In the world of professional wrestling, you have the faces (good guys) and you have the heels (bad guys). Some superstars have the natural gift of being great at both (Chris Jericho, The Rock), but with others a turn could signify a whole new direction for your character, and sometimes is very much make or break for your career within WWE.
Here are 5 superstars that I think would benefit from a heel turn.
Jack Swagger
Remember a few weeks ago when Swagger made a surprise jump over to Smackdown and declared “forget everything you thought you knew about Jack Swagger”, then fast forward to this week, he’s the same Jack Swagger.
I’m really confused as to why they had a fantastic chance to repackage the ‘All American American’, yet this past week in his match with Baron Corbin, he had the same character, attire, theme music and it seemed as if nothing had changed.
I like Swagger, but he’s not someone the fans feel they can get behind personally, because let’s face it, the real reason he gets a good crowd reaction he because he’s pro USA.
I’d like to see a new side of Swagger, one that just gets the job done, who doesn’t talk much, but when he does it’s bragging about his accomplishments. I don’t think I’d pair him with a mouthpiece either, because a lot of the time it leads to him taking a backseat, when he should be the driver.
Dean Ambrose
Some people have argued that Ambrose is a Brian Pillman meets Stone Cold kind of character, someone who will attack both the good and the bad guys, and still get cheered. I kind of feel over the last few weeks when faced against some of the bigger crowd favourites (Cena/Styles), Ambrose is the 3rd choice of who fans would rather get behind, which is worrying seeing as AJ Styles is officially a heel. The unfortunate fact is that since his WWE Title victory, Ambrose’s stock has fallen, both with management, and with some of the fans. Granted, his appearance on ‘The Stone Cold Podcast’ hasn’t helped his cause, and in my honest opinion I think Austin was wrong to put him on the spot, because back in his day it was very much a ‘say what you feel’ attitude, but these days saying the wrong thing could put your job in jeopardy. Rumours of Ambrose dropping the title to AJ Styles was down to his criticism of Brock Lesnar on the aforementioned podcast hasn’t been confirmed, and I’d be disappointed if this were the case, as you could then question why WWE would put their superstars out there to speak their mind, only to punish them for doing so.
As much as I enjoy Dean’s ‘I’ll take on anyone’ persona, I definitely enjoy the heelish nature to his character a lot more than when he was playing brothers with Roman Reigns, especially in his promos, his arrogant attitude is much more suited to him. A full on heel turn perhaps at the No Mercy ppv would begin a new chapter for him, one that is long overdue, and he could then establish his turn with a (what I think will be) thoroughly entertaining program with John Cena.
Finn Balor
Hear me out on this one. As someone who followed Balor during NXT (I admit, I was late to the party with Prince Devitt), I think fans have seen a lot of his demon character already, but they need to see it in a different aspect.
Finn has had an incredible year, not just his first few weeks on the Raw roster, but in NXT being the face and focal point of the show was a big deal, and he more than rose to the challenge on numerous occasions.
I do think him being put in contention for the Universal Title was too soon, but also for him to win seemed..rushed. I guess I’m one of few that enjoys a slow build of a character resulting in a bigger payoff when they finally win that title.
I think the reuniting of ‘Bullet Club’ is inevitable, and by doing this it would not only help fans connect with Balor on a different level, but it would go a long way to salvaging the credibility of Gallows & Anderson.
I’d be interested to see Balor really work his character around the Raw roster, such as against The New Day (with Gallows/Anderson), perhaps Cesaro, Seth Rollins and even Roman Reigns.
Seeing Balor vs Kevin Owens yet again doesn’t interest me, and the heel scene on Raw is quite limited, and Balor turning heel would really shake things up.
Zack Ryder
A lot of people’s reaction to this one will be ‘who cares?’, and that’s exactly what Ryder has become. There was a time not too long ago where Zack’s name was chanted almost throughout the entire Monday Night Raw show every week, fans couldn’t get enough. You could argue multiple factors played a part in his so called fall from the top, but he still features on WWE television on Smackdown as part of the ‘Hype Bros’ with Mojo Rawley. Unfortunately, you can tell a mile off that this pairing lacks serious chemistry, which makes it hard for people to get on board with them as a team, and ultimately, I would imagine Ryder feels this a demotion from his Intercontinental Title victory at this years Wrestlemania.
The ‘Woo Woo Woo, has lost all its meaning, and this is why I think Ryder needs to turn, and make his catchphrase an arrogant in your face type phrase, rather than simply a crowd pleaser.
The whole reason Zack’s character gained popularity in the first place was through his arrogance, cocky attitude and not to mention his charisma on his YouTube series ‘Z! True Long Island Story’. Again, unfortunately his whole identity seems to have been stripped away to a very much watered down version we see today.
Ryder needs to turn on Rawley, then focus his attention on the Intercontinental Title again, and bring back the Zack Ryder of old that fans had a reason to care about.
Dolph Ziggler
I’m willing to bet that if anyone else made a list of people that need to turn, Dolph would be featured in that list. Don’t get me wrong, Ziggler has great character and charisma as both, and it’s well documented that I’m a huge fan of his, however, is it working for him?
Take his ‘show off’ persona, has his attitude really reflected that over the past few months? Has he acted like a show off? Not at all. When he’s talking to his opponents, you don’t feel his arrogance and cocky attitude, you just feel respect coming from him. His whole gimmick is based on, ‘you’re good, but just not as good as me’, a very one-upmanship type of character, yet he doesn’t seem to boast, he almost seems to doubt himself at times, which is hurting his credibility.
It’s hard for him to fully believe the words he’s saying due to the fact he does lose an awful lot, and there’s only so much the fans can get behind someone like that, but everyone knows he has the talent. He almost only brags about his ability to put on the best matches of the night as a side note, when that should be his main focus point.
A heel turn would allow him to bring out a real ‘better than you’ attitude once again, get the people to really loathe and envy him, afterall he has plenty to boast about.
Who do YOU think should turn heel?
Is there anyone that needs a face turn?
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