10 Most Terrifying Wrestlers Of All Time
Just in time for Halloween.
Over the years, professional wrestling has given audiences several characters that were created to terrify the masses.
Of course, in the world of sports entertainment, the line between frightening and comical is often razor-thin. To illustrate the previous point, look no further than acts like The Yeti and Damien Demento. The pair were supposed to be creepy but were far more likely to incite laughter than a feeling of genuine terror.
That being said, when done correctly, the "creepy heel persona" can work brilliantly.
Of course, when one thinks of terrifying wrestlers, it's easy to default to vampires, boogeymen, and characters that are clearly designed to be eerie. However, some of the most frightening wrestlers weren't trying to portray the supernatural.
As we are about to see, there are several reality-based personas that are more than capable of sending a chill down any wrestling fan's spine.
While there are a few obvious entries, this list isn't full of lazy choices like Gangrel, Kevin Thorne, or wrestlers who were supposed to be some sort of actual monster. Instead, we are going to focus on characters that were genuinely terrifying — often for very different reasons.
10. Ox Baker
At 6'5" with black, bushy eyebrows, looking intimidating came somewhat naturally for Ox Baker. Take those elements combined with the shaved head and Fu Manchu, and you have one scary looking individual.
However, it wasn't just Baker's appearance that made him terrifying. In an era when kayfabe was still alive and well, the big man was said to have killed two of his opponents with his finishing move, the dreaded 'Heart Punch'.
A few days after a match with Baker, a wrestler named Alberto Torres died of a ruptured appendix. However, the AWA decided to blame the Heart Punch as part of the storyline.
Roughly a year later, in August 1972, another one of Baker's opponents, Ray Gunkel, passed away in the locker room after their match. This time, it was a hematoma caused by the finisher that resulted in a heart attack. In essence, albeit indirectly, the move was responsible for someone's death and, once again, was worked into the storyline.
It must have been an uneasy feeling for 1970s wrestling fans to sit ringside in close proximity to villainous-looking, 340-pound man who was said to have killed two people.