10 Real-Life Wrestling Heels Who Turned Babyface

6. Randy Orton

Randy Orton
Instagram - @randyorton

Was a heel because...

One of life's beneficiaries, if you were to build an entitled, spoilt prick from the ground up, he'd look like Randy Orton. Orton was tall, handsome, and a total natural at his chosen profession, into which had the clearest of paths as a third-generation wrestler. He was so effortlessly, mechanically great that he spent much of the time most spend learning just being a complete goof-off prick to fans and women, mostly, by flipping them the bird and sh*tting in their bags - respectively, one would hope. A Wellness Policy violator with no compunction over grabbing the shovel, Orton for many years was unprofessional. An irritant. Also wrestled several, countless tedious matches when he was demonstrably capable of more.

Turned babyface by...

This is very contentious, because he's still terrorising office personnel, but then again he is very funny on Twitter and in general a gift to The Discourse. He tells Matt Riddle to f*ck off and compliments Big E's t*ts. He'll do a job and won't give a toss about it. Is very keen on ploughing his wife monogamously and loves his fleet of children.

The 2020 version of Randy is more mature, and if his matches are dull, he's extracting a great deal of ill-gotten money in the process.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!