3 superstars who can turn heel on the Road to WWE Bad Blood
On Saturday, October 5th, WWE will present the fourth-ever edition of the Bad Blood Premium Live Event. This will also be the first time the show has taken place since 2004.
At previous iterations of the event, Bad Blood has been used to settle some of the most intense rivalries in the company's history. This year looks to be no different and with many superstars' rivalries currently at a boiling point, Bad Blood seems like the perfectly apt name for many current feuds to be settled.
Whilst the roles of many WWE stars seem certain today, we are going to take a look at 3 performers who may turn heel before we get to Atlanta on October 5.
#3. The Dragon's madness descends
On Monday Night RAW, WWE is currently blessed with a litany of top faces, including CM Punk, Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley, Sami Zayn, and Damian Priest. With so many names taking the premier babyface spots some performers who are on the rise may get lost in the shuffle when working as a good guy.
With that in mind, one star who fans may see turn heel before Bad Blood is the former NXT Champion, Ilja Dragunov. The Mad Dragon moved up to the main roster as part of the WWE Draft earlier this year and despite being in some top-tier matches, it could be argued that he has yet to resonate with the audience.
A way in which he could do this as a heel could be on next week's episode of RAW when he takes on Braun Strowman, Pete Dunne, and Jey Uso in a fatal 4-way match to determine the new number-one contender for the Intercontinental Title.
Many fans would like to see Jey Uso win, therefore after the match whether Uso wins or loses, Dragunov could finally arrive on the main roster by attacking one of the red brand's most beloved stars.
Uso and Dragunov are no strangers to each other after having faced off earlier this year, in a match that Ilja would go on to lose. Speaking in a WWE Digital Exclusive after the contest, Dragunov stated that the loss to Uso awakened a monster in him.
"I mean, what should I say? It’s so frustrating. It is. But I mean, like where is actually the shame to lose to the man they call the Main Event, right? All I know right now, I’m in… I’m tired, I’m in pain. But the beauty of it is that I’m already very dangerous in this ring. But when I’m in pain, I’m an entire monster."
#2. WWE's powerhouse duo split up
One of the most popular acts in WWE this year has been the tag team of Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair. Their first interaction in the ring this past January saw them briefly face off in the Royal Rumble match.
Despite this small confrontation, the two stars would instead go and team up, and since then they have won the WWE Women's Tag Team titles on two separate occasions.
While it has been great to see them join forces, many would like to see them go one-on-one. With Bianca still super popular with the whole fanbase, a jealous Cargill may attack the EST of WWE in the coming weeks if they were to lose their tag titles again.
A superstar who feels it is inevitable that Cargill and Belair will face off is Bianca herself, who talked about their potential match while speaking to Seconds Out.
"As far as Jade Cargill, we’re tag team champions right now. But it’s not a matter of if, it’ll be a matter of when that happens. But I think that when it finally happens, it’s gonna be huge."
#1. KO resorts to his old ways
One of the surprising twists at Bash In Berlin this past week was that Kevin Owens did not turn on Cody Rhodes after the American Nightmare beat the Canadian in their high-stakes world title match.
During a recent interview with SHAK Wrestling, Kevin Owens went further in depth as to how close he and Cody Rhodes are.
"Cody left [WWE] in 2016, and it sucked. It sucked to lose my friend at [that] time. So I really wanted him to have the best possible introduction to the independent scene, because he had never been around. He had never done that. At the time, he had already been in the WWE system for so long. The independent scene is a whole different ballgame from the WWE."
While they seem to have maintained their respect for each other, it would not be one bit at all surprising if Kevin Owens turned on Cody Rhodes in the coming weeks before Bad Blood.
The former Universal Champion has been known to go after his best friends on multiple occasions in the most brutal of ways over the years.