[SpaceVolcano1]

1. The Sheik
2. Mad Dog Vachon
3. Gorgeous George
4. Killer Kowalski
5. "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers
6. Gene Kiniski
7. Harley Race
8. Terry Funk
9. Kevin Sullivan
10. Steve Austin
11. "Crippler" Ray Stevens
12. Johnny Valentine
13. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
14. Dr "D" David Shults
15. "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan
16. Dick Murdoch
17. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
18. "The Golden Greek" John Tolos
19. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (Started as at 290 as a power man)
19. "Ravishing" Rick Rude

I could go on to 100, but that would be too much work.

I mentioned this in another post, but it's better in the OP. There's no such wrestler as Rick Ride! I'm just a lousy typer. Thanks for no objecting. It was very Rude of me to mistype,

 

[outtanowhere]

Well, Triple H and Randy orton are better heels than anyone you have mentioned.

 

[Crewz]

Iron Sheik
Gorgeous George

Everyone else is below them.

 

[SpaceVolcano1]

Well, Triple H and Randy orton are better heels than anyone you have mentioned!]


I did say I could go on and on?

 

[BadTouch]

I did say I could go on and on?

Please do. I've little knowledge about wrestling pre 80's so I can't contribute a great deal, but I enjoy the discussions in these threads immensely.

 

[Donnie]

Ted DiBiase was an incredible heel, from buying the WWF title to having his own belt made. Dude knew how to get major heat

Four Horseman. I mean how many other heels ran people off the road, and broke arms and legs.

1980's Lex Luger the Steamboat and Sting feuds stand out in my mind.

JBL & Eddie deserve to be mentioned as well.

 

[outtanowhere]

Well, Triple H and Randy orton are better heels than anyone you have mentioned!]


I did say I could go on and on?

Sorry didnt see that

 

[Wildcat410]

Personal favorite - Kurt Angle, in multiple incarnations. Kurt could effortlessly pull off everything from dorky to athletic to hyper-intensive.

Rate highest - Gorgeous George You have to be on your game when everyone from Ali to Liberace mimics you. A significant mainstream media and early tv star.

PS - Have to give a shout out to Vince McMahon. Despite some matches, he was not truly a wrestler, mind you. But his heel boss character was the perfect foil for Stone Cold and was vital to the glory of the Attitude Era.

 

[9hunter]

no triple h bobby heenan or vince mcmahon?

 

[Marimoa]

sauter directement dans les trucs lourds

Si les services d’un representant en justice sont fournis a une personne conformement a l’alinea a et qu’aucun certificat n’est delivre en vertu de la Loi de sur les services d’aide juridique relativement a l’instance, les frais de justice sont a la charge de la personne, chap, annexe A, par , chap, art. http://santemeds.com/acheter-mellaril-fr.html a par la personne, si elle est capable a l’egard du traitement au moment du retrait

 

[Kowalski's Killer]

Batko must be sleeping in.
The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame's excellent book "The Heels" by Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson is a 396 page chronicle of what a heel is, what a heel's purpose is, what makes a great heel, different types of heels in history and who are the greatest heels.
Their conclusion: "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. In the words of wrestling legend Don Leo Jonathan "... he was a hell of a showman. He could draw houses where other guys couldn't. He just had that thing. He had a way of making those people want to kill him, and he could do it with just a look, a posture".
He is Mr. McMahon's swagger, DiBiase's arrogance, Piper's trash talking, Rude's posing and sneering, and Ric Flair's everything.
He was better than you, he knew it and he'd let you know it.
He was the inustry's top gate attraction for the better part of two decades for one simple reason: people wanted to see him finally get his comeuppance, for someone to finally shut him up and wipe that arrogant grin off his stupid face.
While I could go on and on about the heelish virtues of Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, Freddie Blassie, Roddy Piper, the Sheik, Terry Funk, Wild Bill Longson, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel and so many others, I have to agree with the experts here and quote the man himself, "To a nicer guy it couldn't happen!"

 

[Erik.]

Ravishing Rick Rude was my absolute favourite looking back. I hated the guy, detested him. The heat he'd get would be crazy and looking back I love every minute of watching him. He is an outstanding promo and he was damn good in the ring, one of the best heel workers in my view.

 

[TheBeastLesnar]

Jake the snake roberts now jake is a great face but he did have some moments as a heel from attacking randy savage with a cobra to ddting ricky steamboat on concrete to attacking sting in wcw and hitting him with ddts on a chair while he was a great face he is a great heel as well

 

[Batko10]

Batko must be sleeping in.
The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame's excellent book "The Heels" by Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson is a 396 page chronicle of what a heel is, what a heel's purpose is, what makes a great heel, different types of heels in history and who are the greatest heels.
Their conclusion: "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. In the words of wrestling legend Don Leo Jonathan "... he was a hell of a showman. He could draw houses where other guys couldn't. He just had that thing. He had a way of making those people want to kill him, and he could do it with just a look, a posture".
He is Mr. McMahon's swagger, DiBiase's arrogance, Piper's trash talking, Rude's posing and sneering, and Ric Flair's everything.
He was better than you, he knew it and he'd let you know it.
He was the inustry's top gate attraction for the better part of two decades for one simple reason: people wanted to see him finally get his comeuppance, for someone to finally shut him up and wipe that arrogant grin off his stupid face.
While I could go on and on about the heelish virtues of Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, Freddie Blassie, Roddy Piper, the Sheik, Terry Funk, Wild Bill Longson, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel and so many others, I have to agree with the experts here and quote the man himself, "To a nicer guy it couldn't happen!"

I just woke up and spotted this thread while sipping on my morning coffee.
At the very beginning of their book, THE HEELS (2007) Oliver and Johnson list their top 20.

THE TOP 20 HEELS OF ALL-TIME BY GREG OLIVER & STEVEN JOHNSON

1. NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS
2. Gorgeous George
3. The Sheik (Ed Farhat)
4. Mad Dog Vachon
5. Wild Bill Longson
6. Freddie Blassie
7. Johnny Valentine
8. The Destroyer
9. Killer Kowalski
10 Harley Race
11 Danny McShane
12 Abdullah the Butcher
13 Nick Bockwinkel
14 Gene Kiniski
15 Boris Malenko
16 Hans Schmidt
17 Ray Stevens
18 Nature Boy Ric Flair
19 Bull Curry
20 Roddy Piper

 

[Batko10]

In my opinion, Oliver and Johnson are pretty much on the mark with their list of the Top 20 in “THE HEELS.” This book is very comprehensive and goes into the different types of heels in addition to the history and myriad other aspects of this area of kayfabe. I have to sit down and read it again. It’s been a long while!

While George Wagner was the innovator who created the bleached blond heel, his heel type was more of a stuck up, genteel aristocrat who disdained the riff-raff that came to see him wrestle night after night. Gorgeous George’s pre-bout antics were the major part of his matches and, from what I saw, he was more the subject of the fans mockery and disdain, rather than pure hate.

Herman “Dutch” Rohde borrowed Gorgeous George’s blond hair and fancy attire when he turned from a face to heel in his new persona of Nature Boy Buddy Rogers in the mid-1940s. However, Rogers was a totally different heel than George. Buddy developed the most hated persona in the history of the game. His strutting, sneering Nature Boy was so hated by the fans that during his career he was knifed and physically assaulted by fans on numerous occasions.

The Rogers heel type was adopted by Freddie Blassie, Johnny Valentine, Ray Stevens, Eddie Graham, and numerous others. In fact, Stevens and Graham were trained by Rogers and remained loyal to him throughout their careers. (I have some candid snapshots from an old box camera of Rogers, Stevens, and Graham at a Buddy Rogers Fan Club meeting in New Jersey ,circa late 1950s. I’ll try to post those in the future.)

In my opinion, the heel/face conflict which was the foundation of pro-wrestling no-longer exists. It died with kayfabe.

In any case, my personal TOP 20 HEELS OF ALL-TIME are as follows:

1. NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS
2. The Sheik (Ed Farhat)
3. Gorgeous George
4. Classy Freddie Blassie
5. Killer Kowalski
6. Dr. Jerry Graham
7. Johnny Valentine
8. Ray Stevens
9. The Destroyer
10. Harley Race
11. Count Karl Von Hess
12. Danny McShane
13. Dick “The Bruiser” Afflis
14. Eddie Graham
15. Wild Bull Curry
16. Gene Kiniski
17. Mad Dog Vachon
18. Hans Schmidt
19. Rowdy Roddy Piper
20. Nature Boy Ric Flair

The top 5 are easy to determine, but the rest are a challenge. 6-20 are off the top of my head and subject to adjustment, i.e. "tweaking."

- Mike

P.S. I have seen all the wrestlers on my list actually wrestle except for Vachon, Curry, and McShane. They made my list based on reading and historical reputation.

 

[5 Star Giulia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

1. Triple H
2. Vince McMahon
3. Ric Flair
4. Hollywood Hogan
5. Shawn Michaels
6. The Undertaker(Ministry of Darkness, Big Evil)
7. Roddy Piper
8. Edge
9. Eddie Guerrero
10. Batista
11. Kevin Nash
12. The Rock
13. Buddy Rogers
14. The Midnight Express
15. Tojo Yamamoto
16. Brock Lesnar
17. Kurt Angle
18. Chris Jericho
19. Scott Hall
20. Scott Steiner

 

[Erik.]

In my opinion, Oliver and Johnson are pretty much on the mark with their list of the Top 20 in “THE HEELS.” This book is very comprehensive and goes into the different types of heels in addition to the history and myriad other aspects of this area of kayfabe. I have to sit down and read it again. It’s been a long while!

While George Wagner was the innovator who created the bleached blond heel, his heel type was more of a stuck up, genteel aristocrat who disdained the riff-raff that came to see him wrestle night after night. Gorgeous George’s pre-bout antics were the major part of his matches and, from what I saw, he was more the subject of the fans mockery and disdain, rather than pure hate.

Herman “Dutch” Rohde borrowed Gorgeous George’s blond hair and fancy attire when he turned from a face to heel in his new persona of Nature Boy Buddy Rogers in the mid-1940s. However, Rogers was a totally different heel than George. Buddy developed the most hated persona in the history of the game. His strutting, sneering Nature Boy was so hated by the fans that during his career he was knifed and physically assaulted by fans on numerous occasions.

The Rogers heel type was adopted by Freddie Blassie, Johnny Valentine, Ray Stevens, Eddie Graham, and numerous others. In fact, Stevens and Graham were trained by Rogers and remained loyal to him throughout their careers. (I have some candid snapshots from an old box camera of Rogers, Stevens, and Graham at a Buddy Rogers Fan Club meeting in New Jersey ,circa late 1950s. I’ll try to post those in the future.)

In my opinion, the heel/face conflict which was the foundation of pro-wrestling no-longer exists. It died with kayfabe.

In any case, my personal TOP 20 HEELS OF ALL-TIME are as follows:

1. NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS
2. The Sheik (Ed Farhat)
3. Gorgeous George
4. Classy Freddie Blassie
5. Killer Kowalski
6. Dr. Jerry Graham
7. Johnny Valentine
8. Ray Stevens
9. The Destroyer
10. Harley Race
11. Count Karl Von Hess
12. Danny McShane
13. Dick “The Bruiser” Afflis
14. Eddie Graham
15. Wild Bull Curry
16. Gene Kiniski
17. Mad Dog Vachon
18. Hans Schmidt
19. Rowdy Roddy Piper
20. Nature Boy Ric Flair

The top 5 are easy to determine, but the rest are a challenge. 6-20 are off the top of my head and subject to adjustment, i.e. "tweaking."

- Mike

P.S. I have seen all the wrestlers on my list actually wrestle except for Vachon, Curry, and McShane. They made my list based on reading and historical reputation.

I see a lot of your heels were around when kayfabe was very much still alive. What are your feelings towards the heels like a Jake the Snake, Ravishing Rick Rude or even modern day heels like Triple H?

I love reading your posts by the way, good information all the time with good knowledge on wrestling history which I find fascinating so thank you.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase comes to mind for me, the fact he's barely mentioned here, to me just shows how underrated he is.

I put a thread up a bit back about this, in regards to these conversations and he often gets missed out, great talker, great look, knew how to get heat, solid in the ring, just fantastic.

He's way underrated in my opinion.

 

[Kowalski's Killer]

Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase comes to mind for me, the fact he's barely mentioned here, to me just shows how underrated he is.

I put a thread up a bit back about this, in regards to these conversations and he often gets missed out, great talker, great look, knew how to get heat, solid in the ring, just fantastic.

He's way underrated in my opinion.

DiBiase kicking the ball away from the little kid before he won the money challenge was an all time classic. Definitely one of the best latter day heels.

 

[Batko10]

I see a lot of your heels were around when kayfabe was very much still alive. What are your feelings towards the heels like a Jake the Snake, Ravishing Rick Rude or even modern day heels like Triple H?

I love reading your posts by the way, good information all the time with good knowledge on wrestling history which I find fascinating so thank you.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy my posts and get something from them.

The problem I have with the modern heels over the last couple of decades is that they are actually liked by the fans. This is one of the results of the death of kayfabe and rise of "sports entertainment."

It's interesting that you mention HHH. In my opinion, he is one of the last of the great heels. The very fact that just about everyone on this forum hates his guts and denigrates him is proof positive that the man is doing his job. HHH is hated in the ring, hated for marrying the bosses daughter (truly living kayfabe!!!), and is, in fact, envied by the fans who curse and criticise him.

HHH is one of the few in WWE who has any knowledge of legitimate wrestling history, implemented it in his persona, and talks about it without kow-towing to the WWE agenda. He once stated that of all the greats of the past he would love to wrestle Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, because Rogers was not only a great showman, he could really wrestle (HHH's words in substance, NOT mine, although I agree).

When the fans watch a heel the heel should make them hate and despise him, NOT love him! Eddie could say, "I lie, I cheat, I steal" and "Viva la rasa" until the cows come home, but he was NOT a legitimate heel. Everybody loved him! I liked him, too. It seems like everybody here loves Ric Flair and that's fine with me. Everyone is entitled to be a fan of whomever they like. But, what kind of heel is that???

The true heel, GOAT heel was Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. How do I know??? I used to watch Buddy wrestle on TV with my grandpa sitting in his chair in the living room and shouting in a his thick Russian accent, "SON OF BITCH, SON OF BITCH!" Then he would spit. :surprise:

If granddad hated you, you were a REAL heel!

- Mike