The turn.
These two words have become synonymous with the most significant moments in pro wrestling history.
In a storytelling landscape not like any other in sport or entertainment -- no offseason, no (successful) reboots -- the act of the turn can take the story you've been following for years or even decades and completely flip it on its head, changing your viewpoint of every scene that came before. One second, your main character is the prevailing hero, embodying the virtues of good and holy, and the next, the gut punch. The timeline rolling smoothly and predictable, like the comfort of knowing the sun would rise the following day, has been replaced by a new, strange world.
Throughout my 30-plus years as a certified self-proclaimed wrestling historian (AKA someone whose greatest party trick is naming every WrestleMania main event in order), I've experienced it all. From the twists and turns that keep you up at night in bed going over every aspect of how the world you've been following your entire life has shifted forever, to the times where a wrestler goes good to bad to grey back to good and then back to bad in a matter of weeks and you wonder why you're still watching.
Last Saturday's events in Toronto at Elimination Chamber reminded me why no other overarching story in the world is quite like the WWE. Not only was the turn one for the ages when John Cena's goofy grin slipped into an expressionless void with the activation from The Rock, but it has set up one of the most exciting roads to WrestleMania, which seemed impossible just a few weeks ago after following up what was a remarkable run to last year's masterpiece in Philadelphia.
So, as I lay in bed after the Elimination Chamber, not knowing how to sleep after seeing my childhood hero become the personification of evil flanked by Travis Scott with a spray bottle of sage, I gave myself a task. Go through my entire history of wrestling and "the turn" to do what every journalist, blogger, or content creator of today loves to do -- make a ranking of the top five greatest character switch-ups in wrestling history.
And before we begin, remember one thing: Wrestling is personal. Your favorite or most memorable turn is unique to you. Something that could have happened thirty years ago might feel insignificant, whereas the recent New Day turn on Big E (which was fantastic from all parties involved) could be your No. 1 based on your following of those specific wrestlers. All ranks are subjective, so use this more as a trip down memory lane and less as an ironclad ranking that must be dissected and popularized (unless you agree with me 100%, then we're all good).
Honorable Mentions
Jan. 11, 1992: Shawn Michaels, Marty Janetty, and The Barber Shop Window
In the early 90s, the future Heartbreak Kid was part of a hip and cool tag team with fellow long-haired wrestler Marty Janetty. Before the boyband craze that would come years later, these two were flashy and charmed crowds with their bright look and high-flying in-ring action. That was great and all until the whole hip and cool thing could only go so far, and with Michaels primed to take the next step in his career, he chucked his old pal through a pane of glass during a promo segment with Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake.
The type of aggressive, in-your-face turn would inspire many others on our list to set up Michaels for the Hall of Fame career he would soon have. While iconic, this doesn't hit the top five because while Michaels went on to become Mr. WrestleMania, Janetty languished as an act before leaving the company. Great turns elevate one of the parties involved; the all-time best are when the turns elevate multiple people to new heights and character development.
Mar. 23, 1997: Steve Austin and Bret Hart pull off the bloody switcheroo
Heading into WrestleMania 13, Steve Austin was the foul-mouth bad boy going up against the face of the company, Bret Hart. And while Hart had begun showing signs that the seams were coming apart and a turn was coming, no one could have expected what happened during their Mania match. Not only did Hart effectively become heel in the matchup, making Austin gush blood like a slasher flick of the times, but "Stone Cold" became the people's champion through his determination and effort to not back down from a fight.
The iconic image of Austin refusing to tap out while a stream of crimson splashed down his face helped turn him into the 90's greatest antihero. Hart, prideful and unwavering in his motives, became the perfect foil. Alas, similar to the Barber Shop Window, the entire effects of this double turn never fully played out. While Austin would take over the timeline as its greatest hero for the next generation, Hart would soon find himself gone from the company that November, ousted in Montreal, and joining WCW soon after.
The Top Five
5. June 2, 2014: Seth Rollins breaks The Shield
A brotherhood of three shattered by a single steel chair. While even compared to the honorable mentions, this is the one turn on the list where the actual turn itself wasn't a shock. The Shield were a trio of young talents carefully put together to become the future main characters of the always-changing WWE timeline. As a trio, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose had done everything they could accomplish as a group, even overcoming and defeating the previous era's faction of Evolution (Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton). The dish the company had been diligently preparing for years was about to bubble over, and it was time to strike to turn loose their blue-chip prospects.
Yet, when the turn finally came, it wasn't necessarily the person people thought would be the catalyst of it all. Dean Ambrose, the erratic bruiser of the group, seemed destined to be the one to turn heel against the flashy Rollins and stoic, cool Reigns. Instead, it was Rollins, showing his fangs as the strategist of the group and backstabbing his sworn brothers, creating a tear in the WWE timeline that would set forth the next decade of the company's hottest storylines and matches.
This made No. 5 on the list because of that very fact. Unlike some other turns that might have been more surprising, this one had the follow-through that many deviations don't, with all three of Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose finding major success as their own realized characters following the fact.
Over a decade later, Jon Moxley (formerly Ambrose) is the ace of WWE's premier rival, All Elite Wrestling, in his evolved form with roots to his former WWE self. Reigns and Rollins are still working through the chair shot that ignited this rivalry back in the summer of 2014. And with WrestleMania 41 right around the corner and with it looking like Reigns could be setting his sights on Rollins (with CM Punk, the man who storyline-wise brought the Shield to the WWE), it appears we're getting closer and closer to a conclusion of a turn that has personified the past decade of WWE storytelling.
4. Feb. 7, 1987: André the Giant double crosses Hulkamania
In terms of magnitude, I wouldn't fight you if you wanted to put this at the top of the list.
Hulkamania was running wild as we reached the late 80s, and it felt as if the timeline's current superhero, Hulk Hogan, had run the course of all supervillains to vanquish. Here's a bad guy, wham, 1-2-3, and Hogan is playing to the crowd as he continues to steamroll every unique adversary that could come his way.
Enter André the Giant, the friendly, lovable colossus that crushed everyone in his path but had no need for the heavyweight championship around Hogan's waist. But with a huge stadium needing to be filled for WrestleMania III in Detroit and the list of actual opponents for a money match with the champion running on empty, a monumental play needed to happen.
So, in the most shocking move in wrestling to that date, the friendly giant turned not-so-friendly by aiming his ambitions at the title and Hulkamania itself. André didn't need a steel chair or a barber shop window; he simply grabbed Hogan by the shirt, ripped it, and tore the cross from his neck before ambling out of frame. The world's greatest hero at the time stood frozen, like life would never be the same again, and set the stage for one of the most iconic matches in WrestleMania history.
Hogan and André then pack the Silverdome, the good guy slams the bad guy, and everyone goes home happy. Although not as complex as some of the betrayals above or below it on the list, sometimes simple can be the best foot forward in pro wrestling.
3. Apr. 1, 2001: Stone Cold makes a deal with the devil
OK, now we've reached the top three. From this point on, I'm sure a large percentage of wrestling fans believe one of these is the greatest turn in pro wrestling history. The fun part is? You're not wrong. All three of these have and will be seismic changes to the landscape of pro wrestling from the night it happened to the timeline you watch today.
As aforementioned, with his double turn against Bret Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin became the coolest man on the planet in the late 90s. He was the symbol of what every kid and adult wanted to be at that time: someone who stood up to their jerk of a boss, flipped them off every Monday night and continued to fight against the stale, whitebread authority holding them down.
It wasn't like during Hogan's heyday when he fought against a colorfully dressed bad guy every week as the crowds cheered him on to drink his milk and down his vitamins. Austin was loud and brash. He didn't like vitamins. He chugged beer and was fighting against something everyone could relate to: someone with more power who looked down on you. Kids could see the cartoonishly evil Mr. McMahon that Austin rebelled against as their least favorite teacher. An adult could see it as their annoying boss. An annoying family member who always thought they were better than you.
The Austin vs. McMahon rivalry continued for years until the fateful night at WrestleMania X-Seven, when it all got smashed into a million pieces. Austin was facing his other main rival, The Rock, in the main event for the heavyweight title. At that point, The Rock was equal to Austin in terms of coolness, representing a different side for fans to enjoy—Austin was a loud antihero, and The Rock was a slick showman.
At the end of their historic match, Austin sided with his archrival McMahon and became everything he always rallied against. Due to the event held in his home state of Texas, the crowd cheered during the turn, throwing away good and evil to support their guy winning the Super Bowl of wrasslin'. The match and moment were magical, doing what an incredible turn does by turning the status quo into forcing you to think about all the new possibilities that come from the shifting timeline.
On just a singular moment and the scenes of Austin shaking hands with McMahon itself, I could put this as my No. 1. I remember as a kid thinking it was the craziest thing ever that the coolest dude on the planet turned his back on the regular folk like me. How could that be topped?
But this can't be any higher for me because of the aftermath. Sure, the moment was amazing, but if you look at what transpired after, even Austin today believes the move was a mistake. If The Rock had continued on in the WWE and been built up more as this redeemed, trash-talking hero who could take down Austin and McMahon, it could have been the best storyline in company history.
Instead, The Rock was being pulled to Hollywood to become what we would today know as the "Final Boss." Like Hogan in the late 80s, a suitable foe for this newly evil Austin to create a money match against was impossible. The fact that WCW was about to be bought out by the WWE, and awkwardly, the company's main character was now a villain, made it feel misguided and strange.
Less than a year later, Austin returned to playing a face, and then all parties moved forward like it had never happened. Sometimes, making a deal with the devil goes wrong, and this was a case where the turn, match, and the entire night itself went down as wrestling bliss, but the aftermath left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth.
2. July 7, 1996: Hulk Hogan starts a New Order
Drink your milk! Eat your vitamins! Be kind to your elders!
Everything about Hulk Hogan screamed apple pie, and Americana rolled into a behemoth mascot for everything schools tried to teach kids. During his heyday, he was a walking billboard for justice.
After his run in the WWE (WWF at the time), he signed a massive contract over at WCW to continue the shtick. The issue was that although Hulk's rah-rah speeches and catchphrases weren't changing, the world around him was. They were barreling towards a world where Steve Austin guzzling beer and kicking authority in the balls was the drinking milk and friendliness of yesteryear.
Hogan needed a change, and WCW, trailing behind their competitor and seeing their gigantic investment souring, pulled the trigger on the move so large that it disrupted wrestling timelines across the board. WWE, WCW, ECW, independents, NJPW, AJPW, what have you. It didn't matter if you owned a small wrestling company in the Netherlands with 12 people in attendance. The Bash at the Beach event in 1996 shifted every single wrestling timeline and chucked it into a vortex where nothing was the same again.
During this time in WCW, two former WWF wrestlers, Razor Ramon (now Scott Hall) and Diesel (now Kevin Nash), were setting their new stomping grounds ablaze. They played to the fans in a new way where they didn't explain everything. They treated the fans as part of the storyline; you knew who they were and where they came from, but did you really know what they were doing in these foreign lands?
It all came to a head at Bash at the Beach, where Nash and Hall, the aptly named Outsiders, foretold of a "third man" that would turn their chaotic duo into an empire-crushing trio. In the main event, the good guys were getting beaten down by the big bad until the milk-swigging Hulk Hogan marched out to save the day. Vitamins! Apple Pie! Friendship!
Then, with one devilish grin and a leg drop that must have weighed three tons when he dropped it, Hulk Hogan backstabbed the heroes and became the biggest bad in wrestling. Shift here. Shift there. All the timelines are combusting. The man in movies screaming the virtues of heroism was now beating up his former friends like they owed him money.
And unlike Austin's deal with the devil, the aftermath somehow was even greater than the turn itself. Hogan established the New World Order, and to this day, it is still the most pop culturally relevant faction in pro wrestling history. Their shirts sold like hotcakes, as every celebrity and athlete seemed to want in on the action, embracing how cool it could be to be a villain. Now "Hollywood" Hogan, he was reborn and back on top of the business, eventually spearheading WCW overtaking as the world's No. 1 wrestling promotion for two years straight.
Yes, the NWO would become oversaturated down the line with too many members and too many offshoots, and it would crumble to dust due to pure gluttony, but that can't take away from the turn and what it gave pro wrestling as a whole. Regardless of what wrestling event you attend today, there's a strong chance you'll see someone wearing an NWO shirt, a touchstone of a time no wrestling fan will ever forget.
1. Mar. 1, 2025: John Cena becomes the Hollywood Super Soldier
Well, here it is.
I understand that the screams of "recency bias!" will be heard loudly around the world once you see this ranked as the No. 1 in the ranking above the likes of Hulk Hogan's NWO turn, Austin hugging Vince McMahon or even something more recent like the Shield breakup. I've taken the last week since the turn to collect my thoughts and am ready to give out my reasons why I truly believe, at least currently as the writing of this feature, this is the greatest turn in pro wrestling history and has a chance to do things that not even the Hogan betrayal in WCW can accomplish.
1. Timing
When it comes to the actual timing of this turn, it's better than anything that has come before it. John Cena has been what Hulk Hogan was to a previous generation, but twice over, inside and outside of the ring, he has continued to be a beacon of good to society around him. For twenty years, he's delivered every message he's spouted on television and never wavered.
Hulk Hogan turned because he had to turn. Hogan's stock was tumbling downwards as his colorful character wasn't syncing with the grittier 90s aesthetic, and the move to go "Hollywood" was more of a need than a want. It was executed perfectly and gave Hogan a second life in the industry, but it wasn't Hogan turning bad at the peak of Hulkamania.
John Cena stood strong throughout his career and didn't turn on his beliefs. When he was at his lowest, and every adult in the crowd was screaming for him to become Hogan, Cena turned to the kids who looked up to him and kept moving forward. As he announced his final year of performing before hanging up the boots for good, the sentiment had shifted. Those kids he fought for are now adults, and the respect he earned throughout his tenure is now clear as a day.
On the cusp of a 17th world championship and breaking the record set by the legend Ric Flair, the noise was clear: Every kid, adult, grandparent, dog, cat, and alien from Mars was aligned on him to lift the title one more time before setting off into the sunset. Hustle, loyalty, and respect had become less rah-rah speeches to sell merchandise, and they had actually become the personality he exhibited inside and outside the ring in his public life.
So when it came time for him to turn against the heir to his golden boy throne, Cody Rhodes, and turn into The Rock's personal Hollywood Super Soldier, it almost didn't feel real. John Cena's approval rating amongst fans had never been higher, and that was the precise moment he threw it all away, bloodying Rhodes in the middle of the ring before walking out with a dead look on his face. For over a decade, the meme has been about not being able to see John Cena, and finally, with blood on his fist and his eyes glossed over clashing with his bright blue superhero-like garb, everyone was watching what he had become.
2. The Cody Rhodes of it all
Remember the Steve Austin turn? It was fantastic in the moment, but it fizzled out because no one on the other side of the ring could match a killer Stone Cold
The Hollywood elite backs John Cena and feels like the greatest threat in the WWE timeline, maybe ever, but he has a dancing partner. Cody Rhodes has been built up since his return at WrestleMania 38 to be the main character that the WWE can build around. His feud with Roman Reigns and the Bloodline felt like a test to see if he could be the guy that the universe rotates around, and he passed with flying colors. Whereas Reigns thrives in the role of a calculated antihero who can effortlessly live in a world of grey, Rhodes is as bright as the sun, a symbol of heroism and belief in one's self that can go against this new monster that is John Cena with the weight of an entire empire behind him.
3. The attention has been grabbed
Today, more than ever, it's difficult to grab someone's attention. Everyone has a phone, and something new or "life-changing " pops up every 30 seconds on the internet. After twenty-plus years, John Cena turned to the dark side and grabbed that fleeting attention, bringing pro wrestling into daily water cooler chatter, night shows, and sports channels discussing the ramifications.
The fun of this angle is that The Rock isn't being hyperbolic when he says he runs Hollywood. Forbes recently named him the highest-paid actor in the industry during 2024. John Cena, already embedded in the television and film industry, seems to be The Rock's strongest soldier. Travis Scott flanked him at Elimination Chamber, but who knows who else might walk out the next time we see either of the two Hollywood elites?
Athletes, actors, musicians, you name it. The stars of today grew up watching The Rock on television, and he has his finger on the pulse of everything going on in today's pop culture sphere. A snap of the finger and who knows what NBA star or spotlight-obsessed wrestler might sell their soul next.
4. The beautiful and chaotic timeline
The thing I love most about pro wrestling, particularly WWE, is the timeline I keep discussing. You can go all the way back to the first WrestleMania and watch the show evolve over time, with characters and stories continually moving forward. It's not always pretty, and there are some logical gaps if you stare too closely. However, the shockwaves from certain matches and moments from the first WrestleMania are still felt today, almost a month from WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.
John Cena's shift affects every part of the WWE. It's not like Hogan, who was in WCW at his turn, or Austin, who was only a few years into his "Stone Cold" persona when he joined Mr. McMahon.
Cena was this pillar and foundation that the company was built atop for over twenty years. Every wrestler, referee, executive, producer, cameraman, and tenured worker at the venues WWE visits yearly is connected to John Cena and what he means in the ongoing story we watch weekly. While not even at Raw on Monday, his shift was felt throughout the show, as old foes, friends, and wrestlers he merely brushed paths with all felt the aftereffects of his decision to sell his soul for the record-breaking world championship
That right there is what makes this so special. It doesn't only touch on feuds and stories that have come in the past few years, but it encapsulates decades of storytelling and character development all imploding at once. The superhero who protected the world day in and day out, championing the youth and telling the downtrodden to never give up, even while facing adversity from the people he protected, has turned his sights on us all.
John Cena swore loyalty to the universe that orbited around him for twenty years. As those who grew up with him helplessly watch on, it's his time now to judge them.