This list keeps track of the babyface turns and heel turns that happened in WWE throughout 2018.
KEEP IN MIND: When a babyface attacks another babyface, that is usually a heel turn. When a heel attacks another heel, it does not automatically make the victim a babyface. Follow-up booking determines whether an actual turn happened.
Also, sometimes, I update the heel and face index, but not as often as the updates you see below.
WWE HEEL AND FACE TURNS IN 2018:
- January 1 - Goldust solidified his babyface turn on Monday Night Raw by showing mentorship to Cedric Alexander during a tag team match.
- January 1 - The Good Brothers turned babyface on Monday Night Raw by teaming with Finn Balor against Elias and The Miztourage. This applies to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
- January 17 - Lacey Evans turned heel on NXT by shifting into her more arrogant, condescending presentation.
- February 26 - Mickie James solidified her quiet heel turn on Monday Night Raw by realigning with Alexa Bliss.
- March 5 - Goldust shifted back toward a heel role on Monday Night Raw.
- March 13 - Nia Jax slowly turned babyface over the course of the build to WrestleMania 34 after Alexa Bliss insulted and betrayed her.
- March 19 - Dana Brooke temporarily played heel to Ronda Rousey after Raw. This never really became a sustained turn, but it was part of her usual flip-flop status.
- April 7 - Roderick Strong turned heel at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans by betraying Pete Dunne during the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic finals and joining The Undisputed ERA.
- April 8 - Bray Wyatt turned babyface at WrestleMania 34 by helping Matt Hardy win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
- April 8 - Shinsuke Nakamura turned heel at WrestleMania 34 by giving AJ Styles a low blow after their WWE Championship match.
- April 9 - Bobby Lashley returned to WWE as a babyface on Monday Night Raw by confronting and attacking Elias.
- April 9 / April 10 - Paige retired from in-ring competition on Raw and transitioned into a babyface authority role as SmackDown general manager the next night, disbanding Absolution.
- April 10 - Tony Nese turned babyface on 205 Live, but pretty quickly turned back heel several weeks later.
- April 10 - Buddy Murphy turned heel on 205 Live.
- April 16 - Drew McIntyre turned heel on Monday Night Raw by attacking Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil and aligning with Dolph Ziggler.
- April 16 - Natalya seemingly turned babyface on Monday Night Raw after moving to Raw and being positioned opposite heel opponents.
- April 16 - The B-Team turned babyface on Raw by turning on The Miz after he was drafted to SmackDown. This applies to Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel.
- April 23 - The Ascension may have transitioned to heels or at least tweeners on Monday Night Raw.
- April 23 - Chad Gable turned babyface on Monday Night Raw by defending Kurt Angle from Jinder Mahal.
- May 2 - TM61 likely started a heel turn on NXT. This applies to Nick Miller and Shane Thorne.
- May 8 - Hideo Itami solidified his heel turn with a promo on 205 Live.
- May / June - Nia Jax possibly started working as a heel for her feud against Ronda Rousey. WWE was ambiguous about whether this was meant to be a true turn, and she later reverted back to a babyface after dropping the Raw Women's Championship 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.
- June 20 - SAnitY officially returned to being heels according to their debut on SmackDown by attacking The Usos. This applies to Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain.
- June 26 - Kane turned babyface on SmackDown by returning to aid Daniel Bryan against The Bludgeon Brothers, reuniting Team Hell No.
- June 26 - Lio Rush transitioned to a heel role for his 205 Live debut.
- July 3 - Noam Dar possibly turned babyface on 205 Live by returning in that role.
- July 15 - Randy Orton turned heel at Extreme Rules by returning and attacking Jeff Hardy.
- July 18 - EC3 was definitely feeling like more of a babyface on NXT.
- July 23 - The B-Team were babyfaces by roughly this point on Raw, especially during their Raw Tag Team Championship run. This applies to Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel.
- Summer 2018 - Somewhere along the line, Rusev and Lana pretty much officially turned babyface, even though WWE was very uneasy on the Aiden English situation. Update: he's a babyface, too.
- August 15 - Aliyah turned heel on NXT by aligning more directly with Lacey Evans.
- August 19 - Becky Lynch turned heel at SummerSlam by attacking Charlotte Flair after their SmackDown Women's Championship match, despite the fans cheering for her.
- August 27 - Braun Strowman turned heel on Raw by joining Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre against The Shield.
- September 3 - Drake Maverick seemingly turned 50% heel on Raw by managing AOP, but he was still a babyface on 205 Live.
- September 4 - Carmella turned babyface on SmackDown by starting her friendship with R-Truth.
- September 2018 - Lio Rush was a babyface on Raw, but a heel on 205 Live, because that makes sense, right?
- September 18 - Aiden English turned heel on SmackDown by turning against Rusev and Lana.
- October 3 - The Brian Kendrick turned babyface on 205 Live.
- October 8 - Bobby Lashley turned heel on Raw by viciously attacking Kevin Owens after their match.
- October 8 - The Bella Twins turned heel on Raw by attacking Ronda Rousey after teaming with her. This applies to Brie Bella and Nikki Bella.
- October 16 - Big Show turned heel on SmackDown by helping The Bar defeat The New Day, unless he wasn't a heel before, but it's Big Show, so it's impossible to keep track of his turns.
- October 17 - Johnny Gargano turned heel or at least tweener on the October 17 NXT tapings when the Aleister Black attack mystery pointed toward him.
- October 2018 - Velveteen Dream is a babyface...right?
- October 22 - Braun Strowman moved back to being a babyface, first at a live event and then officially on Raw when Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler turned on him.
- October 22 - Elias seemingly turned babyface on Raw by hitting Baron Corbin with a guitar.
- October 22 - Dean Ambrose turned heel on Raw by dropping Seth Rollins with Dirty Deeds immediately after they won the Raw Tag Team Championship.
- November 5 - Nia Jax turned heel on Raw by joining Tamina Snuka in a post-match beating of Ember Moon.
- November 6 - Nikki Cross may have been a heel at this point, but that was not set in stone, as her main roster debut match was against heel Becky Lynch.
- November 6 - Sonya Deville may have been heading toward a babyface turn. On second thought, nope.
- November 13 - Becky Lynch may have officially become a babyface again on SmackDown after her anti-Ronda Rousey momentum made it impossible to keep treating her like a heel.
- November 13 - Daniel Bryan turned heel on SmackDown by low-blowing AJ Styles to win the WWE Championship and attacking him after the match.
- Late 2018 - Kassius Ohno was definitely a heel, but I don't remember when that started.
- November 18 - 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.
- November 25 / November 26 - Dana Brooke was a babyface on Sunday and a heel on Monday, further proving her flip-flop status.
- December 3 - Dolph Ziggler turned tweener on Raw.
- December 25 - The Miz possibly turned babyface on SmackDown by accepting Shane McMahon's offer to be his tag team partner.
Before 2018 got rolling, I put together several predictions for which WWE Superstars seemed likely to switch sides during the year. Those guesses are kept below as part of the original archive, with the correct calls struck out and the later update rounds preserved.
PREDICTIONS FOR HEEL AND FACE TURNS IN 2018:
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
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