10 Wrestlers Who Turned During Championship Reigns

7. Macho Man Randy Savage (1989)

CM Punk
WWE.com

The most inspired (and subsequently most profitable) of all the turns on this list, WWE Champion Randy Savage's eventual heel turn on Hulk Hogan began on the night he won the title with 'The Hulkster's help.

It was during the celebrations at the climax of WrestleMania IV's WWE Championship tournament that Savage shot Hogan a glare for even looking towards Elizabeth in a manner he wasn't best pleased with. He squashed it down to return to living his dream, but not far enough that it wouldn't violently bubble under in his year as champion.

Teased further on every major pay-per-view that followed, Savage's psychopathic jealousy was performed with perfection because it allegedly wasn't far from the reality. Channeling that into a mesmerising turn on Hogan on the last Saturday Night's Main Event before WrestleMania V, the exploding Mega Powers set the stage for one of the biggest (and hardest earned) paydays in company history.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett