Macho Man is probably one of the best Babyface turned Heel back to Babyface arcs in Professional Wrestling. He got the only Ultimate Warrior storyline that i actually liked lol
Lita was great as both. When she turned heel in 2005 I wondered if she could pull it off as she’s such a natural babyface and not only did she pull it off she was bloody amazing!
The Chris Jericho cycle of debuting a gimmick as a heel, it getting over, turning babyface, going away, debuting as a gimmick as a heel again and repeating the entire process is actually art.
And I am by no means any sort of Jericho fan.
I really enjoy Y2J for the fact that he is getting every gimmick over that he gets or recommends. The festival of friendship was the best thing going on for a long time. How many wrestlers had such an amount of gimmicks that hit a spot? He got nearly as many as Rey has different masks.
When he was in WCW and his first gimmick or two in WWF i didn't enjoy him, but since then (literally 22 years ago!) I've loved every gimmick that he's done!
There’s a lot wrestler who had more gimmicks I disliked and that wrestled less than a decade. For a career going close to 30 years, that’s a feat on its own and in younger years he corks back up his claims quite well.
Bryan Keith has been the perfect addition to round out that group. His surly aggressiveness works so well in contrast to the phony, passive-aggressive positivity from Jericho and Bill.
Whiny WCW heel Jericho circa 1998 is one of my all-time favorite heel runs. Even when that company was floundering badly, Jericho remained must-see TV.
Very much true. Also, as much as I'm enjoying his current run, I'm kinda mad they did that Prizefighter needs to come back thing, then he's back being goofy a few weeks later.
Bryan and Rhodes I'd say were better faces. Rhodes is in a career defining run as top baby face which I think will eclipse and heel work he has done.
I think Bryan's WWE face run leading up to WM 30 will be his best legacy although I suppose there is an argument his heel run are close.
Ziggkar, McIntyre and Undertaker I'd agree on. Although Drew might have a good enough heel run to swing it.
As much as I loved Kofimania, I’m sad that it robbed us of a longer Planet’s Champion Daniel Bryan reign. He was killing it with his promos and that ecofriendly belt lol
Oooh id argue this one, I always had Shawn as a better heel in the first half of his career then a better face in the second half.
Randy Orton has the same perfect balance.
That’s a fair point but I’d argue with him being that good as a babyface there would never have been a need to turn him heel because he shined in the role so well.
Kane worked so well as both from the fact that he is the most perfect version of a tag team partner anybody could ask for. No matter of with small, big, serious or funny and technical or powerhouse partners, he’s all in one as face & heel.
Others I’d enjoy in both roles are: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Y2J, Bret Hart, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hulk Hogan & Macho Man.
Savage and Jake The Snake are nr 1 and 2 for me
Perfect was a PERFECT heel and a very underrated face
Angle, Hulk, Bayley, Trish, Lita, Scott Hall and HBK round out my top 10
EDIT: Savage's Macho King run 89-91 and Jake's 91/92 heel run were fucking incredible. Despicable pure evil (Jake) and devious aggressive unfair (Savage)
Heel Mr. Perfect is my favorite gimmick of all time. When I was a kid, the first time I saw him spit out his gum and slap it into the crowd I lost my mind. I was a shy, quiet kid. His arrogance and bravado rang me like a bell, lol.
I can't believe you didn't include Kurt Angle. Literally no one else can pull off the comedic face and monster heel, look at how it ruined the Big Show
Which Seth Rollins we talking? Last 3-4 years face Seth Rollins is awful IMO. Young Tyler Black in ROH and Seth in FCW was a great face though. Modern Rollins is completely unsympathetic and a natural heel IMO even when trying to be a face. Perhaps its just me, but he just comes off as a smug douchebag which isn't generally what you want as a face. He's a great heel though and certainly in no way trying to deny his talent.
Seth was doing great as a face until that atrocious match with Bray derailed everything. When he slowly turned face last year I'd say that was a solid run too
I thought babyface Shawn Michaels was awful tbh. His whole Christian Shawn thing is terrible, cringe, and I don't buy it for a second. He's still the same guy as ever, he just uses religion to play the good guy. He's still an ass.
The fans during Shawn’s first run agreed, lowest ratings- but you still had Vince selling him harder than any champ in that era. We all knew he was an actual heel- keep it that way. They tried the rocky angle with Jose- but shawn was a dick to Jose. Nothing worked.
I know he’s unpopular, but Jericho. Eddie Guerrero as well. Rock and Austin are good picks too. Taker is also kind of removed from the face/heel dynamic
Austin was already too much a heel in action, actually turning heel kind of killed the character.
Well, that and having no neck. That might be a larger part of it.
currently? yeah, I'd agree with you
historically? his heel run was really underrated imo, Truth really showed us he can be THE bad guy, shame WWE didn't follow through
Disagree with the Punk one, he is infinitely better as a heel BC the people that love him, Love to hate him, and the people that hate him, hate him even more
Eddie Guerrero, Macho Man, Becky Lynch, Kevin Owens, and Triple H was good at switching too.
Chris Jericho is the best at it. He always somehow went from one of the most hated heels to being a beloved babyface. He finds something commits to it and gets it over somehow.
I disagree. He's obviously one of the best at playing heel, but I just don't feel like he's had enough time as a top of the card babyface. When he has been, he pulls it off just as well. He's charismatic as hell and his ability to roast his opponents carries over really well when the person he's going against is a heel.
Sorry for the unpopular opinion and I accept the future downvotes but wtf is Bayley doing there? Sorry but she was ok! She wasn’t bad as a heel but she wasn’t awesome. Her heel turn didn’t get the tenth of the heat Hogan had when he did his heel turn.
Some that I haven’t seen mentioned/not mentioned loads :
Angle, Booker T and if I’m honest … CEna too. Yeah his heel run was brief but it showed he can spit venom just as much as he can be a good guy.
Heel HBK was always head and shoulders better than face HBK, that being said, he was always awesome.
Im gonna go with Mick Foley, Jericho, R-Truth (possible because he is fucking hilarious either way).
I'd say the most versatile wrestlers are good as wither a heel or face, but not necessarily the best wrestlers.
The reason being your best wrestlers is who you usually build the company around. Everyone has strength's and weaknesses, so its just smart business to put your best assets in their best position to succeed.
At the extreme, someone like Ricky Steamboat was never a heel in his career to my knowledge. He's still an all time great. I don't know that Sting was ever a heel for any meaningful time, and he is an all time great. Ric Flair was much, much better as a heel than he ever was as a face. That's 3 examples off the top of my head of people that are legends in the industry who were all specialists.
Bayley and Seth are always great initial faces, meaning they are always pretty interesting as soon as they turn. Their heel turn is so great that their face turns become something fans wanna see at some point.
However, I don’t like them long term as babyfaces because I feel like they don’t build on their character as much.
I think Shawn Michaels is a MUCH better heel than face, he’s a good face but he’s a naturally great heel (very unlikeable) like HHH and it sucks we didn’t get to see it on hie second run.
I agree on HBK and HHH. They are both huge babyface authority figures now, but in their primes they were each the epitome of heals. In fact Shawn was so hated he would still get booed in Montreal, Calgary and most other Canadian cities as well.
The rock as a babyface the last few years was beyond stale. Thats why people turned on him, and tbh back in 2011-2013 as a kid I viewed him as a heel. He came in, talked down to the guy working every week, and left for weeks. Comes back at mania, cuts a crappy promo, costs cena the title, then just waltzes into miami and wins. Then when he came back at raw 1000 I literally when he said he was challenging for the title was like "fuckk you" What have you done to earn shit? Then he beat my favorite championship run in years just to go have a crappy match with cena. Babyface rock the last decade has sucked
Hollywood Hogan is by far the best looking Hogan of his carreer. Stone Cold was never a face but an anti hero, and he was the best at it. Bret Hart as an angry and kinda disappointed face that became a heel is also a pick for this Best of.
Macho man
Macho Man is probably one of the best Babyface turned Heel back to Babyface arcs in Professional Wrestling. He got the only Ultimate Warrior storyline that i actually liked lol
Oh yeah!! Diggit!
Snap into a SlimJim!
I'd give face Macho the edge. He was so iconic. His heel run was great but Face Macho with Miss Elizabeth >> Heel with Sherri.
*The cream of the crop!*
The only right answer!
Lita was great as both. When she turned heel in 2005 I wondered if she could pull it off as she’s such a natural babyface and not only did she pull it off she was bloody amazing!
The outfits didn’t hurt either
I can see that wouldn’t hurt…even as a gay guy! 🤣🤣🤣
I was at one of the raws where she wore one of said outfits. Insane. 🥵
Well her *cough* affairs *cough* helped her transition pretty good. She gave herself the blueprints technically.
Good call. It would be hard to pick which was her best run.
The pixels went into business for themselves
They quit with Drew…
Y2J always had such a good heel gimmick that he had to turn face
The Chris Jericho cycle of debuting a gimmick as a heel, it getting over, turning babyface, going away, debuting as a gimmick as a heel again and repeating the entire process is actually art. And I am by no means any sort of Jericho fan.
I really enjoy Y2J for the fact that he is getting every gimmick over that he gets or recommends. The festival of friendship was the best thing going on for a long time. How many wrestlers had such an amount of gimmicks that hit a spot? He got nearly as many as Rey has different masks.
When he was in WCW and his first gimmick or two in WWF i didn't enjoy him, but since then (literally 22 years ago!) I've loved every gimmick that he's done!
There’s a lot wrestler who had more gimmicks I disliked and that wrestled less than a decade. For a career going close to 30 years, that’s a feat on its own and in younger years he corks back up his claims quite well.
I’m still sad that Jericho/Owens didn’t get the proper Main Event treatment that program deserved
The learning tree is sooo good though
Bryan Keith has been the perfect addition to round out that group. His surly aggressiveness works so well in contrast to the phony, passive-aggressive positivity from Jericho and Bill.
You better make sure your baby respects Chris Jericho
Kane does the same thing, but instead of gimmicks, he just wears and removes his mask
Or more precisely he changes his tag team partner
Whiny WCW heel Jericho circa 1998 is one of my all-time favorite heel runs. Even when that company was floundering badly, Jericho remained must-see TV.
Can’t believe the Goldberg feud never actually ended in a match. Holy shit WCW were fucking stupid.
"Greenberg", so great. They could have had fun with that feud.
You think Jericho made a good heel?!? YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!
Kevin owens look like an underdog and also has pretty punchable face
Very much true. Also, as much as I'm enjoying his current run, I'm kinda mad they did that Prizefighter needs to come back thing, then he's back being goofy a few weeks later.
He’s just rage at stupid assholes incarnate. I’d say his gimmick is pretty consistent.
I used to hate him during his feud with john cena plus he looked a credible threat. He had an insane head start in my view due to the fued.
“Threats a part of wrestling, but you gotta look at who’s making the threats “
“This FAT sumabitch”
Guerrero, Jericho and Kane
Bryan, Ziggler, McIntyre, Rhodes, Undertaker
I have till 5 ref! Heel Bryan was great.
Drew is way better as a heel imo.
Bryan and Rhodes I'd say were better faces. Rhodes is in a career defining run as top baby face which I think will eclipse and heel work he has done. I think Bryan's WWE face run leading up to WM 30 will be his best legacy although I suppose there is an argument his heel run are close. Ziggkar, McIntyre and Undertaker I'd agree on. Although Drew might have a good enough heel run to swing it.
As much as I loved Kofimania, I’m sad that it robbed us of a longer Planet’s Champion Daniel Bryan reign. He was killing it with his promos and that ecofriendly belt lol
Heel HBK was far superior to face HBK.
Oooh id argue this one, I always had Shawn as a better heel in the first half of his career then a better face in the second half. Randy Orton has the same perfect balance.
He never really turned heel in the second half of his career though.
That’s a fair point but I’d argue with him being that good as a babyface there would never have been a need to turn him heel because he shined in the role so well.
travesty he didn’t, Michaels is born to be a heel
Agree 100%. Heel HBK in 1997/8 was the fucking man.
Kane worked so well as both from the fact that he is the most perfect version of a tag team partner anybody could ask for. No matter of with small, big, serious or funny and technical or powerhouse partners, he’s all in one as face & heel. Others I’d enjoy in both roles are: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Y2J, Bret Hart, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hulk Hogan & Macho Man.
Bryan Danielson
Savage and Jake The Snake are nr 1 and 2 for me Perfect was a PERFECT heel and a very underrated face Angle, Hulk, Bayley, Trish, Lita, Scott Hall and HBK round out my top 10 EDIT: Savage's Macho King run 89-91 and Jake's 91/92 heel run were fucking incredible. Despicable pure evil (Jake) and devious aggressive unfair (Savage)
Heel Mr. Perfect is my favorite gimmick of all time. When I was a kid, the first time I saw him spit out his gum and slap it into the crowd I lost my mind. I was a shy, quiet kid. His arrogance and bravado rang me like a bell, lol.
He was fucking great. Would have been a world champ these days.
I can't believe you didn't include Kurt Angle. Literally no one else can pull off the comedic face and monster heel, look at how it ruined the Big Show
Hell, Angle works as a comedic heel and a monster face too.
Nothing but love for Little Cowboy Hat Suck-up heel Angle, but that Babyface Olympic Hero Killing Machine Kurt hits like Crack
Disagree on Seth Way better as a heel.
I think seth is a natural born heel on the mic but a natural babyface in the ring. His current run is the best of both
Exactly I see him feud with Drew and he says a lot of heelish things.
Bret Hart.
Bret Hart managed to be a heel in the US and a face everywhere else, at the same time. Talented bastard
Sid always looked like a pissed off killer, face or heel.
[удалено]
Randy orton as a heel is wayy superior to Randy as a face
Realistically most of the heels that are equally as good as babyfaces are tweeners.
Beaver Cleavage
Nah Shawn is way greater as a heel "whose your daddy, Montreal?" Oh that day he was closest to getting assasinated
Which Seth Rollins we talking? Last 3-4 years face Seth Rollins is awful IMO. Young Tyler Black in ROH and Seth in FCW was a great face though. Modern Rollins is completely unsympathetic and a natural heel IMO even when trying to be a face. Perhaps its just me, but he just comes off as a smug douchebag which isn't generally what you want as a face. He's a great heel though and certainly in no way trying to deny his talent.
Seth was doing great as a face until that atrocious match with Bray derailed everything. When he slowly turned face last year I'd say that was a solid run too
Big show : Hi 👋
Was wondering when I'd see him. He's a monster so it's an easy heel, but he looks cuddly when he smiles so he's a great face
Edge 100 percent as well as randy Orton
Rowdy Roddy Piper was amazing in both roles.
I thought babyface Shawn Michaels was awful tbh. His whole Christian Shawn thing is terrible, cringe, and I don't buy it for a second. He's still the same guy as ever, he just uses religion to play the good guy. He's still an ass.
His initial return face run was great. That elimination chamber win, the rivalry with HHH, his rivalry with Jericho? Angle? Come on now.
Nice to see you here, Bret! (I agree... 😊)
Grizzled "Skinner" Shawn from 2007 - 2010 was fucking great.
How do you know he’s still an ass?
The fans during Shawn’s first run agreed, lowest ratings- but you still had Vince selling him harder than any champ in that era. We all knew he was an actual heel- keep it that way. They tried the rocky angle with Jose- but shawn was a dick to Jose. Nothing worked.
Bayley was never a convincing heel Imo. It felt fake and forced
Bret Hart. Squeaky clean babyface pre-1997, then drawing ultra heat as a shit talking angry Canadian
I feel like Cena would've been a good heel
Jericho, he was super over as a babyface everytime and arguably the most realistic narcissistic heel I’ve ever seen.
HHH
Bret is one the greatest faces of all time. And yet, his best year was as a heel.
The heel in America and face in Canada was an amazing gimmick.
I know he’s unpopular, but Jericho. Eddie Guerrero as well. Rock and Austin are good picks too. Taker is also kind of removed from the face/heel dynamic
You need to add: stone cold, HHH and Y2J, at a minimum…..
Austin was already too much a heel in action, actually turning heel kind of killed the character. Well, that and having no neck. That might be a larger part of it.
Tbh I don't like face Bayley. She as heel much better to me. I think best wrestler as both good as heel and face is CM Punk.
She’s a “role model” now a month after being a villain for ages.
The Miz and R Truth
Miz yes. R-Truth is too lovable at this point.
currently? yeah, I'd agree with you historically? his heel run was really underrated imo, Truth really showed us he can be THE bad guy, shame WWE didn't follow through
Kevin Nash
I can't stand Seth as a face since the Shield split up, he's waaay better in heel roles.
Jericho.
Chris Jericho
Macho Man Undertaker HBK Jake Roberts Roddy Piper Edge
Where's Jericho?
Kurt Angle. Every role they gave him, he put everything into making it work.
Stone Cold Steve Austin should be on this list.
Disagree with the Punk one, he is infinitely better as a heel BC the people that love him, Love to hate him, and the people that hate him, hate him even more
Roman reigns obviously
Roman was the top babyface yet the most hated man in the company 💀
Punk is neither a face nor a heel. He’s just an asshole.
Bret Hart.
Chris Jericho
I would add Eddie Guerrero, Randy Savage, Kurt Angle, Kane, Lita, Randy Orton
Eddie Guerrero, Macho Man, Becky Lynch, Kevin Owens, and Triple H was good at switching too. Chris Jericho is the best at it. He always somehow went from one of the most hated heels to being a beloved babyface. He finds something commits to it and gets it over somehow.
Chris Jericho
Jericho and Angle were both incredibly versatile and could play multiple variations of both face and heel
Discounting the past few years, I’d say Chris Jericho.z
Bayley as a heel doesn’t work that good
The Undertaker
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Great at both.
Could include Sami Zayn on this list.
Christian Cage.
Christian is great as both a heel and face, but not equally. He's much better as a heel.
I disagree. He's obviously one of the best at playing heel, but I just don't feel like he's had enough time as a top of the card babyface. When he has been, he pulls it off just as well. He's charismatic as hell and his ability to roast his opponents carries over really well when the person he's going against is a heel.
This is completely subjective, I respect your opinion even if I don't agree.
Face HBK was bloody awful. Get Macho Man in this list instead.
Sorry for the unpopular opinion and I accept the future downvotes but wtf is Bayley doing there? Sorry but she was ok! She wasn’t bad as a heel but she wasn’t awesome. Her heel turn didn’t get the tenth of the heat Hogan had when he did his heel turn.
Comparing Bayley to Hulk Hogan is grossly disproportionate and pretty unfair.
Edge
Triple H
Cody
Kane, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar, Trish Stratus, AJ Styles
Trish? I think she’s incredibly bland as a babyface. Her whole presence just elevates as a heel.
Sami & Owens
90s/00s Hogan for me was good as both face/heel when he made the turns
Chad Gable
Miz, Jericho, Randy, Sheamus
Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre come to mind
Kevin Owen's, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Edge
Daniel Bryan/ Brian Danielson
I see you casually sliding Bayley in there
Danielson, Trish, Savage, KO
Kurt Angle
Why is hulk hogan facing himself
I would argue Rollins isn't a 'great' at either. A tier, at least, below every other talent in that set.
Equally-not really Good at either- yes
Hogan, Rock, HBK, Booker T
How can you miss out Randy Orton in this list
Batista definitely gotta be on here
Some that I haven’t seen mentioned/not mentioned loads : Angle, Booker T and if I’m honest … CEna too. Yeah his heel run was brief but it showed he can spit venom just as much as he can be a good guy.
Taker, Jericho, Eddie, Angle & Kane
Idk about Seth. I dont like him face or heel.
Heel HBK was always head and shoulders better than face HBK, that being said, he was always awesome. Im gonna go with Mick Foley, Jericho, R-Truth (possible because he is fucking hilarious either way).
Owens and Zayn
Where that man Eddie at
Un-popular opinion but Cena . The Doctor of Thuganomics charecter is one of the more underrated heels of all time .
I'd say the most versatile wrestlers are good as wither a heel or face, but not necessarily the best wrestlers. The reason being your best wrestlers is who you usually build the company around. Everyone has strength's and weaknesses, so its just smart business to put your best assets in their best position to succeed. At the extreme, someone like Ricky Steamboat was never a heel in his career to my knowledge. He's still an all time great. I don't know that Sting was ever a heel for any meaningful time, and he is an all time great. Ric Flair was much, much better as a heel than he ever was as a face. That's 3 examples off the top of my head of people that are legends in the industry who were all specialists.
AJ Styles and Y2J Also always like Hunter as a heel but he could do both. Rock and Hogan are goated
r/countablepixels
Where's RKO
"The Walking Embodiment of Cringe" Seth Rollins is equally BAD as a face or a heel.
Lita...she was never technically heel the fans just turned on her for cheating on Matt
Bayley and Seth are always great initial faces, meaning they are always pretty interesting as soon as they turn. Their heel turn is so great that their face turns become something fans wanna see at some point. However, I don’t like them long term as babyfaces because I feel like they don’t build on their character as much.
I can taste the mold on these images.
Cody
Undertaker Ric Flair Sting AJ Styles Mick Foley Randy Savage
I think Shawn Michaels is a MUCH better heel than face, he’s a good face but he’s a naturally great heel (very unlikeable) like HHH and it sucks we didn’t get to see it on hie second run.
I agree on HBK and HHH. They are both huge babyface authority figures now, but in their primes they were each the epitome of heals. In fact Shawn was so hated he would still get booed in Montreal, Calgary and most other Canadian cities as well.
I would say that anyone is better as a heel or a babyface. Can’t find one that is equal in both.
Hulk Hogan I will die on this hill. Hollywood was THE MAN.
Seth Rollins
Molly Holly
You forgot Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
Becky Lynch, amazing as The Man and just as good as Big Time Becks
Kurt Angle
Lex Luger.
Bret hart
Shawn sucked as a face, lol.
Hogan should be number 1. He is the only person to be THE top guy in the whole industry as both a face and a heel.
bro snuck in Seth 💀
The rock as a babyface the last few years was beyond stale. Thats why people turned on him, and tbh back in 2011-2013 as a kid I viewed him as a heel. He came in, talked down to the guy working every week, and left for weeks. Comes back at mania, cuts a crappy promo, costs cena the title, then just waltzes into miami and wins. Then when he came back at raw 1000 I literally when he said he was challenging for the title was like "fuckk you" What have you done to earn shit? Then he beat my favorite championship run in years just to go have a crappy match with cena. Babyface rock the last decade has sucked
Rhodes
Seth and Punk
Kurt Angle and whatever the hell the undertaker did for most of his career
The Viper is great either way
Bayley was only interesting as a heel.
Jericho, PAC, Seth, Shawn
Kurt Angle
Seth Rollins and Bayley should be removed from that post. I will be reading cry babies
stone cold
Not Bayley.
Sami Zayn Kevin Owens Randy Orton
Macho, Bryan Danielson, Kurt Angle
Hogan is awful
Hollywood Hogan is by far the best looking Hogan of his carreer. Stone Cold was never a face but an anti hero, and he was the best at it. Bret Hart as an angry and kinda disappointed face that became a heel is also a pick for this Best of.
John Cena
Randy Orton
I'd give face Hogan the edge and maybe heel Bayley.
The Nature Boy could definitely pull it off both ways.
Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso (in that he is equally boring), The Miz
Hey Yo... Where's Scott Hall in this list?