Favorite pro wrestling heels?

Andre the Giant

When I first started watching wrestling in 1981, Andre instantly became my favorite. When he turned heel and challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWE title later in the decade, I didn’t care; my allegiance stayed with Andre. When he finally dethroned Hogan on February 25, 1988, I celebrated.




Killer Khan

“The Mongolian Giant” was the first guy I saw who provided a legitimate threat to Andre, he (kayfabe) broke Andre’s leg in 1981. Their resulting feud was named that year’s Feud of the Year. He returned to WWE later in the decade, managed by the devious Mr. Fuji, and had added a new weapon to his arsenal: poison green mist!




Blackjack Mulligan

The first live card I ever attended was the August 20, 1982 card at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, and featured a co-main event of WWE champion Bob Backlund vs. Jimmy Snuka and Andre the Giant vs. Blackjack Mulligan. For months leading up to the match, Mulligan had been destroying jobbers on TV with his dreaded claw hold – they’d put a big red “X” over the screen because it was supposedly too gruesome to show on TV. As a kid I had a legit concern that Mulligan might beat Andre (he didn’t).




Jimmy Snuka

Most fans only remember “Superfly” as a lovable face, but when he first arrived in WWE in 1982, he was a despised heel managed by Captain Lou Albano. When he challenged Backlund for the title at the first live card I attended (mentioned above), at the beginning of the match I was cheering for champion Backlund (who was one of my favorites)… by the end of the match, I was cheering for Snuka. He was a sight to behold, and his finisher remains my all-time finisher to this day.

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Kamala

“The Ugandan Giant” was one of the two wrestlers (along with Abdullah the Butcher) who legit scared me as a kid. He did a great job of making fans believe that he was an untamed savage from the jungles of Africa – little did I know that he was really a country boy named Jim Harris from the Mississippi Delta.




Greg Valentine

One of my first memories as a fan was when “The Hammer” gave Intercontinental champion Pedro Morales a vertical suplex on the concrete floor outside the ring, which was unheard of at the time. He later had an Intercontinental title reign of his own, as well as a tag team title run (with partner Brutus Beefcake).




Randy Savage

Most people remember Savage simply as “The Macho Man,” but my favorite portion of his career was when he was “The Macho King.” He had it all.




Waylon Mercy

Previously known as Dan Spivey, he returned to WWE in 1995 with an awesome new gimmick, copying from DeNiro’s Max Cady character in Cape Fear. The vignettes leading up to his debut were pure awesomeness. Even though his stint didn’t last long – his knees were in bad shape by that point in his career – his legacy lives on: current WWE superstar Bray Wyatt credits the Waylon Mercy character as being the primary inspiration for his character.

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The Diamond Studd

Before gaining immense popularity as Razor Ramon and under his own name as a member of the nWo (both of which I also loved), Scott Hall had a brief run in WCW as The Diamond Studd, a member of Diamond Dallas Page’s “Diamond Exchange.” His character was similar to his Razor Ramon character, without the Cuban accent.




Sid Vicious/Sycho Sid

The guy couldn’t work worth a lick, but he was huge, he was super-strong, and he looked like he could destroy the world if he wanted to.

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Chris Jericho

My favorite Jericho was the late-90s WCW version. His work on the mic during that time, is in opinion, the best of all-time.




The Great Muta

Muta is the wrestler I credit with first getting me interested in the NWA (later WCW), in 1989. His acrobatics were unlike anything I’d ever see before, and he was a “must watch” anytime he was on the screen. One of the few Japanese superstars who was also able to get ‘over’ in the U.S. – I just wish he would’ve had a WWE run sometime during his career.

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