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

As one of the company's most entertaining babyfaces for several years prior, the Chris Jericho heel turn of 2001 didn't particularly change anything major about the Jericho character.

For those 1999 - 2001 babyface years, the Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rollah was a trash-talking, cocky, eccentric, aggressive competitor who was never afraid to take a shortcut if the opportunity arose. The only thing that really changed about Jericho's ascension to becoming the then-WWF's top heel and first ever Undisputed Champion at the 2001 Vengeance PPV, was that the shortcuts he was taking were handed out by the McMahons.

That Y2J character never really altered during that Undisputed Champ heel run. Previously, we'd seen Jericho use weapons or steal illegal pins when necessary - only now it was Vince or Stephanie handing him these weapons and singing his praises.

So similar was Jericho's heel character to his babyface shtick, it was largely a seamless transition for him to fully revert back to babyface mode once more in 2004 following his WrestleMania XX contest against Christian.

Of course, Jericho would go on to reinvent himself at several points over the next decade or more, proving why he's one of the most versatile performers that the wrestling business has ever seen. But that 2001 heel turn?

That was one where nothing much at all was altered in catipulting Chris Jericho to the top of the WWF.