FanPost

The Art Of The Heel Turn: Ten Turns That Worked, And Ten That Flopped (Pt. 2)

Ronald Martinez

Welcome back, Cagesiders, to our own little in-depth look into the art of the heel turn. Wednesday we took a look at three examples of turns that worked, and three examples of turns that, well, didn’t. Today we’ll continue our series with two more of each, starting with what many consider to be the biggest heel turn in wrestling history.

One That Worked

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Hulk Hogan, (1996)
The Turn:
Considered by many to be the biggest heel turn in history, Hogan shocked the world at Bash At The Beach 1997 by dropping a leg on Randy Savage and tearing his fans a new one on the mic.
Why it Worked: Shock Factor/The Promo

This turn has been talked about more than just about any other on this list; it is THE turn, the ultimate hero casting aside his vitamins and prayers and starting a revolution that would ultimately change the business and eventually ruin the company behind it.

The setup here was pitch perfect: everyone wanted to know who Nash and Hall’s "third man" was, and at the time it was inconceivable that it would be Hogan. Yet with one swift leg drop, Hogan did the unthinkable and turned his back on all the little Hulksters out there.

But as perfect as the setup was, this turn could have easily failed. If Hogan hadn’t been given a mic, if Hogan hadn’t brought out all of his arrogance and the frustration that had been building during his time fighting the absolute worst stable of all time, this heel turn would have ended up as a footnote, a desperate move by a desperate company that was right on the verge of blowing wide open. If Hogan hadn’t announced the "New World Organization" (a line that WWE has edited to "New World Order" in certain video packages) this would have been nothing more than a Russo style shock twist that would have gone nowhere.

Thankfully for all of us, that didn’t happen.. Here’s hoping Seth Rollins brings the same kind of fire when he gives his first real heel promo.

One That Flopped

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Big Show (2012)

The Turn: Johnny Ace needs someone to take out John Cena and Big Show was the first person he found in the locker room
Why It Flopped: Did you see the above? It was Big Show and Johnny Ace feuding with John Cena!

John Cena is a fan of the Dungeon of Doom. I know this may seem irrelevant, but stick with me here. John has said in countless interviews that he loves watching old Hogan bits with the Dungeon Of Doom, and he always says it’s the dumbest thing ever.

But let’s take a closer look at how his feuds go. Weird monsters? Check. Constantly overcoming the odds no matter how stacked? Check. Countless battles with a giant?

All of the checks.

John Cena has literally built his own Dungeon of Doom over the years. Great Khali, Umaga, even the Wyatt Family to a degree. Cena apparently is such a fan of the old Dungeon that he needed an original member to feud with, and lucky for him, that original member had been floating around the locker room every year of Cena’s career.

Only a few weeks after being fired on Raw by Johnny Ace, Big Show showed up at Over The Limit and knocked out John Cena, letting Johnny Ace win the match. I know. This whole angle was stupid. Meanwhile, on the same show, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan put on a 20 minute clinic for the WWE Championship.

Big Show joining Johnny Ace after being fired by the same guy just weeks before was stupid, poorly thought out, and served only to let John Cena look impressive lifting Show on his shoulders for the 20th time.

This isn’t just on Cena, either. Show has turned more times than a NASCAR lap leader and has ended up in the exact same spot: right where he started. 2012 wasn’t also the year that we all became tired of Cena, it was also the year we got tired of The Big Show. Show would go on to turn face and heel almost monthly for the rest of the year.

One That Worked

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Stephanie McMahon (1999)
The Turn:
Daddy’s Little Girl Is All Grown Up
Why It Worked: The evil Grin (you know the one)

Oh Steph. Every week you’re on our televisions you prove more and more that you clearly inherited your dad’s better traits (mainly being entertaining on a wrestling show).

But to see where the Authority began, to see how it all truly came to be, we need to go back to December 1999 and visit one of the most shocking heel turns in history.

The backstory for this gets a little complicated: in 1999, Stephanie McMahon had become engaged to WWE Superstar Test. After a months long rivalry between Test and Shane McMahon, the two were finally free to be married, and being a young couple who make poor choices, they decided to hold the ceremony on Raw. Clearly neither one had ever watched a wrestling wedding before, so they should have known that this was a poor choice.

Midway through the ceremony, Triple H crashed the proceedings and played a tape of a "drugged" Stephanie McMahon being coerced into marrying Hunter in Vegas. This of course led to tears, threats of violence, and a "consummation of marriage" joke that hasn’t exactly aged well.

Vince being Vince, he challenges Triple H to a match at Armaggedon, No Holds Barred, and if Vince won, the marriage would be annulled (as the son of an attorney, I can confirm that results of a wrestling match are binding). After a brutal thirty minute affair which featured an underrated fall from Mick Foley (don’t worry about how he was there), Vince seemed poised to win his daughter’s freedom. As McMahon stared down a bloody Triple H, he picked up a sledgehammer and began to go for the final knockout blow, but he was stopped at the last second by Stephanie.

She pleaded with her father to let her do it, to let her get revenge on the bastard who had drugged her, ruined her wedding, and maybe-possibly raped her (Katie Vick, line 1, Katie Vick line 1). She grabbed the sledgehammer, ready to strike, and then….she didn’t. Triple H grabs the hammer, nails Vince, and it’s BURYING TIME.
Sorry, no, that’s not right.

Triple H grabs the hammer, nails Vince, one-two-three. He looks and stares at Stephanie, the billion dollar princess looking shocked at the outcome. Triple stands, and then Stephanie smiles. It’s the first instance of the best heel smile in the business. The two embraces and JR flips his shit.

Everything that we are enjoying now started right here. Stephanie wasn’t the best actress at the time, but that smile we all love to hate was intact from day one.

One That Flopped

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Matt Hardy (2009)
The Turn: Matt Hardy hates his brother Jeff because he was acting like Jeff, so Matt tries to kill him, which is how all interventions work.
Why It Flopped: Ridiculous Circumstances/Poor Mic Skills

Poor Matt Hardy. The man just cannot catch a break. His wrestling career is basically a sports entertainment version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. At this point I almost feel bad for picking on the guy. Almost.

I’ll be frank here: I am not a Matt Hardy fan. Him and Jeff were a great tag team, but it was always clear that Jeff was the Shawn Michaels of the two. Of all the turns on this list, this is the one I feel confident that some may disagree with. Some of you may have thought this would be Matt’s breakout moment, that this feud with his already main event level brother would raise him above that glass ceiling that he could never break. I was not one of those people, and the reason why is the main reason this turn makes the list: Matt Hardy is god-awful on the mic. The only thing that separates Matt Hardy and Curtis Axel in my mind when it comes to promo ability is that Matt has long hair.

When it finally came time for Matt to reveal that he was the one going around trying to kill his brother (the second biggest issue with this angle) he delivered his promo with all the passion and fury of a half-drunk Dinner Theatre actor revealing that someone in the crowd was the real killer all along. And just like a patron dragged to that dinner theatre by his new in-laws, I immediately stopped caring.

Sure, the matches the two brothers had were great, but eventually someone would hand Matt Hardy a microphone again and I would be asleep before ten.

Judging by the rest of Hardy’s career in the WWE, I wasn’t the only one.

So concludes today's look at the heel turn. I'll be back on Monday to look at three more heel turns that worked and three that flopped, and we'll have our conclusion to this series on Wednesday.

Monday: A superstar can't let go of a crowd chant from a year prior and another goes from unstoppable squash machine to petty villain. See you all then!

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.