8 Best WWE Heel Turns (Where The Wrestler Changed Nothing)

3. Ronda Rousey

CM Punk Jeff Hardy
WWE.com

In terms of making an immediate impact in the wrestling business, few can match Ronda Rousey.

Sure, Ronda has her fair share of detractors - and her public comments often don't help the matter - but Rousey went from having one of the greatest in-ring debuts of all-time to just a year later being the key reason that a WrestleMania was headlined by a women's match.

That's not to say that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair weren't important factors in that WrestleMania 35 main event, but the truth of the matter is that WWE likely wouldn't have had the women close at the Showcase of the Immortals unless Rousey was involved.

By the time that her solitary year with the company was over, Ronda had transitioned from ass-kicking babyface to ass-kicking heel. Like the rest of the superstars featured on this list though, the MMA icon changed very little about her persona during this switch.

Rousey's entire time with WWE was spent brutalising opponents, running her mouth, and just being an all-out dominant badass. The thing that changed for Ronda, was that the fans became tired of her consistent dominance and her oft-erratic mic skills. Not to mention, Beckly Lynch embarked on a natural, organic rise to become the most popular act in the company.

For Ronda Rousey's part, she changed absolutely nothing about her from the moment she first walked into the WWE, to the very last time we saw her in a ring.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.