Hijo del Santo showing up at ringside dressed as Felino, then dumping the disguise and turning on Negro Casas and going rudo. Nothing comes close. I had to finally see the actual turn when it aired in Canada to finally believe that it happened. Watching the crowd reaction in the back is equally amazing.
Professional Wrestling Stars vs. Nigerian 419 Scammers SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! At this WEBSITE!WEBSITE!WEBSITE!
One of the most surprising turns for me was "Good Ol J.R." Jim Ross.That was at the time of WCW's NWO envaison and Hall and Nash had just darted for WCW. Ross and the WWE writers used his medical condition Bals Paulsy as part of a heelish storyline turn for J.R. It also brought in fake Diesel and fake Razor Ramone but that storyline fizzled quickly.
(1) Randy Savage coming onto Main Event Wrestling (?) and asking Mr. Perfect to be his partner against Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. For some reason, I always liked Perfect as a face, moreso than a heel.
(2) Undertaker turning face by preventing Jake Roberts from hitting Elizabeth with the steel chair. The classic line still makes me smile...
Snake: "Who's side are you on, anyhow?" Taker: "Not yours."
Steven & Faith... Wedding day cometh July 24th, 2004
The ECW "emergence" during the Invasion was the most shocking turn IMO. Granted, the InVasion was zany beyond comprehension, but in all technicality, the guys did turn when they all went together as ECW alumnists.
A lot of the ones that come to mind have already been covered.
The one that hasn't been mentioned that shocked the crap out of me was when Jake "The Snake" turned on the Warrior. Maybe it was foreshadowed, but I didn't see it coming. Then again I was only 12.
Can't remember the year, but Hogan turning heel and joining the NWO. My bro was like "Hogan BAD? That Unpossible" And he turned out to be one the best heels ever, after all though years of being a face.
i have to agree with Tracker, Radicals was one of the first ones that came to mind. After they attacked DX and then had their three matches they seemed like they were going to be strong faces in the WWF.
Also, the Hogan turn was indeed the biggest shocker in wrestling history, but I also marked out when The Giant turned on the Dungeon of Doom and joined the nWo.
Also I don't know if this counts, but I remember when I saw the Fake Sting for the first time and THOUGHT that Sting had turned that was pretty shocking too.
Don't remember if anyone mentioned this yet, but all the WWF guys that turned ECW on the big ECW returns night. When they were all in the ring to supposedly confront the debuting RVD and Tommy Dreamer and the WCW guys (Storm and Awesome, I believe) and they all turned around and started beating Kane and Jericho (I think) it just shocked me like nothing else. That was the last thing I had expected to happen, and it was played out so well (for that night at least). It's just such a shame that it couldn't have been an ECW vs. WWF vs. WCW fued instead of WWF vs. Alliance. Oh well.
Another one was Lex Luger turning on Ricky Steamboat at a Clash of the Champions in '89. I wasn't a big NWA follower, but Stemboat was my favorite wrestler at the time, and I thought Luger was pretty damned cool too- hey I was like 12, ok? When Luger attacked him and put him in the torture rack I remember Jim Ross acting like Luger had just done the most henious thing in the history of the world. I don't know if the turn was foreshadowed at all since I wasn't a big NWA fan, but it was pretty damn shocking to me, and it was made to sound even more important by Ross' commentary.
Uh, Undertaker turning face to fued with Jake Roberts was pretty unexpected to me as well. He just seemed like one of those bad guys that would never be a face to me at the time.
"The Universe is shaped exactly like the Earth- if you go straight long enough you end up where you were."
Originally posted by QuezzyAlso I don't know if this counts, but I remember when I saw the Fake Sting for the first time and THOUGHT that Sting had turned that was pretty shocking too.
Slightly off topic here, but... wasn't there one week where Sting was actually PART of the nWo? This was after he'd started The Crow gimmick and they'd acknowledged that there was a Fake Sting. I distinctly remember Eric Bischoff cutting a promo with everyone in the faction, and Real Sting standing beside Mike Rotundo as if he was part of the group.
Was that Fake Sting again and my memory of that Nitro was just fuzzy? Anyone?
Kain Interview: the first since he's been unmasked!!! Major changes to SummerShow main event!!! All this plus an interview with Kain in the latest Inside The Ropes!!!
I'll go with the Radicals turning on Cactus Jack. That took me by surprise, and even in retrospect it made lots of sense since they wanted to work in the WWF that badly at the time. Of course we know what that led to...the ten man tag team match. Beautiful.
Once I saw Hogan join the NWO, I knew that my childhood was truly over. I could say the same about Paul Bearer turning his back on UT. HHH's turn at Wrestlemania 15 was the most interesting. I was very curious to see how he'd handle being a heel again. But by the end of '99, he was the King of All Heels, and I was right there, milking it for all I have, still am actually, hehehe..
Then him being revealed as the accomplice to the hit and run. I loved it for one reason: his is the kind of evil that can make a woman uncontrollably horny.
Steph's turn was one I really was happy to see. Test was such a doofus anyway. Actually, not too many people cared about him and Steph's angle at the time from what I read about it, so in order to spice things up a bit, here comes HHH. That worked out so well. Her explanation of the turn was actually logical and made sense. It was hard for me to boo her after that. Her dad was such an asshole to her that year, I didn't feel sorry for him one bit.
(edited by Ringmistress on 11.8.03 0940) 1100 bitches and counting....
Sting was never actually in the nWo, as was symbolized by Hogan hugging Sting, but Sting not hugging him back. But, the nWo let Sting hang with them in the weeks leading up to Uncensored. This was in the final stretch of Sting's "What side is he on?" angle, where he somehow earned the nWo's trust before he beat the living shit out of all of them at Uncensored.
They even gave him an nWo shirt, which they put on Sting, but he remained completely motionless and it kept falling off so they just put it on his shoulder.
Ummmmmm, you all might think this is lame but ........It was my first WWF show since I was a 10 year old boy. It was a Smackdown and DX had reformed and they teased Kane joining as the fifth member. Then in a tag match X-Pac turned on Kane, I was shocked, because I liked the idea of Kane in DX colors.
Hogan joining Nash and Hall, then cutting a cool ass promo as the crowd started to rain trash down on them. That, was too sweet.
And the one I loved, Trips becoming full on heel again and taking out Austin. The "It was meee ah Austin all along, it was me!" promo was done quite nicely. And when Shane O' Mac popped up on the last Nitro, that was a mega shock.
A few that shocked me I'll go over here. Some of you might not be old enough to remember.
Hogan's heel turn when joining the NWO was shocking.
Michaels superkicking Jannety and throwing him through the barbershop window was shocking
Piper turning face against Adrian Adonis was also surprising.
However, my all time favorite was Larry Zbysko turning heel against Bruno Sammartino. I was 9 at the time and I remember seeing it on one of the old WWWF's Saturday morning shows. Basically, Zbysko was playing the "up and coming young wrestler" and Bruno was "the veteran who took they youngster under his wing".
After a few months, Zbysko cut a promo saying he wanted to be know for more than just being "Bruno's Protégé" and channenged Bruno to a match. He did it in a way that kept him a face. Bruno reluctently agreed. When they had their match it was basically face vs. face-type of match. It was pretty even for a few minutes then Bruno got the uper hand. Zbysko got tossed out of the ring and while the ref was backing Bruno away from the ropes, Larry grabbed a chair, brought it in the ring and hit Bruno in the face for the DQ. Was the first time I ever saw a wrestler bleed in the ring.
"Seattle takes Luke Ridnour to go with Collison ... they're stockpiling white guys to go clubbing with Brent Barry." ESPN.com's Bill Simmons from his 2003 NBA draft diary.
On a Piper's Pit before Wrestlemania 3, Jesse Ventura promised tp bring Andre the Giant, while Piper was going to get out Hogan. The next week, Hogan did come outon piper's cue. Then Jesse called for and got Andre the Giant--with Bobby Heenan at his side! Even Jesse, who is surprised by nothing, went "Whoa!" As close to a holy sh-- moment before ECW. A real out-of-the-blue change that worked, because it alluded to the fact that face vs. face and heel vs. heel matches do not happen often in the WWE.
(edited by deadbeater3 on 11.8.03 1844) The divas should not be about T&A, they should be about Kicking A.
Hogan joining up with Hall and Nash was pretty shocking. Kurt Angle joining the Alliance was also shoking. Angle was the top babyface, had been fueding with Austin, and all of a sudden he's Austins bitch. Angle was the last person I could see joining the Alliance. The most suprising turn for me would be HHH revealing he had set up Austin getting run down. Totally shocked the hell out of me. Also Austin turning on Team WWF at Invasion was suprising.
(edited by Benoit Rules All on 12.8.03 1419) Bret Hart- The Best there is
Originally posted by EradicatorAnother one was Lex Luger turning on Ricky Steamboat at a Clash of the Champions in '89. I wasn't a big NWA follower, but Stemboat was my favorite wrestler at the time, and I thought Luger was pretty damned cool too- hey I was like 12, ok? When Luger attacked him and put him in the torture rack I remember Jim Ross acting like Luger had just done the most henious thing in the history of the world. I don't know if the turn was foreshadowed at all since I wasn't a big NWA fan, but it was pretty damn shocking to me, and it was made to sound even more important by Ross' commentary.
My brother and I still quote Ross to this day from that heel turn. "DON'T DO IT LEX!!! DON'T DO IT!" But then the the conversation always takes a turn for the worst when we bring up the Coors Light Turnbuckle.
I don't know why people find it so hard to believe someone could not like Hulk Hogan back in the 80's. Growing up I watched tons of wrestling, the first thing that hooked me were the WCCW broadcasts with the Von Erichs.