10 Most ANNOYING Wrestlers Ever

There's a neat mix of knowingly annoying and accidentally irritating on this list.

Some characters, after all, were grating by design. Their sole mission anytime they appeared onscreen was to make fans roll their eyes, grunt dismissively and then hope to see them get some comeuppance from a heroic babyface. Props will be given to those who deserve it, but hair shall be torn from heads when analysing those who just had 'go away heat' or weren't actually supposed to be so aggravating in the first place.

It's actually really easy for companies like WWE or AEW to get babyfaces wrong, especially in the modern era. The best good guys are organically accepted (sometimes even created) by the audience. The worst somehow appear less likeable than every heel on the roster; even more troublesome is when promoters just can't see what fans are seeing during painful week by week misery.

Old school WCW marks shouldn't worry, because Atlanta doesn't get off easy either! An infamously bad reign of terror is within, and it acts as a classic example of when real-life ego and 'I know best' thinking clashes with what wrestling fans actually want to see on telly. That toxic mix of creative force feeding only ever ends in tears.

Special mention must go to those playing a deliberately irksome gimmick though. They nailed it, and they might've just eased some pain for those tasked with sitting through some of the crappiest content this biz has ever shunted in front of cameras.

Lights...camera...AGONY!

Sometimes, hammering home things that blatantly aren't true is enough to cause a stir and grab some attention. That's what Sami Zayn started to do in 2021: Zayn alleged there was a conspiracy from WWE wrestlers, management and fans to hold his career down. Despite being presented with clear evidence that this wasn't true, Sami kept harping on and on...and on and on and on.

He was so good at ignoring the truth when it didn't fit his skewed perspective that fans actually started to find Zayn's outlandish character endearing. Things threatened to go off the rails when Johnny Knoxville was brought in for a guest spot at the 2022 Royal Rumble, but then JK and Sami produced a remarkably entertaining comedy match at WrestleMania 38.

Suddenly, WWE realised just how adaptable and good Zayn was/is. They flirted with a one off segment between Sami and The Bloodline, then decided to keep things going after spotting the chemistry Zayn had with Roman Reigns and The Usos. That led to a brilliant portion of the man's career - he became an "Honorary Uce" and spun out of Bloodline biz to become a champion babyface worth getting behind.

What a rollercoaster for the ex-El Generico.

Sami was stupidly great at being annoying. He turned what could easily have been a shortlived (and boring) conspiracy theory gimmick into something that changed his WWE career forever. Who knew being such a backstage pest in promos and other vignettes would pay main event dividends like it did for Sami?!