Biggest Heel turn ever

Officer999

Ambrose turning heel the night Reigns announced he had cancer really got me thinking of the biggest heel turns ever.

For me, it was Hogan joining the nWo. Hogan the biggest name in wrestling joining the Outsiders really did send shockwaves around the world. First time in 15 years for Hogan to turn heel. Maybe because it was pre Internet spoiler days, but no one saw it coming. I'll never forget the crowd's disgust at Hogan and the trash throwing. A few fans actually tried to storm the ring, it truly was the biggest heel turn ever.

A close second is Austin turning heel at Wrestlemania 17. So many elements added to it, but especially it been in Texas and the Vince factor really made it such a shocking turn.

Is there any other really big heel turns that occurred that were shocking?

SlickRic

Seth Rollins on the Shield.

we'd just gotten fully used to cheering on the Shield, and the little fúcker ruined it.

Muff_Daddy

Big Show’s heel turn, you know the one that time :-)

Serious answer would be The Rock joining The Nation. Not the most shocking but I would say definitely the most effective heel turn ever as it began the transformation of a fresh meat babyface to the global superstar he is today.

sky88

Shawn turning on marty then becoming one of the focal points of the business from then on was big back in the day

Rock Lesnar

Theres been a few but HBK superkicking Hogan a few years back is a favourite of mine that led to a great promo on Hogan from Michaels

Edit: one i remember from the 90's i think was Flair on Sting, im not sure but memory says Flair looked for his help against Double A and then turned on him

DEFTLEFTHAND

Has to be Hogan imo.

TimesArrow

Rock turning heel and aligning with Vince at SS 98 was pretty well done

Hogan joining NWO has to be up there

DEFTLEFTHAND

A John Cena heel turn would be another epic one if it ever happens at this stage.

Itssoeasy

sky88 wrote: »

Shawn turning on marty then becoming one of the focal points of the business from then on was big back in the day

I mean it was a good turn but Marty Jannetty shouldn't have tried to escape through the window of the barbershop. Very cowardly move.

Hogan as much as I dislike him, his heel turn was well done and it was a genuine surprise.

JP Liz V1

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I mean it was a good turn but Marty Jannetty shouldn't have tried to escape through the window of the barbershop. Very cowardly move.

Only Heenan could deliver that

SCSA turning heel and aligning with Vince

ERG89

TimesArrow wrote:

Rock turning heel and aligning with Vince at SS 98 was pretty well done

It was spoiled by recreating Montreal one year later.
Austin's turn damaged him and I feel he never fully recovered his popularity afterwards, for me it was the first warning sign of a decline in popularity of wrestling overall. It wasn't as bad as Goldberg turning in 2000 but I'd never consider it a success.
Hogan's one is the best by a considerable margin as it refreshed a stale character who the fans had began to grow tired of even before he turned up in WCW.
The double switch with Austin & Bret turning was a good heel turn for Hart. Owen turning on Bret was another. Andre turning on Hogan and aligning himself with Heenan.
Only one I enjoyed this year in WWE was Becky Lynch as it's been the only one they have done anything with properly. Jury is still out for me with Bryan and especially Ambrose.
Gedo turning on Okada was fantastic also even Yoshi Hashi faceplanting couldn't harm it. If you build something over years it is so much more impactful when it ends.

Sirsok

Not the best but i always loved Eddies turn in Tajiri, slaming him into the car window, just before Eddie sky rocketed.

Thinking about Eddie, he really was something else, an amazing performer. Except that night at One Night Stand, I was really looking forward to that match, and it was a turd in an other wise great show.

Heyman as survivor series turning in Brock was great also!

Officer999

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

A John Cena heel turn would be another epic one if it ever happens at this stage.

Yeah I was thinking a Cena heel turn a few years ago would have been as big as Hogans in 1996. But that ship has sailed now

happyoutscan

For me it was Andre turning on Hogan. As a kid, big cuddly Andre suddenly being menacing was quite scary.

JP Liz V1

SlickRic wrote: »

Seth Rollins on the Shield.

we'd just gotten fully used to cheering on the Shield, and the little fúcker ruined it.

I think the fact he was also the least likely at that time to turn made it more surprising

seandotcomm

Not sure it counts as a proper heel turn but I loved Rock vs Hogan at WM X8 when the crowd booed the hell out of the Rock and he just went with it and played a heel in the match

HandsomeBob

Not sure if it counts but Kane's fake out only to betray his brother at RR98 made me so angry. At least during the attitude era when I was a kid there was no heel turn that made me angrier.

B.A._Baracus

Has to be Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 96.

Kicked off the rise of wcw and the whole 'monday night war' thing.

On a side note watching Hogan heel promos from 97/98 are very cringe worthy these days. That said late 90s wrestling, imo despite its faults, is still the best era of wrestling ever.

That said, like anything else, if anyone was to go back and watch it with fresh eyes they probably wouldn't get it. But if you watched it at the time... boy what a time.

SureYWouldntYa

The best villians are the ones who think they're right or that others are wronging them

I loved Batista's turn on Rey Mysterio in 2009, turning on him because Rey kept breaking up Batista's pins in a Fatal 4 Way match

"I'm gonna rip your head off", and Batista destroying the man literally half his size

gerrybbadd

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I mean it was a good turn but Marty Jannetty shouldn't have tried to escape through the window of the barbershop. Very cowardly move.

Hogan as much as I dislike him, his heel turn was well done and it was a genuine surprise.

Modern day, it's hard to overlook Ciampa's turn on Johnny. Amazingly well built, all the way from the Cruiserweight match at the CWC.

Soft spot as well for Bret's turn vs Austin at Mania, look at the gold that was produced from that. Both Austin & Bret came out of that situation bigger stars, and this elevated Austin to an even higher stage

PTH2009

This is brutal and no way would they get away with this sort of thing today

https://youtu.be/Pj0wr_bwm1Y

https://youtu.be/iGEQcUWFDoI