The Most Hated Pro Wrestling Champions of All Time

Del Rio was born in Mexico and got his start as a luchador and mixed martial artist in his home country. Originally, he went by the name Dos Caras Jr. but changed it to Alberto Del Rio when he signed with WWE in 2009. Del Rio won the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Dolph Ziggler. Del Rio infamously targeted Ziggler’s head during the match despite Ziggler recently having suffered a concussion.

Owen Hart competed under his own name and as “The Blue Blazer.” Born in Canada, Hart came from a family of professional wrestlers. Owen had feuds with several wrestlers including his own brother Brent Hart. In 1993 things in the ring went awry and an entire family drama exploded for all to see. Owen Hart was tragically killed in an equipment malfunction accident in 1999.

McMahon is most famous for his entrepreneurship outside of the ring, developing WWE into what it is today and being the business face of it all. He commentated on professional wrestling from the 70s until the late 90s and eventually entered the ring himself. McMahon developed a rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin and began conniving for him to lose the championship belt.

Mark William Calaway, better known as The Undertaker, is one of the biggest names in wrestling. He joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF and now WWE) in 1990 and took on the moniker. As part of his persona, he was all about using horror and psychological warfare to destroy his opponents mentally and physically. The man knew no bounds and wasn’t above attacking his opponents when they least expected it, inside and outside of the ring.

Before wrestling Corbin had a career in college football and a brief stint in the NFL. Most notably, he was seen throwing uppercuts during a team scuffle while signed to the Arizona Cardinals practice squad. Corbin has been known to steal prize money and attack opponents outside of the ring. However, he recently renamed himself “Happy Corbin” after bouncing back from a supposed streak of hard times.

Bret “Hitman” Hart was an icon in the 80s and 90s and helped to push professional wrestling to the massive spectacle it is today. After getting his start with his pro wrestling father’s Stampede Wrestling in 1976, he moved to the World Wrestling Federation in 1984. He had an ongoing rivalry with wrestler Jerry Lawler that peaked with Hart forcing Lawler to kiss his foot. After the unscripted “Montreal Screwjob” where Hart unexpectedly lost his title, he left WWF for World Championship Wrestling.

Jarrett began his career with his father’s Continental Wrestling Association and eventually debuted with a country music star gimmick in WWF in 1992. Double JJ went several years without playing the villain but by the early 2000s he started to head down a darker path. Jarrett fell into several feuds with rival wrestlers and their respective groups. His rivalry with AJ Styles evolved into both of them attacking each other with guitars on separate occasions.

Besides being a professional wrestler, DiBiase has also served as a manager, color commentator and ordained minister. “The Million Dollar Man” is known for his trademark evil laugh and technical ability in the ring. Before retiring in 1993, DiBiase had served as the villain several times and was even part of a heel group known as “The Rat Pack.” In 1999 he founded Heart of David Ministry and serves as its minister.

André the Giant was born in France in 1946, and his official site has him listed as 7’4″ and over 500 pounds. An excessive growth hormone disorder gave him his massive size. After beginning his career as a face, André turned heel in 1987, becoming Hulk Hogan’s archrival. André would be hired by Ted DiBiase to defeat Hogan and sell him the championship belt. After some referee rigging, André came out on top, further cementing himself in infamy. André also acted in cult-classic movie “The Princess Bride.”

Brock Lesnar began as a pro wrestler and then branched out into the NFL and mixed martial arts. After drawing considerable interest from several NFL teams, he was involved in a car accident that left him battered and unable to excel in the league. His NFL career didn’t take off but he transitioned to UFC where he found success. Since then, Lesnar returned to pro wrestling where he’s played a heel for much of the time.

Sullivan started off in the early 70s as “Johnny West.” During his career he played the role of heel several times and started a “devil worshipping” gimmick. Over the years he had feuds with several of the biggest names of the time including Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan and Chris Benoit. At one point, he joined a group to form “The Army of Darkness” and even attacked the wife of one of his rivals.

Funk was born in 1944 and helped pioneer “garbage wrestling.” This involves fighting it out in untraditional environments and using normally banned weapons like steel chairs and beyond. Funk has retired numerous times over his very long-lived career. He had a considerable feud with star Ric Flair that even saw him use a real plastic bag to partly suffocate Flair on television. In his debut he beat up his opponent and then went on to beat up a ring attendant. He was known for bringing a brand to the ring and “branding” his opponents.

Born in 1984 in Marieville, Quebec, Kevin Owens is a former WWE Universal Champion. Owens’s run of infamy began in 2015 when he won a championship after a referee stopped him from continuing to pummel an already defeated Sami Zayn. The two would go on to battle again a few months later. Owens once again handily defeated Zayn but refused to stop attacking his injured opponent and the bout was later ruled a no-contest.

A former training partner of Arnold Schwarzenegger and current artist, Graham debuted in 1969 and retired in 1989. In the 70s, Superstar started to incorporate arm wrestling and weightlifting contests into the middle of his wrestling matches and was known for his flamboyant style and over-the-stop ring antics. He would also occasionally cut his own forehead to add blood to the explosive performance.

Michael Mizanin is an actor and reality TV star as well as a professional wrestler. He’s known for being cocky, arrogant and egotistical. Even when he tried a run as a hero, few audience members and commentators were convinced. The Miz took a hiatus in 2014 to film “The Marine 4: Moving Target” and came back with a whole new conceited and arrogant persona, with the moniker “Hollywood A-Lister.”

The late Rick Rude grew up in St. Peter, Minnesota, and went to a high school where six of his classmates would also go on to become professional wrestlers. Rude was famous for arriving at the ring, insulting the entire male audience and kissing a woman from the crowd after he was victorious. He even tried to seduce the wife of one of his rivals, leading to the two fighting it out.

“Rowdy” as he was known in the ring, was born in Canada in 1954. However, due to his Scottish heritage he was billed as coming from Glasgow and having a trademark “Scottish” rage. While he was often loved by audiences he still normally played the role of the villain. Piper feuded with Ric Flair and Sgt. Slaughter amongst many others. He had his own interview segment called “Piper’s Pit” where he’d interview other wrestlers and often end up fighting them.

Roman Reigns is a member of the Anoa’i family, a renowned Samoan-American wrestling family, and his father is WWE Hall of Famer Sika Anoa’i. In 2012, Reigns and two others joined up to form the group “The Shield” and pledged to fight injustice. However, there was talk they were actually working for another more nefarious group. Reigns was suspended multiple times, once for comments made about Brock Lesnar and another when he was arrested for trespassing by US Marshalls.

Adam Copeland, aka “Edge,” is an 11-time World Champion and in the WWE Hall of Fame. Edge was known for his obsession with winning the title at any cost, even if it meant betraying his allies. Edge abandoned his partner during a tag-team event to focus on trying to get into the main event. Afterwards, he went on to attack his partner, creating a permanent rift. He further cemented himself as a villain with his adulterous affair with a WWE Diva.

CM Punk holds the WWE record for “longest-reigning WWE Champion of the modern era.” Punk is a real-life adherer to being straight-edge or not partaking in alcohol, drugs or promiscuous sex. He transfers that to his character as a villain who thinks he’s better than everyone else who does partake in vices. During the heyday of his villainy Punk was known to constantly claim he was the greatest in the world and disrespect other wrestlers.

Chris Jericho is regarded by many as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. However, this also came with a lot of hate and years of playing the villain. Jericho has also released several albums with his band, competed on “Dancing With the Stars” and hosted his own game show on ABC. Along the way Jericho became a villain in the ring, showing his jealousy for The Rock and starting a bet with a fellow wrestler over who could sleep with their respective female wrestling partner first.

Born in 1949 and beginning his career in 1970, Lawler didn’t become a bad guy until the 1990s. He feuded with the Hart family, first as an announcer and then in the ring. He goaded Bret Hart into wrestling him but then showed up on crutches saying he’d been in a car accident. After Hart defeated Lawler’s lacky, Lawler took to the ring, revealing he had been faking his injuries all along. He also famously made fun of another wrestler’s drug and alcohol problems and then poured Jim Beam whiskey down his throat after defeating him.

Colby Lopez has gone under several names in the ring including Gixx, Tyler Black and Seth Rollins. He debuted in professional wrestling in 2005 and by 2013 he won his first “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” award. Seth Rollins was a part of “The Shield” along with Roman Reigns and while they had pledged to fight injustice it seemed they were actually working for CM Punk and attacking his enemies. Rollins has feuded with several big names during his time, including John Cena, Triple H and Dolph Ziggler.

One of the most iconic pro wrestlers to ever do it, Hogan won his first award in 1980 and his last thirty years later. Hulk Hogan was an icon in the 80s and 90s and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. Hogan quickly became the face of WWF in the 1980s after beginning his career as a villain, feuding with the likes of André the Giant and The Undertaker. He would go on to switch between the villain and hero numerous times over the years.

Patera was born in 1942 and debuted in 1973. He stayed in the game until 1992 and had a brief but intense run as the most hated man in pro wrestling in the late 70s and early 80s. Patera was one of the most hated villains of his time, known for using his swinging full nelson to injure fan favorites. He also competed as a shot putter in college and in the Olympic trials in 1968.

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine dropped out of college to pursue his dreams to be a pro wrestler, going to train with Stu Hart in Canada. He is the son of pro wrestler Johnny Valentine who initially tried to dissuade him from pursuing a pro wrestling career. Valentine was known for all sorts of dirty tricks, including luring Ric Flair into an alliance only to betray him in the ring. He also repeatedly went for Roddy Piper’s ear, which everyone knew had been badly injured in a previous match.

Angle debuted in 1998 and two years later was already winning awards for being pro wrestling’s most hated competitor. He started his career being arrogant, talking down to fans and acting better than everyone around him. This escalated to him betraying alliances and literally and figuratively backstabbing allies with a steel chair. He was also known to bait competitors in by offering them a shot at winning the gold medal that he’d actually won at the 1996 Olympics for wrestling.

Randy Orton is a third-generation pro wrestler and son of Bob “Cowboy” Orton. Randy’s father tried to dissuade him from becoming a pro wrestler and at first it worked. Orton joined the US Marines instead but was dishonorably discharged a year later and served over a month in military prison. He then went into wrestling where he’d become one of the most hated wrestlers of all time. Orton called himself “The Legend Killer” and was known for completely disrespecting older wrestlers and always plotting to take them down.

Woooo! “The Nature Boy” was known for his excessive energy and pizzazz. He was all about running his mouth and letting everyone know he thought he was the best in wrestling and beyond. Flair took the idea of being the world champion to the next level, dressing in designer suits and elegant robes, bleaching his hair blond and flaunting expensive jewelry. He made sure to let everyone know “to be ‘The Man,’ you gotta beat the man.”

Triple H is the most hated pro wrestler of all time. Coincidentally, his favorite wrestler growing up was Ric Flair. He became infamous for his catchphrase “Suck It” while using his trademark “crotch chop” hand motion. As his career progressed, he used all sorts of dirty tricks to get to the top including hiring other wrestlers to injure his rivals and getting his manager to throw sand in his opponent’s eyes. He infamously taunted a competitor by saying he violated the corpse of an unrequited love after she died in a car crash.