10 Real-Life Wrestling Heels Who Turned Babyface
2. Tony Schiavone
Was a heel because...
It's wild to cast one's mind back this far, but Tony Schiavone - Tony Schiavone, for Christ's sakes - was once loathed amongst hardcore wrestling fans. His legendary "That'll put the butts in the seats" line was the instruction of producer Annette Yother, who told him to bury Mick Foley with whatever shovel he could conceive of. Schiavone was also pelted for losing his enthusiasm. It was a bit like complaining that somebody smelled like sh*t when somebody else had covered them in sh*t.
Booker T holding up a picture of fired alcoholic Scott Hall was hardly the greatest night in the history of this sport, for f*ck's sake.
Turned babyface by...
Becoming the most beloved presence in the history of this great sport on AEW Dynamite, on which he marks out in his glorious anti-Matt Striker way, calls MJF a "prick", describes great bouts as "ass-kicking matches", dresses up like Orange Cassidy, genuinely fears for the safety of the talent, thus creating a tremendous sense of realism, and generally has the time of his life and expresses this with a sense of infectious wonder.