WWE: 5 Heel Turns That Worked (And 5 That Didn't)

2. Honky Tonk Man

Sure, Honky Tonk Man (above, right) might be some lighter affair after the last three entries, but that should not diminish the brilliance of his heel turn. By allowing Wayne Farris to turn from a fan-pandering babyface to a cowardly heel, the WWE created a midcarder that drew better houses than a lot of main eventers ever did. After debuting as a face to very tepid reactions, Honky Tonk Man conducted an innovative "Vote of Confidence" where the fans actually got to write in and say whether they supported the Elvis impersonator. After the vote came back overwhelmingly negative, Honky turned his back on the crowds, and hired "Colonel" Jimmy Hart to guide his career. Honky went on to score a major upset against Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental title in June of 1987, and his remarkable 64 weeks with that title is a record that still stands today. During his reign as champ, Honky would pull out all the stops to hold on to the title. He would get intentionally disqualified or counted out, and he definitely was not above doing some cheating to hold on to the strap. Fans became hungrier and hungrier to see someone take the IC title away from Honky, and WWE owner Vince McMahon soon realized that while stars like Hogan and Randy Savage were headlining "A" shows, The Honky Tonk Man being challenged for the secondary title could still sell out "B" shows in slightly smaller arenas. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, The Ultimate Warrior emphatically defeated The Honky Tonk Man in 18 seconds to end his historic Intercontinental reign. When an IC title changing hands gets a louder reaction than a main event with Hogan, Savage and Andre the Giant (which was the case at Summerslam 1988 from Madison Square Garden), then you know HTM was a great, perhaps the greatest, mid card heel of all time.