The biggest sudden character changes in history.

[Crayo]

I was thinking about Big Show's consistent sudden character changes, and how he's constantly alternating between heel and face. The most recent example is Big Show being this remorseless monster with an iron clad contract complaining about how he had to pretend to be nice to keep his job and make money, but he's now done with that, so he goes and takes out nearly everyone. Then literally a week after his turn he's crying in the ring humiliated by the corporate stable because he has to knock some other face out.

What are other examples of these sudden turns which result in drastic character changes so quickly?

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Big Show and Kane are both the same when it comes to this. Kane goes from evil asshole with the WHC to good guy buddy tag team with Big Show to evil monster feuding with Cena to comedy tag teamer back to 'omg I'm so evil don't mess with me Wyatt fam'

Those two are head and shoulders the most guilty when it comes to this.

 

[Lockard 23]

Steve Austin being cowardly and insecure and having regular nervous breakdowns as a heel in the Alliance, and then the next night after Survivor Series 2001, he immediately goes back to being his old baby face self without any rhyme or reason. I guess you could say that him turning heel in the first place was a bit of a sudden and drastic change in character but it wasn't, really. At least not aligning himself with Vince, there was some form of logic to it. But him hugging Vince around June '01 and then crying when Kurt Angle kidnapped him and threatened to push him into the river was. To go from the bad ass Stone Cold who was the kind of guy who wouldn't beg for his life even if you pointed a gun to his head to being THAT was a pretty big character change, as was him turning right back to his old self just one night after SS 2001.

Kane definitely changed over the years from what he was previously. He came in as a seemingly indestructible silent monster who had to take three tombstone piledrivers just before he could be pinned for the first time (and even then, got a shoulder up only half a second too late), and yet he transformed into being the talkative jobber we would see years later.

 

[Wacokid27]

The first change that came to mind when I read the OP was Stone Cold's Wrestlemania X-7 heel turn, which, while they had laid some groundwork for it and it did make some logical sense, still lead to a huge change in his character. I agree with Lockard that it was disquieting to see the way his character completely transformed from bad-ass Stone Cold to "whiny, little crybaby" Stone Cold (not that I would ever call him that to his face.

The one guy I think y'all are neglecting to mention here, though, is the king of the sudden turn Vincent K. McMahon. He changes alignment more often than some people change underwear. And the audience always goes along with it. I guess that's why his turns are never really shocking, because he's turned heel/face/tweener so many times at a moment's notice that we're used to it and he's such a fixture that we know he really loves the business and the company and we're never going to really hate him for it, no matter what his character says. I see HHH doing the same thing going forward. Even in his current "good for business" heel character, he still throws Curtis Axel the curve ball of having to defend his title at the drop of a hat at NoC and sends out Kofi Kingston to challenge him for it, despite the fact that a couple of weeks before, Kofi was one of the guys that HHH was punishing for disagreeing with a "business decision".

wk

 

[Dat Kid1]

Eddie Guerrero switched sides more than a few times & lets not forget ADR's two second face run

 

[JC4Life37]

The Austin, Kane and Big Show mentions were spot on

I'll throw the Bradshaw to JBL transition as drastic even though he'd cut his hair shortly before the turn... going from wasted, worthless everyman drunk with a black best friend to a Wallsreet tycoon who thouoght he was above everybody

I'll toss Jericho's 2008 turn....BUT...it was very well executed with backstory to back it. It doesn't truly count as drastic per se, but going from wannabe rock star to suit and tie straght man was fantastically orchestrated by Jericho himself

With Jericho I'm pulling straws, but ...at the time... JBL showing up the way he did shocked everyone (even though in hindsight, he'd been analyzing stock market trends in his spare time)

 

[Farooq]

I came into the thread ready to throw in JBL too :downer:

HBK switched sides quite a few times as well if memory serves right. CM Punk too, especially in ECW with the one episode turn to the New Breed then the originals, it was pretty odd. Then the change from face to heel throughout his career has been quite a lot.

 

[deathclaw4721]

This is actually an interesting thread.

 

[Rysenberg]

Apologies for going on a tangent here, but I feel this thread highlights just how outdated face and heel turns really are. I'm against cookie cutter face and heel characters completely, but I can accept that they've worked consistently for years and there's no reason WWE should change that - the turns, however, are a completely different matter. They completely eliminate all character progression, and IMO they're one of the reasons (granted, there are many), that wrestling is looked down upon by the majority of people over 12 years old. They don't NEED to exist. It's as simple as that. Characters can do shocking things without suddenly turning good or bad, suddenly changing their entire personality and the way they wrestle. I appreciate that in a world that absolutely needs you to suspend disbelief this is a very minor thing to pick out, it just really irritates me.

Anyway, Alex Riley. I remember last year there was a stage where he'd randomly appear in backstage segments changing face/heel orientation every week 1:

 

[Messiah1]

I would have to say Husky Harris to Bray Wyatt, it happened in FCW, within a few weeks he changed from Husky Harris to Bray Wyatt, he barely took any time off FCW TV to get repackaged.