How would you turn a face into a heel?

[CM Steel]

With the now fully fledged heel turn of straight edge superstar and WWE champion CM Punk. Due to the fact that CM Punk feels that he's not getting any R-E-S-P-E-C-T from the WWE universe. That seems to be the key word inserted into the heel turn. But shouldn't the WWE be tired of using the old heel turn storyline? Like at the end of 2001 going into 2002 with the Undertaker's monster heel turn! When Taker felted like he wasn't getting any respect from the then-WWF fans and the WWF locker room.

So we saw the Undertaker destory the entire hardcore division, and then win another WWE championship over Hulk Hogan. So really is the "respect" heel turn played out by now? Because it should be in my opinion. And it should stop with CM Punk as the last wrestler to do so. But with now CM Punk partnered with Paul Heyman for this "angle" that we've been hearing about. It could very well be the last time.

But really, how would you turn a face into a heel?

 

[yellowdog22]

1. Guilty By Association - Surround yourself with people who others don't like.

2. Be Dishonest - Tell lies to the people, fail to acknowledge the truth, take short-cuts instead of counting on your God-Given Talent. Disregard what the video replay showed and live in your own world.

3. Don't Try To Be Cool - Do your best to avoid what made you popular to begin with. (move-set, catch-phrases, clothes)

4. Mock The Fans, Their Hometown, Cheap Heat.

5. Show Your Ass - Let the baby faces get under your skin. Let the fans know that someone is fighting for them by getting your ass kicked.

6. Exhibit undesirable traits - Treat women poorly, go back on your word, fail to keep your promises

7. Cater your attacks to who you are in a feud with, adjust accordingly.

8. Don't be afraid to be hated.

 

[Ethelion]

How would you turn a face into a heel?

Easy. Make that face jump on a more over face, with the latest example being CM Punk jumping on The Rock on Raw 1000 with a surprise Clothesline, followed by his Go to Sleep. Nobody saw it coming, especially to The Rock, which made Punk's turn effective, at least to the women and kids (face it, this is the PG Era we're talking about, so the smart fans, especially Chicago, would still cheer Punk no matter what). But for more examples, you have Eddie Guerrero attacking Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton giving Stacy Kiebler the RKO out of nowhere, both of which happened in 2005, and Batista aligning himself with Mr. McMahon, inserting himself in the WWE Championship Picture and despicably defeating John Cena in 2010. Eddie, Orton and Batista did the unexpected, easily gaining heat for themselves.

 

[xXxTheDevilGodxXx]

I've always been rather fond of the "Turn on your best friend" heel turn myself. We saw both Triple H and Shawn Michaels pull that card at one point or another, and look where it got them as heel wrestlers? Personally, that's my favorite type of heel turn and that's how I would go about it. I rather liked CM Punk's heel turn when he assaulted The Rock because that wasn't something that I necessarily expected. You don't see many heel turns go about that way. Matt Hardy's heel turn against Jeff Hardy a few years back was pretty good too. At least, I thought so, granted it was predictable.

Or you could be like Edge. Go heel because you don't feel as though your getting what you deserve. Insult the crowd, attack legends, walk out on your tag team partner. It's a very good way to bring a mid-carder up a level, as we saw with Edge. A push like that can work with just the right person, so I guess it really depends on how well someone can draw heat.

That's how I would turn someone heel. Instead of building it up, just do it. Sometimes I build up is cool, especially if its someone that you really want to see as a heel, but I would prefer just to see it happen all of a sudden. Edge wasn't fully heel until he attacked Shawn Michaels at Taboo Tuesday and Triple H's heel turn when he turned on Shawn Michaels kind of surprised me. But that's just my opinion.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I've always liked the "If you can't beat them, cheat" approach. Match the face up against another face (or another heel if you want to do a double turn). Put them in a long match where the face you want to turn just can't seem to beat the other and starts to get frustrated. Have him turn dirty right at the very end, by nailing the other guy with the belt or pulling the referee into the other guy's move...something obviously heelish, and let him win that way.

Then have him react negatively to the crowd booing as if he's shocked that the crowd would turn against him.

Nice and simple.

But honestly, I think there's a lot of good approaches. Some just happen naturally, like people cheering for Austin. You just have to go with the flow. It's much tougher to force. The key is not overuse the different approaches. For instance, there was a period a while back during the Evolution days where heel turn/face turns were always because of one friend turning on the other. Gotta keep shaking it up.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

If I were booking - I'd have CM PUNK and Lesnar as part of the Heyman Faction. Wrestlers that are trying to get RESPECT from the WWE universe. I'd avoid having them trying to take over and run WWE corporate (like that moronic EWCW storyline). I would introduce a 3rd member (maybe Daniel Bryan) after Survivor Series, and have all three go on to be prosperous main eventers between November and WRESTLEMANIA 29, in the sense that at WM 29, CM PUNK is in a match defending or challenging for the WWE title, and have DB challenge for the World Heavyweight title at WM29 too. Have Lesnar challenging the STREAK. A month before WM29, the Raw after NO WAY OUT maybe, I'd like to see Heyman come out and say that a FOURTH member will be added to the stable, and they will call upon them when Heyman sees fit. And in the Main Event of WM29, Lesnar V Taker - I'd have the match so that Lesnar has given everything he has to end the streak, but just cannot do it. Then, just as the Undertake has finished and hit his tombstone; there is the fourth wrestler to join the Heyman group, who runs out and hits his finished on Taker and then Lesnar F5's the Undertaker three times, and covers the deadman for the 1-2-3. And ends the Streak. DB, Punk all run out to celebrate with Lesnar and Heyman, they all turn and look at the Fourth guy - and then walk over and embrace him and thank him and welcome him to the group. Who is it I speak of? JOHN CENA!

Thoughts?

 

[The Sh4dy Legend Killer]

i always liked the bash at the beach hogan turn in mid match where you think he is coming to save the day and then bam he swerves us .....

this how i think cena should do it ....come out to help someone and then bam just flips and gives something like i tried staying by the fans and bLAH BLAH BLAH ....have him turn on orton or something for it to be his 1st heel feud be with orton they respect each other and they have had battles

this time they will be on opposite sides and have cena play the coward a few times then only the match he becomes vicious

 

[Mustang Sally]

Make that face jump on a more over face

Yes. These face turns are always driven by interaction between performers, right? There are numerous ways to accomplish them but they almost always involve guys/gals becoming allies (or enemies) with someone else. The right kind of chemistry between performers is important, but a lot can be done within those guidelines.

If you want to turn a popular face into a heel, have him turn on another face. It's got to be someone the fans care about or no one will notice.....or at least deem it important enough a betrayal to bring the face change. But C.M. Punk doing dirt to John Cena is enough to convince us he's changed his ways, even after all the "voice of the voiceless" garbage. The two of them have essentially stayed out of each other's way until recently. Punk's changing the dynamic between them has him well on the way to a heel persona.

Conversely, bad guys go good the same way. As always, I point to Drew McIntyre. If management finally wanted to make him a good guy, after all this time of being bad, they could have him save Sheamus, if the hooligan was in truly bad trouble and looking as if there was no way out of it. A heroic run-in is all it would take. Sheamus is popular enough that people would care about the change.....plus, there's enough real-life history between the two that "real" fans could buy it.

Betrayals and unexpected saves are an integral part of pro wrestling. They're a time-tested way of getting the job done, often with people you'd never expect to see them from.

 

[xavyer]

Great thread, in this case, John Cena would be the perfect example, he keeps getting booed by the fans over and over, and i think that the WWE has the oportunuty to shock the world,, someone said that the way to turn a face into a heel is to turn on another face, or a bigger face, that gave me an idea, i don't know what people would think, i remember someone mentioning that the Undertaker might participate at Survivor Series, here's how i would surprise everyone, at NOC, Cena is about to beat CM Punk, and as he's about to tap out, Heyman distracts the referee, and when Cena is about to push Heyman out of the way, Brock Lesnar gets to the ring through the crowd and dismatle Cena, and CM Punk is starting to join him, and all of a sudden the lights go out, and when they come back, the Undertaker appears and beat the living hell out on Punk and Lesnar, and the next night on RAW, Cena goes to the ring, and thanks Taker for helipng him, turn his attention on Punk and Lesnar, then Heyman shows up to the ring and start talking trash to Cena, and challenge him to find a partner so he can fight Lesnar and Punk, and again, the lights go out, the bells ring and the Undertaker shows up and Heyman starts to talk about how Taker never could defeat Lesnar, houw Lesnar broke his arm and stuff, and volunteer to be Cena's partner at Survivor Series, and it's oficial, then at SS,after a long hard fought battle, Cena is in the ring as the legal man, and about to pin someone, and the other breacks the count, and everyone hits the ring, this turns into a massacre, and then as the Undertaker is about to hit someone with a chair or hit someone in the face with a big boot, he ducks and hit Cena and cost him the match, Punk and Lesnar win and leave the ring, and then the Undertaker goes to help Cena get up, and out of nowere Cena hits the Undertaker with the AA, and then goes crazy and beat the hell out of the Undertaker, and then grabs the mic and tells everyone that he's sick and tired to work his butt of for everyone and gets booed in return, and he never gets any gratitude, and how to top it off, the Undertaker "screwed" him out of this match, and right there, he says something how he's ending the Undertaker's streak at Wrestlemania........

 

[BarryHorowitzfanclub]

If I were booking ... Then, just as the Undertake has finished and hit his tombstone; there is the fourth wrestler to join the Heyman group, who runs out and hits his finished on Taker and then Lesnar F5's the Undertaker three times, and covers the deadman for the 1-2-3. And ends the Streak. DB, Punk all run out to celebrate with Lesnar and Heyman, they all turn and look at the Fourth guy - and then walk over and embrace him and thank him and welcome him to the group. Who is it I speak of? JOHN CENA!

Thoughts?

Man....that would be a ballzy move. Refreshing and entertaining. Something to be talked about for decades. Two reason it won't happen: they revere "the streak" and Cena is a cash cow. I'm pretty sold on UT will never lose. And Cena won't turn for a long, long time.

But, that is the way to do it, especially for a superface like Cena. He can't just superkick someone through a window, or leave a tag team partner hanging. It would have to be huge.

 

[IHW]

Quit. Then, later in the night return and jump the current face champion. The face champion, I.E Sheamus, has to be over right? Boom you have attacked an extremely over Superstar and lied to the fans in one night. That would work. Or, maybe you could beat up Hornswoggle. That always works.

The best Face-Heel turn in recent years is Daniel Bryan. His was nice and slow. New question to the thread- What is the best Face-Heel turn in WWE's history?

 

[jeritroll94]

Interesting thread here. I personally love the betrayals and the deal with "satan" heel turns. Most of Triple H's heel turns or ways to get more heat were from betraying a friend e.g. X-Pac in 1999 and HBK in 2002. The Triple H/HBK feud is in my fav 5 of all time feuds. Other good mentions of heel turns from betrayal are Paul Heyman screwing Lesnar at Survivor Series 2002, HBK attacking Hogan in 2005 and Eddie Guerrero attacking Mysterio in 05 as well.

The deal with "satan" heel turns also work well too. Austin's at WM17 was the perfect example of this. It's a great way to get heat and Austin did a great job at getting the crowd to hate him. I also like The Rock's heel turn joining the corporation as well. It really helps build a strong heel and CM Punk joining Paul Heyman will only help generate more heat from the PG fans but of course there are those traditional fans (inc. myself) who will still cheer CM Punk because of what he represents in the wrestling world. Will be interesting to see how far Punk's heel turn goes here.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

What is the best Face-Heel turn in WWE's history?

Going from face to heel?

I've always been a fan of:
1. Andre the Giant turning heel, aligning himself with Bobby Heanen
2. Not WWE - but Hogans NWO heel turn is a classic
3. Bret Hart's slow turn into heel in his feud with Austin

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I also like The Rock's heel turn joining the corporation as well.

Yes, I forgot about this one.
This is one of my favourite heel turns.

Mainly because I love The Rock as the heel Corporate Champion, I thought it was his most entertaining work.

But Survivor Series 1998, the kayfabe screwjob, The Rock, the people's champ aligning with the Corporation when the entire time everyone thought Foley was the Corporate one.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Best Face to heel turn was Andre turning on Hogan, but a very close runner up was Randy Savage turning on Hogan in the run-up to WrestleMania V. You saw it coming but the way that it played out, with Liz being the focal point, was pulled off very well. It showed that even when the audience knows what's going to happen, it's worth it to play out the story.

 

[IHW]

The Jeri-Troll Face-Heel-Face turn recently was great. Chris Jericho came back and seemed to be what everyone wanted to see; Y2J. Then, after weeks of trolling us all, he went back to his 2008 heelish ways. After a great feud with CM Punk, then a lack-luster heel run, he returned to a face and left again. Jeri-Troll at its best.