11 Surprising WWE Heel Turns You Never Saw Coming

7. Seth Rollins On The Shield (2014)

Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Seth Rollins violently assaulting Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose just a night removed from the trio's biggest victory was perhaps the last truly great main event heel turn in WWE, ripping the hearts out of audiences that adored The Shield right at the point they collectively looked stronger than ever.

His chair-swinging attack was necessarily wicked and immediately got across the extent of his callous betrayal. Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins had put Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista to the sword after months of feuding, leading to the collapse of the reunited Evolution on that same edition of Monday Night Raw. Batista had gone back to Hollywood in an almighty huff, embarrassing his colleagues even more than he had in his all-blue ensemble 24 hours earlier.

'The Game' turning to his "Plan B" - a gotten-to Seth - flipped the script on the angle entirely and set all three on brand new trajectories whilst still at the height of their popularity. Results were frustratingly mixed in the aftermath, but the camera-shaking pop that met their 2017 reunion highlighted the tightly wound emotional ties that still existed between the group and the fanbase at large.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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