This happens all the time in Professional Wrestling where a heel's antics end up being entertaining enough that the fans start rooting for them. Smarks are more likely to do this than average fans, and the smark-filled regions of the northeast US and Canada have this in spades.
- Despite being the biggest heel in Memphis at the time, Sputnik Monroe is most-remembered as a face because, even though the older fans hated him, he was popular with the youth.
- Monroe's responsible for tearing down segregation of sporting events in Memphis, and possibly the rest of Tennessee: He was the first Caucasian to be arrested for drinking in a "negro cafe", and in fact was arrested multiple times for "drinking with coloreds" and "mopery". He was defended by black lawyers in each case. This led to his match against Billy Wicks, who was a hometown hero. The match drew the largest attendance ever seen in Memphis, as Caucasian fans and Afro-American casuals flooded in to support Sputnik. Rustwood Park had reached capacity at 13,000, but so many people came that they broke the outfield fences down trying to get in, so it was probably closer to 18,000. (In spite of the damage to the ballpark, there were no actual riots at the integrated shows he worked.) Once wrestling was integrated, other sports followed suit.
- This is reportedly the reason Umaga lost Armando Alejandro Estrada as his manager, as the combined hamminess was making the duo far too popular.
- A similar thing happened with Kaientai during their "face" run, although they were buried and sent back to Puerto Rico for getting too popular. A Kaientai Dojo did eventually surface in Japan despite this.
- There are certain instances when the designated face is not the face in the bill, but the one who "plays local", especially if his in-ring performance is outstanding. The same may be true for other hometown heroes that wind up wrestling for foreign promotions. This also applies to Bret Hart, who will always be face in Canada no matter how he's booked. Even when he was the biggest heel in the company in 1997, all he had to do was drive across the border and he was a face again.
- In the example to top all examples, Bret Hart slowly became more and more evil after he returned to wrestling in 1996 and feuded with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, brutally beating him in a submission match at WrestleMania XIII. He was probably more popular in Canada after Wrestlemania XIII than ever before. His apology to every country but the U.S. after WrestleMania XIII is one of the most brutally honest, deep promos ever done. And to this day, he's seen as a Canadian hero: until their retirements/departures, Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, and Earl Hebner were booed in Canada regardless of face/heel status because of all the awful things they did to Bret.
- And speaking of The Harts, Davey Boy Smith had the same reaction back in Britain, since his sole reason to turn heel-ish was that nobody gave him a well-deserved title shot.
- The Great Khali has always been a hero in the Indian market. It was only in the US that he was booed. Khali is a standout example, as he is practically a legend in India! By the time he came to the Americas (or rather back to the Americas, WWE doesn't want you to know about when he was Giant Singh), though, he was no longer very mobile (his knees turned to powder from all those bumps he took), so the fans didn't see what the big deal was.
- Randy Savage was a heel during his early WWF years. He would cheat during matches, trash-talk his opponents from a safe distance, and abuse his valet (Miss Elizabeth). By 1987, he was being cheered by at least half the audience, thanks mostly to his over-the-top promos and Chicagoland-accented gravelly voice. Slowly but surely, Savage dropped his heel characteristics and became a face by 1988. He turned heel again in 1989, and still got mixed reactions. Against Hulk Hogan, no less. By 1991, he was cheered whether he was a face or a heel.
- During his nWo and "Team Madness" days, he returned to his old heel habits, but he was still nice to the fans and thus still cheered.
- The New World Order were heels invading WCW, but were cool and popular heels that people enjoyed a great deal. Their popularity only lessened — or maybe splintered — when the group was split in two.
- Rob Van Dam is somewhat borderline. He was a heel when he first came over from ECW in 2001, but by that time he was so popular even among WWE fans that he got cheered anyway.
- Goldberg's WWE run isn't the most fondly remembered part of his career, but he was cheered and adored by the fan base throughout most of it... except for the very start. Putting him in front of audiences conditioned to treat WCW as the enemy for years, and immediately sending him out against The Rock and expecting them to get behind him, was probably a mistake. It was so bad that people were even cheering Christian, the creepy little bastard himself, in the immediate aftermath.
- Torrie Wilson was a heel as part of the WCW and ECW Invasion storyline, but turned Face and defected when she fell for Yoshihiro Tajiri. She spent the next four years as WWE's favourite Girl Next Door. She made a heel turn in 2005, but that didn't stick because fans just loved her too much. It was a similar case with her fellow WCW alumnus Stacy Keibler. Stacy was able to remain heel longer than Torrie - a whole year, in fact - but fans loved her too much. She also became a face and remained that way for the rest of her career.
- Josie, a dirty brawler in the ring and a know-it-all 'accountant' in between matches, seemed to gain an appreciative fan base through sheer longevity as her more facey adversaries continued to move on from Ohio Valley Wrestling, especially when her opponents were Taryn Shay or CJ Lane, to the point the latter was actually turned heel.
- Mickie James was a heel during a lot of 2006, but she was never booed for very long. The fans loved her crazy stalker lesbian; she got cheered going up against friggin Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 22. She officially turned face around September 2006, and never turned heel again for the remainder of that WWE run. She did turn heel towards the end of her TNA career, but it was so corny that no one bought it.
- "The Wrestling Goddess" Athena was jokingly nicknamed "The Biggest Baby Face In SHIMMER" or had puns about her finishing move, O-face, since the audience tended to roar in approval at her victories, no matter how much she antagonized them or how she went about getting to them, but especially if she won with O-face. Mercedes Martinez on the other hand was someone whom the crowd seemed to accept as "good" even when the promotion tried to show them otherwise, such as an unprovoked post match attack on Leva Bates. Then she faced Athena in what was essentially a Face/Heel Double-Turn, as they finally realized Martinez was no longer good but Athena soon was.
- After the breakup of The World's Greatest Tag Team, who were considered to be very talented yet still able to get over as heels, Shelton Benjamin's WWE booking became very inconsistent. He moved to the "flagship" show and got a huge face push where he beat the perennial World Heavyweight Champion Triple H three times and became massively popular. Then he received a random intercontinental title match with Randy Orton and lost, basically became a midcarder, got injured, went on a losing streak against Carlito and inexplicably turned heel. The most uncool but wannabe cool heel possible. Then he became a Momma's Boy. Still, the hype from that first face push didn't wear off. You could practically feel the fans begging for Shelton to turn face again and regain his spot in the main event. Only years later, in different companies, during the Briscoes feud and his Suzuki gun run, would Shelton start drawing sustained heel heat again.
- It appears that any wrestler who has been around long enough becomes a face by default. Ric Flair was probably the funniest example, as all of his heel mannerisms had long since slipped into nostalgia by the end of his career. He was even cheered for running in fear from Big E. Langston after his chops failed to hurt him!
- Bryan Danielson in ROH probably set the record for doing this quicker than anybody. He was a natural heel as ROH Champion, but his Large Ham heel antics were some of the most entertaining parts of any given show. From when he first infuriated the crowd with his "I HAVE TILL FIVE!" schtick, it took around half a year for it to become the most beloved part of his act. Later, his supposed heel gimmick of an arrogant jackass prone to shout "YES!" after most anything he does, has still gotten him fans who've come to like the "YES!" shtick.
- As Daniel Bryan, even after he spat in John Cena's face and hellaciously destroyed everything in WWE with Nexus, the fans loved him. He actually got kicked out of the WWE for violating the PG advertising rules (he choked ring announcer Justin Roberts out with his own tie), and the fans cheered for him so much, he was rehired before his no-compete clause ran out, and became a face by joining Team WWE and eliminating as many Nexus members as John Cena. Aside from a brief heel run in 2012, Bryan remained a face throughout his entire WWE run. By the summer of 2013, he was the most popular wrestler WWE has had in almost 15 years. (Oh, wait. Daniel Bryan was actually the modern Dusty Rhodes but now he's permanently injured and shouldn't wrestle. Well, this is awkward. - WWE)
- A decade before Flair, there was Ernie Ladd (IWA), who never, ever stopped cheating. Over time, he gained recognition for his sheer determination to cheat, and was subsequently booked against less-popular heels of the 70s. Since his career ended when wrestling was still in the more divided territorial era, Ladd is mostly-remembered as a heel, though.
- The Undertaker became a face by default. This was through a combination of his all-around talent and grave-digging zombie gimmick.
- Taker's brother Kane is another face by default. He tries really hard to be heel, and generally does a good job and gets booed. The moment he stops performing over-the-top acts of evil, though, the fans are back to cheering for him.
- After the unmasking of Kane, something no one wanted to see, and his repeated squash matches against fan favorite Rob Van Dam, the fan base had completely turned against the Big Red Machine. Then his next scheduled feud was against Shane McMahon. No one suggested that Kane was the good guy or anything, but to go from destroying RVD to nearly losing to Shane was seen as a major step down, most just wanting to see Shane be quickly destroyed so Kane could move on to a more worthy baby face.
- Even when he was in The Nexus (a heel stable), Justin Gabriel always got cheered due to his underdog status and awesome wrestling skills. A few weeks after leaving Nexus for The Corre, he turned face.
- At Chilanga Mask 3. Aniversario, an "ACH" chant broke out over the booing during his three way elimination match against Ricky Marvin and Lio Rush, with a chant for Rush following after it died down. Presumably the audience members doing so wanted to see ACH and Lio go at it and found Marvin to be an unnecessary third wheel. Nothing ACH did could successfully keep them against him, despite him going as far as to scream "USA"!
- Sasha Banks took the 'popular heel' archetype to new levels. Despite playing one of the nastiest and most despicable heels in wrestling, the fans eventually came to love her. More so due to her sheer desire to fight for women's wrestling and her talent in the ring. They kept her as a heel for as long as they could - and for ages she was famed for never breaking character - before eventually caving to the "we want Sasha" chants and turning her face.
- Triple H seemed to be heading this way after turning face in 2006, having spent most of his career as one of the most despicable heels. However, in 2013, he cost Daniel Bryan, easily the most "over" superstar at the time (and probably in the last fifteen years) the WWE Championship, and unsurprisingly everyone booed him like crazy. Two months later, the same thing happened with Bryan and Shawn Michaels... While Shawn quickly reverted back to being a full-fledged face, Hunter remained heel until sometime in the late 2010s.
- An interesting meta-example surrounding Triple H: he was made head of the talent department, and despite initial fears that he would push "big" men, his first acquisitions were the IWC favorite Awesome Kong (now known as Kharma) and Sin Cara, and he hyped them up with video packages like the wrestling days of yesteryear. It's further helped Triple H's case that he has full control over WWE's developmental show NXT and a growing number of fans are claiming that that show is currently of better quality than Raw. It seems likely that support for him will only grow after his recent appearance on Steve Austin's podcast, where he echoed a lot of things that fans have been clamoring for— that if it were all up to him, Raw would go back down to two hours and the women wrestlers would have more prominence.
- In the run-up to WrestleMania 32, where he wrestled Roman Reigns in the main event, Triple H had been systematically trying to destroy any onstage goodwill he may have earned for almost two years at that point, and had made a number of backstage decisions that drew the IWC's ire. Prior to the match itself, Stephanie (the most hated heel on the roster) got up and screamed insults at the audience for almost five minutes. However, the notoriously heel-friendly WrestleMania crowd still cheered for HHH, while Roman was booed so heavily that the WWE cut the audience mics. Normally, the crowd would've booed HHH— however, Reigns had become so hated that the hardcore fanbase had reached the Godzilla Threshold and were all but begging Hunter to bring out the golden shovel one last time and bury Reigns like he had with other young, upcoming talent over the years. Alas, it was not meant to be.
- Triple H's reign of terror is one of the most reviled periods in WWE history, but there were a couple of times during it when an audibly vocal amount of fans became solidly on his side. The first was his feud with Scott Steiner once it became clear that Steiner was a shell of what he once was in the ring and couldn't carry his end of a match. Then came the feud with Kevin Nash, partially due to Nash being even more boring than Triple H at his worst, and partially due to the confusing booking which made Triple H look less like a heel finally getting what was coming to him and more like a plucky underdog surviving against an overwhelming foe.
- Seth Rollins, during his heel run, was cheered by the fans more often than not, only really being booed when he was feuding with Dean Ambrose. Speaking of which, back when they were The Shield, the crowd was almost always on their side as heels except when they were fighting Daniel Bryan.
- Most heels in feuds against John Cena and Roman Reigns will naturally get this, although, during the height of the feud between the two, there were more people that cheered Cena over Reigns.
- Dolph Ziggler was insanely popular during 2012 and 2013, to the point that Jerry Lawler would often pretend that chants for him were for his face opponents. This led to an outright face turn in the summer of 2013.
- Maria Kanellis was with WWE from 2004-2010 and remained a face the whole time. There were hints at her turning heel mid-2009 when she was in an angle with heel character Dolph Ziggler, but that storyline was scrapped, and so Maria never turned. She was even voted "Diva of the Year" by the fans, something she was obviously not expecting when you consider that the likes of Mickie James and Melina got bigger pops than her. Maria was finally able to portray a heel when she debuted in Ring of Honour. She alternates as a face and heel for Family Wrestling Entertainment.
- Other than some disputes with his brother and Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy is among the most unique stars in pro wrestling who actually made it as a singles superstar when he never should have. Technically, Jeff and his brother were heels (as the "New" Brood) when they debuted in 1999, but Jeff turned face two months later, and it's been a decade since then. (Matt, however, had gone back to being heel once in a while.) When Jeff was caught selling illegal substances, charged with 5 felonies and sent to prison, his merch still out-sold DGenerationX and Cena. Extremely gifted, but ultimately wasted talent.
- CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy is full of this. The bad guy in this was a holier-than-thou straight edge geek, while the good guy was fired from two companies because of his drug problems and lost his spot at the biggest show of the year. Overall, though, there was no reason to actually cheer for Jeff Hardy other than finding CM Punk to be an asshole— he was never really sorry for his past drug-abuse issues and he handwaved them off as just being rules that he chose not to follow because he was an "artist" and a "free-spirit," which resonated with fans. Then, you add that soon after leaving the WWE he was busted for drug trafficking, moved back to TNA because of their lack of drug testing, and tried to headline a PPV while stoned out of his gourd, and Punk ends up looking like a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- When Chris Jericho, as a heel, feuded with Cena for the WWE Title, he talked about how he was there to save us from Cena. The crowd didn't know they weren't supposed to WANT to be saved from Cena, and cheered Jericho loudly. Jericho started calling them sycophantic idiots in an attempt to actually get heat, and they still cheered Jericho loudly.
- ODB in TNA has never been able to stay heel for very long. She was a boisterous, big-tittied lush who lived in a trailer park. She started out as a heel in TNA, but became very popular with the fans (if not the critics!). She was able to get heel heat in other companies and returned to TNA in 2011 as a heel, but TNA's fans didn't take to it and she reverted to face within a month.
- Kelly Kelly got booed when she was in Beth Phoenix's hometown of Buffalo, New York, even though "The Glamazon" was the obvious heel in all their other matches.
- A face doesn't have to be a decent person, so long as they get fans to cheer them. A common cited example of this is Randy Orton's second face run, where half of his feuds were started by his own need to be the most BAMF around. Sometimes the enemy would be shown to be just as evil or worse than him, but not always. Becoming face by default in 2010, the only thing he changed about his character is who he attacked.
- Lots of WWE fans were rooting for Randy Orton during his long feud with John Cena, even though Orton was portraying an unstable and sadistic sociopath. People will often cheer for anyone John Cena faces in a feud.
- CM Punk had a similar problem as Orton. No matter what he did (mocking Jerry Lawler's heart attack, interrupting The Undertaker's tribute to Paul Bearer, stealing the urn), the heat never lasted. The fans cheered for him, and eventually when Punk came back after a hiatus in 2013 in his own hometown of Chicago, he became a face by default even though his opponent (Chris Jericho) was also a face.
- Then there was the Summer of Punk II in 2011, where Punk was feuding with Cena, Vince, and basically the entire company because he was threatening to leave with the WWE Championship on the night his contract expired at the Money in the Bank PPV in his hometown of Chicago. He was technically the Heel, but the infamous "Pipe Bomb" promo on the June 27, 2011 episode of RAW and the magnificent writing of the storyline, along with his awesome mic work, made him come off as the Face, to the point that Boston cheered for him over hometown hero John Cena the RAW before the PPV, even after he compared them and said hero to the New York Yankees. Then he won the match (which is now considered one of the greatest matches in WWE history), won the title, evaded a cash-in attempt by Del Rio, and ran off with said title in his hometown crowd, ascending to super-stardom in the process.
- Zack Ryder. Hated for bad jokes, arrogance, entrance music, hair style, goggles, see through jacket, pants with different leg lengths, and his signature taunt "Woo Woo Woo!" Oddly enough though, many Smart Marks are fans of Zack Ryder. Though this may have something to do with his theme song... Ultimately it got him to full time Facedom by late 2011.
- Kevin Steen's fan song Antichrist, based on his Ring of Honor theme, referenced this, "The question was never if Steen will, but how loud the fans will be calling 'Kill, Steen, Kill!".
- After SHIMMER Volume 60, the biggest baby face in the promotion became Nikki Storm, a rude, vain Violent Glaswegian who the fans can't get enough of despite having few redeeming qualities.
- A lot of North Americans don't get the appeal, but Hiroyoshi Tenzan is a face by default in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, due to his undying loyalty to the company.
- An exception that proves the rule was Savio Vega's stint in the World Wrestling League, which he successfully took control of after turning face around the same time company founder Richard Negrin turned heel (Negrin had health issues that prevented him from running the company in a reliable enough fashion for many wrestlers). The baby face wrestlers such as Glamour Boy Shane were quick to forgive Vega of all past misdoings, in a region where grudges persisting in spite of face turns is the norm, including in WWL until Vega was officially in charge.
- Bray Wyatt, a retooled Husky Harris, came up with his stable, The Wyatt Family, as a smooth talking, somewhat unhinged cult leader going on about Sister Abigail, telling people to follow the vultures, and generally lynching random wrestlers as they saw fit. Combine his charisma, respectable wrestling ability, and very cool entrance, and his mugging of fan favorites, and he was very much over as a heel. Bray and his stable drew heat just like heels should. Then he began a feud with John Cena, and one would have thought he was the company's top face the way the audience agreed with every negative thing he said about Cena, and otherwise alternating cheering everything Bray did with chants of "CENA SUCKS." At this point, there's probably a raise and a medal in it for anyone who can feud with Cena and get heat away from him.
- In 2019, Bray was retooled as the host of the "Firefly Fun House" along with a darker side of him known as "The Fiend". Come Summerslam, in his match against Finn Balor, the entire audience was chanting "Let Him In"/"Yowee Wowee"/"This is Awesome" before the match even started.
- Act Yasukawa in World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM. Her heel turn failed to take, even with her membership in the "Monster Army". She spat rum on a fan chanting her name once, only to get more fans chanting her name and begging to get spat on, too.
- At SummerSlam 2018, Becky Lynch turned on her best friend Charlotte Flair for the unforgivable sin of... beating her cleanly in a Triple Threat match for the title that she had been given the exact same opportunity as Becky for. The following SmackDown, she directly called out the fans, saying they never really supported her. Months later, she is still resorting to heelish tactics like forcing her way into the women's Royal Rumble that she wasn't entered in after losing cleanly to Asuka for the title the same night, and responding to (actually legit) concerns from management about whether she'd be healthy enough to compete at WrestleMania by assaulting anyone who stands in her way. Fans absolutely refuse to boo her and insist she's the babyface in every single angle she's in— mainly because the fans, especially the IWC, insist on putting their beliefs that Becky has been held back by creative in real life (this has gone as far as accusing head TV executive Kevin Dunn of not wanting her on TV much because he didn't like her thick Irish accent) ahead of any petulant reactions her character now makes to either losing fairly or legit criticisms brought up to her. It helps that the two people she feuded with (Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey) are Designated Heroes who are heavily favored by Vince McMahon. Ultimately, WWE were forced to move Becky into an anti-hero face role, and everyone she feuded with, from Charlotte to Ronda Rousey had to be turned heel because nobody was willing to cheer any of her opponents.
- When Shine Wrestling moved from Florida to New York, to Marti Belle's hometown, it didn't take much intellect to realize fans would start rooting for her. Tellingly, fans still hated Belle's Tag Team partner Jayme Jameson, recognizing that what they were doing was wrong. It was surreal when Belle directly addressed the audience as imbeciles and a chant of "Yes We Are" broke out. That established, Belle went out of her way to make herself the most hated woman on the roster when Shine went to Michigan, and demonstrating the power of hometowns, all the heat she and Jaymeson built up failed to transfer to Detroit's own Allysin Kay when she aligned with them to retire Mercedes Martinez. The crowd had no desire to see Martinez taken down, they just couldn't help but cheer Kay.
- Doom Patrol get a pop every time they appear in WWC. Whether or not the fans keep cheering for them depends on what Doom Patrol does next, and that's usually show the audience their up skirts or screw over a popular baby face. But no matter how much they get booed for whatever they do, Doom Patrol will always get a positive response as soon as they leave and come back again, even if it is as simple as going to the locker room for ten minutes.
