10 Times Wrestling History Repeated Itself
6. Never Hit The Man With The Microphone
In 2000, ECW alumnus Taz had returned to WWF television from injury a heel, viciously attacking babyface competitors and forcing the voice of the WWF, Jim J.R. Ross to refer to him as a piece of garbage on air. Taz took exception to this, and would become one of the first heels to actually call an announcer to account for the comments made about him on wrestling programming. His bullying of J.R. didnt escape the notice of Ross broadcasting partner Jerry The King Lawler, who had been a notorious heel colour commentator for the company for some years.
Lawler stepped up and confronted Taz, facing him at Summerslam 2000 in defence of Ross, and beginning a babyface turn of his own that would grow to define his career over the next fifteen years.
Funnily enough, similar events had occurred in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1982, when one of wrestling's most celebrated bad guys, Rowdy Roddy Piper stepped in to save legendary announcer Gordon Solie from a beating from Don Muraco, his erstwhile partner.
Like Lawler would eighteen years later, Piper would use the event as a springboard to get over as a proper first-tier babyface (for the first time in his career), before returning to his villainous ways the following year and debuting in the WWF.
In both cases, notorious heels stepping up to defend the honour of legendary ring announcers from fellow bullying heels cemented a babyface turn.