Favorite Crowd Reactions to Face/Heel Turns?

[zappafrank 0]

Even though the face turn technically happened the night before due to Austin's actions, the night after the InVasion PPV, when the Alliance was in the ring, Angle's music hit and the crowd went NUTS. You knew that when he was attacked by Austin the night before, it was an instant feud, and Angle's 1st foray into face territory. The look of anger and just being PISSED OFF on his face was tremendous, and the crowd just was behind him 100%. It was one of those goosebump moments, IMO.

 

Also, Kidman turning face on the Flock at Fall Brawl '98 was fun. He went up to the top rope while the Flock was beating the crap out of Saturn (who was wrestling for the freedom of the Flock)...and proceeded to dropkick Raven. The crowd went ballistic, especially as the Flock turned around and Kidman did this "COME AND GET ME!!!" motion to them, and then took off to the back, with the entire Flock in chase. Saturn went on to pin Raven after a sweet DVD through a table, freeing the Flock to a thunderous applause.

 

At the moment I can't think of any outright heel turns that stood out to me (Hogan aside), but I always tend to fascinated by face turns, anyway, especially when it's a heel doing something to establish himself as a face (a la Kidman, and Batista when he decided to challenge HHH at WM 21), as opposed to either a heel turning b/c of the actions of another heel (a la Angle/Austin, or the extrmemely botched Orton face run in '04) or b/c of the saving actions of a face (Savage turning face at WM VII b/c of Elizabeth helping him against Sherri).

[eiker_ir 0]

when Shawn threw Jannetty through the barbershop window

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edgehead69 0]

I enjoyed when Booker T turned Heel on Benoit On Smackdown in 2005

[CanadianChris 0]

My favourite was the Hogan heel turn. It was an unbelievable sight, with all that garbage in the ring at the end. Mean Gene looked like he was going to snap and kill someone with all the trash he was getting hit with.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Best face turn that comes to mind is Virgil turning on Dibiase at the '91 Rumble. Classic.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

That entire angle is proof the worker doesn't always need to be much of a worker to get nuclear heat. Winning the Million Dollar belt at Summerslam was the peak of Virgil's success, but he was arguably one of the most over guys on the roster during the eight months that led to that moment.

[The Buzz 0]

I enjoyed the Road Warriors heel turn on Dusty and Sting, and also the Sting heel turn on Hogan. Both for the same reason...they got cheered more for turning heel then they did before the turn.

[Nate 0]

My favourite was the Hogan heel turn. It was an unbelievable sight, with all that garbage in the ring at the end. Mean Gene looked like he was going to snap and kill someone with all the trash he was getting hit with.

 

i second this, that was so heartbreaking watching that as a kid

[Guest TheFabulousJakey]

In terms of crowd reaction, one of my favorites is when Victoria went psycho on all the model divas in the summer of 2005, complete with superkick to Maria and a Widow's Peak to Christy Hemme. At that point she was the only female wrestler on the Raw roster with Trish Stratus injured. Anyway, the angle was done in Calgary, and half the audience was cheering, and they did the same when she cut a promo berating Christy after the commercial break.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

the Sting heel turn on Hogan. got cheered more for turning heel then they did before the turn.

 

Amen. I thought that was a perfect way for Sting to get back at Hogan for the nonsense 2 years prior. Another example of that would be Eddie Guerrero turning on Tajiri by slamming onto the car window on SD. The crowd reaction was crazy since they didn't give a damn about Tajiri's welfare.

 

I thought John Cena's face turn by coming to Kurt Angle's aid against Team Lesnar on SD prior to SSeries 2003 was fun.

 

What else?

 

DDP turning on The Outsiders

 

There's more, but I can't think at the moment.

[Ced 0]

Being there live, HBK turning on Hogan to set up their Mania program was a memorable one for me. Crowd cheering for the dual posedown and the Sweet Chin Music dropping Hogan just stunned the crowd before the small Holy Shit chant started up.

[Jericholic82 0]

Taz turning heel at N2R 95, the crowd was PISSED at him and started chanting Sabu just to piss him off. Great heel turn promo too

 

CM punk joining the New Breed this year, total silence. I love toal silence reactions to turns.

[Vern Gagne 0]

When the Radicals turned on Catus Jack back in 2000.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Taz turning heel at N2R 95, the crowd was PISSED at him and started chanting Sabu just to piss him off. Great heel turn promo too

CM punk joining the New Breed this year, total silence. I love toal silence reactions to turns.

 

Austin's heel turn comes to mind there then.

 

Have to agree with the the Hogan heel turn.

[Enigma 0]

I was about to mention the same thing. Nearly 70,000 people in the Astrodome with a "WTF" silence as Austin shook hands with McMahon.

[Guest]

As a little kid, I wanted to kill Hogan.

 

That's when the "wrestling is fake, son" talk came. Hell, I was only 8, perfect time to tell me before it got in my brain that it was real.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Taz turning heel at N2R 95, the crowd was PISSED at him and started chanting Sabu just to piss him off. Great heel turn promo too

CM punk joining the New Breed this year, total silence. I love toal silence reactions to turns.

 

Austin's heel turn comes to mind there then.

 

I was about to mention the same thing. Nearly 70,000 people in the Astrodome with a "WTF" silence as Austin shook hands with McMahon.

 

I know it's been a while since I've watched Wrestlemania X-7, but I seem to remember the crowd being 100% behind Austin while he beat the holy Hell out of The Rock with "that McMahon-endorsed Steel Chair". I don't remember complete silence at all.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Nah, there was complete silence when he originally turned, think it was at the end of a raw taping.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Nah, there was complete silence when he originally turned, think it was at the end of a raw taping.

 

 

You've got me totally confused. He turned face at WM XIII and that got one of the most amazing, unique reactions ever. He turned back heel at WM X-7 and the rabid crowd in Houston went nuts. The pseudo-trun during the Invasion? Crowd went batshit. What other turn are you talking about?

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I can totally remember seeing him turn heel and there was just dead pan silence. Now I'm confused.

[Jericholic82 0]

I think the Texas crowd was happy to see their guy win, maybe they thouhgt it was a vince face turn instead of austin heel turn? or they were just happy to see him win, then realized the implications and crapped on it.

[Australian Pride 0]

The Chyna fake turn at WM15 got a great reaction. Crowd went nuts when she turned babyface on Kane and helped HHH. Then later in the show both her and H went back to the darkside.

[Diamonddust 0]

When Jim Cornette turned on the Dynamic Dudes. The crowd went nuts for him and the Midnight Express, even though they were "supposed" to be supporting the Dudes.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

When Jim Cornette turned on the Dynamic Dudes. The crowd went nuts for him and the Midnight Express, even though they were "supposed" to be supporting the Dudes.

 

 

That was probably the first time I marked out for a heel turn. Cornette dumping the Dudes to return to the Midnight Express was so perfect, even it was supposed to be a dastardly act. Great stuff.

[JHawk 0]

When Jim Cornette turned on the Dynamic Dudes. The crowd went nuts for him and the Midnight Express, even though they were "supposed" to be supporting the Dudes.

I'm glad someone else remembers that.

 

For those who don't:

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

[RepoMan 0]

The recent Santino/Umaga double turn was great.

[King Cucaracha 0]

"That's why I kicked your leg out of your leg" was a good one.

 

The new Hart Foundation formation with Bret coming in during Owen vs. Bulldog was a good one too, helped by one of Bret's best interviews ever.