Line #39 PlayingAgainstType/ProfessionalWrestling


1	* In contrast to being typecast as a heel in Japan after getting heat from the wrong people, [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Kana]] aka. Asuka spent much of her time in America was spent working as a face. NXT merged the two when she debuted as Asuka - who was a WildCard. She eventually turned heel properly on NXT, but reverted to her previous WildCard role as of her main roster debut.
2	* One of the main criticisms as Wrestling/TheAuthority storyline was Wrestling/TripleH's depiction across brand lines. On Raw and Smackdown, Hunter's the CorruptCorporateExecutive that many have believed him to be behind the scenes. In NXT however, he's the BenevolentBoss and AFatherToHisMen and Women who's pet project beloved to the point of fans begging for Vince's retirement for HHH to take over the company.
3	** When Survivor Series 2019 added NXT to its Brand Warfare tradition, Hunter merged the two as the commander of the NXT army vs Raw and Smackdown.
4	* Wrestling/AJLee was almost always a PluckyGirl face on the indies, due to her small stature. However she made a FaceHeelTurn in FCW to hold both titles and, while she was called up to WWE TV as a face, she found all of her success as a {{Yandere}}. She only turned back face in the last couple of months before she left.
5	* {{Wrestling/Paige}} was essentially a bratty, clownish heel whenever she wrestled as Britani Knight. She says she's suited to being a heel because she looks fake whenever she smiles. Well in WWE she was never able to make a heel run work for very long, crowds loving her dark AntiHero image.
6	* Wrestling/TaelerHendrix was trained to be a heel in OVW but got called to do TNA's Gut Check as a face. She even visibly switched to a heel moveset during her match. And when she appeared for an all-Knockouts PPV, she entered as a face but turned heel during her match.
7	* Wrestling/MadisonRayne was always a face on the indies, but really found her niche in TNA as a screaming AlphaBitch. Numerous critics had insisted that she wasn't right for the face role, and held her eventual TNA pushes as proof.
8	* Wrestling/BeckyLynch only ever played a face in her native Ireland if she was in an intergender match. She was a heel pretty much everywhere else, {{Wrestling/SHIMMER}} fans especially coming to know her as an obnoxious BoisterousBruiser. She also had an {{Oireland}} gimmick, which did not go over well at all when she tried it on WWE TV. Since getting signed to WWE, she has not been able to get booked as a heel; fans loving her natural likeability and GenkiGirl personality, making her one of the biggest underdog faces of the New Era. Becky herself lampshaded this on ''Talk Is Jericho'', talking about how she had never liked playing a face in her indie days, but had come to embrace it after joining WWE. They attempted to turn her heel again in 2018 but fans refused to buy it - to the point where WWE was trying to edit out the cheers she got in replays of her promos.
9	* ''{{Wrestling/Wrestlicious}}'' featured a few indie girls using their own gimmicks up to eleven (Wrestling/DaizeeHaze as a hippie for example) but a few of the characters were played by women departing radically from their usual routine:
10	** Jennifer Blake, nicknamed 'Girl Dynamite', usually some form of GenkiGirl played the literal IceQueen Autumn Frost.
11	** Serena Deeb was likewise a fiery PluckyGirl, and played the nerdy ShrinkingViolet Paige Webb.
12	** Christie Ricci, normally a serious technical wrestler, was chosen to play the AllAmericanFace and hammy Wrestling/HulkHogan {{Expy}} Glory.
13	** Amber O'Neal usually played a prissy AlphaBitch. On the show she played the sweet belle Charlotte.
14	** The straight forward, rough and tumble work hard play hard Wrestling/MercedesMartinez as the regal bullfighter Maria Toro.
15	** The [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]] technical wrestling AlphaBitch or {{drug\|sarebad}} abusing {{cat fight}}ing spoiled brat, or apologetically lovesick {{body guard\|babes}} Lovely Lacey as the cackling, [[ThisMeansWarPaint warpaint]] wearing HollywoodVoodoo practicing White Magic.
16	** [[ChocolateBaby Vanilla baby]], [[LatinoIsBrown pale Latina]] and clingy valet Lizzy Valentine as the lip syncing delusional, vindictive "pop star" Kandi Kisses.
17	* Glamour Boy Sean was of course best known for being an exotic MrFanservice in Puerto Rico and the UK while teaming with Shane. When he wasn't doing that he was under a mask in Mexico as Love Machine #2. So giving Sean a singles push was already against type in Wrestling/{{CMLL}}, but in addition to that also gave him the chivalrous KnightInShiningArmor gimmick Steele instead of another fan service/ladies man one. This was the most successful run of his career but his following gimmick of [[WrestlingDoesntPay porn star]] Wrestling/ValVenis was a close second and much more in line (if more extreme) with what he usually did.
18	* Wrestling/EvanBourne is normally a face wherever he goes, and his heel runs are usually restricted to {{tag team}}s or [[PowerStable stables]]. He was a singles heel in ''Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX''.
19	* Wrestling Society X also turned the agile, unorthodox and usually playful Wrestling/ColtCabana into a basic grappling 1950s style wrestler in a mask, Matt Classic.
20	* Wrestling/JayLethal was most famous for his runs as a disrespectful drug using SpoiledBrat SpotMonkey and a no nonsense on the mat technical wrestler, which already a pretty wide range, but TNA managed to find something completely out of left field by making him into an {{expy}} of Wrestling/RandySavage. From there he would go onto have a feud with Wrestling/RicFlair after successfully proving he could imitate him as well, before settling on a LargeHam hero to the X division spot monkey role.
21	* Wrestling/IvelisseVelez was typically a DarkActionGirl heel prior to getting fame from ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough''. In most promotions she ends up getting over due to EvilIsCool and inevitably turns face.
22	* ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' features this for many of its performers:
23	** Matt Cross is typically a flippy, high-flying face and has never been able to make a heel run work for long. He plays the masked heel Son of Havoc, but [[SubvertedTrope ended up turning face by the end of the first season]]. Hilariously enough while paired with Ivelisse mentioned above.
24	** Sexy Star is one of Mexico's most notorious Rudas and as such is usually a massive HateSink, but was instead an aspiring [[IdealHero role model to girls]] in Lucha Underground.
25	** [[Wrestling/TrevorMann Ricochet]] is usually veers towards ArrogantKungFuGuy, while Prince Puma veers more towards TheCape to the point of being TheKindNapper who saved the life of Black Lotus and delivered her to Dragon Azteca and being [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter overly trusting]] of [[Wrestling/JohnMorrison Johnny Mundo]], Wrestling/{{Konnan}} and Vampiro.
26	** Ricky Banderas had a "supernatural" gimmick before, one that even involved coming back from the dead at least once in Wrestling/{{AAA}}. What he hadn't been was grim, stoic or subservient, as in AAA he was one in a series of obnoxious [[TheStarScream would be usurpers]] to Cibernetico, would insist on being announced as "El Triple Mega Campeon De AAA" and call himself El Mesias after returning from his seeming death. Mil Muertes was also much more of a WrestlingMonster than anything he had done before, getting "stronger" through various unnatural means. Muertes also lacks the EvilForeigner[==]PatrioticFervor vibe Banderas/Cibernetica/Meisas usually has as a Boricua.
27	** Wrestling/KarleePerez was a screaming DarkActionGirl on NXT, and was a ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend towards her male love interests. She portrays Catrina, a more reserved and manipulative FemmeFatale - who acts only as a manager.
28	** B-Boy, the notoriously fun loving, death defying, break dancing party machine determined to leave an impact on the pro wrestling industry becomes Bael, a member of The Crew, who are group of a high tasted HiredGuns OnlyInItForTheMoney and will do virtually anything for the highest bidder.
29	** Jeff Cobb is a former Olympian wrestler who used that background to play a likeable babyface on the indie circuit. Naturally, him playing the masked monster Matanza Cueto is a bit of a change.
30	** Wrestling/AngelaFong was a GenkiGirl face when she wrestled in FCW. She portrays Black Lotus, a dark and ruthless determinator out for revenge. She does so by forming an AmazonBrigade, rather than stepping into the ring herself. The Triad itself, given it is made up of Kairi Hojo, usually a dopey cheerful sailor...[[InsistentTerminology pirate]], Io Shirai, an arrogant but {{well\|intentionedextremist}} meaning defender of World Wonder Ring Stardom's honor and Mayu Iwatani, a plucky polite fashion model. Even more so in that Iwatani and Shirai were in a rivalry with Hojo in Stardom that they had only relatively recently [[RivalsTeamUp put aside]] to deter incursions from rival joshi feds.
31	** Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa as a giant evil butterfly is particularly against type considering she had previously feuded with Princesa Sugehit, the TropeMaker for such gimmicks.
32	** The cocky, self absorbed and showboating Shane Strickland as the aloof and stoic ColdSniper Killshot. However, as time went on Killshot became more and more Strickland like and eventually was unmasked as ''Jermaine'' Strickland, with an [[SurvivorsGuilt explanation]] for why he initially acted so differently.
33	** [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Paul London]] was a goofy, [[GoodIsDumb loyal]] to a fault ApologeticAttacker, TheGadfly and a {{conspiracy theorist}}. In Lucha Underground he is a backstabbing, murderous and remorseless member of a mystery {{cult}} that claims its roots in one of twelve Aztec tribes.
34	* Jessie [=McKay=] was a GirlNextDoor and CuteBruiser on the indies, calling herself "Everybody's Favourite Girlfriend". Surprisingly enough since getting signed to WWE as Wrestling/BillieKay - she has been pushed almost entirely as a heel with a FemmeFatale gimmick.
35	* Wrestling/SashaBanks was likewise mostly a face on the indies, and debuted on NXT as such. However she didn't achieve her stardom until she turned heel and adopted the ruthless AlphaBitch persona known as 'The Boss'. However due to EvilIsCool she eventually turned back face - albeit in more of a GoodIsNotNice image.
36	* Wrestling/KateyHarvey played heel for the first two years of her career, and was booked as such in Ireland and the UK. ''Wrestling.ie'' however brought her in entirely as a face. It's actually quite surprising that her initial few years had her as a much girlier persona - either EvilIsHammy as a heel or PopPunk as a face - when in PWU and OTT, she'd become best known as a scary BloodKnight.
37	* Fans of Laura "Cherry Bomb" Dennis were really shocked when she debuted in Wrestling/ImpactWrestling as Allie, a mousy villain that was a far cry from her AlphaBitch act in Smash Wrestling and the indies. Her face turn into a PluckyGirl and subsequent teaming with Wrestling/{{Rosemary}} made it ironic since Cherry Bomb was ''responsible'' for turning [[TheAce Courtney Rush]] into Rosemary. Later, after turning heel in Wrestling/{{AEW}}, Allie as the Bunny became a full blown psychopath as opposed to more sociopathic Cherry.
38	* Another shocker was [[Wrestling/HeidiLovelace Ruby Riott]]'s debut onto the main roster as a heel after both her NXT career and her indie days as Heidi Lovelace were largely spent as a face. Both her Riott Squad partners Wrestling/LivMorgan and Sarah Logan debuted as heels, when they had played faces on NXT.
39	* Wrestling/BrodusClay first showed up on NXT Season 4 as a brutish monster, and spent a while as Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio's bodyguard on the main roster. At the end of 2011 he was repackaged as 'The Funkasaurus' - a happy dancing babyface. He did eventually pull a heel turn a couple of years later, but he contracted ChuckCunninghamSyndrome and released soon after - so ultimately he spent more time as The Funkasaurus. According to WordOfGod, a planned angle was that Vince [=McMahon=] would want Brodus to be the monster and he'd debut as The Funkasaurus just to defy him.
40	* {{Wrestling/Naomi\|Wrestler}} was pushed as a heel in FCW but her athleticism and natural likability led to her debut as a face on NXT Season 3. They tried to make her a heel again in FCW but it didn't take. She was turned heel on the main roster in 2015 for the sake of a championship push, but again it didn't take. She stayed heel for about a year and quietly turned back face when she returned from injury. According to the woman herself, she knew the heel push wouldn't work and only agreed to it because she'd get a championship match.
41	* Wrestling/TrishStratus has said that she preferred playing a heel, because she got to say whatever she wanted on the microphone. However she spent much less time in that role during her WWE career - each of her heel runs lasting about a year at most. As she was WWE's favourite PluckyGirl and made a natural underdog, she was often a face, and always returns as such.
42	* Irish wrestler The Fabulous Nicky was booked as a heel most places in Ireland, and arrived in Wrestling/CelticChampionshipWrestling that way. Fans kept cheering for him, leading to a face turn. It was the only promotion he ever got booked as a face for.
43	* Wrestling/TorrieWilson tried her hand at playing an AlphaBitch heel in 2005 after spending four years as a GirlNextDoor and the top face on the Smackdown brand (although she had come in as a DarkActionGirl in the Invasion). It only lasted a few months, and her contemporaries joked that it was impossible for her to make a mean face.
44	* Wrestling/KurtAngle was brought in as a neutral character, with the plan to let the audience decide whether they would cheer an AllAmericanFace in the Attitude Era. They didn't and he became a parody of that character type. He's best known as a heel but did turn face three times in WWE - first during the Invasion (though he became TheMole and turned back relatively soon), second after his return from neck surgery in 2003 and finally right before his 2006 departure. In TNA he became known for [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor switching back and forth every few months]].
45	* Wrestling/TedDiBiaseJr was brought in as an arrogant heel and pushed as a GenerationXerox of his father for a while. After not doing too much, he had a face turn and developed the character of a party boy who hung out with his friends and called them the "[=DiBiase=] Posse".
46	* Lisa Moretti got her start in ''{{Wrestling/GLOW}}'' as Tina Ferrari - a fiery babyface who although absurdly wealthy was wholesome and heroic. In WWE she played {{Wrestling/Ivory}} a heel who was either an AlphaBitch or a parody of MoralGuardians. She turned face towards the end of her career but not many people remember it.
47	* Lucharesu rookie Mongolian Yuga left Gran Hamada's UWF/FULL in 1993 and became Wrestling/JinseiShinzaki, a decidedly Japanese Buddhist pilgrim who was more of a power wrestler with brawling tendencies in Wrestling/MichinokuProWrestling. While Shinzaki's new gimmick stuck, the new wrestling style became associated with his alternate gimmick, SuperPoweredEvilside Hakushi.
48	* Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels, delusional FallenAngel demanding worship, entered Fuukmen and Wrestling/MichinokuProWrestling as Curryman, an Indian "superhero" paired with Hayashi Riceman who would force feed their enemies his namesake. The fact that Daniels, who is very proud of his appearance, had entered a masked men league was against type as is.
49	* Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger as Control Terrorism Unit Ranger Yellow, given that the entire Jushin Liger gimmick was adapted from a television SuperHero and Control Terrorism Unit were the opposite of that. This also applies to Liger's run in Wrestling/{{CMLL}} with Shigeo Okumura's [[EvilForeigner anti Mexican]] "La Ola Amarilla", considering Mexico is where he initially went when the Japanese refused to train him.
50	* The perpetual StraightMan Wrestling/BryanDanielson becoming a [[MaskedLuchador literal]] American Dragon Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling. Naturally [[Wrestling/SaraDelRey American Angel]] would get the same treatment, albeit a little more appropriately in LLF where masks were the norm.
51	* Staple gun wielding GarbageWrestler Wrestling/NecroButcher as a Wrestling/CMPunk {{parody}} in a chipmunk suit in Wrestling/{{Chikara}}. Fellow Wrestling/{{CZW}} alumnus Joker did Colt Cabana in bunny suit. Also, the usually proudly bearded Necro Butcher as the cross dressing "Grandma Butcher" in The Pro Wrestling Syndicate.
52	* Wrestling/CMPunk's initial appearance on WWECW as a humble WarriorPoet was a far cry from the abrasive HolierThanThou JerkAss he built his fame off of being. And that wasn't even the biggest departure the company gave him, that would be the time he and poor [[Wrestling/MickieJames Alexis Laree]] were given a [[PomPomGirl cheerleading]] gimmick in Ohio Valley Wrestling ([[HistoryRepeats because that worked so well]] for Wrestling/ChrisCandido and Wrestling/TammyLynnSytch). Despite Wrestling/PaulHeyman saving Punk and Laree ''someone'' was dead set on giving someone else an unfitting cheer leading gimmick, leading to an awe inspiring five man example in The Spirit Squad, which stunted four careers. None more than Kenny Dykstra, who was otherwise laconic and methodical.
53	* It wouldn't be Punk's last example either, when the usually clean shaven and possibly superstitious but definitely anti religion Punk became the long haired, {{beard\|ofevil}}ed leader of a {{cult}} known as the {{Straight Edge\| Evil}} Society. Yes, Punk had always been SmugStraightEdge, but the only times he had been in a cult where when Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Father Wrestling/JamesMitchell had {{brainwash\|ing}}ed him.
54	* The unkempt, vulgar and ever scheming Wrestling/AustinAries became a much more well groomed cape wearing CasanovaWannabe in Wrestling/{{Chikara}}. Even more so in [[Wrestling/IMPACTWrestling TNA]], where he became RefugeeFromTVLand Austin Starr.
55	* While [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico]] was a face in Ring of Honor and many of his indy appearances, since coming to WWE as Sami Zayn he's spent most of his career as an arrogant, ConspiracyTheorist heel (He did have a face run in NXT and early on the main roster though).
56	* Many fans prefer Wrestling/AJStyles as a face, saying that a FaceHeelTurn for him is little more than a chance to add some luster to him and he played one mainly in Impact Wrestling (even in NJPW, as leader of Wrestling/BulletClub, it was more of a EvilIsCool situation). The majority of his WWE career however, has seen him playing an arrogant, loud mouthed heel. [[note]] Whether or not this is WWE "punishing" him for getting his fame from one of their rivals is unknown. [[/note]]
57	* Wrestling/MichelleMcCool was primarily a face for most of her career (save for a few months in a sexy teacher gimmick she'd [[OldShame rather forget]] about). She was known for being very serious and stoic, and even upon a surprise heel turn at the end of 2008, was portrayed as a ruthless BloodKnight. Thus it was extremely different to see her go DenserAndWackier as part of the prissy GirlyGirl duo Wrestling/LayCool.
58	* Given Wrestling/AlexaBliss's success in WWE as an arrogant {{Troll}}ing heel, it's quite jarring to watch her initial matches - where she played a 'fairy princess' who wore a tutu and blew glitter everywhere. According to WordOfGod, the gimmick was a last minute idea she had done in promo class the previous week, as they needed her to suddenly debut and fill a spot in a tournament.
59	* Wrestling/TheWoodBrothers mainly appeared as faces whenever they were booked in Ireland - as they began their careers as teenagers and were presented as Hardy Boyz expies. Wrestling/CelticChampionshipWrestling however brought them in as heels. After about a year, they realised it didn't take, and turned them face.
60	* The Wrestling/BellaTwins preferred being heels, and found their feet in 2011 once they turned heel to become obnoxious {{Alpha Bitch}}es. Thus it was very surprising to see them become faces in 2013, and for Brie Bella to get over as a valiant PluckyGirl thanks to her real-life marriage to internet darling Daniel Bryan. While Nikki Bella did quickly turn back heel and spent some time as the top heel of the women's division, fully within her original type, her 2016 return saw her competing on the heel team of a 6-woman tag. However, her reception was so warm from the fans that she was turned face immediately on Smackdown. It marked the first time in her career she'd been pushed as a face on her own.
61	* Wrestling/{{Kazza}} was a GirlNextDoor babyface for most of her early career. Right before she achieved stardom as a HardDrinkingPartyGirl "Session Moth" Martina - she had actually been trying out a heel gimmick as a [[Series/JerseyShore Snooki]] {{Expy}} that fans nicknamed 'K-Woww'. Martina's popularity taking off overseas meant that she never played that gimmick again.
62	* Wrestling/RoughStuff were almost always booked as heels, and both members were normally heels whenever they were booked on their own. CT Flexor however appeared as a face for the short-lived ''Full Throttle Wrestling'' promotion, and ''wrestling.ie''.
63	* Paul Tracey became best known in TheNewTens for his UpperClassTwit gimmick 'The Lord of the Manor', and was always booked that way around Ireland. Except in his hometown of Bray - where he [[AHeroToHisHometown would actually play a face]]. He joked once that his youth centre students only ever saw him at Bray shows, and didn't see him working his main gimmick for ages.

Context PlayingAgainstType / ProfessionalWrestling