The Usos' Heel Turn Shows Stalling WWE Careers Can Be Revived with Brave Booking

By its own definition, brave booking in WWE and professional wrestling as a whole is exactly that—brave.

Whether it's a double turn—which, when executed well, is booking at its best—or just a simple character transition, it takes careful thought before making a decision that can either transform or destroy a professional wrestler's momentum.

But WWE has been so richly in supply of top talent and intriguing action of late that there's been very little need to consider brave booking decisions.

However, the ones that have happened—and there are two really significant ones since the brand split—have been masterstrokes. One of those was Kevin Owens' shocking WWE Universal Championship win, while the other was a heel turn from The Usos.

Even when it happened, it didn't really feel like it would change too much—even within SmackDown's tag team division. But an inspired, brave piece of booking to turn a perennially babyface team into bad guys should now serve notice to WWE Creative that doing it with other stalling talent could provide a similar boost.

Not even the brand split and the extra exposure it provided for all WWE talent looked to be enough to make The Usos interesting and relevant of late.

They seemed to really suffer when they were aligned with Roman Reigns earlier this year on his charge to WrestleMania, immediately standing them in poor stead when it came to working as babyfaces.

"

The Usos have been on a roll since targeting American Alpha...The tag team division has gotten to new heights. The division rocks. #SDLive

— Alexander The Great (@WWETheAlexander) September 21, 2016"

Furthermore, they were slowly being overtaken by new tag teams and slipping further down the pecking order. A year or so ago, they were right in the mix at the head of the division, but since then, teams such as Enzo and Cass as well as Gallows and Anderson have come up to the main roster and made a much bigger impact.

So when they attacked American Alpha in such a brutal fashion, it laid the platform for something new and something fresh.

And when you watch them work as heels, it's incredible to think WWE hadn't tried the duo out as heels before now. They speak with anger and passion on the mic and have adopted a new wrestling style where they systematically attack parts of their opponents' bodies, and it all seems to make them SmackDown's leading tag team.

So what is the big lesson on a wider scale? Surprising, shocking heel turns can work wonders for the careers of stuttering WWE stars (which The Usos were before this), especially with the brand split now fully complete.

Some prime examples? Guys such as Sheamus, Darren Young and even Jack Swagger, who has just moved to the blue brand, could all benefit from brave booking.

There's no guarantee that it will be anywhere near as successful as The Usos' turn, but imagine if someone such as Swagger turned heel by attacking Apollo Crews unannounced? With everyone expecting him to be targeting Baron Corbin, it would be a great swerve and could revive his career.

This isn't to say that WWE should pull off shocking heel and babyface turns every week. Otherwise, they naturally become less shocking.

But there are valuable lessons to be learned from how The Usos have been booked of late. Do something out of the ordinary, and even with so many new faces in WWE, it can give existing talent a big boost.