10 Smartest Heel Plans In Wrestling History
3. The Rock Aligns Himself With The Corporation To Get Ahead
And speaking of one-time beloved babyfaces cruelly turning their backs on their people in pursuit of personal glory, has there ever been a more calculated and unexpected turn than the one that went down at Survivor Series 1998.
Vince McMahon had made it painfully clear that he'd placed all of his eggs into Mankind's basket heading into the Deadly Game WWF Championship tournament at the event, but this was all designed to merely set the stage for the ultimate twist during the eventual final.
With The Rock acting as arguably the most popular anti-hero in the company at that point, fans were fully on-board with the idea of The People's Champion walking out of St. Louis, Missouri as the new top champ. But in a rather painful case of "be careful what you wish for", it was soon revealed late in the day that Rocky had been conspiring with Mr. McMahon all along.
Before Mankind knew what hit him, Vince had pulled off his second screwjob in two years and embraced his new Corporate champ.
But why Rocky, why? Well, it turns out that The Great One never forgot about the days of "Die Rocky, Die". So, he'd actually been planning on sticking it up the People's candy asses ever since.