8 Teased Heel Turns In Wrestling (That Didn't Happen)

The tremendous history of heels in wrestling showcases why being hated is important in the wrestling industry. Wrestlers are viewed as strong performers if they know how to rile up an audience into treating them like Batman villains in real time. However, stories can have layers about characters going to the dark side.

10 Wrestlers Fans Never Accepted As Heels

Fans didn't want to boo these wrestlers after they turned heel, never really accepting them as the villain.

Various promotions from WWE to AEW to WCW and everywhere in between have had their chances to turn someone heel and not go through with it. However, some take it to another level by flat out dropping hints or playing into things to make fans wonder. The following names teased a heel turn that didn’t come true in the storyline.

8 Dean Ambrose Was Expected To Turn On The Shield

Seth Rollins Got The Honors Instead

WWE Hinted At Roman Vs Dean Feud
Eventually Made Up
Rollins Ended The Group Months Later

WWE teased The Shield ending after losing their feud to CM Punk and showing dissension in early 2014. Dean Ambrose was the one hinting at jealousy when trying to eliminate Roman Reigns from the Royal Rumble and blamed Roman for their shortcomings.

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The most iconic wrestling villains went up against some of the best babyfaces ever.

Seth Rollins ended up keeping the peace between Reigns and Ambrose to seemingly get back on the same page. However, this led to Rollins being the one that turned heel instead many months later in a truly shocking moment. Ambrose did eventually betray Rollins years later in a failed angle to see that version of the story.

7 Cody Rhodes - Enter The CodyVerse

Polarizing AEW Character Ended Without Payoff

CodyVerse Became Hated By Many AEW Fans
Bad Feuds Led To Desire For Heel Turn
Cody Never Turned & Got Over More In WWE

AEW fans started to boo Cody Rhodes during a few of his misfired “CodyVerse” angles that involved Brandi Rhodes involvement, promos about race relations, and many other wild moments. Rhodes never turned heel despite getting booed for the latter portion of his AEW tenure.

Both the AEW product and Cody’s character even tried playing into the boos and making it clear they were aware of it. However, Rhodes’ small teases at giving the audience the heel Cody they wanted was for nothing as he opted to try his luck in WWE in a successful move.

6 Diamond Dallas Page Was Headhunted By The nWo

Cody’s Mentor Didn’t Turn Heel When Expected, Either

Used Reality To Make Fans Think He Was Joining NWO
Became Mega-Babyface Afterwards As "People's Champion"
Most Unlikely Main Event Success Story In WCW History

WCW ran one of their best storylines ever in a simple yet effective manner to make Diamond Dallas Page a star. The New World Order recruiting WCW talent led to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash specifically trying to get their real-life friend DDP into the group.

A fun twist is that Page was technically still a heel, but he was getting cheered by the audiences while representing WCW. DDP joining the NWO would have felt like another heel turn for his character. WCW wisely just teased it with Page putting on the shirt before attacking them to a massive pop.

5 John Cena

Cena Did Not Embrace The Hate

Kane Storyline Teased Cena Heel Turn
Timing Made Sense Ahead Of Rock Match
Was Too Valuable To Young WWE Fans

WWE never pulled the trigger on turning John Cena heel during the many years of his polarizing reaction. Half the fans and sometimes a larger percent booing Cena out of the building no matter what could have easily led to a great heel turn storyline.

Cena only teased going to the dark side once when he feuded with Kane a month before facing The Rock. Kane returned from an absence with his mask back attempting to make Cena “embrace the hate.” WWE portrayed Cena as conflicted before doubling down to rally behind the love of his supporters.

4 Sting Became The Joker

TNA Swerved The Fans With Sting’s “Heel Turn”

Opposing Hogan Made Fans View Him As Heel
United With Kevin Nash & Wore Red Paint For Wolfpac Shoutout
Had Longer Feud With Hogan Afterwards Forming Joker Gimmick

Everyone assumed Sting turned heel in TNA when he attacked Hulk Hogan and waged war on anyone associated with him. Babyfaces associated with Hogan like Abyss, Rob Van Dam and Samoa Joe felt the wrath of Sting for siding with the assumed good guy Hulk.

10 Surprising Times Babyfaces And Heels Teamed Up In Wrestling

It's a rare occurrence, but there have been some surprising times when heroes and villains teamed up in wrestling!

Kevin Nash and D’Angelo Dinero joined Sting to become a short-lived trio feuding with Hogan’s allies. However, the story played out with Sting being right to distrust Hogan when Hulk turned heel to form Immortal. Sting was trying to save TNA from Hogan and no one believed him with the assumed heel turn.

3 Christian

WWE Missed Out On Current AEW Feud

WWE Set Up Story In 2011
Edge Had To Retire Right Before Storyline Would Start
AEW Getting To Tell That Story Today

The history of Edge and Christian as friends or enemies always fascinates fans to follow their careers. WWE had them feud in 2001 after the breakup, but they had another angle as enemies in WWE again until it was teased in 2011.

Christian was in Edge’s corner for his feud against Alberto Del Rio for the World Championship. Many fans assumed Christian would betray Edge to set up a bigger feud between the two. Any chance of this happening ended when Edge had to retire after his match against Alberto to make their AEW matches more valued today.

2 Shawn Michaels

Could Have Easily Been A Heel Vs Jericho

Michaels Did Heel Actions First
Jericho Was Better For Heel Role With Layered Story
Became One Of The Most Respected WWE Rivalries Ever

WWE utilized the concept of layered storytelling to set up their all-time great feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. The story started out with Michaels faking an injury to get an advantage over Batista in a match officiated by Jericho.

Michaels still had the crowd support after admitting he lied about his injury to win the match and even superkicked Jericho. The characters made sense since Michaels was always a flawed person wanting to do better, and Jericho snapped as a jealous obsessed heel playing into his true colors.

1 Ultimate Warrior

WWE Used Story Of Two Top Faces Teasing Heel Turn

Unique Storyline Had Fans Guessing
Neither Man Turning Heel Provided Disappointment In Storytelling
Warrior Didn't Last Much Longer In WWE

Everyone remembers the epic Bret Hart vs British Bulldog main event from SummerSlam 1992, but it gets overlooked that the star power of Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior had the WWE Championship. WWE even teased a bold story of heel Ric Flair claiming one of the two was on his side.

Fans were told to expect one of either Warrior or Savage to turn heel and join the dark side to leave with the gold. Warrior was the assumed heel since Savage wasn’t too far from turning face and hated Flair too much to align with him. However, the match played out with neither turning heel and Flair trying to attack both.