What makes a good bad guy? You have to be afraid of him, he has to be menacing, you have to want him to lose at all costs. That is what makes a great wrestling heel as well. Often the heel is the major villain of the story, and in the words of Paul Heyman, “a heel is a person who you build up, you build up the bad guy so the good guy can come in and save the day.”
The following wrestlers have understood that role to perfection, while some attitude era “heels” may be missing, it is because the lines were much blurred back then, as many were anti- heroes, here are 25 of the greatest wrestling heels, that no matter what era you knew they were the bad guys!
Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns (WWE)
The head of the table was forced down the throats of WWE fans in order to get Roman Reigns over, later when given a mouthpiece like Paul Heyman, Reigns blossomed into a major heel. In the modern era of wrestling there is no heel bigger and better than Roman Reigns.
Goldust
Goldust (WWE)
At the dawn of the attitude era Goldust was truly something different, “the Bizarre One” because of his spooky, mysterious, bashful presentation with sexual suggestiveness towards his rivals. Goldust earned his stripes with the mic.
Mr. Perfect
Mr. Perfect (WWE)
A second-generation wrestler with a great sense of technical and agile display, in WWE Curt Hennig was given the moniker Mr. Perfect. A worthy intercontinental champion and major foil to the top baby faces of the time.
Jake The Snake Roberts
Jake The Snake Roberts (WWE)
When Jake was a heel, he was as slick and deadly as they get, a master of head games, Roberts had one of the deadliest finishes in the history of wrestling the DDT. Sadly, Roberts never won a major title either in WWE or WCW.
Randy Orton
Randy Orton (WWE)
Orton may have been the best heel of the PG era, he had brutal wars with the Undertaker, Mick Foley, and was a master of betrayals. Orton was as devilish as they came in and out of the ring.
Rick Rude
Rick Rude (WCW)
Rick Rude was agile, well built, but every ring savvy. Rude would war with Jake The Snake Roberts, Ultimate Warrior, and in WCW against Sting and Ricky Steamboat. Rude’s best stuff was as the leader of the Dangerous Alliance in WCW.
Sgt Slaughter
Sgt Slaughter (WWE)
The Iraqi version of Sgt Slaughter was nothing more than a transitional champion, but boy did he have to earn it, when Sgt Slaughter pledged his allegiance to Iraq during the Gulf War, he was forced to wear bulletproof vests while wrestling and was above anyone else as the most hated wrestler in the business.
Ted DiBiase
Ted DiBiase (WWE)
Everyone has a price, and the Million Dollar Man always got his way, Ted DiBiase was a tough and sneaky heel in the WWE, and when he could not win the WWE title, he created his own belt the Million Dollar Belt.
Vader
Vader (WWE)
The man who feared no man, and felt no pain, was an abomination to his opponents the agile, 450 pound Big Van Vader defeated the likes of Sting to win the WCW World title and feuded with Ric Flair, Cactus Jack, and Hulk Hogan.
Terry Funk
Terry Funk (WWE)
The wild man from Texas, Funk had a brutal war with Ric Flair in the late 80’s and had some barnburners with Dusty Rhodes as well. Eventually Funk would become the ultimate babyface of ECW, but in his prime he was a menace.
New Jack
New Jack (ECW)
Maybe the most violent representation of ECW, New Jack was a gang banger character straight from 90’s gangster rap. He made a name for himself hurting his opponents with any object he could find, evening hurting them “for real” as when he stabbed an underage teenager who posed as a wrestler called “Mass Transit”.
The Honky Tonk Man
The Honky Tonk Man (WWE)
A poor man’s Elvis impersonator who held the Intercontinental title for almost a year and a half, he had a quick tongue and just got the fans angry at him. Honky Tonk Man had it, that it factor to be a hated heel that no matter what, you wanted him to get his just deserves.
The Undertaker
The Undertaker (WWE)
The first version of the Undertaker was as deadly as they come, he felt no pain and laid to rest his opponents with brutal ease. Despite slow moving Taker was as deadly as a snake, the Undertaker would eventually defeat Hulk Hogan and win the WWE title, as the decades went on he became the law in the WWE locker room and living legend in the business.
‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage
‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage (WWE)
Whether it was his Macho attitude or wars with Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, or Ricky Steamboat, The Macho Man was as intense and evil as they came when he was a heel. Savage would have his most legendary war with Hulk Hogan when the Mega Powers broke up.
The Iron Sheik
The Iron Sheik (WWE)
The pro-Iranian wrestler of the 1980’s would anger fans with his anti- Americanism, best known for his finishing move the Camel Clutch chin lock and being WWE champion briefly before dropping the title to non-other than Hulk Hogan.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper (WWE)
Piper was a foil for Hulk Hogan during the early rise of Hulkamania, he was a cheater, loudmouth, and went as far as saying some very politically incorrect things to Mr. T. Eventually Piper became so popular it was impossible to keep him as a heel, but during his heyday as a heel Piper was pure havoc.
Raven
Raven (ECW)
It might not have been the big lights of WWE or WCW but in ECW, Raven was king, a grunge, lonely, troubled man who belittled his “friends” and attributed his horrible actions to a poor childhood. Raven was a master of psychology, and an excellent storyteller. Sadly, when he finally did make the leap, in WCW he was a watered down version of his ECW self and in WWE he was nothing more than a hardcore wrestler.
“Dr. D” David Schultz
“Dr. D” David Schultz (A&E)
David Schultz was Stone Cold Steve Austin but even more brash, Schultz was not shy in laying down some sick promos, boarding on racist and homophobic. Schultz famously slapped a 20/20 reporter John Stossel after he was called a fake, open hand slapping him… twice.
Harley Race
Harley Race (WWE)
Race was an arrogant heel, winner of seven World titles and master of the piledriver and a tough tongue. Race, unlike Ric Flair, was even more brutal in his ways to retain his world title. Eventually Race would go on to feud with the man who would take his place, Ric Flair.
Andy Kaufman
Andy Kaufman (A&E)
While not a wrestler in the professional term of the word, Andy Kaufman was a legendary heel, his strange appearance on Memphis wrestling bad mouthing the people and presenting himself as the rich man from Hollywood was golden. Kaufman’s classic feud with Jerry Lawler would culminate in a famous on-air fight on a 1982 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. Kaufman played off his heel run as just an overconfident man thinking he was a professional wrestler, fighting women, when he really wasn’t.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin (WWE)
When Steve Austin ditched the Ringmaster gimmick and went all out as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, he changed the game forever in WWE and wrestling. The beer drinking, dirty mouth, can of whoop ass, Austin 3:16 version of Austin was an instant hit among the attitude era fans. Austin had legendary wars with Bret Hart who basically made Austin in memorable matches.
Andre the Giant
Andre the Giant (WWE)
As a heel Andre the Giant had no equal, a man almost nearly impossible to defeat. And he was, losing only to Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage during the heyday of the 1980’s. Andre went into WrestleMania III as a pure menace.
Hollywood Hogan
Hollywood Hogan (WCW)
When Hulk Hogan turned heel he shocked the wrestling world, joining the newly formed NWO, in a strange way the heel version of Hogan was how many would later describe the man outside of the ring in shoot interviews, a liar, a wimp, an opportunist, and greedy. As shocking as it was seeing Hogan as a heel, his heel run was menacing because he was the leader of the NWO, but when he stands alone, Hogan’s heel run can be considered comical at times.
Ric Flair
Ric Flair (WWE)
The dirtiest player in the game, Ric Flair was dominant as a wrestling heel in the 1980’s and 1990’s, being a pure representation of the take it or leave it glamor of the 1980s. Flair feuded with some of the best babyfaces in the business, Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Lex Luger, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Bret Hart. Eternal leader of the four horsemen and the best heel of his 20-year run.
Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon (WWE)
The boss, the brain behind the WWE. Vince McMahon became a character, a larger-than-life version of himself after the famed Montreal Screw job. His biggest feud was with Stone Cold Steve Austin, for the better part of 20 years Mr. McMahon was one of the biggest heels in the wrestling world.
