Looking back did you see Steve Austin's heel turn coming?

[THE 101]

The turn was too early. The fans still loved him too much. So he had to be out there beating up women and JR to even get the fans to boo.

The most effective turns of major babyfaces are when you save it just as the fans are getting sick of them...see Bret and Hogan. The fans just weren't ready yet. I do think some of his heel work was great, so it wasn't really an issue of his performance, it was just bad timing.

 

[Cartier Murphy]

I think you could contribute the heel run failing for really all the above. He hadn’t been on top for long enough for fans to get bored with him so they didn’t really wanna boo him, he lacked a viable top face to bounce off of with the Rock leaving to act, HHH getting injured, and Benoit and Jericho not really being there yet. They slotted Taker in there but that feud had been done to death by that point. It had to take a backseat to the inVasion storyline, etc. It’s a shame too, because it’s arguably the best work he’s ever done