Who is the greatest heel of all time?

[robinkom]

I think the greatest heel of all time was Gorgeous George, the wrestling industry's first real cowardly villain and heel persona. He was a spectacle in his day, no one else went to the lengths of showmanship that he did to get heat from the fans. He brought the "Entertainment" aspect into professional wrestling and it proved to make him a colossal draw, especially with the advent of television.

From handing out gold-plated bobby pins to the crowd, his manager spraying the ring down with disinfectant (which reportedly consisted of Chanel No. 5 perfume), and his flamboyant entrance attire, to being the first wrestler to really use entrance music, he was the true originator of the narcissistic egotistical heel character. There probably would not have been a "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers and, subsequently, Ric Flair without Gorgeous George.

[rpwilbur]

Greatest heel of all time? Most of the people mentioned above have had both heel runs and babyface runs, even the "Dirtiest Player In the Game", Ric Flair. Ric's tricks worked as both a heel, and as a babyface. Now, here's a great heel, one who no one ever saw as a babyface. Gorgeous George. He came in with a then-unique gimmick. He infuriated fans with his arrogance, his vanity, his valet, and his actions. Fans wanted to see him messed up by their heroes. And George usually came out on top, cheating all the way. Gorgeous George for Greatest Heel of All Time

[8thwotwATG]

It's hard to pick a single greatest heel of all time, but there are some legendary heels of the business that could ALL qualify as the best of all time...
#1
Wild Bull Curry
This man was truly one of the most vicious and violent performers ever to grace the squared circle as a Pro Wrestler... his penchant for hardcore forms of wrestling violence made him one of the single most feared, and hated men in the wrestling business....Before the Sheik, before Gorgeous George, before Buddy Rogers, before Killer Kowalski, Fred Koury, AKA Wild Bull Curry was THE
single most vicious, and hated man in the wrestling business...scary, tough, and legitimately dangerous...Bull Curry was THE pioneer of the hardcore style.
#2
Fred Blassie
Blassie's influence as a top notch wrestling heel and a top notch heel performer cannot be over emphasized. As feared and hated as he was in North America, this man made his reputation as one of the scariest, and most dangerous heel wrestlers of all time in Japan. With filed teeth and a propensity for bloodletting, Fred Blassies' moniker as "the vampire" was NOT without basis...His feuds with Rikidozan, Sammartino, Tolos, et., al are the stuff of legend. Blassie was a Hall of Fame wrestler, and Heel
FOR A REASON...

#3
Gorgeous George Wagner
The original showman and cocky arrogant heel of the wrestling business deserves inclusion on this list if for no other reason than that he was responsible for a major revolution in pro wrestling as a performance art. A bona Fide shooter(he was a 1936 olympic wrestling medal winner), Wagner was the 1st to bring Pro Wrestling to the masses...with his handing out of gold plated bobby pins, his use of Chanel No. 5 to "disinfect" the ring, his heated promos to bring in the fans, Gorgeous George WAS the man you loved to hate...virtually every single bleached blond arrogant heel that followed owed his career to the stuff that George Wagner did as a performer; he was, no doubt, one of the greatest of all...
#4
Wladek"Killer"Kowalski
No discussion of the greatest wrestling heels would be complete without the mention of the name of Killer Kowalski..The 30 year veteran of the business earned his moniker after an accident in 1954 with renowned face Yukon Eric...His reputation as a human hurricane, with nonstop perpetual action was EARNED, much like his conditioning. No less an authority than Bruno Sammartino called Kowalski the toughest man he EVER took on in the ring..If that ain't great I don't know what is...
#5
The Original Sheik
Ed Farhat, like Curry and Blassie was a pioneer of the hardcore style..
between throwing fireballs, and using a pencil to carve up the foreheads of opposition, The Sheik was, without a doubt, one of the BADDEST of all time...
When you engage in a feud w/ Fred Blassie and HE'S the face... you know you're a badass....
#6
The Iron Sheik
This man is, without a doubt, one of THE most sucessfull and hated heels in the history of pro wrestling...Seriously, Khosrow had it all...he had a legitimate amateur background(so good, in fact that he helped train the US Olympic team in 68), he was trained for the pro ranks by 2 of the best in Verne Gagne, and Danny Hodge...he was a conditioned, trained, and dangerous animal in the ring, plus, he could cut some absolutely off the wall promos...his feud with Sgt. Slaughter put him on the map, and kept him solidified as one of the greatest heels ever..few, if any, were better...the man was absolutely fearless as a monster heel.
#7
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers
The original nature boy refined the mold set by Gorgeous George and took it to the next level. Every move, every step of the swagger he used in walking to the ring inflamed fans for a decade plus...he had a physique ahead of its time, he could work the stick, and he could wrestle!!! A total package as a wrestler, and as a heel!
#8
Jake "the Snake" Roberts
Yeah, the "Snake" didn't have the greatest physique, and he wasn't a technical specialist, but when he got on the stick, and after when he got in the ring, you always were afraid of what he was gonna do to your favorite face...Jake Roberts was a great heel, due in no small part to his mastery of the psychology of pro Wrestling..the man could put the fear of God in your heart with any given promo, and did it without screaming or shouting or a long diatribe...a true master as a ring villian.
#8
Rowdy Roddy Piper
No one single wrestler epitomized "heel" more so than Roddy Piper. from his start in the Mid Atlantic territory feuding with Ricky Steamboat, to his wars with another great heel in Greg Valentine, to his epic historic meteoric rise to the very top in his feud with Hulk Hogan in the early years of the national expansion of the wrestling industry, I don't think that any other wrestler managed to piss off more people in less time than Hot Rod...a solid in ring performer with great timing, he was more blessed with a gift of gab,and nobody was better at inflaming fans in the early 80's with his promos.
These eight that i have spoken if are, to me, some of the greatest heels of all...I'm sure that the younger folks can make an argument for some of todays modern day heels, although, admittedly, I think there isn't such a clear cut line between the face and the heel today. If you took the time to read this rather long post, i thank you. Peace out.



#7

[comrade_mario]

I'm going to base this off who I wanted to see get his torn off more than anyone else in the industry when they were the top heel for their company. For that reason, and in order, I'm going to pick:

3. Triple H

Funnily enough, probably why he is called the game, he was able to turn the hatred and disgust people felt against him for using his position as Steph's husband to his advantage in storylines. When he was rolling over top babyface after top babyface on Raw, from Goldberg to Kane to RVD to Booker, I actually hated his guts. I hated Raw, hated evolution and hated him, wished he would suffer a career ending injury if I'm honest.

So I guess he won in the end!

2. Eric Bischoff

I'm a huge supporter of Bischoff and really don't understand why people try and tear down his achievements in wrestling. That said, back in 1996 to 98 I really wanted someone to shoot on him and kick his ass in the middle of the ring. He played the smarmy heel to perfection, a proper playground bully who would insult everyone and stand behind the bigger guys cackling as they pushed you away from getting your hands on him. Perfect character.

1. Hollywood Hogan

Staying with the nWo Hogan easily became my most hated heel. I actually probably despised him more as Hulk Hogan and ended up respecting him a lot more because of the Hollywood character, but when he was on top and the nWo were running wild he was everything I said about Triple H x1000. Marked out big time when Goldberg destroyed him on Nitro for the title.

[midgensa]

This is a great topic and a ton of great guys have been mentioned.

Obviously, Ric Flair pops to mind right away as one of the classic heels. And then when you get to the Jericho heel run and The Rock heel run you have to love them. Of course, a big part of the Austin rise was the heel play of Vince McMahon ... but in the end my favorite heel of all time is probably not the most popular choice ...

TRIPLE H
When this guy first turned on DX at WrestleMania XV we all knew he was going to be a serious main event player, but he proceeded to be one of the top dogs ... in the most lucrative era ... as the primary heel to the two most over faces of all time. What more could you actually ask of a guy?
His feud with Shawn Michaels was trully a good as heels get. His work with Evolution, the McMahon-Helmsley faction, the heel DX turn. It was all simply fantastic.
I remember right after WrestleMania 17 when you had all the markings for him turning face ... he came out while Austin was bashing on The Rock and looked like he was going to make the save ... and BAM ... he went full heel again in a classic moment bashing the shit out of The Rock and forming the two-man power trip.

When people mention HEEL in wrestling. Triple H is always the first one that comes to mind for me.

[lowandmighty]

Maybe Vince Mcmahon but I'm not counting him because he doesn't exactly have to work hard to get what he wants as far as his character direction goes if you know what I mean.

It might be unpopular but just by logic I think its legit that Hollywood Hulk Hogan is the greatest heel of all time by default just because he's the greatest wrestler of all time so you can't have anyone heel or face better than that. He was a heel too so that solidifies the argument. (which is not undisputed so I don't mean it as fact just opinion thought up by logic)

Hulk Hogan is known as a face and will be more recognized that way forever but he actually debuted in the wwf as a heel or maybe it was the wwwf back then, correct me if I'm wrong.

Despite qualifying as greatest heel of all time by default, Hollywood Hulk Hogan could've made a more practical claim to greatest heel of all time if he needed to.
Hollywood had some great moments including a couple of quite lengthy title reins plus a couple of short stints as champion always the result of something controversial.
He's had some very cool Heel moments like catching sting in a net and beating the shit out of him and having his nwo hold people down so he could execute his devastating "Hollywood" leg drop. He was the leader the greatest heel stable of all time which was also one of if not the most influential stable of all time.
Hollywood had one of the most unique tag partners in history - Dennis Rodman.
He finally Pinned Rowdy Roddy Piper, something the good guy version of Hulk Hogan could not do.
He slammed and defeated the giant and was still influential enough to end up with Giant on his side and used him to help him and his nwo destroy macho man randy savage and eliminate the four horseman at wargames. He defaced the wcw heavyweight championship of the world with the letters "NWO"
He spray painted Ric Flairs white hair black!
He beat Bret Hart so bad in a match he had to be stretchered away. Hart was so convinced that Hogan was the man after that he joined the nwo!
He actually featured in top story lines which were superior to anything the wwf could do at the time and his character alone was largely responsible for beating the wwf ratings for 80 weeks or something.
He beat the ultimate warrior.
He tried to kill the rock by smashing a large truck into an ambulance the rock was inside as a result of one of the nwo's famous beatings.

So Hollywood Hulk Hogan definitely has a legitimate claim. Other people who could challenge are people like Ric Flair or Triple H both great heels. Equally though? I'm not sure about that.

His best feud as a heel? vs the rock, he saved the best for last.