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Sudden face turns that stuck + BoD Fantasy Baseball plug


My name is BonzaiDBSM. I'm a top-5 commentator and a three-time BoD fantasy sports champion AND YOU CAN'T TEACH THAT!

Over the last couple of weeks, we've all touched on our displeasure on endless Authority/heel authority figure angles, and it made me think about how I miss Teddy Long running the ship on SD (back when I actually watched SD, unlike now), because how refreshing when an authority guy comes out to make a logical match to benefit the show and its fans (usually in the form of a TAG TEAM MATCH PLAYA) and not just screwing over a face for the zillionith time. 

But it also made me think about Teddy Long, who played that persona for about a decade, which was amusing because he was just randomly turned. He spent all of 2003 as the black-power heel manager, with Rodney Mack (remember the "White Boy Challenge"?), Jazz, and Mark Henry, went off TV when his guys were injured or released, then pops up on SmackDown in the summer of 04 to relieve GM Kurt Angle of his duties in his now-familiar HOLLA HOLLA GM role. What would you and the other BoDers say were the more notable random, overnight face turns for previous heels that stuck for a long time?

Also, could I get a plug for year 2 of the BoD Fantasy Baseball League? I've sent out e-mails to most of last year's participants (mainly the ones who were active all season) but have room for at least 2 more. I can go into more detail in the comment thread for those interested, but was hoping you could get the word out with a post.

​Done.  

As for overnight babyface turns, Sting's initial turn in 87 was pretty sudden and stuck for 30 years.  Randy Savage in 87 was also a case of "One day he started fighting One Man Gang on Hogan's behalf".  ​

Comments

  1. Mitch, The GodfatherMarch 14, 2015 at 11:02 PM

    I want in.

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  2. They were crazy about Macho as far back as the Garden, when he won the title. It was a no-brainer to flip that switch.

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  3. Didn't sting do a heel turn late in wcw's run that was really bad and he totally mailed in?

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  4. DDP randomly telling the nWo to fuck off was pretty unexpected and neat.

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  5. I'll play in the baseball league. chriscfgb@hotmail.com

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  6. Lex Luger's Jan 88 face turn was wasting billions of longterm money and can be argued ruined Luger's career forever

    and I win fantasy baseball leagues like IC title tournaments in Rio de Janeiro paulmail21@yahoo.com

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  7. Yeah like Fall 99. It was awkward and stupid. Pretty sure he turned even before Russo got there. I know he was heel for a bit in TNA as well but that doesn't count

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  8. I'll shoot emails to everyone who wants in. Dirty details- 5x5 league, weekly head to head categories format, 7 GS weekly minimum to qualify for ERA/WHIP wins, auction draft tentatively set for 3/28 at 8 ET, but we can move it around if need be as the season doesn't start till 4/6

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  9. Typical cheating from DBSM. Where's Michael Winslow now?

    Yup, selling my e fed loss

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  10. Did you patch things up w/ your best friend? Is she still mad @ you? IF you have a minute, do you think you'll ever become more than friends? That's how I got my gf, ;)



    NB: I've been off the lexapro for a couple months now but I sympathize w/ what ur going thru

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  11. Yeah we hashed it out. Normally I would've let her play the quiet game until she was over it, but I told her straight up she's too important for me to just let us both stew over this. I told she has to meet me halfway on stuff like this-- while my comment was ill-timed, I didn't know she was upset about something so she should give me a little slack in the future. The opportunity for a relationship feels closer though, we made plans to hang out on my bday and we're seeing Avengers 2 midnight release next month.

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  12. You're never getting your heat back against me! I'm going 20-0 over Biscuit, a new Streak!

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  13. The Goldberg heel turn in 2000 was stupid too but in WCW so was everything else that year

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  14. The sad thing about Sting's heel turn in TNA was that it actually MADE SENSE ("demanding respect" is pretty much the only way you could turn Sting heel convincingly). The problem is that Russo then had to Russo the hell out of the angle, so it went from a hot, awesome angle, to whatever it ended up being.

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  15. Savage's face turn started with the Honky Tonk Man's claim of being the greatest Intercontinental Champion and Savage took exception to that. The angle with Elizabeth getting pushed to the canvas by HTM & the Hart Foundation cemented it with Hulk Hogan to the rescue.

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  16. Don't see how, but go on.

    The only thing that ever ruined Luger's career was Vince not giving him the title at summerslam, and even then two years later he was back in WCW where they knew how to book him better.

    And no not beating Flair never really hurt him either IMO because he was always made to look strong.

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  17. That would actually be my top pick.

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  18. Mr. Perfect's turn in 92 didn't stick for the rest of his career but it was completely out of nowhere.

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  19. Orton, night after Summerslam 2004. turned face because his friends didn't like him anymore and best him up

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  20. That is another great one, and one of the best angles they ever did.

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  21. Im still in the fantasy baseball league, signed the 2013 Champion

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  22. Sheamus became a face for years by stepping up to Mark Henry, the biggest monster heel the company had in eons.

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  23. Undertaker. Decided Jake was going too far trying to attack Savage and Elizabeth with a chair and remained a face for six and a half years.

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  24. yeah that one wasnt' out of nowhere. They did heel vs. heel matches where Savage was obviously the fan favorite (saw one live at Arco Arena in Sac as the main event).

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  25. Sgt Slaughter's face turn in 1984 was great too. He happened to bump into the Iron Sheik on the way to the ring for his match and their feud started then.

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  26. I used to like back in the day when feuds would start by guys just bumping into each other.

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  27. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 15, 2015 at 8:42 AM

    I'm not sure I follow. If Lex stays heel, what does he do instead of feuding with the world champion, Ric Flair? I think the face turn was fine, they just needed to pull the trigger on Luger winning the title

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  28. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 15, 2015 at 8:44 AM

    Razor started off as a heel in '92, but turned face in '93 and stayed that way in WWF

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  29. I just hope someone names their fantasy team RKYoan.

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  30. It really can be that simple and I don't understand why they don't do that more often today.

    Guy A has a quality similar to/totally opposite to Guy B.

    They meet.

    They feud.


    Someone wins, they move on.

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  31. And the Savage/Roberts match from SNME, though I think Roberts was the face in that case.

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  32. Was that the bit when he asked whose side taker was on and we got NOT YOURS?

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  33. BoD Fantasy Baseball?!

    Thatll never get over.

    Seriously, the BoD Fantasy sports is awesome guys. Way to continue bringing the blog together.

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  34. Yeah that was a great turn, Mark Henry has been plowing through the SD roster, heel ass kicker Sheamus is always looking for a fight and simply says "I'll fight your monster", boom, insta-over face.

    Then they turn him into a Cena clone.

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  35. That was a fairly long build, though.

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  36. Followed by Jake locking his hand in a coffin and going apeshit on him with a chair.


    And all he did was make him mad. I remember thinking, "Well, Jake's a dead man."

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  37. Cena v Rusev started that way

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  38. What was the storyline reason for Hulk Hogan's AWA face turn?

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  39. The moment I became a wrestling fan for life. My brother had been a fan since Wrestlemania 2 but I hated it up until that point. Then for whatever reason I was flipping through the channels, stopped on "Wrestling Spotlight" which was a recap show that aired on channel 9 in New York, and I saw Honky and the Harts beating up Savage; Honky pushed down Elizabeth, she ran to the back and came back with Hogan; they beat up the Harts and Honky; shook hands, and I was hooked for life. I didn't know anyone's name other than Hogan at that point. But I knew enough to know that Savage was a bad guy. sf



    I was 8 years old and it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen to that point in my life. I finally understood why my brother liked it.



    One thing I can't remember or never saw because I had just started watching. Did Hogan and Savage ever do a tag match against the Harts or a 6 man with someone else against the Harts and Honky? Or was Hogan too above doing a match with the Harts and Honky?

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  40. Oh man. She's playing you. Toot it boot it. Make her feel stoopid

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  41. Wasn't Savage's face turn more of a Honky Tonk Man issue. One day Honky decides to bad mouth Savage and Savage just turns face? Although he ain't a face face until he shakes the Hulkster hand, man?

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  42. And it worked too for the era. Savage takes a long shot, Perfect laughs it off, but Bobby says something to offend Perfect, and Perfect turns on Bobby and Flair.

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  43. Hogan did some matches against the Harts and Honky - but he either tagged with Billy Jack Haynes or Koko B. Ware.

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  44. Roberts got the face pops. I think they turned Roberts face after he DDT Hogan and got a face pop.

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  45. well that aired in October 86. Jake was a face by WM3. Savage was doing heel (tweener really) vs. heel matches against HTM all summer of 87. I'm assuming they wanted to turn Savage eventually anyway, but Steamboat leaving ended a series of rematches early I'm sure. Honestly Savage had a fairly vocal minority of support at shows almost from the day he showed up in WWF and then chose Liz over Heenan and the rest.

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  46. Flair and a lot of guys turned into defacto faces when the nWo was formed. Flair tried to stay heel - but once he had the legit injury - he kind of turned face. They did try to turn him heel in 1997 when they wanted him to feud with Piper - but all of a sudden when Hennig came in and Flair wanted him in the horsemen - he was a face again.

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  47. I think he won a battle royale and The Hennan Family beat him up.

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  48. Orndorff's second face turn in the WWF. Months earlier he was trying to take Hogan's belt. He returns and gets offended because "Rick Rude does not have a better body than Mr. Wonderful," and then Orndorff jobs out for three months. The dude goes from mid-level heel to second or third under Hogan babyface to top heel to c-level midcarder. They tried to make him a top face in 1990 WCW, but he quickly exited - but did get a good Midcard heel run to finish out his career.

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  49. Sting turns heel prior to Russo - jobs to Bret at Meyhem and turns face again and feuds with his buddy Luger.

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  50. you don't turn the guy face if they aren't going to give him the title or he looks like a choker... which he did for the rest of his career


    he had only been wrestling for a few years and staying with the Horsemen would have given him more time to develop as a worker and a personality... Flair says as much in the Horsemen DVD

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  51. Or bumping into each other and spilling their coffee.

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  52. Big Bossman had a great abrupt face turn, deciding he wasn't for sale and returning Damian to Jake the Snake.

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  53. I'll play some fantasy baseball

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  54. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 15, 2015 at 10:43 PM

    I think if Barry Windham was willing to be The Guy, then maybe Luger stays a dominant #2 heel behind Flair in the Horsemen. Barry was more seasoned and just as well-equipped to be the babyface foil to Flair. Unfortunately it would seem Windham wasn't going to be that guy, so a fairly green Luger was probably the best available candidate for that face run, even if he wasn't entirely ready for it. I do think you're right that Luger would have been better off staying in the Horsemen though

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  55. There was no definitive turn... If you look at his match history for the time period on cagematch, he has matches with steamboat, Tito, hogan, OMG, HTM, Race, Butch Reed and others, often going from wrestling a heel to wrestling a face from one night to the next. I think he had cage matches with Hogan and Honky within a week of each other.

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  56. Normally I would be in for fantasy baseball, but I'm not in a position to draft at the proposed time. (Maybe next year!)
    Another good late 80's turn that stuck for awhile (year and a half or so, which seemed like a lifetime back then): Hercules. I can't recall ANYTHING that foreshadowed that one. That was all done in the course of one promo.
    And I may have mentioned this before on here, but the best, and still funniest, and still among the most justified (non-Hogan division) heel turn out of nowhere, was Pistol Pez Whatley turning on Jimmy Valiant. I still laugh my ass off every time I watch it.

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  57. I'm a big fan of Wonderfuls 93-95 run but that 1990 Stings friend with no explanation run sucked

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