Your first heel turn experience

[closet_fan]

being in my mid-30's, and probably one of the older board members here, i remember back in the 80's where there were full blown heels and faces. you didn't have any of this tweener stuff. when i had first started watching wrestling, there wasn't such thing as a heel turn or a face turn. not because it didn't exist, but just because i had never experienced it. until that one fateful night when i was watching the "F" one on of their pre-taped shows.

i remember it like it was yesterday. hulk hogan and paul orndorf were building up a solid tag team and were set to go up against king king bundy and bog john studd. as usual, the "good" guys ended up winning in the end. it was the usual ending to most of the shows back then. big face vs. heel match. face won, got the crowd pumped. orndorf raises hogans arm in victory.

and then it happened.

orndorf turned on hogan. instead of the show fading to black, orndorf gave hogan a vicious clothesline and then his patented piledriver.

this wasn't supposed to be. orndorf was a good guy. to me he was anyways. i didn't watch wrestling beforehand to know that he had been a bad guy previously. orndorf laughed it up with heenan, studd, and bundy. the show ended.

i was devastated. keep in mind this was before internet, pay-per-view and the usual media that covered every little inch of wrestling. the only chance i had to go see a real live match was when they would come and visit the catholic youth center in scranton, pa. i wouldn't know wrestlemania outcomes until a week later.

so what was your first heel turn experience and how did it affect you?

 

[Lee]

Great thread, I hope you don't mind me moving it to General Discussion.

For me the first 'heel turn' was a weird one as he turned face (seemingly) and back within a few minutes. I'm talking of Owen Hart in the Bret v Backlund match. Here was me of 9 years old watching one of my favourite guys getting beat by the nasty Backlund. Bulldog was out (being British that annoyed us) and Owen Hart pleaded to his mother to thrown in the towel. I thought yay Owen loves his brother again, and bam celebrates with Backlund. That made me hate Owen for a very long time, whilst not a heel turn per se it's the first one like that that I remember.

 

[Ferbian]

I have two "first" heel turns, the one that properly counts as a "first" would have to be CM Punk turning heel when he cashed the MITB briefcase on Jeff Hardy in 2009, starting his crusade to rid the world of Jeff Hardy, it was around the time I had already become knowing of the business, and therefore I have to admit it didn't properly impact me, also due to the fact that I cared more for the actual feud, and CM Punk than when CM Punk wrestled as a face.

My "second first" heel turn (due to my research of the older stuff, watching some video's for the sake of properly gaining a knowledge of the guys that are praised as greats of the business, with the majority resting on WWE researching, either way, this one would have to be Triple H's heel turn in 2002 to engage the feud with Shawn Michaels that ultimately lead to the heel turn that would have him feuding with Shawn Michaels for a rather long time (on and off) and the creation of Evolution.
Again, I was still knowing of the concept of wrestling and it's scripting background, so again it didn't affect me, but I have to admit I enjoyed it a great deal.

 

[ShredddMetal]

man, ive got the best "first heel turn" story ever.
first show i ever watched was Bash at the Beach '96 and i remember being really young and being really upset that Macho man was being beat down. when Hogan came down the ramp (Who i wasn't very familiar with, but i knew that he was "the best") I thought that macho was saved.. hogan turned on macho and joined the NWO and i can remember that I was so young (maybe like 5 or 6) that I actually cried for poor macho

 

[D's Nuts Radio]

Man, this is an awesome topic. My first heel turn was the infamous "Barbershop Incident". I was such a huge fan of The Rockers...huge. When the rumors were goin around of them breaking up, me being a small kid thinking everything I saw was real, I was hoping they wouldn't. Then they did the interview and assured everyone everything was ok. It wasn't. Shawn kicked Marty's head off. I still remember Heenan's commentary...."I knew he was gonna do that!" It made for awesome TV but it sucked for me being that was the end of my favorite team.

 

[Platypus Palsy]

The first I can remember would be Austin turning at Wrestlemania 17. I didn't get to see the actual show until last year, but the Raw after there was Austin trying to be a heel. I never booed him but I was a little torn since I also loved the Rock. Starting up the 2 Man Power Trip really cemented it for me along with joining McMahon.

 

[Jeff]

Great thread. I don't really remember my first heel turn I saw but my earliest big shock moment had to be 1999. The Corporate Ministry had this higher power, someone even higher then The Undertaker calling all the shots. Eventually it was revealed that this higher power was Vince McMahon. I don't even remember if Vince was a heel or face or somewhere in between. Maybe one of the other members could refresh my memory. I was about 11 when this happen and 1/2 the time I was falling asleep during Raw. Anyways, all I remember was Vince McMahon revealing himself as the higher power and I was just shocked. No matter what he was a heel, face or in between, this in my eyes turned Vince into the biggest bad guy there was.

Edit: I did a quick YouTube search. This is the only thing I can find but still a great clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgDwI1EC5iY

 

[mlola]

My "first heel turn" was Kurt Angle turning on the WWF and joining the Alliance back in October 2001. For months he had been pro-WWF and just kicking the living shit out of the Alliance and especially Stone Cold Steve Austin. They teased someone would be turning but i didn't expect it to be Angle. Then later on Kurt comes out to help the WWF and ends up giving everyone on Team WWF a chairshot to the head. Seeing Kurt betray the WWF and pose with the leader of the Alliance, Stone Cold Steve Austin, really made me a sad little 9 year old.

Edit: Here's the clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhhm5EnGlNs

 

[Kenny Powers]

I think the first heel turn I saw was the infamous Barber Shop segment where Shawn Michaels super kicked Marty Jannetty through the glass window and became his own man. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. To be 8 years old and see one of you favorite tag teams break up, and to see someone thrown through a glass window was shocking to me. I always thought there were only bad guys and good guys in wrestling at that time. I had no idea a good guy could go bad or vice versa.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

My first official heel turn experience has to be "The Unmasking of Kane" segment. I watched a bit before then, quite a bit in fact. But never did I see anyone go to the darkside till then.

Masked Kane was befriended by a laid back RVD (who is usually laid back anyways) and for some forgotten reason Kane had to remove his mask and expose his face for the first time as Kane. He seemed agitated with the whole proceedings but he went ballistic once that mask was off. Beat the hell out of Rob Van Dam.

 

[Adam08]

I would say my first heel turn would be when Chris Jericho put Shawns head into the Jeritron on a edition of raw. I loved Jericho at that time and still do and I thought he would of stay faced the rest of his career during his secound stint. But I was wrong.

 

[Ice Cold]

First heel turn for me was the break up of the Mega Powers, then the break up of The Rockers. Those are the ones I have the earliest memories of and they were pretty huge. Another big turn was Sgt. Slaughter when he revealed himself as an Iraqi sympathizer with General Adnan, you have to remember that Sgt.Slaughter was a big time face before that. Hell! He was the leader of the G.I. Joes, when he turned heel that was huge.

 

[Checkmate]

My first heel turn is actually Rikishi's in the fall of 2000, when he revealed that he ran down Stone Cold Steve Austin. While this isn't exactly an epic moment on the scale of many mentioned above, it really was the first heel turn that I experienced as a viewer.

However, I never really had any connection to Rikishi's character, so I didn't really care too much. I just remember hating him when he won the Fatal 4 Way match on Smackdown to become the #30 entrant in the Royal Rumble match.

Now, the first BIG heel turn that I witnessed was Austin's Wrestlemania 17 turn, when he joined McMahon and screwed over the Rock. Actually, I was rooting for Austin to win anyway, but the next month or so really hit me. Here was Stone Cold Steve Austin, the guy that waved a middle finger in Vince's face on a weekly basis, the guy that fought Triple H tooth and nail for months prior, and now he was best buddies with them. Honestly, to say my reaction was anything less than "WTF?" would be an understatement.

Great thread btw.

 

[GUN]

It wasn't as eventful as most have talked about here (ex. Mega Powers Exploding, Shawn>Marty, Kane 2.0,etc.) but it made me really want to check out wrestling even more; especially when it comes to the crispy golden word called betrayal.

You knew things were gonna pick up when the faces turned.

Back on subject: Paul Heyman. This guy had Brock F'ing Lesnar in his back pocket as the youngest WWE Heavyweight Champion in the history of sports entertainment. Had been the vocal point of most of Lesnar's segments and is all-round someone who can play the perfect heel when standard wrestlers couldn't get a pop. 2002-2004 was practically The Year Of The Next Big Thing, and we can thank Heyman for giving him a nudge with mic time.

That is, until Summerslam rolled around the corner. The man to face was Big Show, and it could be argued that WWE made Big Show a much more credible threat then Goldberg even was. Show was getting the push of his life, and with a complete shocker of a betrayal, just as Lesnar was pinning him for execution, Paul Heyman pulls the referee out of the ring. The freakin ref!

I haven't watched much of wrestling until this (really got into checkin out past matches after this) but just the fact that Paul E. did what he did truly spoke volumes on how overlooked managers are in these modern times.

Heyman, though he wasn't a wrestler in WWE, still was a character. Agreed, he wasn't a face during his stint with Lesnar, but he wasn't a complete-and-evil heel until he sided with Big Show; in turn making Brock face. I would like to think of Heyman as just an annoying tweener until he pulled that stunt.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

First heel turn for me was the break up of the Mega Powers, then the break up of The Rockers.

Rockers were mine, too.

I had just gotten into wrestling, I was like 8 years old, and seeing Jannetty put throuh the window was borderline traumatic. Looking back on it - how brilliant it was.

 

[Captain America]

My first heel turn experience was the Rock turning heel at Survivor Series and joining Mr. McMahon in the Corporation. It was really shocking at the time especially considering all the confrontations the Rock and McMahon had in the weeks leading up to that tournament.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

I experienced two "first" heel turns because they happened around the same time. One in the grand scheme of things wasn't that big of a deal whereas the other one was a major heel turn.

I started watching wrestling right after Wrestlemania VII, so the first heel turns I experienced were in the summer of 1991.

The first one I'll talk about was Tugboat turning into Typhoon. I was watching Superstars and it was a 6-man tag team match I believe between Tugboat and the Bushwhackers against Earthquake and the Nasty Boys. Now I loved the Bushwhackers as a kid. In my very early days of watching wrestling they were probably amongst my favorites (along with Hogan, Warrior, Jake the Snake, Savage, and Bret Hart). I liked Tugboat but wasn't a huge fan, but again I loved the Bushwhackers. So when Tugboat blindsided them and joined up with "Camp Hart" (Jimmy Hart's clan of Earthquake and the Nasty Boys) I was shocked and devasted. I hated watching the Bushwhackers getting literally squashed and beaten by Earthquake and Tugboat with their respective finishers.

The other major heel turn that summer was Jake Roberts heel turn against the Ultimate Warrior. I was stunned. I thought for sure Roberts was helping the Warrior out. I was scared watching the third Warrior/Roberts segment when Warrior was bitten by the snake and passed out. Only to see Taker (who literally scared me) and Paul Bearer walk up to Roberts and join forces. It was startingly for me. Looking back I thought it was one of the best heel turns in history. Those segements and storyline were just well done and cool. To me as a character, Jake Roberts may have been the best wrestler of 1991 along with Taker. Jake Roberts' run as a heel in 91-92 was as great a heel run in the history of the business if you ask me.


Great topic!

 

[Green Thunder]

i haven't started watching wrestling until recently, so mine would have to be matt turning on jeff at last years royal rumble. I had literally started gettin into wrestling the week of the royal rumble, so this got a "whoa, didn't see that coming" out of me. Looking back on it now, it really shouldn't have surprised me, but it will always be my first heel turn.

 

[CraigThe13th]

The first time I witnessed a heel turn was the 1st time I watched the WWF, it was Wrestlemania IV Demolition Vs Strike Force with Rick Martel walking out on Tito Santana. I was very young at the time, and with it being my 1st time watching wrestling it didn't have much impact on me, especially as I had taken an instant liking to Demolition. It was more kind of like 'thats not a nice thing to do to your friend' as all Martel did was walk off he didn't actually attack Tito that time just cut a promo afterwards say he was sick of Tito.

The first one to really impact me has already been put here a few times, the break up of The Rockers, I was devastated my favourite tag team broke up and HATED Shawn because of it. If you would have asked me aged 11 if I ever could cheer for HBK I would have said never, how things change.

 

[Jeff]

My first heel turn is actually Rikishi's in the fall of 2000, when he revealed that he ran down Stone Cold Steve Austin. While this isn't exactly an epic moment on the scale of many mentioned above, it really was the first heel turn that I experienced as a viewer.

That was a great heel turn. For me, I was 11 years old at the time, I was in complete shock. Looking at it now I am sure the WWE planned it being Rikishi last minute but in my head I was thinking, Rikishi did this 8 months ago (or however long it was) and for the past 8 months he has been dancing and entertaining the fans when deep down he was really this evil man. Also the difference in Rikishi one week and then that next week after the turn. It was like Night and Day. Awesome heel turn.

 

[BigRedPunk]

The Rock's heel turn in the late 90s and then again in 2003. In the 2003 heel turn I still rooted for him against Austin and Goldberg as a heel. I also witnessed CM Punk's heel turn which was a good decison. Maybe some others that I might now be thinking of.

 

[Dolph_Infinnerty]

First off great thread, my first heel turn experience Would have to be When a face Triple H turned back to the bad guy in 2002 against HBK during the 'DX' reunion. I remember watching that show and throughout the whole night there were little hints about a reunion which had me pumped and then sure enough that iconic music hit

Are you ready....

Hunter and Shawn make their way to the ring the crowds
losing it at what they are witnessing, 'dx' does the usual poses plays to the crowd and then BAM pedigree and hbk Is down.
For me this came as a bigger shock then it should of been because really hunter is renound for the ultimate backstabing.
But at the time he was a face and I wasn't a part of the IWC so I was quiet stunned. Looking back though its one of the better turns as it actually set up a solid feud and created alot of amazing matches between the two, something that hasn't happened with a turn in a long long time!

 

[JuviJuiceIsLoose]

I started watching wrestling in about Late '90/Early '91, so The 1st Heel Turn I can remember vividly was the Rockers' split. I was 8.

We all know the story by now. Over the next couple of months, The Rockers begin to have problems. To show their solidarity, they do an interview on the Barber Shop. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, we all know what happens.

It's funny how people talk about how shocked they were at Shawn turning on Marty. But for me, as soon as I saw Shawn come out in that black leather outfit, I thought "he's gonna beat him up".

Now, violence of the segment was definitely shocking. Especially for a wrestling show that aired on Saturday Mornings and was filled with Action Figure commercials.

 

[Camie]

I'm not 100% sure what my first heel turn experience is. Having started reguarly watching Raw in Aug '99 so the first heel turn was when Mark Henry turned on his best friend D'Lo
Brown. At that time he was one of my favourite wrestlers and thought he was going to win the double with the Intercontinental/European belts on the line at Summerslam with Jeff Jarrett.

They had built it up so well with Henry being helped by D'Lo to lose weight and BAM! He hits D'Lo with the guitar.

 

[longlivetheBrood]

Ditto on the great thread comments... I'm going to take a trip in the Way Back Machine here and say my first experience with heel turns was back in the NWA/Crockett Promotions. The show came on Saturday afternoons from noon until 1pm and often showed house shows from the prior week(s). There had been a build-up between John Paul Jones and "Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant. Jones was shown in the ring offering "The Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez a metal briefcase full of money to turn on Valiant and Fernandez shakes his head no. Valiant looks to the crowd and begins to celebrate, then turns back to Fernandez and WHAMMO The Bull clocks Valiant over the head with the briefcase. This also ushered in the era of the "New R&R Express" of Fernandez and "Ravishing" Rick Rude, one of my favorite tag teams of all time.