5 Best heel turns in WWE history

Heels and faces in wrestling are as old as the sport itself. The heel (bad guy) and the face (good guy) play defined roles in order to elicit the desired response from the audience who in theory will pay cold hard cash to see their favourite face beat the hated heel.

Many WWE Superstars have proved adept at playing both sides of the face/heel divide and many of the company's most memorable moments have been when beloved faces turn to the dark side of heeldom.

Follow Sportskeeda for the latest WWE news, rumors and all other wrestling news.

This slideshow counts down the five best.

#5 Shawn Michaels (2005)

In 2005, Shawn Michaels was a beloved veteran who in the real world had found God in the intervening years since he last played heel in 1998.

Michaels took some persuading from Vince McMahon, but when he reluctantly agreed to the owner's request to turn to the dark side, he embraced his inner heel wholeheartedly.

The reason Michaels turned heel was due to his impending Summerslam 2005 clash with WWE Hall of Famer, Hulk Hogan in a first-time dream match.

To Michaels's chagrin, Hogan had refused to turn heel for the clash and WWE wanting to make as much money from the encounter as possible was adamant that one of the combatants had to play the bad guy.

To make matters worse for Michaels, Hogan He also refused to lose to him, either in the Summerslam match or any potential re-match.

Viewing this as a mark of disrespect, Michaels took great delight in belittling Hogan at every turn under the cover of his wrestling character.

In one famous segment, Michaels dressed up in a preposterous Hogan outfit and poked fun at Hogan's character: "I only make the big towns, brother" portraying him as a money hungry politician, which Michaels (and many others in wrestling for that matter) genuinely believed.

When WWE rolled into Montreal for Monday Night Raw prior to Summerslam, site of his and Vince McMahon's infamous double cross of WWE Hall of Famer, Bret Hart, Michaels took the opportunity to mock the crowd who had booed him mercilessly in the eight years since the Montreal Screwjob; "Who's your daddy, Montreal" he jibed.

In the Summerslam match itself, Michaels went so far as to play real life heel. As he was miffed with Hogan's lack of respect towards him, Michaels mocked his offence by deliberately overselling every offensive move Hogan performed on him.

The match became akin to slapstick comedy. Michaels had no doubt awakened his fire from 1997-98, however, he would soon lie his heel character to rest permanently post-match as he once again turned face, when shaking Hogan's hand post-match.

The pair never crossed paths again.

#4 Paul Orndorff (1986)

Pauk — Paul Orndorff dominates Hulk Hogan

Paul Orndorff was the latest in a long line of Hulk Hogan's buddies who turned on him. But few had anywhere near the level of success as Mr. Wonderful did at the box office when battling the Hulkster.

That's what makes Orndorff's heel turn so significant. The fact that business boomed incredibly on the basis of his Championship matches with Hogan.

The turn was slow building and logical. Orndorff had been mocked by heel wrestler, Adrian Adonis who told him that he had "gone soft" since he began teaming with the Hulkster and was in Hogan's shadow.

A proud competitor, Orndorff began to feel that Hogan was upstaging him and when in a tag team match, Hogan crashed into Orndorff accidentally knocking him off the apron, Mr. Wonderful snapped. Post-match while celebrating the victory with Hogan, Orndorff hit him with a clothesline and piledriver to initiate their rivalry.

Orndorff would subsequently begin to use Hogan's "Real American" entrance music as he himself approached the ring to mock his opponent.

So dastardly was Orndorff that fans could not wait for Hogan to exact revenge. The feud was an astonishing box office success, one of Hogan's best ever. The pair drew 76,000 fans to a match in Toronto, Canada, before it finally culminated with a Hogan victory on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event.

One of the most successful heel turns ever, no question.

#3 Andre The Giant (1987)

Andre The Giant squares off with Hulk Hogan

In January 1987, Andre The Giant was one of the most beloved wrestlers in the then-WWF. However, on a series of episodes of Piper's Pit, Andre gradually appeared to resent his friend, Hulk Hogan's success, finally turning on him in an unforgettable moment by ripping Hogan's crucifix off his chest.

The WWF's marketing strategy was in full effect as they promoted that Andre had never been defeated or body-slammed. Both claims were false, however, it mattered not. The mass audience believed it and over 78,000 (The WWF claimed the show pulled over 93,000 fans, this claim was false) fans packed the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit at Wrestlemania III.

The show drew an incredible 500,000 buys on pay-per-view. That is an even more astonishing number when you consider only a few million houses were wired for pay-per-view in 1987.

This would be the company's highest buy rate for 11 years until it was surpassed at Wrestlemania XIV in 1998. That fact tells you all you need to know about how successful Andre's heel turn was.

#2 The Rock (1998)

By late 1998, The Rock had spent most of his WWF career as a heel, mainly as part of the Nation of Domination stable.

However, in late summer, the fans began solidly cheering the third-generation superstar and he was turned face.

It was a staggeringly successful turn and he entered the 1998 Survivor Series Deadly Game tournament as the second fan's favourite behind 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

However, after apparently overcoming insurmountable odds, Rock won the title when holding Mankind in a sharpshooter submission.

Mankind never submitted but WWF boss, Vince McMahon insisted the timekeeper ring the bell. Rock had turned heel again. It was a set up all along and Rock had been in cahoots with the McMahon's and now reigned as a Corporate Champion.

It was a shocking turn coming so soon after a highly successful face turn, but was highly successful and the heel Rock defended the then-WWF Championship versus Stone Cold in the highest drawing Wrestlemania event ever at that point in 1999, drawing a colossal 800,000 buys.

#1 Bret 'Hitman' Hart (1997)

Unquestionably, the most memorable and greatest heel turn of all time came at Wrestlemania 13 during a match, pitting fan favourite, Bret Hart against rebel heel, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Entering the match, Bret Hart was the face, the longtime fan favourite and former 4-time WWF Champion. Stone Cold was the upstart heel, who had cheated his way to victory at the 1997 Royal Rumble at the expense of Hart.

In the weeks leading up to the show, Hart had begun to show visible signs of frustration at his perceived lack of support from the WWF front office as he was continually screwed out of WWF title opportunities.

Stone Cold for his part, had tapped into an anti-authority loving crowd who were beginning to warm to his unruly antics.

Refereed by former UFC superstar, Ken Shamrock, the match was one of the best in company history. During the bout, Hart began to grow increasingly wound up by his inability to put Stone Cold away and turned away from his usually clean-cut approach and resorted to heelish tactics to put his opponent away.

Hart finally applied the sharpshooter wherein a bloodied Austin refused to submit and passed out instead. Not content with the victory, Hart started assaulting Austin while he was unconscious to solidify his heel turn. It was a masterpiece in storytelling.

Send us news tips at [email protected].

One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE