List of WWE Heel and Face Turns for 2018 | Smark Out Moment

List of WWE Heel and Face Turns for 2018

Posted by Anthony Mango Monday, January 1, 2018
This list will keep track of all the official babyface turns and heel turns that happen in WWE for the year 2018.

At the beginning of this year, I've made some predictions for who I think will end up turning face or heel at some point. I won't be altering these predictions at all throughout the entire year, but I will be adding some revised guesses after the big events, so it'll be interesting to see who I'm right and wrong about. Anybody who I'm right about, I'll strike out.

KEEP IN MIND: When a babyface attacks another babyface, this is almost always a heel turn. When a heel attacks another heel, it doesn't hold the same meaning. Villains turning on villains does not make the beaten down person suddenly a hero, but the actions that come out of that dictate whether a turn happens or not.

  • Goldust solidified his face turn on Monday Night Raw (1/1)
  • The Good Brothers turned face on Monday Night Raw (1/1)
  • Lacey Evans turned heel on NXT (1/17)
  • Mickie James solidified her quiet heel turn on Monday Night Raw (2/26)
  • Goldust shifted back towards a heel on Monday Night Raw (3/5)
  • Nia Jax slowly turned babyface over the course of the March to WrestleMania
  • Dana Brooke temporarily played heel to Ronda Rousey after Raw (3/19)
  • Roderick Strong turned heel at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans (4/7) 
  • Bray Wyatt turned face at WrestleMania 34 (4/8)
  • Shinsuke Nakamura turned heel at WrestleMania 34 (4/8)
  • Paige retired from in-ring competition on 4/9 and transitioned to a babyface role as SmackDown general manager on 4/10
  • Tony Nese turned face on 205 Live (4/10) and pretty quickly turned back to a heel several weeks later.
  • Buddy Murphy turned heel on 205 Live (4/10)
  • Drew McIntyre turned heel on Monday Night Raw (4/16)
  • Natalya seemingly turned face on Monday Night Raw (4/16)
  • The Ascension may have transitioned to heels or at least tweeners on Monday Night Raw (4/23)
  • Chad Gable is now a babyface as of Monday Night Raw (4/23)
  • TM61 likely started a heel turn on NXT (5/2)
  • Hideo Itami solidified his heel turn with a promo on 205 Live (5/8)
  • Nia Jax possibly started working as a heel for her feud against Ronda Rousey. WWE is being ambiguous about this as a true turn or not. She later reverted back to a babyface after dropping the title to Alexa Bliss at Money in the Bank.
  • NOTICE: As of June 18, I'm sick and fucking tired of WWE doing this back and forth with Sasha Banks and Bayley. I will not be entertaining any heel turns between the two of them until it is 100% officially set in stone. They've been playing around with this stupidly for MONTHS. I'm done with it.
  • SAnitY are officially heels again according to their debut on SmackDown (6/20)
  • Kane turned babyface to aid Daniel Bryan on SmackDown (6/26)
  • Lio Rush transitioned to a heel for his 205 Live debut (6/26)
  • Noam Dar possibly turned babyface on 205 Live (7/3) 
  • Randy Orton turned heel at Extreme Rules (7/15)
  • EC3 is definitely feeling like more of a babyface (7/18)
  • The B-Team are babyfaces roughly around Raw on 7/23
  • Somewhere along the line, Rusev and Lana pretty much officially turned babyface, even though WWE has been very uneasy on the Aiden English situation (update: he's a babyface, too)
  • Aliyah is now a heel according to NXT (8/15)
  • Becky Lynch turned heel at SummerSlam by attacking Charlotte Flair, despite the fans cheering for her (8/19)
  • Braun Strowman turned heel on Raw (8/27)
  • Drake Maverick seemingly turned 50% heel on Raw (9/3) but is still a babyface on 205 Live
  • Carmella turned babyface on SmackDown (9/4)
  • Lio Rush is a babyface on Raw, but a heel on 205 Live, because that makes sense, right?
  • Aiden English turned heel on SmackDown (9/18) 
  • The Brian Kendrick is now a babyface after 205 Live (10/3)
  • Bobby Lashley turned heel on Raw (10/8) 
  • The Bella Twins turned heel on Raw (10/8) 
  • Big Show turned heel on SmackDown (10/16) unless he wasn't a heel before, but it's Big Show, so it's impossible to keep track of his turns
  • Johnny Gargano turned heel or at least tweener on the October 17th NXT tapings
  • Velveteen Dream is a babyface...right?
  • Braun Strowman is back to being a babyface as of a live event, but it was made official on Raw (10/22)
  • Elias seemingly turned babyface on Raw (10/22) by hitting Baron Corbin with a guitar
  • Dean Ambrose turned heel on Raw (10/22) by dropping Seth Rollins with a Dirty Deeds right after winning the Raw Tag Team Championship
  • Nia Jax turned heel on Raw (11/5) by joining Tamina Snuka in a post-match beating of Ember Moon
  • Nikki Cross may now be a heel, but that's not set in stone, as her debut was against a heel Becky Lynch (11/6)
  • Sonya Deville may be heading toward a face turn (11/6) - on second thought, nope
  • Becky Lynch may have officially become a babyface again on SmackDown (11/13)
  • Daniel Bryan turned heel on SmackDown (11/13)
  • Kassius Ohno is definitely a heel, but I don't remember when that started
  • So...is Charlotte Flair supposed to be a heel now after Survivor Series? The crowd sure as hell disagrees. Looks like we have another Becky Lynch situation going on.
  • Dana Brooke was a babyface on Sunday 11/25 and a heel on Monday 11/26, further proving her flip-flop status.
  • Dolph Ziggler turned tweener on Raw (12/3)
  • The Miz possibly turned face on SmackDown (12/25)

PREDICTIONS FOR FUTURE HEEL/FACE TURNS:

** ORIGINAL PREDICTIONS FROM JANUARY 1ST **

WILL TURN HEEL: Akira Tozawa, Aliyah, Asuka, Bobby Roode, Dean Ambrose, Drew McIntyre, Hideo Itami, Jason Jordan, Kassius Ohno, Nikki Cross, Randy Orton, Sasha Banks, Tye Dillinger

WILL TURN BABYFACE: Aiden English, Big Cass, Cesaro, Chad Gable, Drew Gulak, Karl Anderson, Lana, Luke Gallows, Natalya, Nia Jax, Rusev, Sami Zayn, TJP

WILL BOUNCE AROUND BACK AND FORTH: Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, Goldust

** UPDATED PREDICTIONS AFTER WRESTLEMANIA **

WILL TURN HEEL: Asuka, Bobby Roode, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Jason Jordan, Kassius Ohno, Nikki Cross, Pete Dunne, Randy Orton

WILL TURN BABYFACE: Aiden English, Big Cass, Cesaro, Chad Gable, Lana, Natalya, Rusev, Sami Zayn + at least one of the members of The Riott Squad

WILL BOUNCE AROUND BACK AND FORTH: Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, Goldust

** UPDATED PREDICTIONS AFTER SUMMERSLAM **

WILL TURN HEEL: Aiden English, Asuka, Bobby Roode, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Kassius Ohno, Nikki Cross, Pete Dunne

WILL TURN BABYFACE: Cesaro, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, The Revival

** UPDATED PREDICTIONS AFTER SURVIVOR SERIES **

WILL TURN HEEL: Asuka, Bray Wyatt, Pete Dunne, Zack Ryder (unless Curt Hawkins turns babyface)

WILL TURN BABYFACE: Curt Hawkins (unless Zack Ryder turns heel), Dolph Ziggler

list of babyface turns and heel turns in WWE in 2018
AUTHOR OF THIS POST: ANTHONY MANGO

The founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, podcast host, and more for Smark Out Moment and all branches under A Mango Tree including Fanboys Anonymous. Tony Mango is not just a pundit/analyst, but also a creative director/consultant, media manager and more. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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