The importance of a heel turn can impact the future of a wrestler along with the talents to work with them. Wrestling promotions hope to upset the viewers enough to loathe the wrestler shifting from a face character to a heel. The best instances have seen Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and now Roman Reigns becoming top villains with their changes.
Unfortunately, not every wrestler to turn heel found the same success. The instant failure can see the viewers not buying into the storytelling. Stories range from the fans wanting to cheer the heels to not caring in the slightest. Find out what caused such disappointing results. Each of the following wrestlers witnessed their heel turn failing from the start.
10 Rikishi
The infamous heel turn of Rikishi saw fans disappointed with it right away. Rikishi was on fire in 2000 as a face character, but WWE had enough top faces with Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, and quite a few others.
The idea to turn Rikishi heel gave him the biggest push of the year. WWE ran a year-long storyline of Austin getting run over and trying to figure out who put him on the shelf. Rikishi revealing he did it for The Rock just added more confusion for a heel turn that could not connect.
9 Shane McMahon
WWE received a lot of buzz when Shane McMahon returned in 2016. The fans loved Shane as the one McMahon character who was significantly better as a face than a heel. Shane sticking around for the next few years saw WWE trying to switch things up in 2019.
The Shane heel turn came when he betrayed The Miz following a tag team run together. Fans showed little interest in the character dynamic and Shane’s heel turn was off to a horrible star. WWE booked Shane strongly for the next few months as one of the worst things in the company all year.
8 Brie Bella
WWE put a lot of time into the Bella Twins following the success of Total Divas. 2014 was the strongest year for Brie and Nikki each getting involved in huge storylines. Nikki turning heel and defeating Brie to make her sister become a lackey was the payoff to the build.
Brie however shocked everyone by turning heel to realign with her sister Nikki. The Divas Championship reign of Nikki started when Brie kissed AJ Lee to distract her for Nikki to score the easy win. WWE put little detail into why Brie turned heel and it felt like they were reverting to the same old Bella act.
7 AJ Styles
TNA wasted some of the best years of AJ Styles’ career when booking him ineffectively. Styles was the face of the company to the fan base who loved getting to watch one of the best wrestlers in the world.
The era of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over saw Styles’ career taking a hit. AJ was the TNA World Champion as a face when the new regime took over. One of their first moves was to turn Styles heel by having Ric Flair help him. The new look of blonde highlights and wearing Flair’s robes made AJ look like a joke from the start.
6 Jim Duggan
WCW was known for having illogical heel turns for the sake of a surprise in the final years. Vince Russo loved to swerve fans and it happened again with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. The legend was playing a janitor berated by the heel wrestlers at the time.
Duggan finally had enough and turned heel during a program with Lance Storm’s Team Canada faction. The swerve came when Duggan revealed he was the newest member betraying the United States for Canada. WCW was already at rock bottom with another failed idea missing the mark.
5 Becky Lynch
WWE deserves some credit for realizing that turning Becky Lynch heel in 2018 was just not going to work. Lynch had momentum until Charlotte Flair was added to her title shot against Carmella at SummerSlam 2018.
The post-match attack from Becky towards Charlotte was meant to turn her heel. Lynch trashed the fans and tried to change their perspective, but nothing worked. WWE realized the heel character would not work and went with the flow of Becky becoming a face with shades of grey.
4 Jim Ross
Jim Ross getting involved in WWE storylines was a rare thing, but fans would usually find interest. The worst aspect of Ross’ on-screen actions came when WWE tried to force a heel turn before fans had a connection with him.
Ross insulted WWE and the audience during a strange heel turn where he claimed he would bring back Diesel and Razor Ramon. Fans were interested in the idea of them returning, but there was no interest in JR as a heel. The eventual reveal of Razor and Diesel being played by other wrestlers just made it worse.
3 Samoa Joe
TNA never went all the way with Samoa Joe when he emerged as one of their best homegrown stars. Joe was a beloved favorite of the audience, but TNA struggled with figuring out his role after removing him from the TNA World Championship.
The heel turn of Joe joining the Main Event Mafia saw him sacrificing his chance at winning the title again in a King of the Mountain match. Joe handed the title to Kurt Angle to win and turn heel in the powerful faction. TNA fans viewed Joe on a weaker level for giving up his own success to become a secondary member of a group.
2 Daniel Bryan
WWE resisted the idea of putting Daniel Bryan into the top face spot when the fans wanted it. Bryan losing his matches to Randy Orton would see him removed from the main event picture to enter a storyline with Bray Wyatt.
The decision to turn Bryan heel saw him joining the Wyatt Family as a new direction for his character. Fans refused to boo Bryan and WWE realized it was not going to work. The audience forced WWE to have Bryan leave the Wyatt Family and win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 30.
1 Sting
The legendary WCW career of Sting saw him thriving as a face character loved by the fans. Sting was loyal to WCW and always had the support of the audience who viewed him as the heart and soul of the company.
One of the few experiments of Sting turning heel came in 1999 during a feud with Hulk Hogan. WCW went with the misdirect of turning Hogan heel when Sting was the one all along who planned to cheat to win. Fans still cheered Sting in the moment and he never got momentum as a heel. The initial moment of the audience supporting heel Sting showed it would never work.