10 Heel And Face Turns That Were Miserable Failures
7. Randy Orton Turns Face (2004)
Typically the recipe for turning someone from heel to face involves having them see the error of their ways and stand up to their former evil allies and side with the righteous. Its a tried and true formula that has worked for decades. You can tell when the fans are ready for someone to turn, and the most hated heels often evolve into the most loved heroes. WWE took the exact opposite approach with Randy Orton. As a member of Evolution, Orton was the one earmarked as the future. He was the golden boy second generation star who had the world in his hands, he just had to reach out and grab it. Using the faction as a vehicle to create a new babyface star was a no-brainer, but the method in which they went about it was detrimental to Orton. Rather than have Randy turn on Evolution and change his thinking, they turned on him and beat him up, leaving him excluded and a man without friends. He didnt do anything to actually change his character; Triple H and his crew just got jealous of him and kicked him out. Why should we cheer for this guy? In an interesting side note, WWE got it right the second time around when they executed a near perfect angle between Batista and Triple H, leading to Batista leapfrogging Orton in the pecking order and truly turning him into a star. Randy would have to keep working at it because his face turn did him absolutely no favors.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
