10 Signs Your Favourite Wrestler Was Turning Heel
The beats before the beatdowns and bad days before betrayals. Staring Cody and lots of Steve Austin.
Famous heel turns are often inextricably linked with the sense of shock they summon.
Seth Rollins driving a chair into Roman Reigns' back was for more than just the slack-jawed disgust of Dean Ambrose. The crowd too, were wrong-footed and appalled with Rollins' choice to link up with The Authority just 24 hours removed from The Shield winning the fight of their lives against Evolution.
Timed heartbreakingly well, it pleasingly mixed up the playbook for a while and set about securing The Shield's enduring legacy for life. But it shouldn't be the go-to guide to getting somebody over as a figure of true hatred.
In reality, the best are the ones you're allowed to smell a mile off. Randy Savage aced the first chapter of an all-time saga with Hulk Hogan in the first line. Celebrating a glorious WWE Championship victory at WrestleMania IV, Savage flashed a single jealous glare at Hulk Hogan for one innocent gesture towards Elizabeth, 12 months before their explosion in the same building broke every financial record in company history.
Though not the first, it remains the most profitable template. These made for noble additions to the pile...
10. Batista Was Supposed To Be Rey Mysterio's Friend
Long before Batista binned wrestling off for a world far more acceptant of his rounded skill set, he was leaving his colleagues and contemporaries in the dust as one of the best actors on a traditionally hammy stage.
Such was the case in 2009 when an overdue turn came about thanks to the competitively fractured nature of his friendship with Rey Mysterio.
The pair had first teamed as part of an earnestly sweet replication of their real life mourning following Eddie Guerrero's death. Years and various divergent paths later, the two were allies engaged in a friendly rivalry over the World Heavyweight Championship. All until one loss too many unleashed the nastiest side of 'The Animal'.
Never had the size disparity between the buddies looked so huge as when Mysterio begged Big Dave for mercy before Batista flipped his sh*t and destroyed the 'Biggest Little Man'. Impressively immersive and heartbreaking, the tenured two extracted significant pathos from the mere tease of a tired trope.