5 Best heel turns in WWE history
Heels and faces in wrestling are as old as the sport itself. The heel (bad guy) and the face (good guy) play defined roles in order to elicit the desired response from the audience who in theory will pay cold hard cash to see their favourite face beat the hated heel.
Many WWE Superstars have proved adept at playing both sides of the face/heel divide and many of the company's most memorable moments have been when beloved faces turn to the dark side of heeldom.
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This slideshow counts down the five best.
#5 Shawn Michaels (2005)
In 2005, Shawn Michaels was a beloved veteran who in the real world had found God in the intervening years since he last played heel in 1998.
Michaels took some persuading from Vince McMahon, but when he reluctantly agreed to the owner's request to turn to the dark side, he embraced his inner heel wholeheartedly.
The reason Michaels turned heel was due to his impending Summerslam 2005 clash with WWE Hall of Famer, Hulk Hogan in a first-time dream match.
To Michaels's chagrin, Hogan had refused to turn heel for the clash and WWE wanting to make as much money from the encounter as possible was adamant that one of the combatants had to play the bad guy.
To make matters worse for Michaels, Hogan He also refused to lose to him, either in the Summerslam match or any potential re-match.
Viewing this as a mark of disrespect, Michaels took great delight in belittling Hogan at every turn under the cover of his wrestling character.
In one famous segment, Michaels dressed up in a preposterous Hogan outfit and poked fun at Hogan's character: "I only make the big towns, brother" portraying him as a money hungry politician, which Michaels (and many others in wrestling for that matter) genuinely believed.
When WWE rolled into Montreal for Monday Night Raw prior to Summerslam, site of his and Vince McMahon's infamous double cross of WWE Hall of Famer, Bret Hart, Michaels took the opportunity to mock the crowd who had booed him mercilessly in the eight years since the Montreal Screwjob; "Who's your daddy, Montreal" he jibed.
In the Summerslam match itself, Michaels went so far as to play real life heel. As he was miffed with Hogan's lack of respect towards him, Michaels mocked his offence by deliberately overselling every offensive move Hogan performed on him.
The match became akin to slapstick comedy. Michaels had no doubt awakened his fire from 1997-98, however, he would soon lie his heel character to rest permanently post-match as he once again turned face, when shaking Hogan's hand post-match.
The pair never crossed paths again.