Showcasing the True Art of an Effective WWE Heel Turn

With WWE champion CM Punk turning heel on the 1,000th episode of Raw, the entire wrestling world is abuzz with the talk of what is next for the Second City Savior.

That is the power of the heel turn.

The WWE wanted to end the biggest show in its history with something that no one would ever forget. With Punk clotheslining The Rock and then putting him to sleep, the company did exactly what they needed to do.

Last Monday was a perfectly executed heel turn that follows the mold created years ago. For those that have never experienced a true heel turn or don’t understand how it happens, this is the ultimate showcase of what makes a heel turn effective.

You’re welcome!

Setting the Stage

Just as we saw the Big Show and Eve teasing Punk about being overshadowed by John Cena in the main event and AJ in the WWE title storyline, the stage has to be set for reasonable doubts to creep into the mind of a face star.

Punk started to realize that these people were right, and despite having the WWE championship, he was being buried in favor of pay-per-view main events featuring John Cena and the Big Show.

Kayfabe or not, that is something fans can sympathize with.

Whenever a company is trying to change a face that has gone stale to a heel, there has to be a reason behind the turn. If company wants to get the fans to care, it has to give the heel a viable reason to make such a drastic transition.

Internal Conflict

While the decision to turn a character heel could be as simple as Vince McMahon changing his mind, the responsibility of setting the stage for the change is up to the star.

That stage can’t be set without some serious internal conflict.

When Big Show attacked John Cena in the WWE title match on Raw last Monday, Punk cowered in the corner and was visibly torn about pinning Cena’s limp body. It was that internal conflict that showed the doubt in the WWE champion's mind.

The fans need to start questioning what a star is doing before they can ever understand that they are in the process of watching a full-blown heel turn. The fans that were cheering Punk earlier in the night couldn’t understand why he wasn’t helping Cena.

Now that the stage is set and the internal conflict is visible to the fans, it’s time for the final step.

Going All Out

While there are ways to have a face star subtly transfer into a tweener role like Randy Orton or Daniel Bryan, the key to a memorable heel turn is going all out. You don’t want the crowd to have any doubt about what it just saw.

The WWE wants everyone to ask, "Why?"

Why did CM Punk turn bad?

As much as Punk attacking Cena would have made it clear he was moving toward a heel turn, they had just fought in a match, and it could have easily been misconstrued. That’s why attacking the completely face Rock was Punk’s way of making it perfectly clear that he was a bad guy.

On the biggest of stages, the WWE needed something the fans would remember forever. Going all out on a heel turn for the second-biggest star in the company did that perfectly.

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