While every sport has its colorful personalities, there may be no sport that relies more heavily on the personalities of its participants than professional wrestling. Many of WWE’s biggest stars — most recently Dave Bautista, John Cena, and Dwayne Johnson — have been able to successfully parlay their wrestling personas into mainstream careers in entertainment.
One of the most difficult personas to pull off in wrestling is that of the villain. Pro wrestlers adopt either a heel or face character role. While a face is the “good guy” wrestler in a match, the heel, or “bad guy,” provokes heat from the audience by cheating, fighting dirty, and behaving in an otherwise unsportsmanlike manner.
Many of the most hated villains began their careers as faces. Hulk Hogan, for example, turned heel in 1996 after a long career as a fan favorite. He then revealed himself as the mystery third member of the New World Order that was attempting to take over World Championship Wrestling. Other former faces who are now among the most hated wrestling villains include Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Bret Hart, and André the Giant.
To determine the most hated wrestlers, 24/7 Wall St. ranked all wrestlers to ever win a “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” award from Pro Wrestling Illustrated, an international magazine dedicated to professional wrestling.
Click here to see the most hated wrestlers.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.
Professional wrestling has been around for decades, but the manner in which it is presented by the WWE today began in the 1990s, when the major Monday night wrestling broadcasts began to incorporate increased violence and shock value in their story lines in an effort to attract more viewers. This led to an increase in ratings and allowed for some of the biggest stars of the era to gain mainstream popularity.
Around this time, one of the actual WWE executives Vince McMahon began to appear in matches and was incorporated into the wrestling narrative. Eventually McMahon’s son, daughter, and wife developed onscreen characters and storylines, paving the way for other non-wrestling villains to gain notoriety in the WWE.
Supporting characters have also gained notoriety. So-called managers and valets, for example, may accompany wrestlers into the ring and can instigate feuds on behalf of the wrestlers. Authority figures and managers who have been effective at drawing heat in non-wrestling roles include Paul Heyman, Vickie Guerrero, and the McMahon family.
To determine the most hated wrestlers, 24/7 Wall St. ranked all wrestlers to ever win the “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” from Pro Wrestling Illustrated, an international magazine dedicated to professional wrestling. Wrestlers were ranked according to a point system based on first place, runner-up, second runner-up, and third runner-up awards. Points related to awards given to a stable were divided amongst the wrestlers in the stable at the time of the award. Only wrestlers to win at least two “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards were considered. A wrestler’s debut year in the WWE and number of featured WWE episodes are based on the WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown!, and WWE NXT programs with data from the Internet Movie Database and do not incorporate information from WrestleMania. Data on average daily Wikipedia pageviews are based on the period of July 9, 2017 to July 9, 2018.
Source: Michael Buckner / Getty Images
30. Kane
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 996
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 5,491
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Source: Valerie Macon / Getty Images
29. Alberto Del Rio
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 2010
> WWE appearances: 341
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,867
Source: Bryan Bedder / Getty Images
28. Vince McMahon
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 726
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 5,621
Source: Mandy Coombes / Wikimedia Commons
27. Owen Hart
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 201
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,930
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Source: GaryColemanFan / Wikimedia Commons
26. Big Van Vader
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: N/A
> WWE appearances: N/A
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,855
Source: JP Yim / Getty Images
25. The Undertaker
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 570
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 11,027
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Source: Gallo Images / Getty Images
24. Bret Hart
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 161
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 2,607
Source: JP Yim / Getty Images
23. Roman Reigns
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 2011
> WWE appearances: 392
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 7,793
Source: daysofthundr46 / Wikimedia Commons
22. Jeff Jarrett
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 4
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 140
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,690
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Source: Ethan / Wikimedia Commons
21. André the Giant
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: N/A
> WWE appearances: N/A
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 10,637
Source: Gallo Images / Getty Images
20. Ted DiBiase
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 109
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,095
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Source: JP Yim / Getty Images
19. Seth Rollins
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 397
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 3,982
Source: JP Yim / Getty Images
18. Kevin Owens
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 2014
> WWE appearances: 245
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,954
Source: Mike Kalasnik / Flickr
17. Kevin Sullivan
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: N/A
> WWE appearances: N/A
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 565
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Source: Mike Kalasnik / Wikimedia Commons
16. Terry Funk
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1997
> WWE appearances: 30
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 915
Source: Christopher Polk / Getty Images
15. The Miz
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 677
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 3,743
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Source: shstrng / Wikimedia Commons
14. Superstar Billy Graham
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 2004
> WWE appearances: 04
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 617
Source: Jonathan Ulman / Flickr
13. Rick Rude
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 4
> WWE debut: 1997
> WWE appearances: 11
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,380
Source: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images
12. Roddy Piper
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1994
> WWE appearances: 59
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 2,737
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Source: Jason Merritt / Getty Images
11. CM Punk
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 2003
> WWE appearances: 352
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 5,704
Source: Gaye Gerard / Getty Images
10. Edge
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1998
> WWE appearances: 612
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 2,664
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Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
9. Chris Jericho
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 718
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 3,962
Source: Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images
8. Jerry Lawler
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 1,119
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 1,539
Source: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
7. Hulk Hogan
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 4
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 75
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 6,199
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Source: Panini / Wikimedia Commons
6. Ken Patera
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 3
> WWE debut: N/A
> WWE appearances: N/A
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 274
Source: Gallo Images / Getty Images
5. Randy Orton
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 4
> WWE debut: 2002
> WWE appearances: 767
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 4,414
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Source: John McKeon / Wikimedia Commons
4. Greg Valentine
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 2
> WWE debut: 2005
> WWE appearances: 02
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 534
Source: Michael Buckner / Getty Images
3. Kurt Angle
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 8
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 347
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 5,705
Source: Mark Dadswell / Getty Images
2. Ric Flair
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 5
> WWE debut: 1993
> WWE appearances: 360
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 9,457
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Source: Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images
1. Triple H
> “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards: 6
> WWE debut: 1995
> WWE appearances: 896
> Daily avg. Wikipedia page views: 6,874
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