Greatest Betrayals

[AtlantaWhaler]

My three favorites all involved Ric Flair:

1984: Wahoo McDaniel turns on Flair, giving the reason that it was because his longtime friend never gave him a title shot. It worked because you could actually understand his point of view (similar to Andre on Hogan three years later), and was a huge shock because Wahoo had been a babyface for so many years.

1995: Ric Flair on Sting. Flair was feuding with Anderson and Pillman, and asked Sting to team with him against them. Sting didn't want anything to do with him (Flair had turned on him before), but for weeks and weeks Flair was persistent and finally gained Sting's trust. At the match, Flair is apparently attacked backstage, leaving Sting to fight two men by himself. After several minutes, a seemingly injured Flair hobbles to the ring and starts pleading for the exhausted Sting to tag him in. The crowd exploded when the tag was finally made, only to have Flair turn around and level Sting, leading to a 3-on-1 assault by the reunited Horsemen.

Bobby Heenan on commentary: "I've gotta take my hat off to these guys. I've double-crossed a lot of people, but this is a 10!"


1996: Steve McMichael on Kevin Greene. The two NFLers were supposed to take on Flair and Arn, only to have Mongo turn on Greene and join the Horsemen. OK, we all know Mongo sucked; but the turn had great shock value. It was a relief to me because I was dreading the possibility that they would book the Horsemen to lose to the football players.

I'll add Terry Funk turning on Flair. Funk was a "judge" at the end of a WrestleWar match between Flair and Dragon. Funk's pile driver of Flair on the table was my first "extreme" moment in wrestling.

 

[Cor]

Styles on Cena.

It's a borderline "betrayal" I guess. But whatever, I do what I want

 

[Paris in Flames]

I'm a sucker for Christian on Edge since I was pretty into them.

Plus. The debut (or at least the first time I saw it) of the one man conchairto? Great stuff.

 

[Emperoreddy]

My three favorites all involved Ric Flair:

1984: Wahoo McDaniel turns on Flair, giving the reason that it was because his longtime friend never gave him a title shot. It worked because you could actually understand his point of view (similar to Andre on Hogan three years later), and was a huge shock because Wahoo had been a babyface for so many years.

1995: Ric Flair on Sting. Flair was feuding with Anderson and Pillman, and asked Sting to team with him against them. Sting didn't want anything to do with him (Flair had turned on him before), but for weeks and weeks Flair was persistent and finally gained Sting's trust. At the match, Flair is apparently attacked backstage, leaving Sting to fight two men by himself. After several minutes, a seemingly injured Flair hobbles to the ring and starts pleading for the exhausted Sting to tag him in. The crowd exploded when the tag was finally made, only to have Flair turn around and level Sting, leading to a 3-on-1 assault by the reunited Horsemen.

Bobby Heenan on commentary: "I've gotta take my hat off to these guys. I've double-crossed a lot of people, but this is a 10!"


1996: Steve McMichael on Kevin Greene. The two NFLers were supposed to take on Flair and Arn, only to have Mongo turn on Greene and join the Horsemen. OK, we all know Mongo sucked; but the turn had great shock value. It was a relief to me because I was dreading the possibility that they would book the Horsemen to lose to the football players.

I did really enjoy this betrayal because it is so Flair.

 

[quoipourquoi]

I'm glad everyone reminded me of 1995 Sting/Flair. That's the big one for me.

 

[GarbageGoal]

World Class had some great betrayals. Freebirds turning on the Von Erichs, Gino Hernandez turning on Chris Adams, Brian Adias turning on Kerry.....

 

[bruins309]

The more I dove into the Bruno Sammartino-Larry Zbyszko thing, the more it struck me how brilliant it was not for the obvious stuff, but for the very subtle things: Larry's promos talking about how depressed he was, Bruno's confusion at Larry's situation and not wanting to hurt him physically. The build to that was just tremendous and executed perfectly.

One that hasn't been mentioned: Barry Windham turning on Lex Luger in April 1988 to join the Horsemen. Now, it may SEEM like it didnt make sense because they were the tag champions, but there was a subtle recruitment of Barry for weeks leading up, and he just saw a better way to go.

So yeah, I love it when its very subtle things in a build to a betrayal.

But damn, that Ole/Dusty one mentioned earlier....that one is awesome too.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Paul Bearer turning on Taker was really shocking for me as a kid.

 

[Cubs2024WSChamps]

Another one that is somewhat fresh in my mind because I've been watching some older content lately is the Ole Anderson turn on Dusty Rhodes. Basically, Anderson and Rhodes had been feuding for a year (Koloff was also out to get Rhodes). Anderson turned over a new leaf and turned face, joining Rhodes in his battle against Georgia's various heels. It all culminated in a steel cage tag match between The Assassins and Rhodes/Anderson. Each team was allowed to pick a ref, with the heels picking Koloff and the faces picking Ole's brother Gene. Once the match started Rhodes was almost immediately beaten down by all five other guys in the cage as the faces stormed the ring and tried to get in.

Pretty good stuff. Anderson did promos afterward explaining that he spent basically a year just trying to get into Rhodes' inner circle so that he could get a chance to potentially end his career.

This is the correct answer.

Ole had nuclear heat for months after this. Drew huge money.

 

[FultonReed]

when Stone Cold sold out and joined up with Vince made me pretty sad since he was my favorite.

 

[CHGoalie27]

Hardy Edge Lita? Wasn't that **** real?

Emeperoreddy, Bearer turning on Taker for sure!

 

[BostonBob]

Another one that is somewhat fresh in my mind because I've been watching some older content lately is the Ole Anderson turn on Dusty Rhodes. Basically, Anderson and Rhodes had been feuding for a year (Koloff was also out to get Rhodes). Anderson turned over a new leaf and turned face, joining Rhodes in his battle against Georgia's various heels. It all culminated in a steel cage tag match between The Assassins and Rhodes/Anderson. Each team was allowed to pick a ref, with the heels picking Koloff and the faces picking Ole's brother Gene. Once the match started Rhodes was almost immediately beaten down by all five other guys in the cage as the faces stormed the ring and tried to get in.

Which led to some great Ole Anderson interviews with Gordon Solie:

One that hasn't been mentioned: Barry Windham turning on Lex Luger in April 1988 to join the Horsemen. Now, it may SEEM like it didnt make sense because they were the tag champions, but there was a subtle recruitment of Barry for weeks leading up, and he just saw a better way to go.

Still my favourite wrestling moment ever. It was like having your favourite NHL/MLB/NFL/NBA player suddenly getting traded to your favourite team. I was a huge Four Horsemen fan and Barry Windham was ( and still is ) my all-time favourite wrestler so having him make the right decision and join the Horsemen was great. Shame on the NWA wrestling fans for begrudging BW for doing something he knew would help his career.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

when Stone Cold sold out and joined up with Vince made me pretty sad since he was my favorite.

It made me sad because it cost The Rock a win

 

[Sheppy]

Marty Janetty jumping through the window to escape like a coward

 

[rj]

I did really enjoy this betrayal because it is so Flair.

The 6 fans in the background that stand up cheering after Flair decks Sting is amusing.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

when Stone Cold sold out and joined up with Vince made me pretty sad since he was my favorite.

This.

I think I stopped watching around then.

 

[offkilter]

Paul Bearer turning on Taker was really shocking for me as a kid.

This also led to one of the best(i.e. hilarious) revenge and betrayal arcs where Taker went through hell to save Bearer from being buried alive in concrete then decides on a whim"f*** it!" and flips the switch anyway.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

I find one underrated betrayal was Chavo on Eddie back right before Eddie won the title.
The crowd wanted to cheer Eddie more and more and clearly weren't huge fans of Chavo, so the predictable crowd reaction added to it I find.

Not my favorite betrayal, but one against the grain of the rest of the comments I thought I'd share.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Hogan joining the NWO turning on wcw and the fans

"As far as I'm concerned, all this crap in this ring represents these fans out here. For two years brother! For two years, I held my head high. I did everything for the charities. I did everything for the kids. And the reception I got when came out here, you fans can stick it brother."

I never tire of hearing that line

As today is the 21st anniversary of the birth of the NWO I thought I would re-watch Bash at the beach 96, and it just depresses me more about the current state of wrestling. If only I had a time machine

 

[Loosie]

Shawn superkicking Janetty through the Barber Shop Window.
Owen kicking Bret's 'leg out from under his leg'
HHH pedigreeing X-Pac at WM XV
Trish Stratus turning on Jericho at WM XX
Jericho being added to the list.

 

[Brodeur]

This one probably predated the Rockers for me, but Martel/Tito seems to be the first one I can remember being sad about as a kid.

 

[Sheppy]

Shawn Michaels didn't superkick Marty Janetty and toss him through the window, Marty was a coward and tried to jump through the window to get away.

 

[The Gongshow]

What a coward

 

[Scott Stevens]

The Rockers split got me good surprise wise as a kid. This was back when we would rent PPV VHS cassettes months after they occurred.