Four top WWE stars who probably should have turned (but then didn't)

Scott Keith

Four top WWE stars who probably should have turned (but then didn't) image

If there was one lesson to come out of the mediocre "Great Balls of Fire" PPV, it was that WWE can miss an easy free throw even more so than Shaq. See, my pop culture references are about as topical as theirs are. 

Anyway, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns engaged in a typically wacky Ambulance Match, where the winner of the match was immaterial because the big story was that shenanigans that went down afterwards. Roman, apparently mad about losing the match, kidnapped Strowman in the back of the ambulance and smashed it into a truck that was conveniently parked backstage. Then he left the scene of the accident and didn’t even leave a note on the truck’s window! This was clearly the work of a man who should be on the side of evil.

Then, to top it off, Strowman was rescued by firemen and paramedics, but refused help and walked upright on his own after escaping the wreckage of the ambulance. This was clearly the work of a man who should be on the side of good. Overall, this was the easiest double-turn that they executed since the masterpiece of "WrestleMania 13," during which Steve Austin and Bret Hart switched sides and Austin became a giant babyface star.

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And then the next night on “Raw," they just ignored everything that happened and it was right back to Reigns being all “I’m the Juggernaut” and “This is my yard now” with no follow through from general manager Kurt Angle for the attempted murder or lack of accident etiquette. If there’s one thing we all know about Angle, besides the Olympic gold medal, it’s that he would always leave a note after an accident. It’s right there in the “Three Is:"  Integrity.

Anyway, clearly this was the right time and the right place for both guys to turn. People have obviously been booing Roman Reigns forever now, and Vince knows how to book scary monsters like Braun, so he’s been getting cheers for months. But for whatever reason, be it stubbornness or just obliviousness, WWE absolutely refuses to go with the flow and let Roman be the vicious monster we know he can be. And hey, while we’re on the subject, here’s four other times that someone really should have turned, but then didn’t.

 

No. 1: Hulk Hogan in 1993

1992 was kind of a bad year for Hulk Hogan and the World Wrestling Federation. Hulk was the supposed role model for a generation, who preached about “Saying your prayers and taking your vitamins," but it turns out that when you distribute “vitamins” out of your home in Florida without a prescription and get linked to the criminal empire of Dr. George Zahorian…well, you look like less of a role model.

Hogan tried to set things right by appearing on the "Arsenio Hall Show" as a part of his public relations tour, but that backfired on him spectacularly when he dodged questions about the steroid allegations. Further, Hogan claimed that he had only taken the alleged steroids once, back in 1983, when they were legal, and only as prescribed by a doctor to rehab an injury to his arm. Shockingly, his nose didn’t grow like Pinocchio on the spot after telling that whopper, despite the ease with which the legitimate press was able to poke holes in the story.

With increased pressure from the federal government on Vince McMahon and the WWF, and even drug raids starting to occur, Hulk decided to leave.  He beat Sid Justice by DQ in the main event of "WrestleMania VIII" in 1992 and disappeared from the company, supposedly to pursue his burgeoning movie career. This of course was very coincidental timing, as Hogan’s reputation among the public was pretty much at rock bottom (until he found a lower level of rock bottom years later, of course) and he was suddenly shrinking to a much more human level of muscle tone before our eyes. Regardless, late in 1992, rumors started flying that Hogan was negotiating with WCW, stemming from his appearance at CNN Center to work on the new “Thunder in Paradise” show for Ted Turner’s production company. Given Vince McMahon’s competitive nature, it was only a matter of time before Vince made his own offer, and indeed Hulk returned to the WWF with another sweetheart deal in early 1993.

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Which leads us to the premise of this list: Hulk returned as the conquering babyface hero, but people weren’t interested in that version of Hogan any longer. That illusion had already been shattered by the bad press and the steroid allegations, and the business was changing. Bret Hart had been the WWF champion since Hogan departed, and people wanted a more relatable hero, like Hart represented. Rumors started flying about a Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan showdown at "SummerSlam ’93," which Bret would likely be booked to win, and this seemed like the perfect time to rehab Hulk’s image. People didn’t want superhero Hulk, and his main event tag team matches against Money Inc were flops on the house show circuit. The solution seems obvious: Turn him heel and build to the big money match against new hero Bret Hart, since Bret was likely to be cheered over lukewarm babyface Hogan anyway.

And then Hulk pulled yet another con and disappeared again after losing to Yokozuna at "King of the Ring ’93," this time going to Japan before heading to WCW in 1994 as original rumored. Bret never got his main event match against Hogan, and once he got to WCW Hulk finally did the heel turn that we had been waiting years to see.

No 2: John Cena in 2016

I know, I’m really going out on a limb with this one. But I’m thinking of a more specific time period than the usual “John Cena should turn heel” griping on the internet since 2006. Clearly there’s always been a contingent who boos Cena ever since he became the top star in the wrestling world, but there’s always been strong arguments for why keeping him as a babyface is best for business. The mammoth amount of charity work that he does, the merchandise that he sells, the movie career and so forth.

That being said, by 2015 he was clearly being moved down as a top guy. He won the U.S. title from Rusev and started the “U.S. Open Challenge," defending the belt on TV every week against a variety of opponents, clearly positioned in the midcard while Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were presented as the top guys. It was a sign that WWE was at least open to trying something new with Cena, and this tied in nicely with the rumored match for "WrestleMania 32" that people had been waiting a decade to see: Cena vs. Undertaker in one of the last remaining “dream matches” that we hadn’t already seen (aside from "Vengeance" in 2003, but that's beside the point). 

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With Cena moving out of a full time wrestling career (thanks to a successful stint hosting “Saturday Night Live” and memorable roles in movies like "Sisters" and "Daddy's Home") there seemed to be little reason for him to remain a babyface. Cena could turn on Undertaker, since no one is going to cheer Cena at "WrestleMania" against Undertaker, and you had an instant main event. 

Further, Cena was becoming increasingly involved on "Total Divas" with the show creating a new character for him of a control freak weirdo. Plus he was very publicly linked to the extremely unlikable Nikki Bella. This was all a recipe for someone who should probably have turned heel. Cena could lose to Undertaker and maintain his stardom, and maybe become a different and more interesting character as a result. And then, in January of 2016, Cena injured his shoulder while filming “American Grit” and was on the shelf for months as a result. The Undertaker dream match was off, with Shane McMahon getting the spot instead, and when Cena returned later in the year it was back to the same old Super Cena, fighting for the World title as a virtuous babyface.

No. 3: Triple H in 2001

In 2000, the payoff for the infamously terrible “Steve Austin gets run over by a mystery assailant” storyline was revealed to be that Triple H was the mastermind behind everything all along, because of course he was. Triple H really hates Steve Austin, you see, and vice-versa, and they engaged in a violent display of fisticuffs and non-sportsmanship, with stuff like Austin literally dropping Triple H in a car using a crane to demonstrate his hatred for his foe.

Then in February 2001 at "No Way Out," they had a “Three Stages of Hell” match that was also pretty awesome, completely destroying each other in increasingly violent fashion because they just hated each other so much that they couldn’t contain it in a regular match. Then, at "Wrestlemania X-7," Steve Austin suddenly turned heel in a plot twist so ridiculous that people are still complaining about it to this day, while Triple H lost to the Undertaker. Meanwhile, the Rock was still insanely popular, but he was about to leave to be a movie star.

Now, with Austin turning heel and Rock leaving for an extended hiatus to film "The Scorpion King," this clearly left a gaping hole in the role of top babyface. Not to mention that the impending WCW invasion angle would create a lot of people that fans would boo, because no one likes invaders. Which is all to say that it seemed like a slam dunk that Triple H would return to the side of the angels after "WrestleMania," and they even had the perfect setup fall into their lap.

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The night after "WrestleMania," Austin defended the World title against Rock in a rematch on “Raw,” with Vince McMahon as the special referee to boot, and it quickly turned into a one-sided beatdown from the new heel team of Austin and McMahon. Triple H ran down with his trusty sledgehammer, with the crowd ready to explode in support of him. Steve Austin was the guy who he had previously tried to kill, via Rikishi driving a car over him, and Austin had retaliated by dropping him from a crane. This feud was ready to explode again and draw money…but Triple H “shockingly” turned on Rock instead of helping him, thus sucking the life out of the crowd and pretty much giving us a definitive moment in time where the Attitude Era came to an end and the WWF started their downward descent from the heights of 2000.

Triple H and Austin, the two bitter enemies, began working together as “The Two-Man Power Trip," and not coincidentally ratings and attendance began to fall at that point, with only the “InVasion” PPV propping up the summer. Triple H, who was seemingly about to break through as a massively popular babyface, instead was a second top heel on a show that only needed one. It all became a moot point when he tore his quad in a tag team match in May of 2001 and was gone for months anyway. But when he returned in 2002, he finally embraced his role as world’s biggest babyface star. Unfortunately he took it too literally because he really was a few sizes bigger.

No. 4: Ultimate Warrior in 1990

As we’ve touched upon in the past, Ultimate Warrior’s WWF title run in 1990 was kind of a failure. Hampered by weak opponents and having Hulk Hogan around to continue hogging the spotlight, Warrior just wasn’t as popular as the WWF propaganda would lead to you believe at the time.

After months of feuding with the lukewarm Rick Rude and going nowhere, Warrior was essentially moved down the card, even while still holding the World title, headlining the “B” circuit in six-man tags against Demolition in matches that made fans give a collective “meh." Not to mention that the real draw of those tag team matches was seeing the Legion of Doom face Demolition, while Warrior basically stood on the ring apron for 10 minutes before tagging in and getting the win. Not exactly heroic actions.

A feud with Randy Savage seemed to heat up Warrior a little bit, but by late in 1990 rumors were flying that Vince McMahon had seen enough of the Warrior experiment and wanted to switch the belt back to Hulk Hogan again. Luckily, "WrestleMania" was going to be at the 100,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum, and what better main event than Ultimate Warrior defending the title against Hulk Hogan in a rematch of the biggest "WrestleMania" main event of all time? Well, as we found out, it wasn’t actually the biggest in terms of PPV buys, because having two babyfaces in the main event just can’t draw big money. So given that they needed to set up the rematch, and given that Hogan still had to be the top star and Warrior was such a flop as champion anyway, the logical conclusion is that Warrior was going to turn heel on Hogan at "Royal Rumble ’91" and set up their rematch.

And that seemed to be the plan, up until Thanksgiving of 1990, when the Gulf War suddenly became a thing and Iraqi turncoat Sgt. Slaughter was thrust into the role of top heel in the company because Vince apparently thought he could just take anyone and put pointy boots on them and draw millions of dollars. Warrior was unceremoniously dumped as champion, dropping the title to Slaughter at "Royal Rumble" and moving onto a feud with Randy Savage instead, and the world never got that Warrior vs. Hogan rematch for the WWF title. Of course, the backlash from the Iraq exploitation was so severe that they had to move "WrestleMania" to the 15,000-seat Sports Arena instead of the LA Coliseum, so perhaps they should have stuck with their first instincts on that one.

 

Scott Keith

Scott Keith Photo

Scott Keith is the overlord of Scott's Blog of Doom at www.blogofdoom.com, and has authored 5 books on pro wrestling, now available on Amazon and in discount bins near you! He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with his wife and ridiculously cute daughter.