1. Vince McMahon (1998)
Earlier, we talked about how a freshly heel-turned Shawn Michaels passed the torch to Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIV. Immediately after that match, Michaels left the WWE with a back injury that would keep him out of action for over four years. Stone Cold needed a new heel to feud with, someone who the fans would be rabid to see the Rattlesnake get his hands on. That person was not a regular wrestler. That person was the owner of the company. Though Vince started showing signs of a heel turn in late 1997 (describing the infamous screwjob of Bret Hart with the famous phrase "Bret Screwed Bret"), in 1998, he fully embraced being the bad guy, and openly discussed how a foul-mouthed, beer drinking redneck would not make for a good champion. The Austin/McMahon rivalry went on to become the greatest in wrestling history. McMahon did everything humanly possible to keep Austin from winning the title and in return, Austin pulled some of the most over-the-top stunts to get revenge on McMahon. It was in April of 1998 that an advertised Raw main event between Austin and the boss enabled Raw to finally get a ratings victory over the Nitro program that had been beating them for almost two years straight. With McMahon as the top heel, the Attitude Era was responsible for putting WCW out of business, and leaving WWE as the sole major wrestling promotion.