10 Biggest Heel Turns In WWE SummerSlam History

If there’s one sure-fire way to spice up a big wrestling card, then it’s to book a major face or heel turn to happen on it. In terms of face turns, SummerSlam has very few. As for trips to the dark side though, don’t worry - there’s plenty of those to go around.

Check out the 10 biggest heel turns in WWE SummerSlam history below!

10. Ronda Rousey - SummerSlam 2022

SummerSlam 2022 will go down in history as the first major WWE event following the extremely brief “retirement” of Vince McMahon, with Triple H stepping in as WWE Chief Content Officer following his father-in-law’s demise.

Paul Levesque wasted no time in putting his stamp on WWE programming as Damage Control formed following the opening contest that SummerSlam, with Becky Lynch turning babyface in the process. Logan Paul, meanwhile, had his first-ever singles match and Brock Lesnar performed a bit of amateur ring maintenance with a tractor in his main event Last Man Standing Match against Roman Reigns.

SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan also defended her title against the woman she’d taken it from - Ronda Rousey and the finish to this bout was controversial to say the least.

The referee counted Rousey’s shoulders being pinned to the mat, but missed that her opponent was tapping out to her armbar. Ronda was annoyed and she handled her disappointment by beating up everyone in sight.

The former MMA fighter fully turned heel by not just attacking the champion, but also the referee who’d made the wrong call. This breakdown set Rousey down the dark path she would stay on for the rest of the year, regaining the SmackDown Women’s Title from Morgan at Extreme Rules.

9. Tatanka - SummerSlam 1994

If you ever need a lesson in how unfair life is, just remember that the 1994 edition of SummerSlam was main evented by The Undertaker fighting a fake version of himself instead of the stellar cage match between Bret and Owen Hart.

Another prominent battle that night pitted former pals Lex Luger and Tatanka against each other. Tatanka was convinced that Luger had joined up with Ted DiBiase and his sinister Million Dollar Corporation, despite the Total Package claiming otherwise.

The two men settled things in the ring and the Native American star defeated his nemesis with a roll-up. However, things didn’t end there. After the bell had rung, Tatanka launched a vicious assault on his opponent, ending with him locking in the Million Dollar Dream.

So it was he who was the sellout all along!

Tatanka joined up with the Corporation and stayed with the group until his departure from WWE in 1996.

Fun fact - this means that there was a brief period of time where Tatanka and Steve Austin were in the same stable.

8. Nikki Bella - SummerSlam 2014

At SummerSlam 2014, Stephanie McMahon had her first WWE match in 11 years, with the exception of her Mud Pool clash against Vickie Guerrero, of course.

The Billion Dollar Princess was facing Brie Bella, who was standing up for her husband Daniel Bryan. McMahon and her Authority faction had made D-Bry’s life a living hell, to the point where his good lady wife could stand no more.

Brie looked like she had her opponent bang to rights, especially when her sister Nikki jumped up on the apron to apparently block the boss’ daughter from escaping. Then, the twin on the outside the ring attacked the one inside the ring, allowing Steph to steal a victory.

Nikki’s heel turn was justified by all the horrible things that the Authority had done to her as punishment for her sister’s insubordination. It was well-plotted and genuinely shocking.

The rest of the feud isn’t remembered fondly, however, and has come to be remembered as the “I wish you’d died in the womb” programme. Brie, despite all of the abuse at the hands of her sister, then inexplicably joined up with her at Survivor Series 2014 without any explanation to help Nikki win the Divas Title.

7. Mark Henry - SummerSlam 1999

If you had to choose between your best friend in the entire world and eating junk food, then what would you pick? McDonald’s wins it every time.

Mark Henry made a similar choice at SummerSlam 1999, when he betrayed his best bud D’Lo Brown during his title match with Jeff Jarrett.

D’Lo, who was both the Intercontinental and European Champion at the time, had been trying to get Henry into shape by prescribing a better diet and more exercise. A nice thing to do, right? Well, not according to The World’s Strongest Man.

Sexual Chocolate ran down during the match and looked as if he was going to strike Double J with his own guitar. Instead, he clobbered D’Lo, allowing Jarrett to make the cover and win both belts.

Henry and Brown’s friendship had been shown as rock-solid up to this point, so this was actually pretty stunning.

As a thank you, Jarrett handed Henry the European Championship but his reign didn’t last long, with Mark dropping the belt back to D’Lo a month later.

6. Jon Stewart - SummerSlam 2015

If you want to sit there and say that this doesn’t count as a big heel turn, then just remember that this man’s interference was vital to the finish of a WWE and United States Championship match at the second biggest pay-per-view of the year.

Comedian and broadcaster Jon Stewart had been getting involved with WWE Champion Seth Rollins in the lead-up to SummerSlam 2015. The two had butted heads a number of times and, when it was announced that Stewart would be hosting the event, everyone knew that something was coming.

Just not this.

When the referee went down during Rollins’ double title match with John Cena, the Daily Show star got into the ring with a steel chair. To everyone’s horror, he hit Cena with it, allowing Rollins to score a huge win.

Stewart later clarified that he did this to stop Big Match John from tying Ric Flair’s world championship record, as he was such a big fan of the Nature Boy. This excuse convinced absolutely nobody and Cena quickly laid the host out with an AA.

5. Becky Lynch - SummerSlam 2021

The SmackDown Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam 2021 had a very strange build.

First of all, it was set to be champion Bianca Belair defending the gold against Sasha Banks in a rematch of their classic WrestleMania 37 main event. Then, on the show itself, it was announced that The Boss couldn’t compete and that Belair would instead be facing Carmella.

Then, just when that match was due to kick off, Becky Lynch’s music hit! The Irishwoman made her first WWE appearance since going on maternity leave over a year ago and she was then given the match against Belair!

The madness didn’t stop there, though. The bell rang, Lynch shook Belair’s hand, and then smashed her in the face. One Manhandle Slam later, and Becky was the new champ.

Lynch’s return and immediate heel turn was divisive amongst fans, who were very much ready to cheer the returning star as a face. It worked out okay in the end, though, as Lynch went on a good little run before dropping the Raw Women’s Championship to Belair at Mania 38.

4. Becky Lynch - SummerSlam 2018

As it turns out, Big Time Becks loves turning heel at SummerSlam! Although this one did not go the way WWE expected it to.

Lynch, who had gained a reputation by this point as the “forgotten” Horsewoman, earned herself a SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Carmella at SummerSlam 2018. Then, in came Charlotte Flair, who also got into the match and took the spotlight away from the Lass Kicker.

When Flair won the match and the title, Lynch snapped and viciously attacked The Queen. Instead of the arena filling with boos, though, the fans in attendance loudly cheered Lynch as she pummelled her former best friend.

Fans were just as sick of Charlotte swanning in and winning things as Becky was and her assault on the new champion was met with nothing but praise.

The company wanted Lynch to turn into a villain following this moment, but her sympathetic plight - combined with her radical shift in attitude - transformed her into one of the most beloved characters on the roster.

3. Paul Bearer - SummerSlam 1996

SummerSlam has played host to many first-time match types over the years.

In 2000, it gave us the first official TLC match, the Lion’s Den was introduced in 1998, and who could forget 2004’s Diva Dodgeball?

At SummerSlam 1996, another new stipulation made its dark and dingy debut. The Boiler Room Brawl was the speciality match of Mankind, as that’s where he supposedly lived, and he challenged the Undertaker in this very unique battle.

The objective of the match was to be the first to get to the ring and retrieve Taker’s urn, which was being guarded by Paul Bearer. The Deadman looked to have done this, when old Percy Pringle showed his true colours.

Bearer clobbered his long-time client over the head with the urn, handing victory to Mankind and separating from The Phenom for the first time in almost six years.

Not only was this a major surprise, but it also added a much-needed wrinkle to Taker’s character.

Don’t worry Bearer fans, because the pale-faced man would be reunited with his zombie charge two years later. They would work together on and off until Taker buried him in cement in 2004.

2. Triple H - SummerSlam 2013

After years of steadily building fan support through his comedic timing, likability, and flawless in-ring ability, Daniel Bryan finally won the WWE Championship by beating John Cena in the main event of SummerSlam 2013.

All was well in Bryan-land… for about five minutes.

Mr. Money in the Bank, Randy Orton strode down to ringside to challenge the newly-crowned champ. Bryan was ready for the Viper, but he was unprepared for another snake standing next to him in the ring.

Triple H, who had been the special guest referee for the title bout, delivered a swift Pedigree to Bryan as the crowd lost their minds. He then counted the pinfall for Orton, ending Bryan’s reign before it had even truly begun.

The Game hadn’t been a heel since 2006 and this turn was the beginning of one of the longest-running villainous groups in modern WWE history. With Orton as their new champion, Hunter and Steph formed The Authority - a faction that would dominate WWE for the better part of the next three years.

Daniel Bryan, of course, would eventually win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30 and one CM Punk exit several months later.

1. Roman Reigns - SummerSlam 2020

After years of fans begging for it to happen, WWE finally did it and turned Roman Reigns heel.

The tagline for SummerSlam 2020 was “You’ll never see it coming”. Little did we know how true that statement would be. After the main event match between Braun Strowman and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns made his first appearance since the pandemic began. But this wasn’t the smiling, virtuous Roman fans were used to.

This was a violent Roman, a brutal Roman, a p*ssed-off Roman. This was the Tribal Chief.

Reigns had finally ditched the bland good guy persona that had made him one of the most controversial figures in all of wrestling and had traded it in for a meaner look. This was his first appearance as a heel since the days of The Shield, and fans were pumped.

Everything that came after this - the formation of The Bloodline, the feud with Sami Zayn, the mammoth Universal Championship reign - it can all be traced back to the closing angle of SummerSlam 2020.

Acknowledge that.