Round 7, Pick 2: Daddy’s Little Girl goes bad

The background:

The McMahon kids started making their way onto WWF TV in the late 90s. Shane McMahon was a huge part of the Corporation angle in 1998-99, while Stephanie would make a memorable first appearance on Raw in mid-1999 herself:



From almost being the bride at a black wedding, Steph would soon find herself in an on-screen relationship with Test. Over the initial strong objections of Shane, whom Test would beat at SummerSlam in a “Love Her or Leave Her” match, their romance progressed to the point where they were talking marriage. Of course, they decided to get married live on Raw, because what could possibly go wrong?

Enter Triple H:



HHH had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with the WWF title, and also feuding with Vince (this was the period where Vince actually won the title). HHH wanted to get to Vince to get the title back, so he did what any wrestler wanting a title shot would do — he drugged Stephanie at her Vegas bachelorette party and married her at a drive-thru chapel. Vince reacted as you’d expect him to: by challenging HHH to a no holds barred match at Armageddon. If Vince won, the marriage was kaput; if HHH won, he’d get a shot at the WWF title. And Stephanie would be at ringside to watch her father defend her honour...or so we all thought.

The turn:

Vince got a quick start with powder to the eyes and got an early advantage, with Dteph cheering him on, but HHH quickly turned the tide. Mankind then made an appearance with a shopping cart full of weapons for Vince to use. They brawled all over the arena, back into the parking lot, where HHH even tried to run Vince over with a car.The finish came when HHH pulled out his sledgehammer and was poised to hit Vince with it, but Vince took control with a low blow. As Vince was about to drop the hammer on HHH, Stephanie slid into the ring, asking to be the one to hit him. Vince relented, but HHH was able to get the hammer away from her with her back turned, and nailed Vince for the pinfall victory.

As HHH was about to nail Vince again after the match, he stopped as he saw Stephanie kneeling over Vince...and then:







It was a ruse the entire time. And with that, the McMahon-Helmsley Era had begun.

The aftermath:

Stephanie (sporting her new frizzy heel hairstyle and heel leather pants) gave her side of the story the next night on Raw, and it was clear she hadn’t forgotten her experience with the Undertaker, not forgiven Vince for his part in it:



Looking back, this was one of the most consequential turns ever. It cemented Triple H as the top heel in the company, a place he would stay for many years afterward. It introduced Stephanie as a major player in the WWF. And, of course, it led to the real-life marriage of HHH and Stephanie, who appear poised to take over the company for real when Vince finally steps down.

Steve Austin and Bret Hart double turn at WrestleMania 13
Randy Savage turns face in 1987
Chris Jericho turns heel on Shawn Michaels in 2008
Terry Funk turns heel on Ric Flair at WrestleWar 89
Nikita Koloff turns face in 1986
Stephanie McMahon turns heel on Vince McMahon at Armageddon 99

Rocky Maivia was a young wrestler with a strong lineage in the business. He debuted at the 1996 Survivor Series, was booked strongly, and got a massive push from day one, winning the Intercontinental Title in short order. Slight problem: he was terrible, not at all over, and not at all deserving of his push.

Even back in a day when crowds weren't constantly looking to put themselves over, Rocky got noticeable blowback from the crowd, drawing "Rocky sucks" chants. There was also a ringside fan who once brought a "die Rocky die" sign to the show. Though it took a bit of time for Vince McMahon to admit the error of his ways, he eventually did; Rocky jobbed the title away to Owen Hart on Raw, after which Jim Ross made a point of admitting over the course of several appearances that Rocky won too much, too soon.

Rocky disappeared for a number of months before suddenly showing back up on the August 11, 1997 Raw. Faarooq was facing Crush, and a ref bump occurred. Rocky suddenly slipped into the ring, briefly checked on the referee, and then hit the Rock Bottom on Crush. He raised a fist alongside Faarooq, apparently joining the Nation of Domination and becoming a heel in the process.



From there, everything changed. He transitioned from being Rocky Maivia to The Rock, suddenly started cutting electrifying heel promos, and went from being an overpushed joke to one of the hottest young commodities in the company, and obviously eventually to a level of legend that only a couple of wrestlers have ever surpassed, to say nothing of the fact that even those who were bigger in wrestling (Hogan, Austin) never touched what Rock has become as a mainstream star in pop culture.

In terms of execution, the heel turn of The Rock was generic as hell, but it began what I am comfortable calling the single sharpest turnaround of any wrestler in the history of the business.

I select Rocky Maivia 1997 heel turn.

Shawn Michaels 1992 heel turn
Jake Roberts 1991 heel turn
CM Punk 2011 face turn
The Undertaker 1992 face turn
Mick Foley 1997 face turn
Andre the Giant 1990 face turn
Rocky Maivia 1997 heel turn

Prince Devitt debut in NJPW in 2006 and experienced quite a bit of success in the Junior Heavyweight division. By 2013, he had won the Junior Heavyweight title 3 times and the Junior Heavyweight tag titles 6 times and was easily the most popular gai-jin (non-Japanese) junior heavyweight on the roster.

However, after pinning Heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in a tag match, Devitt wanted more. He challenged Tanahashi to a match and began having a bit of a cocky attitude. Tanahashi accepted, vowing to vacate his title if he lost. Tanahashi would end up winning, and when he went over to check on Devitt post-match, Devitt shoved him away.

After failing to recapture the Junior Heavyweight tag titles in April 2013, Devitt would complete the turn and attack his long-time partner Ryusuke Taguchi. He would join forces with his new heavy, Bad Luck Fale.



One month later, Devitt and Fale would join with Tama Tonga and Karl Anderson in a beatdown of Tanahashi.

The four men would subsequently be known as “Bullet Club”, a group of non-Japanese wrestlers who would basically just piss on all of the Japanese wrestling traditions. Their matches would frequently feature tons of interference from other members. By the end of the year, they would gain three new members, The Young Bucks and Doc Gallows, and a genuine force was in full effect.

Over the next few years, Bullet Club would gain and lose members, but their popularity could not be ignored. Bullet Club shirts were sold in American stores and could be seen in WWE crowds. Now NJPW enjoys quite a bit of popularity in the United States. They recently added a US title and have started holding shows in California.

Mr Perfect face turn (1992)
Kevin Owens heel turn (2013)
John Cena face turn (2003)
The Rock face turn (1999)
Tommaso Ciampa heel turn (2017)
Batista heel turn (2014)
Prince Devitt heel turn (2013)

Naito turns heel and creates Los Ingobernables de Japon

In 2013 Naito was one of the rising stars of NJPW. He managed to win G1 Climax and therefore would challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom vs Okada. But the fans were disappointed with that matchup so NJPW decided to make a fan vote to see which match would headline WK Naito vs Okada or Nakamura vs Tanahashi. Nakamura vs Tanahashi won the vote and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was relegated from the Main Event of the biggest show of the year. This angered Naito as he felt the fans had disrespected his accomplishment of winning the G1.

After losing to Okada at WK and then losing his NEVER Openweight Championship and then disappeared from NJPW and showed up in Mexico joining CMLL. While in CMLL Naito joined the heel faction Los Ingobernables. After studying under Los Ingobernables, Naito returned to Japan with a new attitude as a heel who no longer cared for the fans or traditions of NJPW.

In one of my favourite heel moves, after winning the NJPW Heavyweight Championship, Naito cut a promo and then threw the title into the air and walked off, leaving it behind in the ring.

https://youtu.be/07q3iBFqefc?t=1m34s

This became a common theme for Naito.

https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/855740908268134400

Even going so far as breaking the IWGP Intercontinental Championship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yjOrPaM3XM

Macho Man Randy Savage turns face reunites with Miss Elizabeth(1991)
Daniel Bryan turns face and embraces the Yes Movement (2014)
Seth Rollins turns heel and shatters The Shield (2014)
Mankind turns face and pushes WWF ahead for good (1998)
CM Punk turns heel on ROH and kicks off the Summer of Punk (2005)
Kenny Omega turns face and reunites the Golden Lovers (2018)
Tetsuya Naito turns heel and creates LIJ (2015)

At WCW’s PPV, Superbrawl in 1998, Scott and Rick Steiner challenges the Outsiders for the WCW Tag Team titles. The Steiners were led to the ring by Ted DiBiase who was once a member of the NWO. The match started like any other with some back and forth action, and then a few minutes into the match, Rock hits an overhead belly to belly duplex on a Scott Hall and then knocks Nash out of the ring when he tries to come in. Then with the ring empty Scott entered and stood in the center, preparing for the iconic Steiner Bros. pose of Rock Strong on all fours between Scott’s legs.

Only this time, Scott looked at Hall and Nash and gave a wink. He then proceed d to drop multiple double axe handle blows to his brother. Then shot both Hall and Nash some real awkward looking “Too Sweet” gestures and hit Rock with a double undertook duplex. Scott also gave DiBiase a shot for good measure when he was on the ring apron in shock. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much more to this because the turn was out of left field. But it was the birth of Big Poopa Punp, and it would be too long before he would shave and dye his hair, and also add his iconic chaiail hardware. It also eventually gave us one of the most memorable promos ever which I referenced in my opening.

Taz turns face at ECW Barely Legal.

On the annual draft episode of Raw, Mark Henry was involved in a tag match that pitted Team Raw against Team SmackDown. During the match Henry turned on his teams and attacked John Cena and Christian. This was the beginning of the Hall of Pain. I can't think of another wrestler who I did not care about for 15 years, and virtually over night became the best thing in wrestling. His promos were great, his matches were entertaining, and his feuds delivered. I would turn on SmackDown just to watch Henry. I wasn't the only one, because during Henry's reign as champion, SmackDown saw their highest ratings in years.

Bob Backlund was one of the biggest faces in all of wrestling in the 1970's. He had never been a heel. After being away from wrestling for close to 10 years, Backlund returned to the WWE. He was still his typical all-American babyface character. The only problem was that it was now 1994, and fans were rejecting it. He was getting next to no reaction, and when the fans finally did react, they chanted boring. This is when Backlund came up with an idea. He decided that his character would turn heel, by being delusional. He would turn on the fans, and say that they rejected him because of his good character an morals. In the meantime Backlund would go on an incredible win streak. This win streak led to Backlund challenging Bret Hart for the title. The two faced off in an amazing match, with an even better finish. Backlund locked Bret in the chicken-wing and got him to the ground. The ref counted to two, and Backlund got up and started celebrating thinking he had won. While celebrating Bret rolled Backlund up for the three count. Backlund the snapped and locked in the chicken-wing on Bret. Shocked he finally came to, and realized what he had done. He had become a heel. Backlund would randomly lock in the chicken-wing on people for weeks. He got his rematch against Bret in a submissions match at Survivor Series, and this is when he won the title for the first time in decades. Unfortunately, his win was short lived, he would dump the title to Kevin Nash three days later. Still this was one of the most unexpected and will executed heel turns of all time.

I'll go back to WCCW for this one, and take "honorary Von Erich" Chris Adams hiring Gary Hart and turning heel.

As stated earlier, Wrestlemania XV was easily the worse Mania of all 33, and if you have seen them all, you know that is no small feat. It felt like a souped up episode of RAW combined with a Vince Russo fever dream. There were run ins, bad matches, terrible promos, and enough swerves for 6 months of regular programming.

Nothing exemplified this more than HHH and Chyna’s journey through the evening. At start of the show, HHH and Chyna were enemies and we saw her second Kane to the ring for his match against HHH. Of course by the end of the match Chyna had tourney on Kane and the two of them were celebrating the reformation of DX. However since Vinnie Ru was involved, this reunion wasn’t going to last that long. An hour or so at tops.

Let’s fast firmware to the European championship match pitting X-Pac vs Shane-o Mac. This **** storm featured multiple run ins and was even kicked off with Gerry Brisco and Pat Patterson attacking X-Pac before the match even started. So HHH and Chyna came out to help their man, but again, did I mention Russo wrote this show, it didn’t work out that way as HHH hit X-PAC with a Pedigree and draped a lifeless Shane over him to get the victory.

As bad as this show, and especially the booking of this match was, you can’t deny what it did for HHH, and how strongly it is felt still today in the WWE. This moment is what started him on his way to becoming one of the top people in the company, and most likely to bigger and hopefully better things in the future.

I ****ing hate you, Vince Russo.

Shane Douglas declares the NWA dead and holds up the ECW World Championship

In 1994 ECW was still called Eastern Championship Wrestling and was a member of the NWA. The NWA had long been one of the premier wrestling organizations and traced its roots back to through Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers,
Dory Funk Jr, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and many others. In 1994, the NWA was going through a rough time just after WCW had withdrawn from the NWA causing Ric Flair to vacate the title. So Dennis Coraluzzo, the chairman of the NWA, decided to have a tournament to crown its new champion. At the time, Eastern Championship Wrestling had one of the best TV slots of any NWA affiliate so Paul Heyman and Tod Gordon convinced Coraluzzo to let ECW host the tournament. They managed to put together a really good roster of up and comers for the tournament. It included Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Taz, 2 Cold Scorpio, 911, Doink the Clown, Nishimura, and of course, Shane Douglas.

Paul Heyman of course, had a great sense of the future of the business at the time and saw that the NWA was weak. He didn't want to be affiliated with them anymore and saw an opportunity to launch Extreme Championship Wrestling on the biggest stage possible for them. He arranged to swerve the whole organization and set a plan with Shane Douglas in motion. Douglas was booked to win the tournament and took the opportunity to throw the NWA title under the bus and cut a legendary promo.

Macho Man Randy Savage turns face reunites with Miss Elizabeth(1991)
Daniel Bryan turns face and embraces the Yes Movement (2014)
Seth Rollins turns heel and shatters The Shield (2014)
Mankind turns face and pushes WWF ahead for good (1998)
CM Punk turns heel on ROH and kicks off the Summer of Punk (2005)
Kenny Omega turns face and reunites the Golden Lovers (2018)
Tetsuya Naito turns heel and creates LIJ (2015)
Shane Douglas turns heel on the NWA and launches ECW to stardom (1994)