 1.) Believe it 2.) See how Hogan would look 3.)BELIEVE IT! But it was indeed true, and the trash and the boo only solidified it. I remember feeling bad for Mean Gene in the ring. It was just something that you never saw happening, and even though i was a WWF guy, the NWO was cool, seeing Hogan just go against everything he had been preaching to his for years was cool,it was just well done, and i honestly think something that WCW HAD THE BALLS TO DO. Because let's face it, WWF, WWE, and Vince WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE SO! (They would later try with Austin, and all though i enjoyed his heel run, you found yourself laughing at Austin, rather then hating him, he was just comedic gold during that time with the hugging and the "WHAT" and he and Kurt Angle's back and forth, but we could all agree it just wasn't believable)

But my second would be one i feel propelled the career of a certain game, that NO ONE is talking about, and i watched this live and I WAS SHOCKED! What am i talking about? WrestleMania 15 anyone? X-Pac vs. Shave McMahon for the European title, i mean the build-up was great, and EVERYONE wanted the see the boss's son get his ass kicked. X-Pac seemingly overcoming all the odds of the corporation finally gets some help from his D-X mate, Triple H, and then boom...Pedigree! DX was still going strong back then, and when that happened, I WAS SHOCKED! Didnt see that one coming at all. Of course, this was ultimately the beginning of Triple H's true rise as a dominant heel and a main event star in the WWE. He was HBK's bitch, he wasnt the crowd pleaser, he was "The Game" and months later, he defeated Mankind to win the WWF title. And look at what his career turned into. Looks like me and The UNCARING_1 are only showing this heel turn some love!

It certainly is not the greatest, but i was surprised that no one mentioned this, probably because he has turned back and forth so many times now, but i remember watching WM15 live and thinking "That's going to change everything."

 

[Max Cheeba]

Whats up guys, new to the forums but have been reading for a while.

My favorite heel turn of all time is when Stephanie turned on Vince i forgot the PPV but it was Vince vs HHH in a street fight during the whole Test/marriage angle. It was so cool because Vince was the face at the time and it was awesome to see Stephanie grab the sledgehammer. It kicked off a pretty good run for Steph/HHH.

 

[Very_Silver_Owns]

I agree Hogan changed the entire industry with just one heel turn and it was so real because he betrayed the WWE who made everything he was...but medium term was great for him

 

[jsewell17]

By IMPACT alone, there probably was never and probably will never be another heel turn as special as Hogan's...the only problem is, Hogan is now just as popular as he was BEFORE the heel turn. As with most heel turns, they almost ALWAYS come back to face(usually shortly after). Every heel turn being mentioned - Hogan, HHH, The Rock, Michaels, Stone Cold - are arguably the 5 BIGGEST FACES EVER, including NOW. To me what makes a great heel turn is one that forever changes the complete character of a wrestler. With that being said, although it probably isn't considered a "heel" turn, the best turn by a wrestler was in 1996 when the man known as Sting "turned" on WCW and declared himself a free agent. He went from the spiked blond hair and colorful paint, to the long dark hair and black and white paint. That turn changed his persona into the one he STILL uses today - 14 years later. Even Hogan went back to the yellow and red.

 

[triplehd]

I think Hogan's heel turn was the greatest heel turn in the 90's, but what about Andre's heel turn in the 80's? I mean, this was waaay before the internet age which forced ya to tune in week by week to see what was going on - you know, the good ol' days of developing storylines unlike today. There was no Wrestlezone or any other wrestling websites to figure out what was going on, etc.

I remember watching Piper's Pit that Saturday morning (i was around 12) and it was sooo believable, i was calling up everyone.

 

[FutureChamp328]

Among all of the amazing hell turns over the years I have to say that the best one has to be Hogan coming out as the third member of the nWo. Just because of the reaction that it cause throughout the wrestling world it was huge. I mean here is Hulk Hogan, the ultimate face, hero of children, eat your vitamins and say your prayers, the whole deal and he comes out to fight the Outsiders who were "invading" WCW from the WWE and instead of fighting them he joins them and turns his back on WCW. People were literally heartbroken over this. I was only a little kid at the time and I'm still scarred from that (lol not really). It just had such a big impact on so many aspects of the business that you really can't argue any other way.

btw great thread man

 

[bringitback]

On paper, Hogans turn was the biggest and will never be surpassed in terms of what actually came from it. Unfortunately in reality, Bobby Heenan botched the whole thing by telling everybody as he was walking down the aisle what was going to happen.

Harts America only heel turn was a stroke of genius, both business wise and creatively but wasnt particularly ground breaking and Hart never looked or acted like he WANTED to be a heel, he was (and still is) too much of a mark for himself to have carried it off as well as he probably should have.

The Stone Cold turn was inevetible and shocking but it made no sense whatsoever...and despite the humour involved, it was painful to see Austins character devolve into what it did and quite frankly became ridiculous.

So for me, I will go with the HBK heel turn on Jannety as it was carried off very well with a great promo and was the starting point of perhaps the greatest solo career out of anybody in the history of wwe.

 

[tazz13]

Owen Hart's heel turn on Bret at Royal Rumble 94 was exellent. I've always thought Owen was one of the best heels out there.

 

[Armeniac]

Andre's turn on Hogan was crushing as child. He was a good natured giant, man I couldn't beleive it when he sold out and went with Heenan. That's my personal fave turn, followed by Jericho in 08' and Punk's heel turn has been great. I suppose Hogan's turn had the biggest impact, but Andre broke my heart man!!

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

In recent memory both Jericho & Punk were fantastic buy in the long term I'll go with Owen Hart because it elevated him as well as changed his character. I mean he was the only wrestler to be eliminated on bret's team at Survivor Series 93 and went on to wrestle for the WWE Championship throughout the summer of 94 and beyond.

 

[ice82683]

As mentioned, Andre turning on Hulk really did it for me as a child. Seeing Andre come out with the weasle, the look on hulk's face, and then to see Andre rip his shirt and cross off was heartbreaking.

Macho Man turning on Hogan at Saturday night's main event when hogan left to take liz to the back for medical treatment after randy was thrown onto her, and then when hogan returned Macho slapped hogan in the face, was pretty shocking at the time too.

 

[jkenyon81]

a heel turn that blew my mind back in early nineties that actually had a pretty big impact on wrestling was Tatanka turning on Lex Luger. They took the uber american Tatanka, made EVERYONE believe that Lex was going to turn on the U.S. by being bought out by Million Dollar man, but in the end Tatanka was the one and he joined the Million Dollar Corporation.
It was one of my favorite moments of the early Raw years.

 

[8thwotwATG]

This particular heel turn that I'm about to bring up was mentioned earlier in this thread, but I think it is worth bringing up again if for no other reason than it made the man who turned into a MUCH bigger star than he had ever been.
Zybysko's turn on Sammartino was probably the best thing that ever happened to him, for before that he was a decent, if fairly nondescript face that had won a tag championship w/Tony Garea. After he turned, he became, and remained a very reliable generator of fan heat no matter where he went after that. I dare say that his career would have floundered at least a little bit if he had not turned heel. The rub he got from the betrayel of Sammartino has stayed with him since, I believe he's still calling himself "The Living Legend". So while this is not the single most impactful turn in the history of the business, I believe that this turn was important in that it gave us one of the most memorable heels the business has ever seen.

 

[Canadian Knight]

I think Hogan is because in all his time in the WWE (WWF at the time of course) he was a good guy. At least from what I remember. When he went to WCW and turned heel did we expect that? Nope. When he turned heel it brought WCW up to not only great heights, but to equal the WWF when they were going head to head. It took people like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to the spotlight (as well as X-Pac) The heel also gave revitalization to Hogan (and some of the other older wrestlers like Savage).

 

[Jeff]

The Hogan heel turn has to be the biggest one for all the reasons stated before.

I really liked Austins heel turn at WrestleMania just because I have good memories with that. At the time I use to read the rumor websites like I do now and NOBODY was reporting this. I mean NOBODY! A buddy of mind told me Austin was turning heel and I did not believe it. I told him Austin is the biggest face in the WWF no way they will turn him and a month later at WrestleMania BAM heel turn. It was awesome.

One I have not heard as well was Lita's heel turn and teaming with Edge. I think this turn was great just because of how real it was. The fans HATED Lita for cheating on Matt Hardy which eventually lead to the real life firing of Matt Hardy. This lead for the fans to revolt and argue and demand Matt back on TV. WWE rehired Matt and created a Edge/Matt fued. At the time it was HUGE. I loved it. Too bad it didn't bring Matt to the Main Event picture it should of.

 

[goodlay]

The best heel turn of all time hands down is Hogan giving the leg drop to Savage and joining Hall/Nash to form the NWO. No one could have predicted that, it was such a shock. So much so, that Mean Gene's nose was broken from all the trash that was thrown into the ring during the post match interview. Imagine John Cena doing something like that today, but magnify it times 100. Cena's a big icon, but Hogan is the biggest draw the wrestling business has ever seen.

Some other favorites though include Jericho smashing HBK's head into the TV monitor in 08 and Punk cashing in his MITB on Hardy and ushering in the Straight Edge Savior that we know today.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Other than the obvious Hogan heel turn being the best, Im picking Jake the Snake Roberts heel turn.

Roberts was a huge face for a while back in the mid 80's till about summer of 91'. It all started when the Warrior came to him for help beating the Undertaker. Roberts put Warrior through three tests and if the Warrior passed then he would be ready to beat the Undertaker. On the final test, the Warrior had to walk through a room of snakes and open a chest that has the answer! As Warrior opened the chest he was bitten by a king cobra snake. As Warrior was selling the snake bite Undertaker and Paul Bearer came out and joined Roberts showing they are in on it all along. The heel turn there then set up the huge feud with Macho Man, as Roberts sent Macho and Elizabeth a present for there wedding, as she opened it there was a snake inside, this started a bunch of promos of with Roberts going after Savage, knowing he couldn't do anything because of the retirement angle Savage had. After a series of promos Roberts got Savage to come to the ring and ended up attacking him and tying him to the ropes and pulling out a real cobra, and have it bite him, of course it didnt have any venom, but seeing this as a kid was scary stuff. This led to Savage getting reinstated to be able to finally have a match with Roberts.
I know it wasnt as huge as others for a heel turn but, its one of those Ill never forget just for they way Jake was so over as a face, and was one of my favorites as a kid so to see him go heel was a shocker to me.

 

[rko_sucka]

Whats up guys, new to the forums but have been reading for a while.

My favorite heel turn of all time is when Stephanie turned on Vince i forgot the PPV but it was Vince vs HHH in a street fight during the whole Test/marriage angle. It was so cool because Vince was the face at the time and it was awesome to see Stephanie grab the sledgehammer. It kicked off a pretty good run for Steph/HHH.

Armageddon 99. Good shout. Had a nice set up with the whole Triple H drugging and marrying her. Then it is very well executed with Steph running in taking the hammer from Vince cos she wants to do it herself, she cant bring herself to do it, Trips recoveres and takes out Vince, then its the priceless change of expression from Steph from concern to an evil smile that cements it, J.R. also and his Whys? also add to it.

Furthermore it isnt just a random turn she could justify it by Vince's action's earlier that year in allowing Take to Kidnap her. It also as you said lead to the great dominant run the pair had for the next year or so. It also leads to Steph's character being developed for her later roles in the Invasion and as Smackdown GM.

Hogan's turn is more shocking for what it was than how it was executed. Its easy to say now but he doesnt come to the ring in a very face like manner furthermore the legdrop isnt really a great move to turn with cos it can be seen coming. Also the commentary is a bit weak. Leads to something great and was shocking but as for the turn itself when you look back its good but could have been better.