Ranking the Most Epic Heel Turns in Recent WWE and AEW History

A drastic heel turn can completely change the trajectory of one's career in the wrestling world.

Sudden character shifts have proved to be the most impactful, while others that have occurred over time have also been effective. Regardless of whether fans saw them coming, there have been a handful of heel turns in recent years in WWE and All Elite Wrestling that have helped out both the product and the performer in a major way.

Even established antagonists have been a part of some memorable betrayals over the years. MJF double-crossing Cody Rhodes at Full Gear 2019 was a prime example of that, along with Bayley severing ties with Sasha Banks to end their friendship in the fall of 2020.

Going heel was what salvaged Roderick Strong's career in April 2018 when he joined Undisputed Era and went on to achieve great success. Likewise, Matt Hardy is doing arguably his best AEW work to date after embarking on a heel run earlier this year and forming his own faction.

Several stars from WWE and AEW have seen their career reach new heights after going rogue. The following are the eight most epic heel turns of the last seven years ranked on how they happened, the aftermath, what was accomplished long-term and more.

Honorable Mentions

The Young Bucks (2021)

Longtime fans of the Bucks can attest to the two being far more natural in the heel role than as babyfaces. After months of subtle teases, they finally flipped the switch back in April when they turned on Jon Moxley to reunite with Kenny Omega.

The Elite have been running rampant over AEW ever since, which has helped elevate the Bucks' in-ring game and character work. The turn itself wasn't remarkable, but their success as AEW World Tag Team champions has been undeniable.

Becky Lynch (2018)

Lynch's heel turn at SummerSlam 2018 took fans by surprise because of the momentum she was building as a babyface at the time. Not only did it make for a great moment, it served as the catalyst for a movement that would see the entire WWE Universe rally behind her heading into WrestleMania 35 and make her one of the biggest stars WWE has had in years. 

Bayley (2019)

Bayley embraced her dark side soon after Lynch and experienced similar results as a long-running women's champion on the SmackDown brand. It took time for her to find her footing after betraying Lynch in September 2019, but once she did, she transformed into a tremendous heel.

The Usos (2016)

The multi-time tag team champions got over huge as babyfaces early on in their career, but by 2016, their act had grown stale. They turned their backs on the fans, adopted an aggressive edge and became the most interesting they'd ever been up to that point in their careers.

Adam Cole (2021)

Cole has been a heel almost everywhere he's gone, which is why his subtle face turn in the summer of 2020 came as such a shock. Undisputed Era were beloved as babyfaces for a number of months, but Cole dropped the bomb when he laid out Kyle O'Reilly with a sickening superkick at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day in February.

As emotional of a moment as it was, Cole being back in his heel element made it all well worth it.

8. Britt Baker (2020)

Britt Baker was widely believed to be the female face of AEW upon the launch of the promotion in 2019 until she was unsuccessful in becoming the inaugural AEW Women's World champion. It was evident at that point she wasn't terribly interesting as a face and needed additional seasoning before she'd be ready for that spot.

After spinning her wheels for a few months, Baker was given the chance to vent her frustrations to the audience in a series of interviews with Tony Schiavone on Dynamite at the onset of 2020. Her mic skills—as well as her ability to effectively trash-talk—gradually improved every time.

As a result of finding herself as a heel, she became more comfortable in the ring and started having some standout matches with the likes of Hikaru Shida and Big Swole. Even while out injured, she was a recurring highlight throughout the entire pandemic period and had more of a presence on Dynamite than the champion herself.

As of Double or Nothing 2021, she's the new AEW Women's World champion, as she should be. Despite being one of the best parts of AEW programming for the last year, she ranks lower on the list because the turn itself wasn't immediate and didn't pack as much of a punch initially as others that are still to come.

That said, turning heel was the best thing to happen to the Britt Baker character, with it allowing her to transition into the top spot many envisioned her having from the get-go.

7. Randy Orton (2020)

Randy Orton has done an exceptional job throughout his career of endearing himself to the audience when he wants to be positioned as a babyface and getting everyone to hate him if the time is right to turn heel.

Of his many face and heel turns over the years, none were more epic than when he viciously assaulted Edge one night removed from The Rated-R Superstars' return to the ring at the 2020 Royal Rumble event.

The two briefly interacted during the Rumble match itself, giving fans flashbacks of their days as Rated-RKO and hope that they'd soon reunite. That appeared to be the case when Orton confronted Edge on Raw, only for Orton to lay him out with an RKO instead.

That alone would have been shocking, but The Viper had to follow it up with a devastating con-chair-to on his former partner. It was a move both men were familiar with as they had used it on all of their opponents during their time together.

In the subsequent weeks, Orton carried Raw in segments with Matt Hardy and Beth Phoenix, stopping at nothing to wreak havoc and annihilate anyone who got in his way. He had a career year in 2020 that started with this moment and ended with him winning his 14th WWE Championship.

6. AJ Styles (2016)

Both of AJ Styles' WWE heel turns have been excellent, but his first was the one that set the stage for the success he'd have from that point forward and cemented him as the main event player he is today.

The Phenomenal One arrived with plenty of fanfare at Royal Rumble 2016 and was popular with the crowd straight out of the gate. He won his fair share of matches but lost whenever it mattered most against the likes of Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns on pay-per-view.

That was what led him to finally snapping and shockingly turning on John Cena in the 16-time world champion's return to Raw on Memorial Day that year. He, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows took turns attacking him, and whenever Styles left the ring, he ran back in to bestow more punishment upon him.

In the span of one segment, Styles went from being beloved by the WWE Universe to being showered with boos. The Club standing tall over Cena that night was a surreal sight and kicked off their fantastic feud that summer.

Had he not flipped the switch when and how he did, there's no telling if Styles would have reached the same level of superstardom. He eventually returned to being a heel in 2019 and has enjoyed runs as United States champion, Intercontinental champion and Raw Tag Team champion since then.

5. Sasha Banks (2019)

It was abundantly clear throughout Sasha Banks' NXT run that she was born to be a heel. Her natural connection with the audience led her to turning face in early 2016, but it was more a matter of when than if she'd revert to her roots as a villain and start hitting her stride again.

That time finally came in August 2019 on the post-SummerSlam edition of Raw.

Banks took time off from WWE after WrestleMania 35 and left fans wondering when she'd be back. The longer she was gone, the more it would mean when she eventually returned, which was why she received a raucous reaction when she walked out.

Within moments of entering, she hugged Natalya before brutally laying her out. Banks then ripped off her purple wig to reveal her new blue-colored locks, signaling an overdue change in character for The Boss.

As if that wasn't enough, she also attacked then-Raw Women's champion Becky Lynch when she emerged to save Natalya. It was the perfect return for Banks, who has been firing on all cylinders over the last two years.

4. Kenny Omega (2020)

Kenny Omega's great work as a heel in New Japan Pro-Wrestling eventually endeared him to the audience and made him a babyface by the time he arrived in AEW in 2019. He was popular for his first two years in AEW, but it was clear he was missing that extra edge that made him feel special in Japan.

Once his pairing with Adam Page came to an end last summer, Omega began planting seeds for a future heel turn. It was a few months in the making, and on the December 2 edition of Dynamite, it came to fruition in the best way possible.

Omega and Jon Moxley were doing battle for the AEW World Championship when Don Callis caused a distraction at ringside and created an opening for Omega to hit Moxley with a microphone. Omega followed that up with a series of hard-hitting maneuvers, including a One Winged Angel, for the win.

Omega had no time to celebrate his championship victory as he immediately fled the arena with Callis and his newly won title in tow. It helped him regain a piece of himself that had been missing for some time and kicked off his reign on a high note.

Speaking has never been his strong suit, but he's proved to be much better on the mic as a heel, and having Callis act as his mouthpiece has also been brilliant.

3. Daniel Bryan (2018)

It was hard to imagine Daniel Bryan ever going heel again after how happy everyone was to see him come out of retirement in 2018. Sure enough, that was exactly what happened by the end of the year—and he made it work better than anyone could have ever expected.

Within months of returning to the ring, Bryan had cooled off significantly. He was fresh off a feud with The Miz and needed a reset in the worst way, but a heel turn didn't seem to be in the cards until it came to be.

At the end of a WWE Championship clash with AJ Styles on an episode of SmackDown, Bryan got desperate after hitting him with everything in his arsenal and resorted to using a low blow to put him away. It was completely uncharacteristic of WWE's resident "Yes!" man, who didn't remotely tease the possibility of betraying the audience up to that point.

When the referee counted to three, Bryan was declared the new champion, much to the shock of the fans in attendance. It marked a massive turning point for his career as he took every aspect of his game to the next level.

Bryan was the perfect foil for stars such as Styles and Kofi Kingston during this period. He reverted back to being a babyface soon after, but his time spent as a heel was pure gold and even helped revitalize SmackDown while he was on top.

2. Roman Reigns (2020)

The WWE Universe's rejection of Roman Reigns early on in his singles run is well documented, as well as WWE's refusal to go with the flow and turn him heel. It would have saved him years' worth of boos and put him on the right path much sooner, but it was better late than never.

Reigns bowed out of WrestleMania 36 ahead of time for personal reasons and missed the next five months of WWE programming. There was no indication when he'd be back, but everyone expected him to pick up where he left off upon his return and be the same babyface he was before he left.

That couldn't have been any further from the case.

The end of SummerSlam saw him re-emerge and dominate Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt. He was much more aggressive than usual and definitely came off like a heel, but it was difficult to tell what his role was exactly.

On the subsequent SmackDown, Reigns avoided signing a contract for a Universal Championship match all night until he had it looked over by his advocate, who was ultimately revealed to be Paul Heyman. It was one of the most shocking conclusions to a WWE show in the last decade and started what has been a remarkable run for Reigns as a heel.

The only thing missing was a crowd to react to it live.

1. Seth Rollins (2014)

Every member of The Shield has turned heel on their own at one point or another. Roman Reigns' turn led to the best run of his career, while Dean Ambrose's turn unfortunately flopped despite its excellent execution. However, Seth Rollins' betrayal of his brethren tops them both.

The Shield was riding high as a babyface trio at the time of their split in June 2014. In fact, they were fresh off a decisive win over Evolution in the main event of the Payback pay-per-view, but what fans didn't realize at the time was that was their peak and WWE needed singles stars.

On the next night's Raw, they were faced with an ultimatum by The Authority, a group that was down a member with Batista "quitting" the company. They were either going to give into The Authority or deal with their backup plan, which saw Seth Rollins stab his Shield stablemates in the back and align with Triple H instead.

Everything about the heel turn was pure perfection. The crowd reacted with shock and awe as they couldn't believe what they were witnessing, while Reigns and Ambrose sold the ambush masterfully.

Rollins' singles success was immediate. Within weeks, he captured the Money in the Bank briefcase, headlined pay-per-views and won the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania less than a year later. WWE made a new name with this heel turn that's still in the main event mix to this day.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.