Can you ever forgive Don Draper or Walter White for some of the heinous things they’ve done?
Sure, they’re likable anti-heroes, but these characters have done some truly despicable things.
Hah! Like even the worst things that TV characters have done could ever compare to the madness of the WWE universe.
Forget morally complicated. Some of these heels are absolute bonkers when it comes to playing psychological mind games and doing dirty deeds.
They go full-on psychopath and lose their souls all for a taste of World Wrestling Entertainment Championship gold. What is it about that belt that justifies going off the deep end?
Regardless, here are the 11 most evil things WWE heels have ever done.
(Storylines only and not in real life, of course!)
11. The Million Dollar Man kept a slave.
The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase’s heel persona was that of a wealthy man who enjoyed humiliating other people, wrestlers, and fans alike.
What better way to establish his superiority complex than having Ted constantly humiliate his “bodyguard,” Virgil?
Virgil wasn’t just a bodyguard or even a manservant, though. He was treated like trash for years, constantly humiliated by Dibiase while performing mundane tasks in front of fans.
While Virgil may not have been “owned,” the race play between Ted (white) and Virgil (black) was certainly uncomfortable to watch.
Whenever Virgil stood up to his boss, Ted reminded him that he needed this job to support his sick mother.
By the early 1990s, Virgil would eventually turn on Dibiase, hitting him with his own million-dollar championship belt.
10. Dominik Mysterio beat up his dad.
Ever wonder why Dominik Mysterio has “nuclear level heat” (booing) at WWE pay-per-view events?
Because the wrestler did the unthinkable and turned on his legendary father, Rey Mysterio. (Not to mention low-balling his mentor “Edge” Adam Copeland.)
He broke the only rule in professional wrestling, which is to always respect family over friendships.
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When Dominik joined the “The Judgment Day” gang, he not only beat and humiliated his father but also publicly shamed Rey, wishing the late Eddie Guerrero could have been his father.
This storyline hits hard emotionally, even assuming it’s all “kayfabe” (part of the script) since it blurs the line between reality and the usual chicanery.
9. Brock Lesnar beat a one-legged man in front of his mom.
Brock Lesnar has never been particularly likable, whether as an on-screen villain or a not-so-humble UFC braggart.
But he went full-on monster when he attacked one-legged wrestler, Zack Gowen, brutalizing and bloodying him while his helpless mother looked on from ringside.
Booked by Paul Heyman to get over Lesnar as a heel, it worked so well that fans never saw Brock as a true “face” ever again.
Was it any wonder he turned on Cody Rhodes the first chance he got?
8. Seth Rollins tried to murder Adam Copeland.
I’ll never understand why anyone likes Seth Rollins as a face. The man looks, sounds, and acts like a creep.
He may have “redeemed” himself for a career full of doublecrosses by helping Cody beat Roman Reins at Wrestlemania 40. Still, his moral sins are as tall as Andre the Giant.
Who could forget in 2014, Seth forced John Cena to reinstate “The Authority” by holding Adam Copeland hostage – Copeland, who was still recovering from a career-ending neck injury?
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Seth had The Big Show hold Copeland’s damaged neck against a briefcase until Cena surrendered. And then the iconic line…
“But damn, you gotta know me better than that – I’m gonna kill him anyway.”
The murder didn’t happen, but the thought was there, Seth!
7. The Dudley Boys power-bombed a great-grandma through a table.
The Dudley Boys were the most hated faction in ECW history before the WWE bought the small-town wrestling league in 2003 and eventually turned the Dudleys into good guys.
However, upon debuting in the WWE as heels, the Dudleys decided to destroy every sacred institution first to establish their heel personas.
Most memorably, they power-bombed a woman in her late 70s into a table.
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Of course, that “grandma” was the late legendary wrestler Mae Young, one of the toughest women in sports history.
Still, wrestling fans will never shake that image of Bubba Ray powerbombing West into a table and then staring orgasmically into the camera as he reflected upon his unforgivable crime.
6. Vince McMahon creates a certain “club.”
Many fans consider Vince McMahon to be wrestling’s most evil heel, in storylines and apparently in real life, too!
But McMahon’s sadistic on-screen persona reached its peak with the “Kiss My Ass Club,” which was designed to humiliate the men that worked for him.
Pity Lord William Regal, the first victim, who I can’t imagine had any other face besides pure horror when he first read the script – and had to clarify with management that this was really happening.
5. Rowdy Roddy Piper kicks Cyndi Lauper.
Unlike most other wrestling antics, which don’t seem to age very well over time, Rowdy Roddy Piper’s antisocial behavior remains timelessly controversial.
While most fans would focus on his questionable choice to wear blackface in the early 1990s, I was much more shocked by his terrorizing of celebrity guests.
As he often bragged, “One night, I knocked out Mr. T, kicked Cyndi Lauper, chased Dick Clark back to his locker room, and slapped Little Richard.”
He also couldn’t resist spraying Morton Downey Jr. with a fire extinguisher.
But the classics aside, Wrestlemania 1 was the show that started all this celebrity abuse.
4. Randy Orton goes after Triple H’s wife.
You’d think going after someone’s wife is the one line you don’t cross in wrestling, but then again, you’d be wrong.
For decades, pro wrestling has always pushed storylines involving the emotional torture of men by a villain doing something kinky with their wives.
Well, this trope was just about over-killed when Randy Orton handcuffed Triple H to the ropes and then DDT’d his wife, Stephanie McMahon.
Of course, the iconic moment was not the vicious headdrop that rendered her conscious.
No, Orton had to make time to crawl over to her unconscious body like a snake and then kiss her. All the while, Triple H watched and fumed.
By God, your fans will forgive anything, won’t you?
3. The Big Boss Man fed a man his own dog.
Amazingly, The Big Boss Man never rose above the mid-card level, considering how many evil things he did to hold people’s attention.
Sure, he ruined The Big Show’s family funeral by driving off with the late father’s casket.
But that’s still not the worst thing he ever did.
How about kidnapping and cooking Al Snow’s dog and making him eat it?
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Now we’re going into Saw territory!
2. Kane goes for a demon spawn.
Kane might well be considered the most bizarre wrestler of our time.
Long before fans hated Glenn Jacobs after he retired and outed himself as a Republican, Kane’s villain storylines were getting progressively more twisted and insane.
And yet, he was never booed like a monster heel.
Maybe it’s because fans were getting a kick out of the surreal and ridiculous Friday the 13th plots the writers created.
While he set people on fire occasionally, that’s not the worst thing he ever did.
Kane stalked and then kidnapped female wrestler Lita, only to force her into marriage, Judge Frollo style, and then – probably nonconsensually – impregnated Lita so that he could have a demon spawn.
Lita later miscarried in the storyline, not because of Kane, but because of random nutcase Gene Snitsky.
The weirdest thing about this storyline?
When Lita left Kane and became Edge’s new girlfriend, the fans booed her and began cheering for Kane.
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This is why I keep telling you fans that, despite all your wishes, the WWE Attitude Era will never return.
They got away with so much cringe TV back then that it’s impossible to recreate that with today’s socially responsible “modern lens.”
Go ahead and bleep words all you want…the Attitude Era is never coming back!
1. Triple H defiles a corpse.
After reading what Triple H did to Kane, you might almost forgive Randy Orton and maybe even feel sorry for Kane.
Sort of.
Triple H taunted Kane by revealing to him the secret of Katey Vick.
It turns out Katey Vick was one of Kane’s old friends who died in a car accident years ago.
But Triple H accuses Kane of killing her on purpose.
Then, the camera pans into a funeral parlor and shows “Kane” (Or a Kane body double that looks an awful lot like Triple H) walking over to Katie Vick’s casket.
He begins a long soliloquy…
All the while defiling the corpse of Katey Vick!
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The visual effects were not very advanced then, and most fans could tell he was straddling a mannequin and handling some sort of gelatinous dessert in his hands instead of actual brains.
Still, the pretaped video segment sent wrestling fans into a frenzy, who finally discovered their hard limit of tasteless dark comedy.
You have 11 evil, dirty deeds that would probably not fly on any other TV drama today except pro wrestling.
I can’t believe WWE fans are so quick to forgive! What do you guys think, is there a point of no return for a WWE villain? Hit the comments section to share your thoughts!
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Michael Arangua is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. You can follow him on X.
