Unintentionally Sympathetic / Professional Wrestling

• A good example would be Kane, who is one of the few pro wrestlers whose gimmick has lent itself to a deeply fleshed out back story. Even when they try to turn him heel and act like a monster, people will still often be behind him, if often only just because of how fucked up his life has always been.
• American Angel was an Evil Foreigner in LLF and one of the few to actually keep the seemingly inevitable Heel–Face Turn from sticking. Still, fans were taken aback enough by Ayako Hamada's ruthless approach to dealing with her they ended up cheering Angel.
• At the end of TNA Impact's "The Whole F'n Show," while the ECW EV2.0 group were gathered in the ring, Fourtune jumped them from behind as they delivered a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to them with Ric Flair yelling at Dixie Carter that it was her fault. While Fortune are supposed to come off as heels, even before hearing AJ Styles and Kazarian's comments on "Reaction" about Dixie bringing in Ring Oldies rather than using (established) home grown talent (they even got their own PPV that was a tribute to the old ECW), many fans believed that the "heels" were justified. The chants of "THIS IS AWESOME!" during said beatdown didn't help at all.
  • What else didn't help was the fact that that episode of Impact was the second time (behind the aforementioned PPV) the Hardcore Originals took center stage just "one more time" to say "thank you". What ELSE didn't help was the fact that the EV2 guys were being treated as faces for taking the spotlight out of the gate at the expense of TNA's homegrown and long-term talent, something that Paul Heyman never allowed outsiders to do in ECW at least without earning it in the company first — which is ironically part of the reason they loved working for him.
  • Then Fortune joined Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Immortal conspiracy upon The Reveal, which not many people thought would last and even fewer wanted to. Not only was Immortal doing the same thing Fortune was accusing EV2 of, not only were Hogan and Ric Flair always portrayed as enemies until that point, but there were a few subtle and/or inadvertent hints being thrown out there that TNA was at least thinking of having Fortune turn on Immortal somewhere down the line. Cue Immortal and Fortune working together to basically end EV2, Fortune grabbing a couple titles, Bischoff mistreating AJ Styles some (who qualifies for this trope every time he turns heel anyway), and finally, Main Event Mafia members going to WWE instead of signing on for a plan to reunite as Crimson's "them" outfit and Fortune finally got that Heel–Face Turn, officially recognized as the good guys fans viewed them as all along, and went on to make 2011 a collection of awesome moments for themselves, mostly at Immortal's expense. Between this and Jeff Hardy's infamous issues, Immortal never recovered.
  • Fortune are actually a greater example of this trope. They went from just unintentionally sympathetic, to unintentionally the heroes.
  • Then again, this is standard fare for AJ Styles. A heel turn for him is really nothing more than a phase to slowly transition him into a stronger babyface.
• In WWE, there's Daniel Bryan's 2012 heel run, or at least the start of it (some may debate that it continued past this or to this day, but that's for another discussion). At the time he won the title, the two other guys in the World Title picture were The Big Show and Mark Henry, two guys who are each literally twice his size and the first match featuring all three of them was a goddamn steel cage match. Even putting aside the fact that Bryan is hugely popular among "Smarks" while the other two generally get the opposite reaction (at least Show was; Henry's was very well-appreciated at the time), it was a little hard to really get against Bryan, if only because of how massively out-muscled he was.
• In 2013, Act Yasukawa betrayed Trouble 2 Maker by smacking Yoshiko with a chair and joining Kimura Monster Gun, where she climbed to the top by busting open baby faces, then reformed it into Oedo Tai with further purpose of making STARDOM a vehicle to show the world her horror. Yoshiko took a similar path, forming her own gang, the difference between them being Yasukawa showed complete contempt for her fans along the way. Presumably, Yoshiko forcing Act to beg and publicly humiliate herself for a shot at the title out of Oedo Tai's reach was for these fans, problem being they had been cheering Act the entire time and were mostly confused as to why Yoshiko was being such a jerk all the sudden. The supposed climactic match quickly degenerated into a such a one-sided affair it made every previous STARDOM beating look like a pillow fight in comparison and completely overshadowed everything prior to it on the card, Act's minions audibly pleading with her to throw in the towel before doing so themselves. It got mainstream Japanese media attention, also in the worst possible way, being described as "ghastly". Yasukawa's documented health issues were now also being nationally publicized as she had to be hospitalized again. STARDOM as a business splintered because its founders couldn't agree on how to discipline Yoshiko for going into business for herself, Yoshiko herself retiring from pro wrestling because of the backlash(though she quickly resurfaced in SEAdLINNNG, the splinter from STARDOM more sympathetic to her). Yet, Act's return promo didn't suggest a heel face turn, even though it was only when she stepped back from wrestling to become a manager that she could even begin to get the desired heat.
• Suzuki-gun and Bullet Club were both Eviler than Thou counterparts to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's resident heel stable CHAOS during the time period Kazuchika Okada was it's centerpiece. Minoru Suzuki proved so unlikeable though that the rest of Bullet Club was cheered when they interfered in his match with AJ Styles on the latter's behalf and cheered more for AJ after it was over.
  • Ironically enough Suzuki got the other end of this trope a few years later with Bullet Club's new leader the Smug Snake Jay White. Suzuki had slowly but surely stopped using Suzuki-Gun interference in his matches, preferring to go solo (though still a sadistic heel) which warmed the crowd up to him while Jay White was...well, Jay White. When the two had to face off in the G1 you could practically taste how much the crowd was salivating at the prospect of Suzuki torturing him to hell and back for being such a prick over the better part of the prior two years.
• The Bella Twins against A.J. Lee and Paige. While they have done some petty things in their time, AJ and Paige's main argument against them seems to be to invoke Slut-Shaming and Real Women Don't Wear Dresses. Likewise despite being beaten fairly in a title match, Paige demanded a second and came across as an Entitled Bastard. Notably one promo Nikki cut responding to one of AJ's Slut-Shaming speeches had to be edited down because it sounded too sympathetic.
• Anyone who opposes the McMahon family, regardless of the reason. Even when they're faces, has any member of that family (Triple H excluded, since he's not a blood relation) ever performed a single justifiable act that wasn't in some way selfish? They look out for each other, but big deal; mobster families look out for each other, too.
• As 2015 neared its end, WWE's entire main roster got this, especially after Survivor Series that year. Not in the conventional sense, mind you — many fans are displeased with the creative direction of the company as a whole, and feel sorry for the performers who are trying to make a decent show out of the half-baked booking they're being given. This is especially prevalent in the booking of the former members of the Shield: Roman Reigns is stuck trying to get over with a character that doesn't fit him and no one likes because Vince McMahon sees him as John Cena 2.0 (he isn't, and he shouldn't have to be), Seth Rollins got booked as a chump, as champion no less, and Dean Ambrose, who is arguably the most popular of the three, got busted down the card, forced to drift aimlessly in the upper midcard either because he doesn't have the look Vince likes or Vince simply doesn't see what everyone else sees (including, reportedly, his own son-in-law, who was rumored to have pushed for Ambrose to be champion the week of Survivor Series), or, the most likely reason, is because he'd outshine Reigns (who corporate obviously wants to be the new face of the company). So instead of getting invested with the product, fans are instead outright protesting it out of legitimate hatred of the company, causing a massive ratings drop. Many of those still watching admit to doing so out of Bile Fascination, cynically wondering how much the company is going to screw up booking come WrestleMania season.
• Despite his scrappy status Michael Cole is subject to this, considering that he's been a Butt-Monkey for years to just about everyone, Heel or Face, so it's not surprising that he decided to Take A Level In Jerkass knowing how far he's been pushed around. His Face–Heel Turn coupled with his hatred of Jim Ross is Fridge Brilliance if you remember back to 1999 when J.R. was antagonizing Cole (which was an ultimately futile effort to make J.R. a heel). And on the June 4th, 2012 Raw, after calling John Cena out about the whole situation with The Big Show and John Laurinaitis (in which Cole actually did raise a few good points), Cena managed to earn a match against Cole in the main event of the night, which consisted of Cole getting the snot beaten out of him, being covered in barbecue sauce and blasted with a fire extinguisher. While to many casual fans it may have come across as a cathartic moment, many others are calling hypocrisy on Cena's part, given that Cole is in his forties and not in Cena's league and Cena is supposed to be the face of WWE's anti-bullying campaign. Of course it didn't help matters when Cole was shown to be a massive Troll and Jerkass with a Small Name, Big Ego.
• Rusev and Lana in almost every feud they're put in, especially Rusev. The reason behind this is largely because they're portrayed as faces in the Russian broadcast, and his opponents the heels, so the actions of them and their opponents are usually kept more morally gray to allow both. However, they went too far with it and his opponents often outright come off as smug villains even to the American audience. Rusev's opponents have done things like attack him 2-against-1, desecrate his country's flag, seduce his girlfriend while his leg is broken, interrupt and ruin his and Lana's wedding segment, and once again attempt to seduce Lana, this time when they're married. Rusev, for his part, is guilty of being a Foreign Wrestling Heel and sometimes taking his revenge for these actions a bit too far. Even the American fans who are supposed to hate him often say he's the most heroic character on the show.
• In the year 2000, WCW rebooted itself by changing its roster into two stable; The Millionaire's Club and the New Blood. The latter were made up of younger talent who are upset by the older wrestlers past their prime hogging the spotlight and revelling in their success. Under normal circustances, they would be the face of the company but, for reasons only known by Vince Russo and Eric Bishoff, they the designated heel against the "heroic" Millionaire's Club.
• In mid 2020, a new heel stable, RETRIBUTION, a group of black clad, mask wearing individuals began appearing, making their mark by hacking into the electrical systems and launching attacks on the arena and later, the Superstars themselves. After weeks of these mysterious attacks, the group finally started cutting promos in September, revealing their goal is to destroy the current WWE system in retaliation for being rejected and thrown away when they were no longer considered useful. Seeing as how the company has been accused of this far too many times to count, this should earn them audience sympathy, not hatred. Even more so once you know who the members are- T-BAR ^note  Dominik Dijakovic & RECKONING ^note  Mia Yim both had multiple title opportunities in NXT and were unable to win for assorted reasons; MACE's ^note  Brennan Williams/Dio Maddin most high profile work was as a commentator on RAW & 205 Live for several months; and SLAPJACK ^note  Shane Thorne has been an irrelevant "jobber-to-the-stars" for so long, it's a surprise he's still employed. Only Retaliation ^note  Mercedes Martinez has no real complaints to speak of, likely why she was dropped from the group after their first in-ring appearance.
  • The leader of the group was later revealed to be Mustafa Ali. He, too, has all the right to be helping them as he has often been denied opportunities for championship matches. For example, at Money in The Bank 2019, Ali was due to win the match... until Vince decided to have Brock Lesnar enter the match while it was still in progress and steal the win away from him.