10 Wrestling Heel Turns That Never Should Have Happened
9. Tatanka (WWF, 1994)
The only time a popular babyface should be turned heel is when that popularity begins to wane, never beforehand. After all, what sense does is make for a promoter to throw away potential merchandise revenue gleaned from their hero by having him or her spite the fans?
Tatanka fell into this trap, his 'Native American' gimmick in no need of revision - but it couldn't work as a villain. A completely different character should have been created if the WWF were interested in turning him heel, but instead, the WWF's creative team decided that Tatanka should start turning on his American friends (specifically Lex Luger) and sell out to Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.
Finally pulling the trigger at SummerSlam 1994 proved a mistake. Fans didn't really care about Tatanka as a heel, whereas he had been a popular mid-card babyface since debuting several years earlier. It was hard to hate a character who had been presented as a do-gooder for so long.
Inevitably, Tatanka's heel run flopped and he was never quite the same again as in the WWF.