As weve seen with the 10 heel turns in the WWE that ultimately failed, a change in a characters direction may not necessarily be a good thing. While character turns are important for keeping the wrestler fresh in the minds of the viewing audience, and can contribute to the longevity of the character, it takes a certain kind of wrestler to have the versatility to go from being hated to being loved, and vice versa. Its widely understood that its easier to be a heel than a babyface. Its easier to get the audience to hate you than it is to get them to like you. Whether it be the fact that the person behind the character just isnt that likable in real life, or he cant seem to click with the audience, many babyface turns are severe flops. Especially in the years since the Attitude Era, the crowd has redefined the criteria of what they consider a babyface to be. They no longer want somebody to suck up to them, while telling them to train, say their prayers, and take their vitamins. Now they want somebody who lets their actions do the talking. And if that person just so happens to make them laugh, all the better. Still, some babyface turns became total disasters. We will now take a look at 10 babyface turns in WWE history that ultimately failed.
10. Faarooq Cant Keep Up With The RockOr DX - 1998
It was obvious that the WWE had big plans for Ron Simmons in 1997. First debuting as Faarooq, they quickly made him a Malcolm X-type character leading his own Nation of Domination. The group was always meant to be a vehicle to put over Faarooq. But something unexpected happened. When Rocky Maivia, a babyface who was floundering, turned heel and joined the Nation, he let his personality show through, and ended up eclipsing Faarooq in the group, both in the storyline and in real life. The decision was made to have Rocky overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation, thereby turning Faarooq babyface in the process. It worked well for a couple weeks; Rocks natural heel persona made a great foil for Faarooqs straight-laced approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe2YmrMsx_w However, simultaneously, The Rock inherited Owen Harts feud with D-Generation X when Hart joined the Nation after Wrestlemania. Suddenly, Rock had a more popular and more interesting foil in Triple H. So Faarooq was pushed to the side, and floundered as a babyface for the majority of the year until he was turned back heel and put in a lower-card tag team with another wrestler who was going nowhere at the time, Bradshaw. That team would become the Acolytes and would go on to have better success as babyfaces in the APA.
