10 Promising WCW Heel Turns That Failed: What Went Wrong?

By the time WCW closed its doors in 2001, it seemed like everybody on the roster turned face and heel so often that these turns ceased to mean anything. However, just a few years prior, Eric Bischoff and creative were able to pull off one of wrestling's most impactful heel turns of all-time, when Hulk Hogan turned his back on the fans to join the nWo at Bash at the Beach 1996.

The company tried multiple times to recreate the shock value of the turn, so there was nobody left like Ricky 'the Dragon' Steamboat, who was known for a career with no alignment switches as perhaps wrestling's most natural babyface. Despite being some of wrestling's most popular figures, Sting, 'Diamond' Dallas Page and Goldberg all turned heel eventually. Those, along with a few from earlier in WCW's history, are among their most promising heel turns that ultimately failed.

10 Sting - 1999

When Sting turned heel at Fall Brawl 1999 on Hulk Hogan, it was one of the surest signs that the folks in charge had lost any sense of logic. The 'Stinger' was WCW's ultimate babyface and a true icon in the company, and a year and a half of poor booking post-Starrcade 1997 did little to dull fans' love.

It's a stretch to say it was ever "promising," but the company's longest-tenured top 'good guy's turn to the dark side should have been a big deal. Lex Luger had been pressuring Sting to turn his back on the reformed 'Hulkster,' and his best friend wasn't hard to convince. This made sense to fans: less than two years prior, Hogan was Sting's mortal enemy and the evilest man in the company. Fans (who weren't just confused) cheered when Sting attacked Hogan with a baseball bat in their match, and over the next several weeks, wouldn't cooperate when booking meant to show the 'Stinger' in the wrong.

9 Rick Steiner - 1999

When Scott Steiner turned heel on his brother Rick in 1998 to join the nWo, it made sense. The future 'Big Poppa Pump' had been steadily displaying more attitude for a while. When it came time to embrace being a 'bad guy,' his character drastically changed and eventually took him to a main event run as World Champion.

The 'Dog-Faced Gremlin,' on the other hand, had a lackluster feud with the 'Big Bad Booty Daddy,' but despite a strong push (and an on-screen verbal battle with Child's Play villain Chucky) didn't do much before turning heel to feud with Booker T over the Television Title. Moreover, he changed his look to better resemble his formerly-estranged brother, with whom he inexplicably occasionally began teaming again. Fans never really bit at Rick's newfound attitude and catchphrases, and he generally weaved in and out of WCW's mid-card before its demise in 2001.

8 Goldberg - 2000

Goldberg turning heel in 2000, like Sting in 1999, should have been an all-time shocking moment, reverberating through the wrestling world with a buzz that the unthinkable had happened. However, by this point in WCW's booking, fans were desensitized to Vince Russo's 'Crash TV' and constant swerves.

At the Great American Bash, Goldberg turned against babyface Millionaires' Club member Kevin Nash to join Russo, Eric Bischoff and the New Blood in one of WCW's silliest angles. The story was convoluted, as fans did not want to boo Goldberg. Plus, the storytelling relied on the assumption that viewers were familiar with the inner workings of the business (thanks to Russo's obsession with dirtsheets and the internet). Like most angles from the company's final year, however, it never really went anywhere and was forgotten quickly when Russo left that October.

7 Ron Simmons - 1993

Ron Simmons' surprise WCW World Championship win at a Baltimore house show in August 1992 was one of wrestling's real 'feel-good' moments. The victory told a great underdog story and made Simmons the industry's first Black world champion - which admittedly would have been a bigger deal if WWE had done it first.

Unfortunately, Simmons' run didn't set ticket sales on fire and he lost the title back to Big Van Vader after five months as champion. Afterward, he meandered around the mid-card before taking a liking to the young Ice Train, becoming his mentor in a tag team. However, it wouldn't be long before the former NCAA football All-American began showing signs of frustration with Train's inexperience, and soon his anger boiled over in a post-match attack. Simmons eventually ended Train's singles undefeated streak in early 1994 but was gone by the end of the summer.

6 Kevin Nash - 1999

An oft-forgotten feature of Kevin Nash's WCW World Championship win over the undefeated Goldberg at Starrcade 1998 - thanks to Scott Hall's taser, of course - is that when the referee counted 'three,' the fans went wild.

Of course, what transpired eight days later at the Georgia Dome on Monday Nitro when Hulk Hogan challenged Nash to defend his title is one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history. The 'Fingerpoke of Doom,' as it came to be known, is often cited as either the moment that killed the company or at least a sign that it was going downhill fast. However, the nWo reunion and subsequent angle versus Goldberg was a storyline that, had it been told right and Goldberg won in the end, didn't have to be remembered as such a flop.

5 'Diamond' Dallas Page - 1999

'Diamond' Dallas Page was one of the world's most popular wrestlers in 1997 and 1998, rising to superstardom in his feuds with Randy Savage and the nWo. DDP took an unconventional path to the main event and his natural likeability helped make him the company's true 'People's Champion' as he rose up the card.

Despite his newfound top-tier status, breaking the World Championship glass ceiling was a difficult task, though. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Goldberg had a stranglehold on the title, and it wouldn't be until April 1999 that Page would finally win his first world title in a four-way match with Hogan, Sting and Ric Flair on an episode of Monday Nitro. DDP's character had gotten a bit stale in months prior, and he began hearing a smattering of boos, so booking decided to turn him heel the following week despite fans wildly cheering his win. The turn killed Page's momentum, and he'd never again hear the reactions he did only one year prior.

4 Scott Hall - 1998

When the nWo began to splinter in early 1998, the battle lines between what would become the nWo Wolfpac and nWo Hollywood were drawn as would be expected.

Scott Hall returned from a two-month rehab stint to join Nash to defend their Tag Team Championships against Sting and the Giant at Slamboree, but the 'Bad Guy' turned on his partner to side with the Giant (who'd already turned on the 'Stinger'). Despite not making sense, this all could've led to a hot feud with Hall playing his best smarmy heel. Instead, his 'demons' were still with him, and the feud's stop-start nature, combined with creative's insistence on using his alcoholism in an angle, ruined the story before it had a chance to get going.

3 Road Warriors - 1988

Dusty Rhodes getting spiked at Starrcade 88

The Road Warriors - Hawk and Animal - were an early example of a heel team so cool that no matter what horrible deeds they did, fans couldn't get enough. The NWA Tag Team Champions turned on former partner Dusty Rhodes in one of the era's most violent, bloody attacks - taking a spike to the 'American Dream's eyeball. The assault broke TBS's rule about blading and ultimately cost Rhodes his job as head booker.

Despite the vicious thrashing, fans continued to cheer Hawk and Animal. Their heel turn only lasted about six months before the new booking regime (now led by Ric Flair) decided to turn them back babyface in a tag title loss to the Varsity Club of 'Captain' Mike Rotunda and 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams. The 'L.O.D.' would essentially remain babyfaces for the remainder of their careers, through multiple runs in WWE before Hawk's passing in 2003.

2 Curt Hennig - 1997

Curt Hennig should have genuinely joined the Four Horsemen in 1997 when Arn Anderson offered Hennig his spot in the legendary group. However, if he was going to turn heel on longtime friend Ric Flair and company, he could have done worse than to do so in a memorable angle at Fall Brawl, slamming a steel cage door on Flair's head and abandoning his teammates in a War Games match to join the nWo.

This should have led to a hot run with the 'Nature Boy' through the Fall, but the matches between the two were underwhelming and booked to be a level below Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper. Unfortunately for Hennig, a combination of lingering back issues and Father Time caused his in-ring ability to regress from 'perfection,' and despite winning the United States Championship from Horseman Steve McMichael shortly after the turn, he'd generally stay in the mid-card for the remainder of his career.

1 Lex Luger - 1991

When WCW World Champion Ric Flair - upset with Jim Herd's horrendous booking - left the company in Summer 1991, it threw the main event scene into disarray. With Flair in possession of the physical title belt, babyface Lex Luger - who was initially supposed to challenge the 'Nature Boy' - and sudden number two contender Barry Windham faced off in a last-minute change to a steel cage match at the Great American Bash.

Flair would walk away from the match with the temporary World Title, but only after help from manager Harley Race and Mr. Hughes in a shocking turn of events. It made sense that Luger, who until that point had always come up short in matches against Flair for the title, would resort to any means necessary to win the title. Unfortunately, by the time he was to pass it to Sting at SuperBrawl 2 the following February, he was embroiled in a contract dispute of his own and had barely defended the title since his big win. After laying down for his best friend, Luger immediately left WCW for the WBF.