10 Best Face Turns in TNA/Impact Wrestling History By Hakeem Fullerton

Intro: A few months ago I wrote an article called the "10 Best Heel Turns in TNA/Impact Wrestling History", where I mentioned some of the most shocking and iconic acts of betrayal ever seen in the company's near 20 year existence.

So now, I'm here to look at the other side of the coin as I talk about ten of the most memorable times wrestlers who were believed to be bad guys/girls end up seeing the light and become good in the end (from a Kayfabe perspective).

Similar to what I did for the ten best heel turns list, I will be ranking these turns not just for how shocking they are but also from a variety of factors like: How were the seeds for the turn were planted? How iconic it is? And most importantly what did the person or people do after the face turn? Bonus points if the face turn in question improved or gave the wrestler/s a gimmick change that helped them get over with the crowd.

Also the entries here are from my own personal choice and as well as a few that many TNA/Impact fans can agree were the best; If there's a turn that didn't make it, please leave a comment down below this article/blog or tell me about on Twitter.

10. Hulkamania Runs Wild at Bound For Glory

Say what you will about Hulk Hogan's time in TNA but what can't be argued is that the Hulkster did have a few amazing moments during his 4-5 years with the company.

Truly, his greatest in-ring moment would have to be the time he turned his back on his long time associate, Eric Bischoff and became the red and yellow superhero that we all remember from the 1980's through the early 90's.

In the main event of Bound for Glory 2010, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff shocked the world when they screwed both Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle in a triple threat world title match which led to Jeff Hardy becoming the TNA World Heavyweight Champion for the very first time in his career (also Hardy turned heel during this moment as well).

The next episode of TNA Impact, both Hogan and Bischoff explained how they swindled and manipulated Dixie Carter long enough for them to obtain power and control within the company; They also created their heel faction known as "Immortal" around this time as well and for almost an entire year, Bischoff, Hogan and Immortal ran rough shot over everyone who stood in their way except for the one guy who was always a thorn in the side of Hogan and Bischoff in WCW and that guy was Sting.

After returning to the company and winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in 2011, Sting would wage war with Hogan, Bischoff and Immortal which also gave birth to the "Joker Sting" gimmick which saw Sting become far more violent then he was in the past and he acted completely unstable whilst painting his face in a way that was similar to Heath Ledger's Joker from the 2008 Batman movie "The Dark Knight".

Eventually, this led to a high profiled match between Hulk Hogan and Sting at Bound For Glory 2011 where if Sting won his match against Hogan then all the power and control of the company would go to him and Dixie Carter.

During they event, it was shown that Eric Bischoff was talking to referee Jackson James, who was revealed to be Eric's actual son, Garrett Bischoff.

This was a shocking revelation at the time as Jackson/Garrett was the referee for majority of the matches involving Sting and any of the members from Immortal, so to find out that the referee was Bischoff's son made it all the more clear that the deck was staked against the icon going into his match with the Hulkster.

While the match itself didn't have the same hype around it as their legendary encounter in Starrcade 1997, surprisingly the match was far more amazing then any of their matches from the late 90's and 2000's especially when you consider that both men were in their 50's.

The finish came when Sting put a battered and bloody Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock submission which led to Hogan tapping out immediately, however referee Garrett Bischoff was conflicted on ringing the bell (under the orders and loyalty of his old man), but shockingly Garrett told the time keeper to ring the bell and like that Sting won the match as well as control of the company back to Dixie Carter.

Eric Bischoff and the rest of Immortal arrived following the match and began to beat the holy hell out Sting after wrestling a grueling match with Hulk Hogan, but in a surprise twist and unexpected face turn Garrett Bischoff took a steel chair out of his father's hands as a way to stop the onslaught only for the young Bischoff to get whacked with another steel chair for his troubles.

By this point, Sting is crawling to Hogan who is in the corner and his asking for help from the Hulkster which leads to unexpected face turn #2 as the Hogan looked at the crowd before ripping off what was left of his shirt and began to beat down the his former stable mates alongside with Sting. The only person left was Eric Bischoff who Hogan grabbed from the corner before winding up his fist and punched Eric's lights out.

The audience erupted with cheers with even TNA president, Dixie Carter looking on in amazement. The next episode of Impact saw the officially spit between Eric and Hogan not to mention that Garrett would return to and tell his father that he is a disgrace before knocking him out on stage.

So, in one of the biggest cases of long term storytelling in TNA history from 2010-11 the fans witness the rise and fall of Immortal as well as the return of the red and yellow superhero that they know and love.

9. Matt Morgan Steps Up For Mr. Anderson

As previously mentioned on the same episode of Impact where Bischoff and Hogan revealed their master plan to takeover the company, Ric Flair and his faction known as Fortune (which consisted of guys like AJ Styles, Kazarian, Douglas Williams, Matt Morgan, Bobby Roode and James Storm) confronted Hogan/Bischoff/ and the rest of Immortal in the middle of the ring to what looked like the beginnings of a faction war only for the factions to swerve the fans by high fiving and hugging each other thus making the two factions into one.

With the guys who ran the company and almost a dozen other guys watching his back, Jeff Hardy felt untouchable and began brutalizing all of those who dared to challenge him for his world title.

The most infamous case of Hardy's brutality at this time would have to the wicked steel chair shots that Hardy delivered to Mr. Anderson's head which lead to Anderson suffering from a concussion; Hardy would later mention in the following episodes "People got it confused, they think I don't give, but I do; I give out concussions and there f###### free".

I've put a link to the video if you wish to see it yourself but be warned it's gruesome.

In a moment that certainly wouldn't happen today, Hogan and Bischoff decided to book Anderson in a chain match against Jeff Jarrett in the main event of an episode of Impact, However Matt Morgan (who is a former sports athlete in his own right) began asking around his fellow Fortune/Immortal teammates a very serious question: Are they seriously going to let Ken Anderson go out there and wrestle with a concussion? Their response: Yes

When it came time for this match, Jarrett patiently waited for Anderson only to get a well dressed Matt Morgan instead. Jarrett brazenly told Morgan to his face "The massacre of Mr. Anderson is taking place and there ain't a damn thing YOU...or anybody else, can do about it".

Realizing that the idea of having a fellow wrestler go out and competing with a legit concussion isn't good for a person's health, Morgan attacked Jarrett and took Anderson's place in the match thus, turning Matt Morgan babyface and making his motivates for doing so justifiable.

Morgan would go on to battle "The Antichrist of Professional Wrestling" Jeff Hardy for the world championship twice in the main event of the Turning Point and Final Resolution events in 2010, not to mention The Blueprint would be instrumental in Hardy losing the world title to Ken Anderson at Genesis 2011 and would find a level success in the augural Bound For Glory Series in 2011 as a result of his babyface turn.

8. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky Reunite

I mentioned in the previous article the heel turn that led to the formation of the Beautiful People, well now I'm going to be mentioning the face turn that reunited the groups original members.

When Angelina Love departed from the company in late 2009 due to visa issues, Madison Rayne decided to seize the opportunity and made herself the new leader of the group whilst becoming the Knockouts Champion and adding Lacey Von Erich to complete the trio. When Angelina returned to T.V. from her temporary firing, she wasn't to pleased to see what had happened to the group that she created, which began a feud between Madison and Angelina for the Knockouts Championship.

Following numerous failed attempts by Lacey and Velvet to take care of Angelina, an unknown woman wearing an all black skintight outfit, ski mask and motorcycle helmet would randomly appear and aid Madison in her matches leaving some to wondering if it was either Lacey or Velvet in disguise.

As it turns out not only was the masked woman not Velvet or Lacey but apparently Madison never told them about the unknown assailant she hired. Which, began to divide the group once Velvet started to voice her displeasure.

Lacey, Madison and Velvet would call a truce but it was short lived as the unknown woman attempted to help Lacey and Velvet retain their KO tag team titles only for that to backfire and see Taylor Wilde and Hamada become the new champions.

Following a convoluted title change at Victory Road 2010, Madison Rayne would get back the KO Championship until Angelina got another shot at the gold on a special episode known as "The Whole F'n Show".

In the final moments of the match it looked like Madison would retain the title thanks to the help of the unknown woman only for Velvet to attack her before she could interfere. Angelina capitalized on this opportunity and hit her finishing move on a distracted Madison Rayne in order to win the match and become five time Knockouts Champion.

Two weeks later a rematch for the title would take place with the mystery woman being the corner of Madison and Velvet in the corner of Angelina; Long story short Velvet prevent the mystery woman from interfering and helped Angelina retain the gold; Afterwards, Velvet would get into the ring before she and Angelina looked at each other with Velvet raising Angelina's arm in victory and in the process turning Velvet face and reuniting the original blonde duo.

This moment wouldn't last as Madison Rayne and her assailant attacked both Velvet and Angelina before the mystery woman revealed herself to be former Knockouts Champion Tara.

7. Bully Ray Turns on Dixie Carter

As it turns out some of Bully Ray's best moments in TNA/Impact have happened at Lockdown; whether it's him and Brother Devon defeating Beer Money to become the TNA Tag Team Champions in 2009, The surprise look on his face when AJ Styles returned from injury in 2011 or his shocking heel turn in 2013 which also saw him become the new world champion...Bully has manage to create some memorable moments at Lockdown and this moment was no exception.

In 2014, Dixie Carter was by this point a heel and she was mad with power; Enlisting her kayfabe nephew, EC3 and her Chief of Staff, Rockstar Spud as her backup, Dixie felt completely unstoppable and any wrestlers who dare to question her authority ended up injured or fired from the company.

On the January 30th addition of Impact, a new investor was revealed to have bought shares of the company from the TNA Board of Directors and that investor was former WWE United States Champion, MVP.

MVP mentioned in the weeks and months following his debut that he was here to clean up the mess that Dixie made of the company and decided that the best way to determine who should have all the power in the company is to have a four-on-four lethal lockdown match with Dixie offering Bobby Roode 10% of the company if he and the rest of Team Dixie won the match.

So when the match happened at the Lockdown 2014 PPV, things looked relatively close for both teams, until Dixie pulled an ace out of her sleeve or in this case a bully.

Bully Ray came out and was revealed to the special guest referee and just like that it looked for certain that Dixie was going to retain her kayfabe strangle hold over the company.

As Bobby Roode was looking to put MVP through a table that was set up in the ring until Bully Ray surprised everyone when he not only stood in front of the table (prevent Roode from putting MVP through the table) but he also slammed Roode in the middle of ring after Bobby put his hands on Bully; MVP managed to get up on his feet and hit his signature drive-by kick to the head of Roode before Bully made the three count.

As a result, MVP had "complete control" over the company leaving a angry Dixie Carter and Rockstar Spud to wonder what the hell just happened.

On the next episode of Impact Bully Ray came out and explained his reasoning for why he did what he did at Lockdown, he boldly told the fans that the last thing this business needs is another Dixie Carter running around and making decisions (Tell that to AEW's Tony Khan).

This turn led to Bully and Bobby facing off in a tables match at Sacrifice the next month but, it also became the nucleus for the Dixie Carter/Bully Ray feud which became the biggest storyline for the company in all of 2014 which culminated with Dixie being put through a table by Bully Ray in front a thunderous crowd and the applause of the locker room who were in attendance.

6. Kurt Angle Respects The Locker Room

In the late 2000's Kurt Angle along with former WWE and WCW alumni's Booker T, Kevin Nash, Sting and Scott Steiner formed the Main Event Mafia, one the most well remember factions in the history of TNA/Impact.

Following Sting's title win at Bound For Glory 2008 the mafia was born under the belief of Sting's famous motto "The single most important thing that separates the men from the boys...is respect."

The group thought that they were better than the young up-and-comers like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams, Eric Young, and Matt Morgan due to their years of experience in the business and they were looking to hurt, maim and brutalize them or anyone else who stood in their way.

By the time Bound For Glory 2009 came around Sting was already out of the mafia and Kurt Angle had taken control of the group; On this night Kurt Angle was set to square off with "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan at BFG 2009 and following the string of losses that mafia had suffered at the hands of the young up-and-comers throughout the night, Kurt was looking to turn things around.

In the almost nineteen minute match, Matt Morgan had one of the best matches in his entire professional wrestling career against the Olympic Gold Medalist, without going into all the details Kurt Angle was able to pick up the victory after having a hard off match with The Blueprint.

Moments after that match however, saw Kurt Angle looking at Matt Morgan and approach him with his hand out; Morgan is reluctant at first but he does shake Kurt's hand before Angle raises Morgan's hand as a sign of respect.

On the next night on Impact, Kurt came out and talked to the crowd following his win at BFG, if anyone in the arena that night thought that Kurt was going to brag about his victory over Morgan were sadly mistaken as Kurt Angle says "When first came to TNA, What I thought I saw was a bunch of young punks looking for free handouts...and I'm here to tell you that Kurt Angle made a mistake. What I see now are a bunch of young boys who have grown into men, so to the boys and the girls in the back you have nothing to prove to me, I now consider you my peers."

This promo turned Kurt into a well respected figure in the locker room and in the eyes of the faces. In addition this promo also signaled the end of Main Event Mafia fraction...until 2013, but let's not talk about that.

Kurt Angle would go from being a angry veteran into something like an elderly statesmen for the company, who would have to continuously prove himself in the ring to his more faster and more powerful opponents.

Not a moment too soon because following his face turn, Angle would engage in a two month feud with newcomer, Desmond Wolfe (aka Nigel McGuiness from Ring of Honor) which easily became the best feud of 2009 for TNA.

Angle would also transition into a feud with another newcomer from another promotion in the form of Mr. Anderson (aka Mr. Kennedy in the WWE) which of course led to one of the best cage matches of the 2010's.

5. The Demon Comes To The Bunny's Rescue

With a cryptic manner of speaking and creepy looking face paint, it's no surprise that the wrestler known as Rosemary would be perfect to play the role of the dark and mysterious heel and for the first few years in her time with TNA/Impact that was the case.

Debuting alongside the newly former stable known as "Decay", Rosemary managed to intrigue and frighten fans and wrestlers alike before winning the Knockouts Championship in a Steel Cage match towards the end of 2016. While she continued to act like a demonic agent of chaos during this time, eventually the cheers from the fan base who ultimately lead to her face turn.

On the May 25th 2017 addition of Impact, Sienna and Laurel Van Ness attacked Allie following a match but suddenly out of nowhere Rosemary came towards the ring and looked as if see was going to aid in the beat down of Allie, instead she turned her attentions to both Sienna and LVN who were demolished by "The Demon Assassin".

In the weeks that followed, Rosemary revealed that "The Hive" had instructed her to protect The Bunny (aka Allie) thus, beginning the bizarre odd couple known today as "Demon Bunny".

Although Rosemary would lose her Knockouts title, endure a number of losses and suffered an ACL injury that sidelined her from in ring competition from early 2018- mid 2019, the fans absolutely enjoyed the crazy antics and mannerisms of Rosemary, so much so that it's almost impossible to have her turn back into heel.

She's also continued this popularity with the Bunny through merchandise, wrestling conventions and even a YouTube show called "Masters of The Multiverse".

4. The Phenomenal One is Back!

The last few years of AJ Styles career in TNA was tumultuous to say the least but it did have it's moments and this was definitely one of them.

In 2012, AJ Styles spent the majority of his time battling against friends turn rivals Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian which also included the infamous Claire Lynch storyline; As the year was coming to an end Daniels and Kazarian had defeated Styles both mentally and competition wise, which led to AJ taking a leave of absence from Impact programming for a couple of months.

By March of 2013 during a match/fight involving The Bad Influence (Kazarian and Daniels) and "The Cowboy" James Storm, AJ came from the backstage to attack Kaz and Daniels in support of Storm, however this AJ Styles was different: he was decked in all black ring attire, a black leather jacket, a brand new theme song, a beard, messy hair and a silent but at the same time violent side to him began to show.

The latter point would prove to be true as AJ would attack the Cowboy just minutes later, confusing everyone as to why AJ would attack Storm. In the months that followed AJ continued to remain silent when people asked why he continued to act the way that he did but AJ had no answers for them; Styles would become a focal point during the TNA vs. Aces and Eights feud as both sides tried to recruit him with little degrees of success.

By the time a five vs. five matchup between both sides where the loser would be gone from the company came around on the August 22nd, 2013 edition of Impact, the New Main Event Mafia (who were in support of the TNA) were lacking another person until AJ Styles slowly walked his way out which confused everyone on what Styles was doing and...then...it happened.

AJ flips his hood off his jackets and rises his arms in the classic AJ Styles pose as his classic theme song "Get Ready To Fly" began playing in the background; The crowd and the announcers in attendance erupted in cheers and disbelief as "The Phenomenal One" came in as the final man for Team TNA against the evil biker gang and by the end of the match AJ helped the New Main Event Mafia pick up the win and as a result the beginning of the end of Aces & Eights would commence.

The months following his face turn, AJ would began to explain his actions for everything through a series of work/shoot promos that criticized everything from the Hogan/Bischoff Regime to even Dixie Carter's handling of the company; These promos would lead Styles to feud with Dixie Carter as well as becoming the TNA World Champion before wrestling his last match against Magnus aka Nick Aldis and leaving the company in 2014.

3. Rockstar Spud Fights Back

After Dixie Carter was put through a table (as previously mentioned in the Bully Ray entry) EC3 was attacking everyone else who were either responsible or liable for his Aunt's horrific table bump; This ultimately led to EC3 confronting, belittling and assaulting his "friend" Rockstar Spud, who was looking for forgiveness for his failure to protect Madam Dixie.

EC3 was having none of this and continued to demean Spud every chance he got, until October 8th, 2014 where Spud slapped EC3 in face after taking the abuse way too much and as a result a feud between both men would begin and would go from October into March of 2015 when Spud and EC3 faced off in hair vs. hair in Spud own home country of England.

Sadly, for the former Chief of Staff, he would not only lose the match but he would also lose his hair as part of the stipulation; however, this didn't detoured Spud's momentum as the next appearance for Spud on Impact T.V. saw him cash in his feast or fired briefcase for the X Division Championship on Low Ki and ended up being a two time X Division Champion by the end of the year.

Spud would continue to prove himself as a competitor by wrestling in high profiled matches with names like Drew Galloway, Kurt Angle and Austin Aries with the latter of which resulting one of the biggest wins in his career.

2. The TNA Originals Swerve Eric Bischoff and Immortal

Under the leadership of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, TNA originals AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, James Storm and Bobby Roode former the heel stable known as 'Fortune' joined forces with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's 'Immortal' faction to become one major super group.

By early 2011, Immortal would get messages that another group referring to themselves as "They" would appear with the aim of taking down Hogan and Bischoff.

On the February 3rd 2011 edition of Impact Jeff Hardy who challenge Mr. Anderson for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.

Towards the end of the match, a few members of Immortal and the entirety of the Fortune faction hit the ring and where they were set to lay an ass kicking to Mr. Anderson, but just as AJ Styles was looking to hit Anderson in the face, he throw up the Fortune hand sign right in the face of Jeff Hardy before Fortune clears the ring of the Immortal members with the exclamation point seeing AJ (who is smiling eye to eye by the way) deliver an empathic Styles Clash onto Hardy, leading to Anderson going for the cover and retaining the world title.

Afterwards, AJ Styles would take the microphone a deliver one of the best promos of his career when he revealed that Fortune were 'They' and that they weren't taking a backseat to anyone. Eric Bischoff would soon come out a tell the Originals that they and the company weren't worth anything until Hogan and himself showed up.

Styles responded by reminding everyone that Eric Bischoff "put a million dollar company out of business" and his trying to do the same thing to TNA. AJ went even further saying "And it all started when you and Hogan stepped into TNA; You started spending money, you started changing things and you started hiring guys that didn't deserve to be in wrestling in the first place".

The crowd then began to defiantly chant "We Want Six Sides" right at Bischoff and the rest of Immortal before Styles and Bischoff end the segment with a declaration of war between the two teams.

What makes this face turn so great is the fact that it was completely unexpected and the reasoning for why was something that the fans could easily understand and relate to (especially now with the ability of hindsight); The segment is one of the best endings in modern TNA/Impact Wrestling History...do yourself a favor and watch the video especially Styles' passionate promo.

1. Tessa Blanchard's Emotional Aftermath

Regardless of the allegations or your views on Tessa following the controversial news that were made public in early 2020, it can't be understated how important Tessa's face turn in 2019 was to Impact Wrestling as well as modern wrestling as a whole.

For those who don't know, Tessa Blanchard arrived in Impact Wrestling in 2018 as a self entitled heel who thought she was better that everyone because of her skills and the recognition of her last name; By the start of 2019, Tessa was the Knockouts Champion, however she would lose the belt to Taya Valkyrie at the Homecoming PPV due to Tessa's persistence in antagonizing special guest referee, Gail Kim.

In the weeks that followed, Tessa would continue to annoy Gail Kim resulting in the Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer getting physical with Tessa which led to her getting suspended. Upon her return, Gail was forced to apologize for her actions against Tessa to which she did but she also dropped a bombshell on everyone when she said that she would be coming out of retirement to kick Tessa's ass at the Rebellion PPV.

When it came time for the match between 'The Past vs. The Present of the Knockouts Division' both ladies put on an amazing match (especially for Gail, who hadn't wrestled in 2 two years by this point in time) with fans chanting "You still got it" to Gail Kim throughout the match.

In the final moments of the match Tessa applies a new submission maneuver on Gail forcing her to tap out in the middle of the ring thus, securing the win for the third generation star; Moments after winning the match, Tessa sees her father and wrestling legend/hall of famer, Tully Blanchard in the crowd and hugs him while he congratulates her for her victory in a feel good moment between father and daughter.

Tully then tells Tessa to get back in the ring and do something and she does just that. At this point, many would imagine that Tessa would attack Gail Kim, but to the surprise of everyone the young Blanchard extends her hand out in a rare showing of sportsmanship to which Gail not only shakes her hand but also hugs her before congratulating her, which brings Tessa to tears.

Tessa's time as a babyface would see her transition into fighting the male side of the locker room most notably Sami Callihan which of course led to a feud that saw Tessa Blanchard become the first woman to win the World Heavyweight Championship in a major U.S. wrestling promotion.

On top of this, Tessa would continue her rivalry with Taya Valkyrie which saw both ladies take their feud to not one but two companies when Taya and Tessa faced off in Madison Square Garden during an historic Lucha Libre AAA event and they would battle each other over the Triple A Reina de Reinas Women's Championship and later the Impact Wrestling World Championship (making them the first women in mainstream wrestling to achieve this).

While the face turn had it's ups and down when it comes to certain booking decisions (mostly those involving Jake and Dave Crist), in terms of sheer historical importance, Tessa's face turn is easily the greatest in the history of Impact Wrestling.

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