A new gimmick is not always needed, as some gimmicks, such as Kurt Angle and John Cena's , have remained essentially the same, just with good and evil versions of the same character. Another example of this is The Undertaker . A perennial fan favorite is Tag Team partners turning, often on each other, especially if they are related either in real life or in the Storyline .
- July 19 , 1986 - "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff turns on Hulk Hogan following a tag team match where they defeated King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd by Disqualification .
- November 24 , 1988 - Demolition were betrayed by their Manager , Mr. Fuji . This marked a face turn for Demolition. The Powers of Pain turned heel at that moment. Many believe that the Austin / Hart double turn is the first of its kind, when in fact this was the first double turn in WWF history.
- Circa 1990 - Former American patriot Sgt. Slaughter re-emerges as an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War .
- January 11 , 1992 - Shawn Michaels turns heel when he applies the then-unnamed Sweet Chin Music to long-time tag partner Marty Jannetty during an Interview with Brutus Beefcake , then puts him through a plate-glass window, launching his singles career.
- November 18 , 1995 - at ECW '' November To Remember '', fan favorite Taz , acting as a guest Referee in a match between corrupt referee Bill Alfonso (the most hated man in ECW history at that point) and ECW executive Tod Gordon , turned on Gordon and destroyed him, siding with Alfonso. Taz followed up this enormous heel turn with a profanity-laced tirade against the fans and tag team partner Sabu ; the fans were so enraged at Taz that they nearly rushed the ring at the end. Taz (now managed by Alfonso) would Squash various wrestlers throughout 1996 until finally meeting Sabu (whom he had challenged) at the company's first-ever PPV event, '' Barely Legal '', in April 1997 .
- July 7 , 1996 ('' Bash At The Beach '') - long-time face Hulk Hogan turns on Randy Savage , Lex Luger , and Sting and joins Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the NWo . The nWo storyline was critical in helping WCW gain dominance over the WWF. Hogan's heel turn, after nearly twenty years as a face, shocked the wrestling world as a whole, and helped to reinvent Hogan as a new, 'hip' and gritty version of himself called Hollywood Hogan, a character who may have been more hated as a heel than any run by Ric Flair before that. It has been called one of, if not the single most important turn of the last century in professional wrestling, and remains to this day one of the most memorable.
- November 11 , 1996 - Long-time heel Negro Casas had turned face while his opponent, El Hijo Del Santo was taking a break after the CMLL anniversary show. Bestia Salvaje, who was Feuding with Casas at the time, claimed he was going to have a little surprise for him at a show at Arena Mexico . The match was Casas, El Dandy , & Héctor Garza on the face side vs. Bestia Salvaje, Scorpio Jr., & Felino. Felino just watched as the match commenced and when Salvaje and Scorpio were attacking Casas, the fans begged Felino to help his brother. Felino removed his cape and his mask to reveal it was actually El Hijo del Santo. This shocked the Lucha Libre world as Santo had been a face his entire career and his father, the original El Santo , was the most iconic face in the history of Mexican wrestling. A near Riot broke out in the arena, with fist fights and pushing matches between fans. The feud sold out the Arena Mexico (17,687 seat capacity) three weeks in a row and rejuvenated a rebuilding CMLL.
- March 23 , 1997 ('' WrestleMania 13 ''), Stone Cold Steve Austin becomes a face during his submission match with Bret Hart by impressing the crowd with his determination and drive to win, even passing out from pain and blood loss rather than submit to Hart's signature hold, The Sharpshooter . Bret subsequently becomes a heel by engaging in increasingly ruthless tactics to beat Austin, even attacking Austin while he is unconscious. This match, and its included double-turn, is held up by wrestling fans as being one of the finest examples of in-ring storytelling.
- Later on in 1997, The Rock , who had been booed as a face by the WWF fans, officially turned heel and joined the Nation Of Domination , giving his career a boost.
- In 2004, WWE broke up the APA tag team by turning APA member Bradshaw on his fired (kayfabe) partner Faarooq by not having him walk out in support of his partner. The turn was sudden and swift, as Bradshaw ( John Layfield )'s character became one more suited to Layfield's own personality.
Sometimes turning someone heel (or face) doesn't work the way that it was hoped to. For instance:
- At WCW's ''Fall Brawl'' pay-per view in 1999, Sting wrestled Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. He turned heel in the process, attacking Hogan with a Baseball Bat to get the victory. However, few people got behind Sting as a heel, and by November, he had returned as a face.
- At the same pay-per-view a year later, veteran "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan , whose gimmick for years had been (and continues to be) an American patriot, turned heel during a match involving WCW United States Champion Lance Storm and General Rection by attacking Rection and giving Storm the win. Duggan didn't do much for Storm's Team Canada faction while he was in it, and for the most part his turn was ignored (although Duggan did apologize the following year for his actions).
- At '' WrestleMania X-Seven '', Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel on The Rock during their WWF Championship match and joined forces with his longtime rival Mr. McMahon. The fans didn't take to it very well, and continued to cheer Austin for the most part. WWF was determined to keep Austin a heel, however, and had him turn on the WWF when The Invasion was in its infancy. This also failed to generate any interest, so after '' Survivor Series '' that year, Austin went back to being a face.
- On an episode of ''WCW Monday Nitro'' in 2000, Sid Vicious and Hulk Hogan were fighting Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner in a tag team match when Vicious (who was WCW World Champion at the time and a face), miffed that the fans chanted Hogan's name during the match, chokeslammed Hogan during the match and forced the referee to count Hogan pinned. However, the New Blood storyline began shortly thereafter, and the storyline died before it even had a chance to get off the ground.
- At ''The Great American Bash'' in 2000, Goldberg turned on Kevin Nash and joined with the New Blood, but the turn never went anywhere and Goldberg was a face again by the end of the year.
- In 2000, D'Lo Brown was turned heel by WWF management and put in a tag team with Chaz , calling themselves Lo Down. The turn went nowhere, due mostly to the fans' complete lack of interest in the storyline, and the team was broken up the following year. Chaz left the company shortly after.
- As noted below, shortly after Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship at '' SummerSlam 2004 '', he was kicked out of Evolution and immediately turned face. Orton lost his championship to Triple H several weeks later, but stories had him going to '' WrestleMania 21 '' to regain his title from Triple H. This backfired on WWE when the fans were not getting behind Orton, culminating in a noticeable "Randy sucks" chant during his match with Triple H at the '' Royal Rumble '' that year.
- In 2000, the major storyline in the WWF was "who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin?" The driver of the car in question was revealed to be Rikishi, who began a major heel turn. However, the turn didn't work, because fans didn't care about it, and Rikishi was injured in the meantime and couldn't wrestle. By the end of the year, he'd made his return as a face.
- Right before '' No Way Out 2003 '', The Rock turned heel by saying the he didn't care about Hulk Hogan and the fans anymore via a satelite. However, his heel turn wasn't as popular as his original one, so he later quickly turned face again by turning on Chris Jericho and Christian.
- In 2000 and 2001, WWF came up with the Right to Censor group to make fun of its foes (namely the Parents' Television Council ). Stevie Richards turned heel (becoming Steven Richards) and was the leader of the group. Former faces Val Venis and The Godfather became heels and were included in the group (Godfather became Goodfather), and current heels Ivory and Bull Buchanan made up the other two parts of the group. Unfortunately, the group never had any success (outside of Goodfather/Buchanan's tag team championship and Ivory's Women's Championship), and after awhile the group broke up. Richards remained heel, Venis and Godfather returned to their old ways, Ivory turned face, and Buchanan was regulated to the minor leagues.
- 2004 - Evolution member Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the World Heavyweight Championship at ''SummerSlam 2004'' and was subsequently kicked out of Evolution. He was pitted against Evolution's remaining members ( Ric Flair , Batista and Triple H), and with Evolution being a heel stable, this was seen as a face turn by Orton. He later lost the title to Triple H at '' Unforgiven 2004 ''. Unable to gain enough fan support, Orton would later turn heel again by betraying Stacy Keibler with an R.K.O. to send a message to The Undertaker and then he would start an Alliance with his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton.
- 2005 - Evolution member Batista won the 2005 ''Royal Rumble''. He had a choice to go to '' SmackDown! '' and face JBL and John Cena in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship at '' WrestleMania 21 '', or face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista was about to sign the ''SmackDown!'' contract, but gives Triple H the thumbs down. Triple H tries to attack him, but Batista knocks him out. He then throws Ric Flair out of the ring. Batista then powerbombs Triple H through a table. He would become the World Heavyweight Champion at ''WrestleMania 21''.
- Kane turned heel by turning on Rob Van Dam after he unmasked. He would later turn face by engaging in a feud with Gene Snitsky . Recently he made his latest heel turn by turning on The Big Show .
- May 16, 2005 - After spending five years as a face, Lita turned heel by helping Edge defeat Kane by handing Edge breifcase he won in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 22 to use as a weapon. This turn was done in response to the public backlash, Lita and Edge had recieved for their real life affair that had broke up the six year relation between Lita and Matt Hardy along with causing Hardy's brief firing from the company (the real life affair was turned into a Worked Shoot and an Angle not long thereafter).
- Remaining Evolution member, Ric Flair turned face by engaging in a feud with Carlito while Triple H was gone. Triple H came back and remains as a heel by attacking Ric Flair with a sledgehammer thus starting a brief feud and breaking up Evolution for good.
- 2005 - After the death of manager Chris Candido , The Naturals in TNA became immensely popular, resulting in a face turn. They still exhibit heel characteristics at times, especially when they used a Megaphone from new manager Jimmy Hart to counter cheating by Team Canada at '' Slammiversary '' on June 19 , 2005 . Ironically, at Candido's last PPV , '' Lockdown '', The Naturals attacked stablemate Lance Hoyt after the match Candido was injured in, initiating a face turn for Hoyt.
- September 15 , 2005 - At a Border City Wrestling event held with support from TNA, America's Most Wanted turned heel when they helped Jeff Jarrett win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Raven .
- November 2005 - After the untimely death of his uncle Eddie Guerrero , Chavo Guerrero, Jr. turned face and dropped the Kerwin White gimmick out of respect for his deceased uncle.
- November 13, 2005 - After spending almost all of his entire WWE career as a heel, Christian debuts in TNA at '' TNA Genesis 2005 '' under his original name Christian Cage and turns face after helping faces Team 3D attack heels Scott D'Amore of Team Canada and Jeff Jarrett , whom he helped Team 3D drive through a table.
- April 3 , 2006 - After their Tag Team match at WrestleMania 22 , Carlito turned face by turning on Chris Masters with a back breaker and spitting in his face. Though Carlito still exibits many characteristics of a heel. An example of this was when he called popular babyface diva, Trish Stratus a dumb blonde at the 2006 Backlash confrence.
Sometimes when a wrestler turns one way or another, they also take on a different appearance in the process. Some examples:
- After his heel turn in 1995, British Bulldog traded in his long hair for a flattop crew cut, which he kept for the most part during the rest of his wrestling career (which included two face runs, one in WCW and a short one upon his return to WWE).
- Following his heel turn in 1996, Hulk Hogan began dressing in black, wearing tights instead of trunks, and added a black five o'clock shadow to his trademark blonde mustache. (He kept the tights after returning to the red and yellow, and at times also sported the black beard stubble as well.)
- Scott Steiner turned on his brother Rick Steiner at WCW's SuperBrawl pay per view in 1998 and joined the New World Order . The next night on WCW Monday Nitro , Steiner introduced his new look, in which he sported bleached blonde hair and a bleached goatee. Recently on T.N.A. he got a tatoo of a hart and cross on his chess.
- The Undertaker has undergone several appearance changes as his character has changed. When his Ministry of Darkness was formed, Undertaker dyed his hair jet black and swapped his goatee for a long beard. When he returned the next year as the "American Bad Ass," his hair was red/blonde. During his heel turn in 2002, he cut his hair short, and when he returned in 2004 as his original character, his hair and goatee were once again black.
- Prior to her heel turn at the end of 1999, Stephanie McMahon would come to the ring with stick straight hair. After ''Armageddon'', the pay per view where the turn took place, she began to wear her hair curly. At the time most wrestling fans had dubbed this style her "heel hair," as she would use it on nights to get heat on her. (Stephanie's recent heel turn TV appearances have shown another drastic change- she recently went blonde after being dark haired for most of her wrestling life.)
- Chuck Palumbo bleached his hair blonde and cut it short when he was turned into the "Chuck" half of the former WWE Tag Champion team of Billy and Chuck.
- Shortly after her heel turn in 2002, Molly Holly changed her look twice. First, she dyed her bleach blonde hair brown, and then after a couple weeks cut it short. She also began dressing more conservatively (usually a white top and black pants).
- When Kane turned heel after unmasking in 2003, he shaved his head. He has kept the look since that time (although one can tell that either he doesn't shave it all the way or is losing his hair at one part of his head when they watch). He also now wears tights instead of a leotard.
- As noted before, John Layfield 's character change led to him changing his look (although he had done it prior to becoming the JBL character). One of the notables was that he changed from wearing tights to trunks (something he'd tried some months prior when he was on RAW ).
- During Triple H 's heel turn after her turned on X Pac at a Wrestlemania event, his hair wasn't that long and he started wearing trunks instead of tights. He also grew a beard. During his latest heel turn after he turned on Shawn Michaels he was cleaned shaved. He would later grow his beard back and then he would turn it into a moustache that looks like the lead singer of one of his favorite bands, Motorhead .
- The Big Show who made his third to latest heel turn by engaging in a fued with The Rock before Wrestlemania 2000 cut his hair short. During his latest face turn after he turned on then heel, Kurt Angle he got his head shaved. It has now grown back.
- During Val Venis 's first heel turn when he sided with then heel, Trish Stratus and later joining Right To Censor he cut his hair short. He would later shave it a little during his latest face turn.
- During Trish Stratus 's latest heel turn after she turned on then-babyface, Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 20, she stopped wearing her signature cowgirl hats. She rairly wears her hat since her latest face turn after she sided with Ashley Massaro .
- During John Cena 's heel turn after he turned on then-babyface, Billy Kidman he started wearing long jean shorts and sneakers instead of trunks and boots like he did during his debut as a face. This has to do with his white rapper gimmic. He still wrestles in these since his latest face turn.
- During The Rock 's latest heel turn after he turned on Hulk Hogan behind his back non physically on viva sattelite in uncaring words, his head was shaved. He would later have a samoan design tattoo. He briefly had a goatee with a mustache during a few months later after his latest face turn, but shaved it off.
Since Lita's heel turn, she now wears her hair back.
During Jonathan Coachman's heel turn after he turned on then then-babyface, Shane McMahon he has shaved his head and he now wears sunglasses and sometimes a hat.
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