10 best heels in wrestling history
Superman needs Lex Luthor, Batman needs the Joker, and in wrestling, every babyface needs a heel.
Even during the Attitude Era in the WWE, there was still a dividing line between what the fans cheered and what they booed.
Being a great heel takes more than wrestling acumen or good insults; They should represent something fundamentally wrong with society or culture, and parade about as the avatar of evil--all to rile up the fans and invoke their ire!
Here are ten of pro wrestling's greatest villains.
#10 Gorgeous George
We begin the list with one of the first well-known heels in wrestling, Gorgeous George. The skilled amateur wrestler made the transition to the professional ring and created a sensation with his over the top, effeminate antics.
Gorgeous George would refuse to enter the ring until it had been sprayed with perfume. If the referee dared to touch him during a check for foreign objects, he would claim "Get your filthy hands off me!"
Even though George's wife accompanied him to the ring as a valet, he still drew heat from the homophobic 1940s crowds, who hated any depiction of men being 'fruity'. With the advent of television, George's fame exploded. He garnered mainstream media attention and put pro wrestling on the map.
Gorgeous George set the standard for heels, and his flamboyant ways have been copied by everyone from Ric Flair to Muhammed Ali.