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In professional wrestling, a heel is a wrestler who portrays a villain or a "bad guy" and acts as an antagonist to the faces, who are the heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Turning heel gives a wrestler an opportunity to do something different with their character and become interesting
Superstars like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan were heels at some point in their career in order to make their characters interesting and get bigger. If The Rock never turned heel, he would never be a larger than life Superstar that he is today. If John Cena never turned heel and started rapping, he would have been fired a long time ago and never be as successful as he is today. When you are not over as a babyface, you can always turn heel.
Saying that, there are superstars in the WWE who are floundering and could use a heel turn to breathe new life into their characters.
And no, this list will not include Roman Reigns. Yes, the Big Dog gets booed as a babyface but WWE has made it clear time and time again that they will never turn their poster boy a heel. And Roman Reigns is still over with the crowd, whether if people boo him or cheer him. And he even acts heelish at times.
I am talking about a list of WWE Superstars who should turn heel in order to have better careers and be successful (or be successful again for those who were doing well at the start but lost steam later on)
Bayley
Some people would say it would be strange to see someone like Bayley as a villain. And that's a strong argument, because ever since joining WWE, Bayley has never turned heel. To see the Huggable One being a villain would feel strange.
However, WWE already got her character wrong ever since she became a part of the main roster. Rather than having her as a lovable underdog with a heart of a lion, WWE turned her into a dork, who even though is in a combat sport, is not willing to hurt her opponent. That was evident in Extreme Rules 2017
Extreme Rules 2017 was the event where Bayley's career was doomed. WWE ruined a wrestler who is amazing as a babyface and is capable of getting the crowd behind her. She has the potential to be a top star of WWE, but she is failing due to bad booking and WWE's Creative Team being clueless. At this point, a change in character is what Bayley needs. And the crowd has proven themselves to be ready for Bayley's heel turn.
Just look at Sami Zayn, another lovable underdog who failed due to bad booking. He turned heel and made himself interesting again. Sure, he still didn't reach the heights that he could have but at least he is doing better than he did back in 2016. When he turned heel, Zayn has got 2 World Title shots and pinned the WWE Champion, AJ Styles twice.
Bayley is a great wrestler but she just hasn't touched upon her full potential on the main roster. She has the potential to succeed. A heel turn might do wonders for her career. Speaking of Sasha Banks...
Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks might have more championship wins than Bayley, but what's the point of being a four-time RAW Women's Champion when all of her title reigns were short? Her combined reign as a RAW Women's Champion is 82 days. Just like Bayley, Sasha Banks is another great wrestler (Some might call her one of the best wrestler in WWE's women's division) who has not able to reach the heights that she could have.
The problem is that Sasha Banks should have never been a babyface. It worked during her feud with Charlotte, but she should have turned heel a long time ago. And the reason is that Sasha Bank's character is meant to be a heel. She is playing a cocky character who thinks she owns the world. She can play a heel character better than playing a babyface character
This is the same person who made Izzy, Bayley's fan, cry in NXT Takeover: Respect. Don't get me wrong, Sasha Banks is not bad as a babyface, but she is much better as a heel. Her promo as a heel is better, and she is more over as a heel than she is as a babyface. The Boss can be another top heel of RAW Women's division besides Alexa Bliss.
Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose may not be floundering in the main roster, but he needs to turn heel when he returns to WWE. Despite being the first member of The Shield to be a Grand Slam Champion and winning the only triple threat match between the Shield brothers at WWE Battleground 2016, Dean Ambrose still feels like a third wheel.
Roman Reigns and even Seth Rollins still feel like they had much better careers compared to Dean Ambrose. And that is sad. It's clear that if he returns to WWE and remains a babyface, Ambrose will be relegated as a mid-card wrestler while both Rollins and Reigns will be in the main event scene. The best option for Ambrose return is to cost Seth Rollins a match against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam (if the rumors of him returning at SummerSlam is true).
The Shield is better off not being together for a while unless there are factions for them to face. To see them feud once again, this time both guys switching roles, would be very interesting. It would be exciting to see them face each other in a Hell in a Cell match too, considering they had a great Hell in a Cell match last time, bad ending aside.
Anyone who doubts that Ambrose couldn't play a bad guy must not know about his time as Jon Moxley. Jon Moxley made himself stand out in the independent circuit with his brutal matches and Joker-like edge in his promos.
Undeniably a natural-born heel, an aggressive Dean Ambrose who lacks sympathy for everyone, including his "brothers" might pave a way for reborn relevance.
Bobby Roode
During his time in NXT, Bobby Roode played a cocky heel character who thinks too highly of himself. Everyone sings along during his entrance, but he was a detestable heel and makes you wanna hate him. He cut many good promos in NXT and made everyone believe that he will succeed in the main roster.
Then......he arrived on the main roster. Having someone with a character like Roode as a babyface will always be a bad idea. If you take his entrance music and entrance aside, Bobby Roode as a babyface feels like your generic WWE good guy. It's just so hard to buy into a guy with a heelish character as a babyface. And there were so many opportunities to turn him heel too.
One such opportunity was at WrestleMania 34. Roode lost his US Title to Randy Orton at Fastlane and attacked him after the match. People wanted Rusev to win the US Championship at WrestleMania. Imagine the heat Roode would have gotten if he just hit Rusev with a chair and pin him to win the US Championship. That would have been a great way to turn heel. But it didn't happen. Instead, they had Jinder Mahal win the US Championship, only to lose it after appearing on RAW. Bobby Roode is directionless and instead of continuing his feud with Mojo Rowley, have him turn heel. Roode would be a valuable asset to Monday Night RAW as a heel. The way he is now, he is just kind of there. Roode wishes he was on SmackDown right now.
Finn Balor
Just like Bobby Roode, Finn Balor had so many opportunities to turn heel. And the way he is now, he needs a heel turn.
Till now, his feud with Baron Corbin has been very uninteresting. Don't get me wrong, Constable Corbin is entertaining, but it's doing nothing for Balor. It also doesn't help the fact that since arriving on the main roster, being the first Universal Champion is Finn Balor's only success. Balor never lost the Universal title, he had to vacate it due to injury. And ever since coming back, Finn Balor has yet to get his rematch for the belt. You would think that Finn Balor, at this point, should be a bit frustrated. But nope, he comes out with a smile on his face, apparently happy with not getting any opportunity that he deserves and should have gotten.
This needs to change. WWE needs to turn him heel slowly. Finn Balor should start getting frustrated and be more aggressive than we have seen him. He also starts acting cocky and belittles his opponents during his matches. Put him in a tag match with either Rollins or Gable and have them lose to whoever their opponent is. Then, have Balor attack the babyface who teamed up with him out of frustration, turning heel. Put him in a faction with either Ziggler and Mcintyre, Authors of Pain, or The Revival, or have him reunite with Gallows and Anderson, who come back to RAW to create the Balor Club. Make Balor the top heel of Monday Night RAW. This way, he will be over with the crowd as a heel.
Like Ambrose and Roode, Balor is a natural heel. As Prince Devitt, he is known for creating the Bullet Club, which is the most popular faction that is not a part of WWE. During his time as the Bullet Club's leader, Devitt made a reputation for being the most hated wrestler in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He uses any means necessary to win his matches, even if it means disrespecting the Japanese culture by cheating.
It seems like at this point, Balor needs to turn heel in order to stay relevant and propel him to greater heights.
