1. Rowdy Roddy Piper
Piper was the first major heel in Vince McMahon's WWF. As Hulk Hogan's main rival during the start of the Wrestlemania era, Piper was a great opponent to play the evil role against Hogan's hero persona. In the lead up to the first ever Wrestlemania, the War to Settle the Score event on MTV brought Professional Wrestling into the mainstream and changed the industry forever. Many credit Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan for this boom, but without being offset against Piper's heel character, things may not have been as compelling as they were. Classic Wrestling cartoon Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling would certainly have been minus a main bad guy without Piper leading the villains in the show. After his memorable feud with Mr.T leading to a match at Wrestlemania 2, Piper would turn face later in 1986 and become one of the WWF's most loved characters for many years following. Piper would be another of this list that held the Intercontinental Championship, having that title from Royal Rumble through until Wrestlemania VIII in 1992. Despite his Main Event heel run in the early McMahon WWF days, Piper would never again find himself at this level of the card, being used as a Midcard Superstar in the 90's albeit with household name popularity. Due to his promo skills, accompanied with his ability to speak his mind, Piper could be likened to a CM Punk in today's WWE. Much like Punk, it may have taken a special moment on the microphone for Piper to break through to Main Event level in the company today, and his heel work would have made a perfect advisory for the hero character of the modern WWE era, John Cena.