10 Wrestling Heel Turns That Totally Saved Careers

He might be the biggest mainstream crossover star in wrestling history, but The Rock didn’t have an easy ride early in his career. Debuting as Rocky Maivia, he came from a rich lineage of Samoan wrestling history, and was pushed towards the top long before he was ready. His lack of seasoning was all too apparent, and his saccharine happy-go-lucky babyface was universally rejected by the fans.

“Die Rocky, Die!” chants became a regularly occurrence wherever he went, but Maivia was struck down by injury at the height of his hatred. He returned as The Rock three months later, joining the militant Nation of Domination group, and transforming himself into an arrogant, self-obsessed glory hound who tore into the fans for not acknowledging his greatness. Finally, ‘The Great One’ was working an alignment that matched his crowd reactions, and his career took off soon after.

Ironically, Rock eventually became such an entertaining personality that WWE had no choice but to turn him face again, though he’d swap alignments many more times throughout his career. That first heel turn proved to be a masterstroke, and with Rock’s cousin Roman Reigns in a remarkably similar position today, an attempted recreation may not be the worst idea.