Good Vs. Evil is the longest-running story that's been going on since the beginning of time. We have seen many versions of the saga in real life, and pro wrestling also has its rendition with its babyface vs. heel storylines. However, as in real life, we have witnessed several unexpected twists where certain wrestlers reach their breaking points and cross over to the dark side. Heel turns provide a significant shift in a wrestler's future and could lead him to achieve great things in his career.
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But there are instances when the execution and follow-up of certain heel turns didn't live up to the expectations and didn't go anywhere in terms of progress. Let's take a look at ten such failed heel turns in WWE.
10 Tucker Knight
It's not every day wrestling fans get to witness a tag team like Heavy Machinery, as Tucker Knight and Otis made use of their opportunity to establish themselves as an entertaining comedic duo. Despite their funny characters, they also proved they could get serious inside the ring and put on great performances against other talented tag teams. However, their main roster call-up proved to be the first nail in the tag team's coffin as Vince McMahon's sudden interest in Otis saw him become Mr. MITB, while Tucker Knight became the second fiddle.
WWE eventually chose to turn Tucker Knight heel and had him cost Otis the MITB contract. However, the company didn't make any effort to follow up with the storyline and took Tucker Knight off television after a few appearances before releasing him from his contract in April 2021.
9 Nikki Kross
Nikki Kross showed tons of potential during her days in NXT and could've been an excellent addition to the main roster with her unique gimmick. However, the main roster creative team had different ideas and slowed down her character to pair her with Alexa Bliss.
She had success with her partnership with Bliss and had two runs with the women's tag team titles. But once Bliss moved on from the alliance, Kross tried to reinvent herself with the Almost a Super Hero gimmick. It did give her a run with the Raw Women's title and the women's tag team title, but a heel turn with the character did her more harm in the long run. After being underutilized for a long time, Nikki A.S.H. finally shook off the superhero character and reverted to her Nikki Kross gimmick on the October 24, 2022, episode of Raw.
8 Mustafa Ali
Mustafa Ali's untimely injury in February 2019 cost him what could've been his career-making push. Following his return, Ali couldn't regain the lost momentum no matter how hard he tried as the creative team had moved on from the idea of making him a top champion.
However, it looked like he'd get back into the lost spotlight when WWE made him the leader of the heel faction Retribution in 2020. However, the entire experiment turned into a laughingstock as the group failed to establish themselves as legitimate heels in WWE.
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Mustafa Ali eventually asked for his release and even walked out of the company at one point. But WWE was able to make amends with Ali to bring him back, but he hasn't impressed anyone in his current run as well.
7 Ryback
Wrestling fans might currently have a different opinion on Ryback, but they were chanting "Feed Me More" at the top of their voices during Ryback's babyface run in 2012. WWE put him in high-profile feuds against the likes of CM Punk and had him compete for the WWE Championship. The WWE Universe rallied behind him, but gaining some unwanted backstage heat led him to lose his push.
The creative team turned him heel and put him in less significant storylines, including a tag team with Curtis Axel. He spent the rest of his time with WWE floundering in the mid-card until he eventually got released from his contract in 2016.
6 Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura had all the momentum he needed to become a future WWE Champion when he made his main roster debut in 2017. Things looked promising in the beginning, and The King of Strong Style went on to win the 2018 Royal Rumble and challenged AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.
However, his heel turn at the event caused his stock to hit rock bottom, as Nakamura couldn't recover from the poor booking that followed after the turn. The crowd slowly lost interest in Nakamura but always hoped that WWE would reconsider their decision and book the Japanese sensation in more significant storylines in the future.
5 Tommaso Ciampa
Tommaso Ciampa was a natural heel during his feud against Johnny Gargano in NXT. He summoned legitimate heat from the crowd and was at the height of his notoriety in the black and gold brand.
He did turn face during his final days in NXT and had an equally good run, but his main roster call-up came with a poorly executed heel turn that saw him pair up with The Miz. Ciampa hasn't been doing much in terms of character development in his alliance with The Miz and desperately needs a revamp to make a name for himself on the main roster.
4 Becky Lynch
The fans already knew that a Becky Lynch heel turn was in the works when she turned on Charlotte Flair after their SmackDown Women's title match at SummerSlam 2018. However, what the fans didn't expect was the way Lynch presented herself as a heel. She adopted "The Man" character and worked with such confidence that the fans had to turn heel alongside Lynch.
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Week after week, the crowd support only started to increase for Becky Lynch, and WWE had no choice but to give up on her heel run and turn her face again.
3 Dean Ambrose
The way WWE turned Dean Ambrose heel the same night Roman Reigns made his Leukemia announcement had a great level of impact on the fans and opened the doors for the company to do big things with Ambrose as a legitimate villain.
But they followed it up with some lackluster storytelling which only led to him having a forgettable reign as the Intercontinental Champion. Aware of the fact that Ambrose planned to leave the company when his contract would expire, WWE showed no signs of intent to give Ambrose a major push as a heel. Ambrose's heel run ended as soon as Reigns made his return and reunited The Shield one last time before the former left the company to sign with AEW.
2 Batista
The increasing crowd support for Daniel Bryan in mid-2013 made him the fan favorite to win the 2014 Royal Rumble match and main-event WrestleMania 30. However, WWE initially had no plans of giving heed to the fans' requests and brought back Batista as a babyface and had him win the Royal Rumble match instead.
The fans didn't accept Batista's victory and showered him with loud boos whenever he walked out to the ring, which gave WWE no choice but to turn him heel.
WWE also had to insert Daniel Bryan into the WrestleMania WWE Championship storyline, which ultimately resulted in Batista being an afterthought in the entire storyline. The Animal couldn't recover from the damage and ended up leaving the company after butting heads with the creative team.
1 Edge
Since making his surprise return at the 2020 Royal Rumble, Edge continued to work as a babyface until he chose to embrace the dark side once again in early 2022. He formed The Judgment Day faction with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest, and the trio looked quite formidable. However, Cody Rhodes' untimely injury created a void for a high-profile babyface on Raw, which led to WWE canceling Edge's heel turn.
Rhea Ripley and Damien Priest turned on Edge and kicked him out of the stable, and accepted Finn Balor as their leader, which allowed The Rated R Superstar to return as a babyface.
