Worst face turn in WWE history

[Hazardous]

so on the Heels of last nights Edge and Jericho being added to Team Cena, with the status of Face/Heel still up in the air, i got to thinking.. what was the WORST face turn in WWE history. someone who was SO good as a Heel, and the face turn was pointless and only hurt them. now there are many.. as Vince has screwed the Pooch on this one a lot..

one that sticks out to me is The Great Khali. as a heel, he was GREAT, beat up everyone. no one could stop him. now with this face turn, he loses to... Ziggler? really??

Also one that pissed me off was when Undertaker was "Big Evil" was one of the best Heels IMO, and then they turned him face.. and he started losing more and more, and getting screwed in matches more and more, as far as to losing to Vince Mcmahon in a Buried Alive match.

so what do you think was the worst Face turn?

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

well, maybe not the worst, but I think MVP...he was like 2nd best on Smackdown...had a long US title run...some good feuds and he could easily have been a heel world champion..His face turn has let him down..

Other mention...JoMo, he was also a good heel especially with Melina..his fce turn isn't all that bad...but his heel run was better!!

 

[harrythem]

Randy Orton's face turn in 2004. The guy just wasn't likeable at all and made to look like a complete tool as soon as he turned. I still dont buy him as a face now, he's just someone that was born to be hated.

 

[SpoodBeest]

Well a pretty recent face turn that happened didn't work out that well at all. That face run i'm talking about of course was Edge's face run when he returned at the Royal Rumble. I think the problems with it were as follows: First off he had been heel since 2004, a wrestler that the fans loved to hate. He played his part perfectly that a lot of us fans couldn't really seem him kicking off all that well as a face.

So when Edge would cut his first intial promos as a face, the crowd would boo him because they were so used to the evil, conniving Edge we had seen for the better part of five years. i also think Edge himself was also so used to being a heel, that when it came to cutting crowd pleasing promos, he just couldn't do it. I actually think I cringed at a few of his awful face promos, and to tell you the truth I don't think there was ever one single promo he did as a face that was at the least bit good, all were very mediocre.

I understand the WWE wanted to give us the Edge vs. Jericho match at Mania, that a lot of us wanted and i'm happy they did as I thought it was one of best matches of the night, but Edge's work as a face was very lame, the man in this stage in his career is set to be a heel until retirement after that disaster. Also how could I forget his very infamous "SPEAR SPEAR SPEAR" catchphrase my god that was horrible and not well thought out or creative in anyway. It was laughable because it was so pathetic not because it was clever or funny. One of the worst recent face turn attempts in my book.

 

[RT]

In my opinion MVP was the worst face turn in WWE he was a key component on Smackdown when he was a heel and could have possibly been a good World Champion. I personally took him more seriously when he was a heel but now as a face i only see him as a mid carder and nothing more than that.

MVP was one of the longest reigning US Champions in WWE and he accomlished more as being a heel so in my mind MVP face turn was the worst in WWE so far.

 

[Xemmy]

Jesus, there are alot of names to put on this list.

In the last couple of years or so we have....

MVP, Khali, Morrison, Edge, and others I can't think of.

It's not so much that all of these guys are bad as faces, it's that the E isn't using them properly. By all respect Morrison, Edge, and MVP were/are over with the crowd. But it lowered their bar. MVP was THE midcard heel for Smackdown. And Morrison was just.....great. And alot better on the Mic as heel. Edge's face run would have done well if not for his move to Raw....which was stupid.

 

[Jimmy King]

I think the face turn that have reaped the worst consequences is...Hornswoggle. Little bastard was way better. Of course people want to say Cena as he got really old. However, that's just beating a dead horse.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I'm going to go way back, old school style because I absolutely LOVE old school wrestling...The worse face turn in the WWF/E's history HAS to be when Pat Patterson turned face.

I understand the logic behind it, but Pat was a vicious heel, especially when he was in San Fran (no you-know-what jokes either). When he teamed up with Ray Stevens in the AWA they were awesome and truly ahead of their time.

The matches he had with Bob Backlund were classic NOT because of Bob but because Pat was just a tough son of a bitch. It just seemed that when he turned face, right around the early part of the 1980s that it didn't seem right. He seemed a bit stuffy along side a very young announcer named Vince McMahon. His boot camp match with Sgt. Slaughter was incredible but other than that, he didn't really offer too much as a face.

My #2 WORSE face turn is Nikolai Volkoff, especially when he started wearing the USSR/USA combo ring jackets. OMG the fact that he started out as a monster heel as one of the Mongrol then became a monster heel as the WWWF's answer to the NWA's Ivan Koloff (and later Nikita Koloff) was superb. Joining with The Iron Sheik got him instant heat wherever they went but again, when Vince (or whomever decided it'd serve him best to turn face) went for the switch, it really dimished his appeal as a heel. I know his style was becoming outdated and the Cold War had since ended but still, it sucked nonetheless.

 

[fenfool]

The actual moment of a face turn, no really bad ones come to mind. Face turns tend to be more gradual than single moments, it seems. Overall, Edge's last couple of attempts to be a face were awful. When Jericho returned, after all the 'figure out the code' vignettes, and he came back with the jeans and the wallet chain...that was poor.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

There are so many. Nikita Koloff, Don Muraco, Kevin Sullivan, Goldust, One Man Gang/Akeem, Jake the Snake, the Hart Foundation (the original); the list goes on. Recently though, I have to agree with Edge (spear, spear, spear); it was just too lame. I was really glad he went back to heel.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

There are so many. Nikita Koloff, Don Muraco, Kevin Sullivan, Goldust, One Man Gang/Akeem, Jake the Snake, the Hart Foundation (the original); the list goes on. Recently though, I have to agree with Edge (spear, spear, spear); it was just too lame. I was really glad he went back to heel.

Kevin Sullivan never worked in the WWF at a time when he was a heel. Nikita Koloff never worked in the WWF ever. One Man Gang/Akeem didn't turn face in the WWF at all. The post was for worst fan turns in WWF/E history. I agree that Koloff was one of the worse the NWA did but I understand the logic behind it but I have always said that Koloff was a much better heel.

Now, if you want to say that Lex Luger's 2nd stint in the WWF was a bad face turn, then I'll agree. Luger wasn't a great heel during his 1st go round, but the Lex Express bombed big time. I don't believe Vince had enough faith in Lex and probably saw how he wasn't drawing in the NWA/WCW even when he was their World Champion. It wasn't so much of a face turn as it was Lex once again switching up every other year (i.e. 1986 tweener in Fl.; 1987 heel; 1988 face; 1989 heel; 1990 face; 1991-1992 heel; 1993-1994 face, etc etc). Luger wasn't bad persay, he just had bad booking, especially in the WWF and especially against Yokozuna. Oh well...

 

[Morpheus101]

I've been (religiously) watching WWF/WWE since the late 90's, so that's about as far as I can go back. I would say the worst face turn I've seen would have to be Randy Orton's first face turn back in '04. He simply wasn't ready back then and hadn't won the crowd over as a heel. If anything, it probably should have been Batista as the first face turn from the Evolution group, allowing Orton to continue as a heel. I don't blame Orton himself....rather WWE. He had really crappy entrance music back then and a silly haircut. The Randy Orton of 2010 is a very different animal though and has come a long, long way since the awkward face character of 2004, which quite frankly bored me silly.

 

[Yarrie]

I find the turning from face to heel back to face painful anyway. But the worst face turn is Edge. He is the best bad guy ever, he has punch face, as soon as you see him you want to punch him, it is great. Orton is another one, he can't be face either, he is too slimy. We have enough goody goods without turning our really villianous heels good.

 

[ReneO93]

Vladimir Koslov? Nah, he wasn't very over as a heel to begin with
Eric Escobar? No, no one cared for him
Great Khali? Oh yes

 

[Sonics Garage]

The worst one I can think of is Orton's, like some have mentioned. Smarks just started cheering for him because he was the cool heel but his face turn was bad. It wasn't believable. It's also one of the worst ones because it did stall his career for a while.

The worst face/heel turn was Rikishi though.

 

[Glen Zariczny]

A lot of people on here complaining about Morrison's turn as a face. I agree, but they had decided that the tag team of Miz and Morrison had run its course, (the lack of a push for great tag teams anymore could be a whole other message thread) but anyways... at that point they had to make a decision on who would turn face, and in that respect I dont know if anyone would argue the correct decision was made, because god forbid if a day comes where The Miz turns face, you guys could name whoever, but that would be THE WORST ever. He's gotta be one of the best heels I've seen in 10+ years

 

[772Attitude]

The worst face turn by far was Mark Henry. I mean back in 2006 he was the top heel, no body could touch him. He went on a impressive path of destruction taking out Batista, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and lets not forget The Undertaker. In 2007-2008 he beat up on Kane for fun daily. He was the king of the Smackdown jungle, the self proclaimed Silverback.

Now lets look at him today as a face, when was the last time he won a damn match? all you need to do is hit him with a DDT and you automatically beat him. He needs to change his theme music now cause it doesn't fit him at all anymore. They turned him into a big freaking teddy bear. Mark Henry went from a Gorilla to a soft boy

 

[LongLiveTheStreak]

Great Khali's face turn could not be any worse. As a heel Khali intimidating, dominating. Now he is losing to men who in 2007, he would have flattened with one blow. I can't buy a 7'2, 420 lb giant as a jobber.

But face turns can be good thing to. Although you all may not hate all baby face wrestlers, it seems that most on this forum are pro-heel. But lets give the faces some credit too. For me the best face turn was Triple H actually going through with reforming DX with HBK in 2006. They did some crazy and funny shit to the McMahons during that run.

 

[MMK]

Randy Orton's face turn in 2004. The guy just wasn't likeable at all and made to look like a complete tool as soon as he turned.

I totally agree. That is my pick as well. It was obviously a bad decision as they changed him back to a heel to feud with Undertaker only a few months later. Evolution had a good thing going and they ended way too quick.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

JBL's (very brief) face turn before a Survivor Series (the year alludes me) match.

He is in the ring cutting a promo on the heels of Raw, saying stuff like ' Respect will be taught', Chris Master is an orangutan (yup ORANGUTAN!!); all the while, the crowd is booing him like crazy.
Safe to say, the E never tried another JBL face turn.

 

[Hazardous]

how about any time vince has tried to go Face? the "Mr.Mcmahon" character is a Heel, was bron a heel, will die a Heel, trying to turn him Face always turns out bad. people cheer him out of respect, not cuz him being a face.

 

[Ferbian]

I don't think it might be the worst. But it is definitely the one I liked the least. I was a huge fan of Edge before he was injured in 2009. When he returned in 2010 as a face I was a little happy about it. But the fact that he went on to start with the spear catchphrase. He got boring incredibly quick.

The face turn has hurt my look on Edge so badly that I find him boring even as a heel now. I don't know why. But I feel there's something missing. I've said it might be the trench coat. The awesome smoke entrances. I don't know. But he's just not the same type of heel he was in 2009 around Punk, Jeff and Cena.

 

[Hazardous]

actually Ferbian, i was thinking the same thing the other day watching the PPV. there really has been something missing out of Edge's game since coming back.. i mean it might be that he's the "rated R superstar" in a PG format, so we cant have him doing or saying what he use to. but even with it he could still be a better Heel now. but i really didnt quite follow the Face turn for him, because i had a feeling it would fail quickly.

Most returning (from bad injuries) superstars come back as Faces.. HHH tore his Quad while a top heel, came back as a face... for example anyway.. others have to actually cut a Heel promo for it to not work that way, like Orton when he came back from his crash.. i think they just didnt quite know what to do with Edge at that moment when they brought him back at the rumble, and just waited to play off the crowd reaction.