3 AEW stars who must turn babyface before 2025 ends

Just over two weeks ago, AEW hosted its biggest show of the year - All In: Texas - at Globe Life Field. The Tony Khan-led company is currently developing its ongoing angles and storylines as it prepares for its next major event, Forbidden Door 2025, set to take place at The O2 Arena in London, England, this coming August.

The All Elite Wrestling roster is currently filled with top-tier talent from around the world, each with their own character and moral stance. The promotion's locker room features heels like Ricochet, Mercedes Mone, The Young Bucks, and the Death Riders, as well as babyfaces like Hangman Page, Toni Storm, Will Ospreay, and The Conglomeration.

AEW's current programming appears to have established the roles that most of its key players are expected to play this year. That said, let us consider three villainous names who should turn babyface by the end of 2025.

#1. MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley: The Hurt Syndicate

The Hurt Syndicate debuted in AEW as a heel group, immediately entering a feud with one of the company's most beloved stars, Swerve Strickland. However, over the next several months, the trio of MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley managed to win the support of their viewers thanks to their dominance inside the ring and their storytelling outside of it.

The former Hurt Business started to gain some heat again after admitting MJF into their ranks. Despite the fans' negative reactions to The Salt of the Earth, Porter, Benjamin, and Lashley have continued to rake in positive responses every week. More interestingly, last Wednesday on Dynamite, the AEW World Tag Team Champions seemingly made a deal with Adam Copeland to attack and hurt FTR, a decidedly heel tag team.

Afterwards, The All Mighty violently and bluntly expressed his dissatisfaction with MJF's constant self-centeredness during a backstage confrontation, even teasing the idea of kicking him out of their faction. Considering their popularity, Tony Khan might decide to gradually turn The Hurt Syndicate face, possibly by having Friedman betray and ambush them with a stable of his own.

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#2. AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada turned to the dark side last year when he shockingly joined forces with The Young Bucks to radically change The Elite. His alliance with the former EVPs saw the Continental Champion team with them in the 2024 Anarchy in the Arena and Blood and Guts matches. The former NJPW ace also defended his belt against numerous opponents (though not always fairly), and finished the year by winning the 2024 Continental Classic.

Okada continued his villainous yet successful journey since the start of 2025. After reigniting his iconic rivalry with Kenny Omega, The Rainmaker joined the Don Callis Family and quickly attacked The Cleaner right after their contract signing for their All In: Texas match. At the pay-per-view, Okada defeated Omega to unify his Continental Championship with Omega's International Championship, thereby becoming the inaugural AEW Unified Champion (thanks in large part to Callis' interference).

The Invisible Hand, of course, is known for being an unreliable manager. With stars like Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita loading up his faction, Callis might decide to manipulate and eventually betray Okada to help either The Protostar or The Alpha become the Unified Champion. Such an angle would give the Japanese superstar a chance to return to his babyface status and then feud with Fletcher, Takeshita, and the rest of his former "family."

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#3. Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley

Jon Moxley shocked the world last year at All Out when he betrayed his fellow BCC co-founder, former AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson, along with Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Marina Shafir. Later, at the WrestleDream PPV, The Purveyor of Violence dethroned The American Dragon, completely convinced Wheeler Yuta to turn against his former mentor, and instructed The Swiss Cyborg to destroy Bryan's neck, ending his full-time career on a grim note.

After WrestleDream, Moxley declared himself as The One True King of All Elite Wrestling. He locked the World Title in a briefcase and, along with his crew, started running roughshod over the AEW roster. He described himself as the physical embodiment of the World Championship and dared his challengers to step up and prove their worth; however, he also relied on his teammates for most of his title defenses, a fact that exposed Moxley as an apparent hypocrite and earned him considerable heel heat from fans.

Unfortunately, Moxley was put to sleep by Samoa Joe this past April, leading to The Opps dethroning the Death Riders as AEW World Trios Champions. Two weeks ago at All In: Texas, 2025, Owen Cup winner Adam Page submitted The Ace of the World to finally free the World Championship from his briefcase.

The Cowboy is scheduled to defend the belt against Moxley this week on Dynamite, with all their allies banned from ringside. If he fails to regain the title, the Death Riders might turn on Moxley after the match.

In the storyline, Claudio, Yuta, and Marina might argue that Moxley failed them as a leader, which inspired them to take matters into their own hands. Such an angle would turn Moxley back into a face, potentially leading him to go to war with the Death Riders.

A former writer on why John Cena's heel turn has flopped HERE

Edited by Neda Ali