WWE history: 10 greatest heel turns of the 21st Century

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Three iconic moments that the fans still remember to this day

Over the course of the past several decades, WWE has been consistently producing weekly programming for the WWE Universe, with Monday Night Raw becoming the longest running episodic television show in history.

Wrestling storylines revolve around the basic premise of babyfaces against heels, with the faces coming out on top in most cases to send the fans home happy. On some occasions, a heel turns into a babyface to expand on their character. On the flip side, a babyface sometimes embraces the dark side of their persona and turns into a full-blown heel.

The WWE superstars often have limited control over the creative setup leading to their heel/face switch and are hence required to be versatile enough to capture the imagination of the WWE universe playing both roles.

After taking a peek at 6 greatest babyface turns of the past 20 years, let's take a look at 10 heel turns of the 21st Century that ended up making a huge impact on the business.

These heel turns range from 'did that just happen' to downright shocking.

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#10 Batista turns on Rey Mysterio

Batista looking at a dazed Mysterio

At the Bragging Rights 2009 PPV, the world heavyweight title was on the line as The Undertaker, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio and Batista competed in a Fatal Four Way match.

The Phenom ended up winning the whole thing, but that's not what fans remember most about this match.

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After the dust was settled, Batista snapped on his longtime friend Rey Mysterio, and proceeded to beat the tar out of him. This kicked off one of the best heel runs of all time, as Batista delivered excellent shoot promos heading into his match against John Cena at WrestleMania 26.

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Batista made references to Cena wasting his time kissing babies and hugging girls, while he was preparing to destroy him at The Show of Shows. Batista ended up losing three straight matches to Cena, with the final one being an "I Quit" match. The Animal left the WWE following his rivalry with Cena and went on to build a movie career over at Hollywood.

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