10 Times WWE Tried (And Failed) To Make You Cheer For Former Heels
6. Sheamus
Sheamus had been a liar, cheat, bully and a brute after getting a mega push upon his main roster arrival in 2009, and though he seemed slightly out-of-his-depth in all of the above then, the comparison was as pale as his skin when he began pandering to the crowd as a sub-John Cena a year and a half later.
Considering how many different character traits they'd given him as a heel, it seemed like only one would do as a babyface - comedy. WWE's robust belief in the (fatally flawed) John Cena model was ready to claim yet another victim.
If it wasn't promos about potatoes and Father Ted, it was matches in which he bantered off the baddies with excruciating and obnoxious ease. One of the reasons Sheamus' original run had worked in spite of itself was just how dislikable he'd been at times - this reversal seemed both unearned and unwarranted.
In a more toxic time, Sheamus would have suffered the treatment later saved for Roman Reigns, but the company turned him back over to evil just before fans confirmed that enough was most definitely enough. Like the first time, he immediately suited the mean streak.