10 WWE Superstars That Should NEVER Turn Heel
Don't go breaking my heart...
Often the quickest fix even if it doesn't particularly suit the person behind the persona, the heel turn was one of wrestling's safest escape hatches for decades.
Listen to any and every shoot interview or bit of podcast patter and almost every wrestler will sing from the same hymn sheet about how much fun they can have as a heel, and just how difficult it is to be a babyface by comparison. Being loved is always harder than being hated in most cases, not least when a booker or promoter might be in charge of how you're supposed to act to generate those emotions.
Hulk Hogan's 1996 heel turn working as well as it did was far from just happenstance or a stroke of luck - 'The Hulkster' had been hearing the scorn of the WCW faithful for months before he finally gave them something to actually boo. It informed his disgust in his amazing post-turn promo, and in booking the surprise formation of the New World Order so masterfully, Atlanta head honcho Eric Bischoff had given fans exactly what they wanted.
A quarter of a century later, and there's not the longstanding heroes of yesteryear like Hogan that could truly shock if they switched to the dark side.
Or is there...?
10. Xavier Woods
Xavier Woods is a gift to WWE, and not even just because of how fantastic he is as the central hub of The New Day.
The former NXT also-ran saw what the company had in his new trifecta long before Vince McMahon himself did. As per endless company-sponsored Network specials, the Chairman assumed all three of them would be received as babyfaces in spite of their incessant and infuriating clap-happy craic. The "New Day Sucks" movement that triggered the trio's actual heel turn was long plotted for the group's talismanic trombone player, as has been much of their success ever since. Tyler Breeze has noted how integral he was to the character that eventually got him over a hump in NXT too - Woods is clearly an ideas man, and an affable and selfless one at that.
This always comes across on screen. In every potential New Day split teased by fantasy bookers not looking at the merch money they bring in, the impetus is always on Big E to loose his sh*t with his smaller mates, or, latterly, Kofi Kingston to snap following his humbling WWE Championship loss to Brock Lesnar. His work is as sharp as his wit, too - Woods may have been the not-so-hidden gem all along.