15 WWE Stars Who Thrived On Being Hated

By Brad Hamilton /

14. Edge

Edge is a unique entrant on this list because he€™s someone who managed to take actual hatred of Adam Copeland the real person and transfer it to Edge the wrestling character. When the Matt Hardy/Lita?Edhe love triangle scandal broke, Hardy waged a one-man war against his ex-lover and former best friend, smearing them across all mediums for their backstabbing betrayal. Initially, fans viewed Matt Hardy as the sensitive romantic who€™d had his heart ripped out by two of the people he trusted the most and they greeted Edge and Lita with an appropriate amount of scorn and disdain. Fans rallied behind Hardy€™s cause and forced WWE€™s hand in rehiring him, and the two put their personal differences aside to do business in a very real and oftentimes uncomfortable program. It was the beginning of a gigantic push for Edge that would eventually net him 11 world championships. As time passed, history became much kinder to Edge and Lita €“ mainly because Matt Hardy revealed himself to be a bit of a lunatic €“ and they were able to work themselves back into the good graces of the fans. But for a solid two years, Edge was easily the hottest heel in the business, enjoying some very real heat. Without that incident, it€™s hard to know whether he would have ever ascended to the level he did.