WWE Ranks 30 Most Villainous Turns Of All Time
A WWE video has ranked John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber ahead of Hulk Hogan starting the NWO as the most villainous turn ever.
For many years, the WWE YouTube channel has posted many “Top 10” videos counting down various topics in WWE and pro wrestling history. There are also times when they choose to rank more than 10 things.
Following what happened at WWE Elimination Chamber when John Cena turned on Cody Rhodes to join “The Final Boss” aka The Rock, the company released a video ranking the “30 Most Villainous Turns Of All Time.”
In many cases, the list is full of babyfaces becoming heels, but sometimes there are other circumstances involved.
The list below is from WWE and it includes only moments from that company as well as WCW. They don’t include ECW or other promotions. The NXT brand is included with a few choices as well.
As you can see below, Cena’s heel turn on Rhodes has topped the list ahead of Hulk Hogan going heel in WCW and Seth Rollins betraying his friends in The Shield.
#1. John Cena turns on Cody Rhodes at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 by aligning with The Rock
#2. Hulk Hogan forms the New World Order at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 by hitting a leg drop on Randy Savage
#3. Seth Rollins turns on The Shield with a steel chair attack in June 2014
#4. Shawn Michaels turns on Marty Jannetty by throwing him through the barber shop window
#5. Dominik Mysterio turns on his father Rey Mysterio at Clash at the Castle 2022
#6. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston turn on Big E during The New Day’s 10-year anniversary on Raw in December 2024
#7. Becky Lynch turns on Charlotte Flair after losing at SummerSlam 2018
#8. Jimmy Uso turns on Jey Uso at SummerSlam 2023
#9. Nikki Bella turns on Brie Bella to help Stephanie McMahon
#10. Triple H attacks Daniel Bryan leading to Randy Orton cashing in MITB at SummerSlam 2013
#11. Batista turns on Rey Mysterio at WWE Bragging Rights: “You’re supposed to be my friend”
#12. Paul Bearer turns on The Undertaker by helping Mankind at SummerSlam 1996
#13. Shane McMahon turns on The Miz at WWE Fastlane in front of Miz’s father
#14. Bob Backlund snaps on Bret Hart after losing a match
#15. The Mega Powers explode as Randy Savage attacks Hulk Hogan
#16. Eddie Guerrero turns on Rey Mysterio
#17. Trish Stratus slaps Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 20 and kisses Christian
#18. Scott Steiner turns on brother Rick Steiner and joins the NWO
#19. CM Punk attacks The Rock on RAW 1000
#20. Matt Hardy costs Jeff Hardy the WWE Title at Royal Rumble 2009
#21. Tommaso Ciampa turns on Johnny Gargano in NXT
#22. Ric Flair turns on Sting in WCW
#23. Sami Zayn saves Kevin Owens during Hell in a Cell match
#24. Lita betrays her “husband” Kane to join Edge
#25. Mark Henry fake retires to turn on John Cena
#26. Bayley attacks Becky Lynch to help Sasha Banks
#27. Finn Balor attacks Johnny Gargano in NXT
#28. Tatanka sells out to the Million Dollar Man
#29. Shinsuke Nakamura turns on AJ Styles at WM34
#30. Kevin Owens betrays Sami Zayn in NXT
There are many notable omissions, some of which involve Vince McMahon. Some of those omissions include The Rock aligning with Vince & Shane McMahon at Survivor Series 1998 and Steve Austin using Vince McMahon’s help to win the WWE Title at WrestleMania 17.
It is likely a case of WWE choosing to omit Vince McMahon from being featured on the list due to not being involved with the company due to his many transgressions including a damning sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed against McMahon, which eventually led to WWE owners TKO Group removing McMahon from the company that he built.
The #7 moment with Becky Lynch turning heel on Charlotte Flair was supposed to see Lynch become a heel, but the fans rejected that and as the rivalry continued, Lynch was the babyface while Flair was the heel.
Triple H Felt John Cena’s Heel Turn Was A Powerful WWE Moment
As a WWE Hall of Fame performer and the current Chief Content Officer, Paul “Triple H” Levesque has been one of the best heels in pro wrestling who has been involved in some of the biggest turns in the history of the business.
In his current role, he is a creative mind who got to oversee the Cena heel turn on Rhodes along with The Rock and only a select few people in the company. After Elimination Chamber, Triple H tried to put Cena’s heel turn in perspective while also praising it as a huge moment.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of the biggest things in this business in the last, say, 30 years, but I’m not sure I’ve ever felt a more powerful moment. The entirety of John Cena’s career, being the one guy you never really saw — in the beginning of his career or whatever — but as you move forward from that, when he really became John Cena, and the champion, you just didn’t see this moment coming.
When you get to a place in your career when you know undoubtedly, you have months left on your career and your dream and the thing that launched you to the rest of the world, to movie stardom, to everything else that he has in his life, it puts you in a different perspective and it puts you in a place that it’s now or never.
You can ride that out, and you can rest on the things that you have done, and you couldn’t really blame John for doing that.
Somebody like him can double down and say ‘Screw it, I want to be challenged right to the last moment. I want to go out on my shield. I want to give this everything I have. I want to challenge myself. I want to do something different. I want to be afraid of it, and I want to go out there and do it all,’ and that’s the beauty of John Cena.”
Check out WWE’s Top 30 most villainous turns of all time on YouTube now.