10 Best WWE Heel Performances Of All Time

They don't give out Academy Awards for performances in wrestling, but if they did, heels would probably win them more often than faces.

This is because it's typically much easier to catch the eye as an arrogant jerk or an all-out psychopath than as someone who plays by the rules. That's why Jack Nicholson has never looked better than when he was Jack Torrance, and ditto Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman.

Unlike screen actors, however, performers of the squared circle need to show intuition as well as an ability to follow the script they're given. They need to be capable of reading the crowd on a given night and drawing that little bit of extra heat on the fly.

A truly great heel doesn't just make the crowd boo them - they also make them cheer harder and louder for their opponent, so that they in turn become truly and genuinely invested in the outcome of the match or feud (and therefore more likely to tune into or purchase the next show).

Not everyone can pull it off, basically, and those who can deserve to be celebrated.

Arguably Brock Lesnar's lowest moment as a heel came in 2003 when, having beaten one-legged Zach Gowen into a pulp, he then proceeded to wipe blood from his chest right in front of his mother in the front-row.

But that was low-hanging fruit. Given such a heinous task, it would have been virtually impossible for the 'Beast Incarnate' to be cheered by anyone who wasn't a complete sociopath. His performance at WrestleMania XXX - where he conquered Undertaker's much-vaunted Streak - demanded just a little bit more subtlety.

As just about everyone in the arena - Paul Heyman included - began picking their jaw off the floor in wide-eyed horror, Lesnar simply looked down the barrel of the camera and smiled the same maniacal grin we see whenever he's just finished suplexing the life out of his opponent.