History FaceHeelTurn / ProfessionalWrestling

** And, of course, the infamous "Hulk goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '96, in which Hogan revealed himself as the Third Man working with [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder the Outsiders]], Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash, by viciously attacking a downed Randy Savage with two Atomic Leg Drops, and then, after their victory, giving a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hulk goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '96, in which Hogan revealed himself as the Third Man working with Wrestling/TheOutsiders, Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash, by viciously attacking a downed Randy Savage with two Atomic Leg Drops, and then, after their victory, giving a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hulk goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '96, in which Hogan gave a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** Another FaceHeelTurn involving Hogan came a year earlier with [[Wrestling/PaulOrndorff "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff]]. Starting in the late spring of 1986, an angle was started where Hogan and Orndorff were "best friends" and vowed to stand behind one another through thick and thin. Then a series of minor misunderstandings began to take place, something that "Adorable" Adrian Adonis had observed from afar and quietly picked up on, before bringing up the subject directly to Orndorff on Adonis' "Flower Shop" talk show set. As the misunderstandings (and one missed phone call) began to mount, Orndorff began teaming with Hogan in a series of matches, leading to a tag team match pitting the two against Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy. Late in the match, Bundy and Studd beat down Hogan, and Orndorff delayed running in for the save; Orndorff finally did knock Studd and Bundy out of the ring before helping Hogan to his feet and raising hand in victory ... before suddenly clotheslining him to the mat, then giving him a piledriver. Backstage, the whole thing was revealed to be a setup, all to lower Hogan's guard against Orndorff, who secretly wanted a shot at the World Championship but was denied because they were "friends." A few weeks later on TV, Hogan recounted their friendship, even noting that he had invited Orndorff to his family's Thanksgiving the previous year. Hogan then admitted that in hindsight he should have known something was up later on, before granting Orndorff a match. The resulting feud -- which included a match fought before 70,000-plus fans at the Canadian National Exhibition Center in Toronto, Ontario; and capped off by a memorable steel cage match that aired on national television -- led to sellout crowds and being voted ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' magazine's Feud of the Year in 1986.

* Countless competitors in ProfessionalWrestling (which is fitting, as it's the business that named the term/trope). Often, a heel turn will stem from a face feeling as though he doesn't have the respect of the fans or his fellow faces; this is sometimes set up by having the face lose for several weeks in a row, finally lose his temper and blame the fans or other faces. Usually, the new heel will prove his heelishness with a sneak attack on a former face ally, often aided by his new heel allies, and often followed by a MotiveRant about why they did it. Heel turns by wrestlers who constantly switch between heel and face (Wrestling/LexLuger and [[Wrestling/TheBigShow Paul Wight]] are two examples) don't have all that much impact on the fans, but when a long-term face goes heel it's a big deal. The biggest example of this might be babyface Hulk Hogan's heel turn at WCW event Bash at the Beach in 1996 after over a decade of superheroics, which shocked fans and generated mainstream attention. A wrestler who turns often enough eventually occasionally settles into [[WildCard "tweener"]] mode, where they're considered neutral, and perform either face or heel tactics as the storyline demands.

** [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] won WWE's [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-h.html World Heavyweight Championship]] as a plucky underdog face and gradually morphed into an arrogant, LargeHam heel loudly over-celebrating all his victories with a BigYes chant. His heelish acts such as tricking Wrestling/MarkHenry into pushing him just so he didn't have to beat Wrestling/TheBigShow and using Wrestling/AJLee as a human shield also helped behavior-wise.

** Another FaceHeelTurn involving Hogan came a year earlier with "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. Starting in the late spring of 1986, an angle was started where Hogan and Orndorff were "best friends" and vowed to stand behind one another through thick and thin. Then a series of minor misunderstandings began to take place, something that "Adorable" Adrian Adonis had observed from afar and quietly picked up on, before bringing up the subject directly to Orndorff on Adonis' "Flower Shop" talk show set. As the misunderstandings (and one missed phone call) began to mount, Orndorff began teaming with Hogan in a series of matches, leading to a tag team match pitting the two against Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy. Late in the match, Bundy and Studd beat down Hogan, and Orndorff delayed running in for the save; Orndorff finally did knock Studd and Bundy out of the ring before helping Hogan to his feet and raising hand in victory ... before suddenly clotheslining him to the mat, then giving him a piledriver. Backstage, the whole thing was revealed to be a setup, all to lower Hogan's guard against Orndorff, who secretly wanted a shot at the World Championship but was denied because they were "friends." A few weeks later on TV, Hogan recounted their friendship, even noting that he had invited Orndorff to his family's Thanksgiving the previous year. Hogan then admitted that in hindsight he should have known something was up later on, before granting Orndorff a match. The resulting feud -- which included a match fought before 70,000-plus fans at the Canadian National Exhibition Center in Toronto, Ontario; and capped off by a memorable steel cage match that aired on national television -- led to sellout crowds and being voted ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' magazine's Feud of the Year in 1986.

* Tommaso Ciampa's heel turn in May 2017 is considered by many to be played to ''perfection''. After brutally betraying his best friend Johnny Gargano, he disappeared for the rest of the year due to a legitimate injury before returning in the winter of 2018, continually taunting the ultra popular Gargano to the point where he is getting some of the most harsh reactions in all of the WWE.

* Countless competitors in ProfessionalWrestling (which is fitting, as it's the business that named the term/trope). Often, a heel turn will stem from a face feeling as though he doesn't have the respect of the fans or his fellow faces; this is sometimes set up by having the face lose for several weeks in a row, finally lose his temper and blame the fans or other faces. Usually, the new heel will prove his heelishness with a sneak attack on a former face ally, often aided by his new heel allies, and often followed by a MotiveRant about why they did it. Heel turns by wrestlers who constantly switch between heel and face (Wrestling/LexLuger and [[Wrestling/TheBigShow Paul Wight]] are two examples) don't have all that much impact on the fans, but when a long-term face goes heel it's a big deal. The biggest example of this might be babyface Hulk Hogan's heel turn at WCW event Bash at the Beach in 1996 after over a decade of superheroics, which shocked fans and generated mainstream attention. A wrestler who turns often enough eventually occasionally settles into [[WildCard "tweener"]] mode, where they're considered neutral, and perform both face or a heel tactics as the storyline demands.

* Trish Stratus was WWE's biggest babyface Diva ever since ''Wrestle Mania X-Seven'' when she turned on Vince. However three years later (notably when the equally popular Wrestling/{{Lita}} had returned) she turned heel at ''Wrestle Mania XX'' when she slapped Wrestling/ChrisJericho[[note]]Who had underwent a HeelFaceTurn when he fell in love with her[[/note]] and allied herself with his ArchEnemy Wrestling/{{Christian}}. Several critics who thought the PPV was disappointing praised the turn as one of the few high points of the night.

* One of the biggest shockers in the 1980s was long-time face Wrestling/AndreTheGiant turning on Wrestling/HulkHogan in dramatic fashion, aligning himself with [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]], a villainous manager of many known heels in the WWF. Heenan had not only been trying to dethrone Hogan for the past three years up to that point, he'd also sent many of his proteges after Andre over the years. Nobody saw the turn coming, and Hogan seemed as much horrified as he was stunned by it. Andre took matters further, challenging Hogan for the WWF World Championship at Wrestlemania III, and then proceeding to rip off Hogan's shirt and more importantly, his cross. Hogan, who in storylines (and apparently in real life) is a devout Christian (which denomination is unknown), was so shocked by this he actually started ''crying'' from the betrayal and was so enraged by the turn that he responded to Roddy Piper asking if he would take Andre's challenge with an absolutely [[BigYes massive yes]] (one of the rare cases of a BigYes not indicating happiness). Andre stayed heel for nearly the remainder of his career, not changing alignments again until 1990 at [=WrestleMania=] VI, when a disastrous Tag Team Championship title defense led to Heenan (foolishly) slapping Andre. Andre left as a hero and remained a good guy for the rest of his life.

** Years later, after a long run as a face, he played with this again. In 2002, despite being a Face, he was still getting booed and receiving negative reactions from the fans in some of his matches (such as the WrestleMania X8 match against Hogan). During the Summerslam 2002 buildup, it was learned that The Rock was leaving the WWE for a while to go shoot a movie. So he returned to the WWE in 2003 as a Heel.

*** Triple H was the DesignatedHero for the main event against Wrestling/ChrisJericho at ''Wrestlemania X8'' in 2002 mostly because 1.) many fans believed he TookALevelInBadass by coming back from his infamous quad injury like a true {{Determinator}} and 2.) he was feuding with [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie [=McMahon=]]] while she was in full-on spoiled brat mode and supporting Jericho in their match. He won against Jericho and then immediately started his heel turn by picking a fight with perennial fan favorite Hogan. Once he attacked Shawn Michaels, it was complete.

* Play-by-play commentator Wrestling/MichaelCole did an odd form of this. In early 2010 he was still a face on RAW, but on the debut episode of ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'' he lit the Internet on fire with his de facto burial of "debuting" [[{{Determinator}} underdog face]] [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] and didn't let up for months, verbally bickering with face NXT commentator Josh Matthews who continually [[LampshadeHanging calls him out on acting]] [[AscendedMeme like an establishment mouthpiece]], with even heel Wrestling/ChrisJericho has joined in mocking Cole when guest commentating. By October 2010, Cole began making the transition to being a heel on RAW as well, serving as the unctuous "mouthpiece" for the brand's [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen mysterious General Manager]], who communicated with the arena via e-mail alerts. Cole TookALevelInJerkass in December when [[KickTheDog he cost his colleague]] Wrestling/JerryLawler [[NeverMyFault the title]] against [[HoYay the superstar he praises over all others]] Wrestling/TheMiz. He played the DirtyCoward role for all it's worth and entered the ring against Lawler at Wrestlemania XXVII. He won after the General Manager reversed the decision. Teaming with Wrestling/JackSwagger, he continued to antagonize Lawler and Wrestling/JimRoss for a few more months, before he lost the final blowoff match with Lawyer and endured a HumiliationConga to end the feud. While this toned down his more abrasive aspects, Cole would still act heelish until Lawler's real-life on-air heart attack several months later, during which his professional conduct and real life pain and fear immediately turned him face again.

* Countless competitors in ProfessionalWrestling (which is fitting, as it's the business that named the term/trope). Often, a heel turn will stem from a face feeling as though he doesn't have the respect of the fans or his fellow faces; this is sometimes set up by having the face lose for several weeks in a row, finally lose his temper and blame the fans or other faces. Usually, the new heel will prove his heelishness with a sneak attack on a former face ally, often aided by his new heel allies, and often followed by a MotiveRant about why they did it. Heel turns by wrestlers who constantly switch between heel and face (Wrestling/LexLuger and [[Wrestling/TheBigShow Paul Wight]] are two examples) don't have all that much impact on the fans, but when a long-term face goes heel it's a big deal. The biggest example of this might be babyface Hulk Hogan's heel turn at WCW event Bash at the Beach in 1996 after over a decade of superheroics, which shocked fans and generated mainstream attention. A wrestler who turns often enough eventually occasionally settles into [[WildCard "tweener"]] mode, where they're a face or a heel as the storyline demands.

* Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's heel turn came very gradually and very subtly, not fully being sown until after the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob at the 1997 SurvivorSeries. It all began during a routine episode of ''Series/MondayNightRaw'' in the fall of 1996 when, irritated at being relegated to analyst instead of lead play-by-play, Wrestling/JimRoss delivered a worked shoot promo insulting [=McMahon=], outing him as WWF owner and accusing him of holding him back. That angle -- which infamously incorporated the "Fake Diesel"/"Fake Razor Ramon" characters -- eventually went nowhere, but then more seeds were planted when Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, during an in-ring promo, insulted Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon (who was then in the role of "WWF President," while still doing occasional commentary) and called him [=McMahon=]'s puppet. Throughout the winter, more occasional hints were dropped that [=McMahon=] was WWF owner, although he never acknowledged his true role and remained the amiable face-leaning play-by-play "voice of the WWF." In March 1997, after Wrestling/BretHart went on an angry rant against [=McMahon=] and WWF management (following a loss to [[Wrestling/SidEudy Psycho Sid]] on national television) and even shoved him to the ground during a post-match interview, [=McMahon=] went into a rage before calming down. [=McMahon=] still remained the face-leaning, amiable voice of the WWF. The seeds of [=McMahon=]'s heel turn didn't really start to begin blooming, then, until the fall of 1997 when -- still as the WWF's lead announcer -- his style subtly began to become more neutral, with hidden hints of praise for the heel wrestlers, particularly those who were aligned against Austin. One key event in this was the September 22, 1997, ''Monday Night RAW'' show at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where Austin attacked [=McMahon=] after being told he was still injured (from a legitimate neck injury, suffered in an earlier match against Wrestling/OwenHart). [=McMahon=]'s last episode, where it was clear something was going to happen, came on November 3, 1997.

** The FaceHeelTurn of RandySavage in 1989 was born out of jealousy, envy and, in part, anger and irritation due to Hogan upstaging him, the World Champion, and his overly friendly behavior toward MissElizabeth.

* Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's heel turn came very gradually and very subtly, not fully being sown until after the MontrealScrewjob at the 1997 SurvivorSeries. It all began during a routine episode of ''Series/MondayNightRaw'' in the fall of 1996 when, irritated at being relegated to analyst instead of lead play-by-play, Wrestling/JimRoss delivered a worked shoot promo insulting [=McMahon=], outing him as WWF owner and accusing him of holding him back. That angle -- which infamously incorporated the "Fake Diesel"/"Fake Razor Ramon" characters -- eventually went nowhere, but then more seeds were planted when Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, during an in-ring promo, insulted Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon (who was then in the role of "WWF President," while still doing occasional commentary) and called him [=McMahon=]'s puppet. Throughout the winter, more occasional hints were dropped that [=McMahon=] was WWF owner, although he never acknowledged his true role and remained the amiable face-leaning play-by-play "voice of the WWF." In March 1997, after Wrestling/BretHart went on an angry rant against [=McMahon=] and WWF management (following a loss to [[Wrestling/SidEudy Psycho Sid]] on national television) and even shoved him to the ground during a post-match interview, [=McMahon=] went into a rage before calming down. [=McMahon=] still remained the face-leaning, amiable voice of the WWF. The seeds of [=McMahon=]'s heel turn didn't really start to begin blooming, then, until the fall of 1997 when -- still as the WWF's lead announcer -- his style subtly began to become more neutral, with hidden hints of praise for the heel wrestlers, particularly those who were aligned against Austin. One key event in this was the September 22, 1997, ''Monday Night RAW'' show at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where Austin attacked [=McMahon=] after being told he was still injured (from a legitimate neck injury, suffered in an earlier match against Wrestling/OwenHart). [=McMahon=]'s last episode, where it was clear something was going to happen, came on November 3, 1997.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hulk goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '95, in which Hogan gave a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hogan goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '95, in which Hogan gave a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hogan goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '95, in which Hogan gave TheReasonYouSuchSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

** And, of course, the infamous "Hogan goes Hollywood" at ''Bash at the Beach'' '95, in which Hogan gave a ReasonYouSuchSpeech to [[TakeThatAudience the fans]], breaking his long streak as a Face in a major way.

* One of the biggest shockers in the 1980s was long-time face Wrestling/AndreTheGiant turning on Wrestling/HulkHogan in dramatic fashion, aligning himself with [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]], a villainous manager of many known heels in the WWF. Heenan had not only been trying to dethrone Hogan for the past three years up to that point, he'd also sent many of his proteges after Andre over the years. Nobody saw the turn coming, and Hogan seemed as much horrified as he was stunned by it. Andre took matters further, challenging Hogan for the WWF World Championship at Wrestlemania III, and then proceeding to rip off Hogan's shirt and more importantly, his cross. Hogan, who in storylines (and apparently in real life) is a devout Christian (which denomination is unknown), was so shocked by this he actually started ''crying'' from the entire event and was so enraged by the turn that he responded to Roddy Piper asking if he would take Andre's challenge with an absolutely [[BigYes massive yes]] (one of the rare cases of a BigYes not indicating happiness). Andre stayed heel for nearly the remainder of his career, not changing alignments again until 1990 at [=WrestleMania=] VI, when a disastrous Tag Team Championship title defense led to Heenan (foolishly) slapping Andre. Andre left as a hero and remained a good guy for the rest of his life.

* Perhaps the template for the face-heel turn came in 1980, when BrunoSammartino's protege, Larry Zbyszko, during a "scientific match" pitting the teacher vs. the student, turned into a Zbyszko CurbStomp battle. Zbyszko's reasoning: He was tired of being held back by Sammartino, he wasn't being given a fair shot at superstardom and during their match, he felt he was being made to look foolish (as Sammartino was countering Zbyszko at every turn). In the end, Zbyszko took a few cheap shots at his longtime mentor and then repeatedly broke a wooden folding chair over his head. Although a few sided with Zbyszko, fans were virtually unanimously in Sammartino's corner (as this was before kayfabe was exposed). Zbyszko's heel persona, by the way, would last well into the 1990s, as he played the cowardly heel role as AWA World Heavyweight Champion (1989-1990) as well as his WWF counterpart, Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan, would as Intercontinental Champion.

* Perhaps the template for the face-heel turn came in 1980, when BrunoSammartino's protege, Larry Zbyszko, during a "scientific match" pitting the teacher vs. the student, turned into a Zbyszko CurbStomp battle. Zbyszko's reasoning: He was tired of being held back by Sammartino, he wasn't being given a fair shot at superstardom and during their match, he felt he was being made to look foolish (as Sammartino was countering Zbyszko at every turn). In the end, Zbyszko took a few cheap shots at his longtime mentor and then repeatedly broke a wooden folding chair over his head. Although a few sided with Zbyszko, fans were virtually unanimously in Sammartino's corner. Zbyszko's heel persona, by the way, would last well into the 1990s, as he played the cowardly heel role as AWA World Heavyweight Champion (1989-1990) as well as his WWF counterpart, Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan, would as Intercontinental Champion.

* The heel turn is a popular way to split up a face tag team, [[BreakupBreakout especially when one member of the team is thought to have more potential as a singles wrestler]]. One of the most famous of these was when the Rockers, a pair of high-flying pretty-boy faces, appeared on [[Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's]] talk show "The Barbershop" to air out their tensions of preceding weeks. After seeming to reconcile with a hug, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels proceeded to kick Marty Jannetty in the face and toss him through the (fake) glass window of the set, setting up his new persona of The Heartbreak Kid and a lifetime of superstardom.

* Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's heel turn came very gradually and very subtly, not fully being sown until after the MontrealScrewjob at the 1997 SurvivorSeries. It all began during a routine episode of ''Series/MondayNightRaw'' in the fall of 1996 when, irritated at being relegated to analyst instead of lead play-by-play, Wrestling/JimRoss delivered a worked shoot promo insulting [=McMahon=], outing him as WWF owner and accusing him of holding him back. That angle -- which infamously incorporated the "Fake Diesel"/"Fake Razor Ramon" characters -- eventually went nowhere, but then more seeds were planted when Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, during an in-ring promo, insulted Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon (who was then in the role of "WWF President," while still doing occasional commentary) and called him [=McMahon=]'s puppet. Throughout the winter, more occasional hints were dropped that [=McMahon=] was WWF owner, although he never acknowledged his true role and remained the amiable face-leaning play-by-play "voice of the WWF." In March 1997, after Wrestling/BretHart went on an angry rant against [=McMahon=] and WWF management (following a loss to [[Wrestling/SidEudy Psycho Sid]] on national television) and even shoved him to the ground during a post-match interview, [=McMahon=] went into a rage before calming down. [=McMahon=] still remained the face-leaning, amiable voice of the WWF. The seeds of [=McMahon=]'s heel turn didn't really start to begin blooming, then, until the fall of 1997 when -- still as the WWF's lead announcer -- his style subtly began to become more neutral, with hidden hints of praise for the heel wrestlers, particularly those who were aligned against Austin. One key event in this was the September 22, 1997, ''Monday Night RAW'' show at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where Austin attacked [=McMahon=] after being told he was still injured (from a legitimate neck injury, suffered in an earlier match against Wrestling/OwenHart). [=McMahon]'s last episode, where it was clear something was going to happen, came on November 3, 1997.

* One of the biggest shockers in the 1980s was long-time face Wrestling/AndreTheGiant turning on Wrestling/HulkHogan in dramatic fashion, aligning himself with [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]], a villainous manager of many known heels in the WWF. Heenan had not only been trying to dethrone Hogan for the past three years up to that point, he'd also sent many of his proteges after Andre over the years. Nobody saw the turn coming, and Hogan seemed as much horrified as he was stunned by it. Andre took matters further, challenging Hogan for the WWF World Championship at Wrestlemania III, and then proceeding to rip off Hogan's shirt and more importantly, his cross. Hogan, who in storylines (and apparently in real life) is a devout Christian (which denomination is unknown), was so shocked by this he actually started ''crying'' from the entire event and was so enraged by the turn that he responded to Roddy Piper asking if he would take Andre's challenge with an absolutely [[BigYes massive yes]] (one of the rare cases of a BigYes not indicating happiness). Andre stayed heel for nearly the remainder of his career, not changing alignments again until 1990 (at [=WrestleMania=] VI, when a disastrous Tag Team Championship title defense led to Heenan (foolishly) slapping Andre. Andre left as a hero and remained a good guy for the rest of his life.

* Perhaps the template for the face-heel turn came in 1980, when BrunoSammartino's protege, Larry Zbyszko, during a "scientific match" pitting the teacher vs. the student, turned into a Zbyszko CurbStomp battle. Zbyszko's reasoning: He was tired of being held back by Sammartino, he wasn't being given a fair shot at superstardom and during their match, he felt he was being made to look foolish (as Sammartino was countering Zbyszko at every turn). In the end, Zbyszko took a few cheap shots at his longtime mentor and then repeatedly broke a wooden folding chair over his head. Although a few sided with Zbyszko, fans were virtually unanimously in Sammartino's corner, given this was the day when the secret behind. Zbyszko's heel persona, by the way, would last well into the 1990s, as he played the cowardly heel role as AWA World Heavyweight Champion (1989-1990) as well as his WWF counterpart, Wrestling/TheHonkyTonkMan, would as Intercontinental Champion.