5 great heel turns we still talk about today
We've been spoiled for choice recently in terms of top wrestling heel turns.
From Finn Balor and Dakota Kai's betrayals in NXT, to MJF throwing in the towel for Cody and Seth Rollins' apparent return to the dark side, creative are getting a lot of things right across the board.
It's amazing just how much a wrestler can benefit from a well-executed heel turn. It can see a career on the verge of faltering revived in an instant or it can be the catalyst to send the next big superstar on their road to greatness.
As a result, we often ask the question of what is the greatest heel turn ever? So many factors go into answering such a question: the shock factor involved, the resulting pay-off and the overall execution of the turn.
Podcast Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet recently broke down all the factors to produce their all-time greats, and we certainly can't argue with the choices made.
Indeed, many would say that these turns are the ones we often look back on more regularly than others.
So here they are 5 great heel turns that we still talk about today.
#5 Stone Cold Steve Austin sides with Vince McMahon
Heading into WrestleMania 17 in 2001, Stone Cold Steve Austin spoke of how he'd do whatever it takes to dethrone The Rock and regain the WWF Championship.
Never in a million years did we expect him to go as far as he did!
After battling for nearly 30 minutes in the show's main event, 'The Rattlesnake' grew desperate in his failure to put away The Rock.
As Vince McMahon came to the ring, we expected him to once again cost his long term rival Austin on the grandest stage.
However, it turned out to be quite the opposite, as he pulled Rock off of Austin after a People's Elbow. It was clear then that Austin had made a deal with the Devil, sealed when McMahon handed him the chair he used to level the WWF Champion sixteen times before finally pinning him for the 1-2-3.
The success of this turn still receives mixed reviews to this day. Whilst it certainly shocked the crowd, the fact that WrestleMania was in Austin's home state meant he still received cheers. Indeed, fans never fully embraced bad guy Stone Cold in the months that followed, and he closed out 2001 once again a fan favourite.