10 Great Babyface Wrestlers Who Became SHOCKINGLY Good Heels
The wrestlers that are good at being good...and even better at being bad.
Everybody wants to be loved, right? Isn't that the whole point of being alive?
Not if you're a wrestler.
As fun as it is to have a crowd of thousands chanting your name and worshiping your every move, it's equally as entertaining to be booed out of the building. Wrestling is one of the few industries on Earth where it can be just as lucrative to be unpopular as popular.
That and politics, but that's a story for another time. Ideally, you want somebody who can do both; a grappler who can get cheered one minute and pelted with rotten vegetables the next. These are rare creatures, but they do exist.
These ten wrestlers are all famous for their runs as babyfaces, but shocked the world when they showed everyone that they could be just as effective on the dark side.
Some of them were arguably even better as heels, which is mad, because there would have been a time where that notion was inconceivable. Whether you prefer these performers as goodies, baddies, or somewhere in between, rest assured that they will be good at whatever they choose to do.
10. Johnny Gargano
When Johnny Gargano returned to NXT in 2026, it was a big deal.
That's because he was essentially the face of the brand during his initial stint there. After he was betrayed by his tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa, he became the ultimate sympathetic hero.
He worked his way up from a doubles wrestler to a bonafide singles star, culminating with a epic battle against Ciampa at TakeOver: New Orleans in 2018. However, it would be this hatred of his bearded ex-friend that would eventually drive him to the dark side.
Gargano first turned heel when it was revealed that he had attacked Aleister Black prior to TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. This run was full of brilliant character moments, as Johnny attempted to justify his actions. You could argue that this wasn't his best heel run, though.
That came a few years later, when he formed the faction, The Way. Alongside Candice LeRae, Austin Theory, and Indi Hartwell, Gargano played a brilliantly funny patriarch struggling to keep his dysfunctional family in line.
Whether serious or funny, Gargano made a surprisingly strong villain.