They manipulate the audience to cheer the babyface, to want to see the hero shut them up and beat them down. They are the catalyst for the story.
Some are loud and obnoxious, others cold and calculating. Some fight with words, others with fists. All are indispensable to an industry that lives and breathes on the basic premise of good versus evil.
In an industry evolving before our very eyes, providing us with two companies in WWE and AEW that present bad guys in different ways, these are the heels that are most effective at their craft and are among the top 10 in business.
Bobby Lashley is a great heel not because he talks a big game or relies in an overabundance of cheating, but because he can smash through any babyface that challenges for his WWE Championship.
With MVP by his side, The All Mighty has proven absolutely dominant since winning the title in March, defeating every major babyface on the Raw brand and backing up the words of his manager. He has done so impressively, rarely leaving any doubt as to who the superior competitor is.
That he was willing to go as far as to apply the Hurt Lock to Goldberg's teenage son after thoroughly demolishing the legend at SummerSlam only adds to his effectiveness as a villain.
There are others who are flashier and more vocal but there are few more physical than the baddest man on the Raw brand.
Yes, fans love Dr. Britt Baker DMD but that doesn't make her any less of a seriously impressive heel.
The reigning AEW women's champion is as self-absorbed as it gets. Dating back to her character adjustment in early 2020 that saw her verbally abuse Tony Schiavone and continue to do so throughout the year, she has developed into one of the best baddies in the business.
Baker loves her some her and surrounds herself with sycophantic "yes" women who take her orders because of what she can do for them. There is Rebel, who openly lets Baker call her by the wrong name, and Jamie Hayter, who puts herself between the champ and every challenger that comes down the road.
If they get through those two, Baker conjures all the arrogance and confidence necessary to tear them down verbally in the weeks ahead of a title defense, then proves her abilities between the ropes to successfully hold onto her championship.
And if push comes to shove, she cheats like hell to pick up the win.
Baker is a great promo, talking down to others while propping herself up. It's all about her and the fans eat up that confidence, appreciating her attitude and swag. She backs it up, perhaps the most important part of being a heel in today's wrestling landscape.
Fans hate Charlotte Flair because of her excellence.
She is great, knows it, can back it up and is always in the thick of the title hunt.
As the daughter of Ric Flair, she doesn't rely on her father's name to get herself over, despite fans who often tout nepotism as the reason for her success. Instead, she busts her ass between the ropes to prove that she is the greatest women's performer in the world, back up her claims with the best match on any card.
A match that typically ends with her arm raised in victory.
The trumpets in her theme song that announce her arrival, the vibrant and decorative robes and the confidence that oozes in every step make for a total package that fans can despise. The wins and championships are merely icing on the cake.
That Flair is somehow becoming more confident as her career advances, and she can demonstrate said confidence more than she did early on, only helps make her that much more dislikable. Silencing critics by proving her own talents, without her father by her side, doesn't hurt, either.
From the moment he debuted on WWE television as the host of the Diva Search in 2006, fans have had the overwhelming desire to punch The Miz right in the face.
Loud, obnoxious and arrogant, the two-time WWE champion has made a career out of his ability to cut a stellar promo and get under the fans' skin. Whether being goofy, humorous or deathly serious, he has a way of manipulating an audience via promo that others in the industry could only dream of.
Look no further than his work with Daniel Bryan, which saw Miz abandon laughs and go for the jugular, insulting Bryan's accomplishments while staring deep into the camera. Those weren't the words of an over-the-top bad guy but, rather, a performer who constantly feels as though he is on the defensive when it comes to his own credibility.
The paranoia over his place in WWE history fuels Miz to deliver some of his best, most inciting promos. He riles crowds up, those same crowd who have watched him cheat his way to every major victory or rolled their eyes every time he and John Morrison tried to get "moist" over here in 2021.
They appreciate and respect him, but also know he talks a big game and only sometimes backs it up.
When he does, though, they have to deal with the celebratory, "I told you so" promos that every great heel can execute flawlessly. He does it better than nearly anyone.
That he has been the same character for so many years, without any real evolution, is the only thing hurting his spot on this particular countdown.
From the way he dresses to his promos, everything about The Drip King is over the top. His laugh, his facial expressions, body language...all of it is so ridiculous that he generates heat from fans just because they want him to shut up and go away.
But then, he does something that completely brings his heel persona into focus: he shuts off the forced laughter and looks into the camera with intense seriousness, his eyes staring daggers through the audience. It is usually the result of a claim made by an opponent that tugs at his insecurities.
And therein lies the excellence of this character.
Rollins dresses big, has ridiculously loud theme music and forces every reaction because he is covering up for his own weaknesses; shortcomings he is all too familiar with. That is why losing to Edge sent him into a downward spiral (pun totally intended) that culminated with him brutally attacking Cesaro a week ago.
That is why losing the Universal Championship in 2019 gave way to a "Monday Night Messiah" character that, in his mind, elevated him beyond titles.
Rollins' character may have been all over the map for the last year and could still use some fine-tuning, but what he has done from a performance perspective to get fans to hate him has worked exponentially and the result is one of the more interesting personas on television.
Now, if only WWE could reign it in ever so slightly to make it more coherent for the masses, it would have a heel around whom it could build an entire show.
Malakai Black believes in the occult and uses elements of it in the presentation of his character, sure, but at his core, the competitor is a relentless and merciless villain who targeted the first family of AEW to tremendous results.
First, he targeted the beloved Cody Rhodes and drove him away from wrestling with a single kick to the head. From there, he wiped out young Brock Anderson, shut down underdog Lee Johnson and Wednesday night, bloodied future Hall of Famer Dustin Rhodes with Black Mass.
He has done it methodically, never allowing himself to be caught off-guard or to have his emotions get the best of him. He is cold, calculating and precise in everything he does, making him one of the most engaging performers in the industry right now.
It is a far cry from the directionless, motivationless character we saw in WWE, where fans were just supposed to accept that he was a tattooed babyface with no rhyme or reason for doing what he did.
As a villain, Black has found himself, molding a persona that works for him and is benefiting exponentially from the production efforts of AEW. The booking hasn't hurt, either.
The real test of Black's long-term success will come September 22 in Arthur Ashe Stadium when he battles Cody in a rematch of their memorable first encounter. A win cements him as one of the top bad guys, and contenders, in AEW. A loss may send him spiraling out of control, to depths that may actually enhance his villainous presence.
As King Corbin, he incited jeers because of his unlikable personality.
When he lost his crown, fans cheered his fall from grace, all-too-happy at the misfortune that had struck poor Baron Corbin.
Now, the recipient of good luck in Las Vegas and renewed fortune, he is once again under the WWE Universe's skin for touting his own wealth. "I'm too happy and too rich for this!" he exclaimed as he dodged a physical confrontation with Big E one week.
The next? He brought out the insufferable Logan Paul, revealing the celebrity to be his new friend before leveling Kevin Owens with a cheap shot to intensify their feud.
Corbin has been a bright spot on WWE television, a heel so dislikable that fans will genuinely cheer when he is begging for $100, gleefully watching the man go through hard times on national television. That is a testament to the work of the performer and his understanding of what it takes to get on the nerves of his audience.
He cheats and talks a big game on the mic, sure, but it is Corbin's understanding of when to flash a cocky grin or ramp up the intensity that makes him so good at what he does.
What started as disdain for the way he was over pushed early in his heel run has developed into genuine dislike for the character and how damn grating he is on the nerves. His newfound riches will only further annoy fans and help him retain his place on this list for the foreseeable future.
There is a clique of friends everyone knew in high school that was obnoxiously great at everything, and they knew it. They were popular, probably jocks, and oozed cool. They had all the cool stuff, all the prettiest girlfriends and walked through the halls with confidence most only dreamed of.
They were unlikable to those on the outside and totally enviable.
In the pro wrestling world, high school is All Elite Wrestling and that group is The Elite.
Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and The Good Brothers are great wrestling heels who tout their excellence and cheat like hell to maintain it. They have the tech nerd in Brandon Cutler, who makes sure everything they do is captured on video, cool uncle Don Callis and recently reintroduced edgy best friend Adam Cole to really round out the package.
Their reign of dominance in AEW for the last year has resulted in great matches but also incredible heat as fans await a savior to knock Omega and Co. off their pedestal.
It might be coming, too, in the form of recently debuted Bryan Danielson and the mini army he is assembling with Christian Cage, Jurassic Express and Frankie Kazarian. Even if it does, The Elite is strong enough, resourceful enough and when the situation calls for it, brutal enough to extinguish any threat to their iron grip on the top of the card.
Any stumble is short-lived because when you roll with your friends, as D-Generation X and the New World Order taught us during the height of the Monday Night Wars, any low is short-lived.
Expect The Elite to continue to assert its dominance in AEW for the foreseeable future and continue its run among the best heels in the business.
Roman Reigns may be the best thing about pro wrestling in 2021.
A cerebral heel who is always thinking, calculating and manipulating the situation to best fit him and his needs, he has developed into a character few thought he had in him. Far more comfortable as an egotistical bad guy always seeking to retain his place as the Head of the Table, he has gaslit his own family into following him, stolen the loyalty of Paul Heyman away from Brock Lesnar and reigned atop the SmackDown brand as Universal champion for well over a year at this point.
The fact that he no longer necessarily needs The Usos to hold onto his gold makes him that much more dangerous.
We saw him cleanly knock off Cesaro and John Cena on pay-per-view this year and narrowly overcome a resilient Finn Balor to retain his gold on SmackDown. He dishes out punishment but can absorb it, too, en route to his victory.
Reigns is a badass and could conceivably smash anyone he wants, but also knows when it is time to show vulnerability and put the babyface over as a threat to his throne. It makes for great storytelling and keeps fans invested more than the idea of an unbeatable heel the likes of the aforementioned Lesnar.
Reigns has developed, along with Heyman and the creative team, a character that somehow avoids most of WWE's tired story tropes. He is strong and confident, but uses superb facial expressions and body language to tell the audience when a challenger worries him. Or not.
He expresses his overconfidence on cue, then sells like hell to put over his opponent ahead of their match. But never to the detriment of his character. He is the Tribal Chief, The Head of the Table and the Big Dog on SmackDown. That is never in question.
How he stays that way is and his reliance on the family that he has surrounded himself has helped enhance the heel persona and remind fans that, while this dude is definitely cool, he is still someone you're supposed to hate.
Prior to Wednesday's Dynamite, Roman Reigns was slated to take this top spot. Then MJF made his way to the ring, cut a scathing and insulting promo on Cincinnati and the Pillman family, and snatched it away from the Universal champion.
The self-proclaimed Salt of the Earth has made his young career on his ability cut an opponent down on the mic. Each word cuts like a knife, irritating opponents and infuriating fans to the point that you might be inclined to jump the guardrail and throw a right hand at the scarf-wearing spoiled brat from Long Island.
Then, you remember that behind the suit and the loudmouth interviews is a guy who savagely shoved Chris Jericho off the top of a steel cage and through the entrance ramp. You remember the maniacal look on his face as blood poured down it, the smile he flashed and the look of satisfaction that overcame him as he believed he had ended the career of his former idol.
And then you rethink things and sit the hell down.
MJF is a great heel because he can irritate the hell out of his opponents, then use their emotions against them. He is always one step ahead, always has a plan and rarely loses. He says he's better than everyone but often has to cheat to prove it, insults even his closest allies with his words and is grates on every last one of the audience's nerves.
But still, you love to hate him. You want to see him get his ass handed to him and in an art form in which it is at its most basic when telling the story of good versus evil, he is the slithering snake you want to see the hero stomp on and vanquish.
Above all else, he doesn't want to be the cool bad guy. That makes him invaluable to an industry without traditional bad guys like him.
