Turn (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a turn occurs most frequently when a wrestler develops a new gimmick (persona) and changes, frequently from face to heel or sometimes vice versa. Non-wrestling performers such as managers may also turn.
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.
Often, when a wrestler turns one way or another, they also take on a different appearance. This is sometimes an attempt to use a visual shorthand to identify the character (for example, growing a beard or stubble as a heel in order to look more sinister), or it could be an attempt to create a disconnect from a well-known character previously played by the wrestler.
Sometimes the appearance change is subtle. One example is Hulk Hogan's heel turn in 1996 - he began dressing in black, wearing tights instead of trunks, and added a black five o'clock shadow to his trademark blonde mustache. Another example is Stephanie McMahon's heel turn three years later- she still dressed and looked the same, but started wearing her hair curly instead of straight like she had before. (For a while after her heel days had slowed and she wasn't wearing the style every night, some fans coined the term "heel hair" for when she would wear her hair curly, as she would tend to get more heat this way).
Other times, a wrestler may turn and change their appearance into something a little more drastic. One of the most common ways to do this, as noted before, is to start wearing their hair differently. In the more drastic cases, a cut or dye job usually is in order. Some examples of this include the British Bulldog (who during the course of his 1995 heel turn traded his long locks for a flattop crew cut), Scott Steiner (who emerged with short, bleach blonde hair the night after WCW SuperBrawl VIII in February 1998, when he joined the New World Order), Molly Holly (who cut her bleach blonde hair short and dyed it brown as part of her character change in 2002), the Undertaker (who over the course of his career has had several character changes which required him to change his look) and Kane (who shaved his head after being forced to unmask in 2003, turning heel in the process).
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[edit] Types
There are various types of turns, used for various purposes. Turns may be used for to "swerve" and surprise viewers. For example, on 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 turn inflamed the fans in the building so much that they began throwing things at Hogan, Hall, and Nash in the ring (something Hall claimed had never been done before, although he probably was mistaken), and one even jumped the rail in an attempt to attack Hogan (only to be intercepted by Hall and taken from the ring by security). 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.
On 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.
Some turns are used to break up tag teams and make way for the members to pursue solo careers. On January 11, 1992, Shawn Michaels turned 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. Another example is the Steiner Brothers' breakup noted earlier, when Scott turned on brother Rick in 1998.
A rare kind of turn is a "double turn", where both participants turn. On 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.
On May 22, 2006, after nearly four years of being heel once again Triple H started a feud with the Spirit Squad by saving four year in-ring rival and real-life friend Shawn Michaels from a beatdown, in the process reforming D-Generation X.
[edit] Unsuccessful turns
At times, turns do not have the intended effect. In these cases, a face turning heel will still be cheered while a heel turning face will still be booed. Examples of this are:
- At WCW's Fall Brawl pay-per view in 1999, Sting wrestled Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting 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.
- Bill Goldberg's heel turn.
- In WWE, Stone Cold Steve Austin's heel turn at WrestleMania X-Seven provoked a similar reaction, with Austin still being cheered.
- Randy Orton turned face after winning the World Heavyweight Championship and subsequently being kicked out of Evolution. However, few fans got behind Randy as a face and less than a year after Randy had turned heel again.
- A. J. Styles has attempted multiple heel turns in TNA, but has never stopped being cheered.
In other cases, the turn will get no reaction. At Fall Brawl 2000, veteran "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, whose gimmick for years had been an American patriot, turned heel to little reaction.
[edit] Screw job turns
Tag Team Screw Jobs
One of the more common ways to turn heel is to screw another face over during a match or other type of situation. Sometimes tag team partners will turn during a match. Three examples:
- The British Bulldog's heel turn (as noted above), where he attacked partner Diesel during a match.
- The breakup of the Steiner Brothers (as noted above), where Scott attacked brother Rick during a match and cost them the tag team championships.
- In 1998, Ken Shamrock had two partners turn on him during tag team matches, Mark Henry and Owen Hart. In both cases, the wrestlers joined the Nation of Domination faction.
Other times, one partner will turn on the other either after a match or outside the ring. A notable recent example is Eugene's November 2006 turn against former partner "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.
The Run In
Another common way for heel turns for wrestlers involves getting involved in the match during a situation where the referee might have his back turned, or just coming into the ring to do something. Hulk Hogan's 1996 heel turn was of this variety, as he ran in during a six man tag match which he was not involved in and joined the nWo. Other wrestlers have gone this route as well, including The Rock in 1997.
Manager/Owner Screwing
Other times, wrestlers will be turned on by their managers, who go over to the other wrestler as their manager. Some examples:
- At Survivor Series in 1988, Demolition was turned on by their manager, Mr. Fuji. During the course of their retaliation, the Powers of Pain saved Mr. Fuji, turning heel in the process (with Demolition turning face).
- At Summerslam in 1996, during a Boiler Room Brawl between Undertaker and Mankind, Taker's manager, Paul Bearer, was supposed to hand his urn to the winner of the match- in this case, the one who escaped the boiler room and got to the ring first. Undertaker got to the ring first, but Bearer instead hit him with the urn and gave it to Mankind, joining forces with him.
- Paul Heyman, as a wrestling manager, has done this turn twice in recent years. At Survivor Series in 2002, he interfered in the WWE championship match between his man, Brock Lesnar, and The Big Show, and cost Lesnar the match. In an eerily similar situation four years later, he did almost the same thing as a special referee in an ECW world title match, leading Big Show to a win against Rob Van Dam.
- Vince McMahon has done this on several occasions, but two are most notable. The first was the infamous Montreal Screwjob, where he literally screwed Bret Hart out of the world championship by calling for the bell when it wasn't needed. The second was during the main event at Wrestlemania 2000, when he was in the corner of The Rock for the fatal four-way world championship match. During the course of the match he hit Rock several times, helping Triple H to retain his title and in the process reunite with his family.
