20 Most Hated Heel Moves In Wrestling History

Everyone remembers Rick Rude. There was that moustache. There was that physique, one of the most sculpted in wrestling history (and especially in the eighties, when it was the exception rather than the rule). There were the notorious backstage stories of his legendary toughness; this was a man who could legitimately knock someone unconscious with a slap, and who once supposedly implied that he’d shoot Eric Bischoff if he screwed with him.

Of course, Rick Rude was also one of the best talkers of his generation, and a fantastic, sleazy heel. Before every match, he’d insult the guys in the crowd, who couldn’t hold a candle to him, and after every match, he’d have his manager Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan pick a girl in the crowd to kiss him, the so-called ‘sexiest man in the WWF’ apparently being irresistible to woman.

That set up the grudge match of 1988. Following one match, Rude was actually rejected - by the wife of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts. Furious, Rude insulted her, earning a slap for his trouble. When he looked as though he intended to return the favour, out came Jake to settle the score, leading to a fantastic pull-apart brawl.

But Rude wasn’t done messing with Cheryl. He wore specially airbrushed tights to the ring beneath his ring gear with an image of her face emblazoned all across the crotch. That led to to an infamous moment where, witnessing Rude gyrating suggestively with his wife’s face where it had no business being, Roberts rushed the ring to attack his hated enemy, ripping the tights right off him.

Rick Rude’s rude rick was blurred out on television, with the implication that he was stark naked in the ring. Of course, the live crowd saw that he was wearing a thong. Still, it all made for an electric feud, culminating in Roberts defeat of the despised heel at Survivor Series.