When the term "heel" (the villain in a wrestling match) is used, some names immediately thought of are "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Modern fans may think more towards current heels such as Nick Aldis and MJF. We cannot forget the mean girls of the ring such as Trish Stratus, Sensational Sherry and Vickie Guerrero.
Fans used to be riled up on a weekly basis from General Managers like Eric Bischoff, John Laurinaitis and Paul Heyman. There are a handful of great heel personalities that have been mentioned, and a lot more can be too, but there have also been heels that were underwhelming and unsuccessful. Here are ten wrestling villains who barely did anything bad.
10 The Goon
The Goon stepped into the WWE's squared circle for the first time on the March 10, 1996, edition of Superstars of Wrestling. The Goon, played by Bill Irwin, was kicked out of every sports league he played in and was banned from the NHL and all other professional hockey organizations, so he would say as part of the gimmick.
The Goon only wrestled two matches in the WWE, both by countout, using a running body check on the outside. The Goon's hype of being a dastardly villain was apparently left on the ice as his initial run ended after nine months. Career misconduct for being a lousy heel.
9 Rey Mysterio
The forgotten heel run of Rey Mysterio in WCW, which more or less ended when the company was bought out in March 2001. The Filthy Animals stable was officially formed in August 1999 which featured Billy Kidman, Konnan, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.
The group played shenanigans like stealing wallets, leaving out "bad" food for Ron and Don Harris and talking smack but they did "bury" Ric Flair in the desert once; heels gonna heel. Mysterio was a prankster more than a villain really as he and the Animals occasionally feuded with heel stables which flipped them to faces by default.
8 Becky Lynch
Becky Lynch turned heel for the first time at SummerSlam 2018 after losing in the SmackDown Women's Championship Triple Threat Match. Lynch attacked the new champion Charlotte Flair and would begin her mean streak on the mic the following SmackDown. Becky called out the fans for their lack of support.
Fans suddenly had a change of heart and bought into the new Becky Lynch who would soon evolve into The Man. Even though Lynch was still technically a heel going into the next pay-per-view a month later, the cheers she was getting had put a face turn in motion.
7 Cameron
The Funkadactyls, Cameron and Naomi, existed for two and a half years as a team. By the time of the team's end in mid-2014, Cameron had developed a mean attitude contrary to the happy, smiling dancer she portrayed. Besides turning on her friend and partner, Cameron would use heel tactics like grabbing her opponent's tights during a pinfall
Mostly all her attempted dirty tactics were all for not as she lost many of her matches as a heel. Her heel turn probably did more bad than good for her career. After her WWE release in 2016, Cameron debuted for AEW in July 2020 under the name Ariane Andrew.
6 Disco Inferno
The Disco Inferno was a professional wrestling enigma; he was over with the crowd, not to a high degree, but was pigeonholed for success by his gimmick. Disco was not going to headline and represent WCW but at least the audience boogied down occasionally.
While Disco is mostly remembered as a face, he spent a few years as a heel beginning in 1998. His most dastardly acts was being one of the men to run-in and cause Goldberg's first defeat in WCW, even though Scott Hall is primarily remembered for his stun gun to Goldberg. At the time, Disco just wanted to part of the nWo Wolfpac and wanted to prove his worth. Another heelish act made by Disco was turning on Konnan when the two were in The Filthy Animals. As a heel, he was mostly on the wrong end of beatings.
5 Eugene
Nick Dinsmore made a name for himself on the independent scene, especially in Louisville and Ohio, and there were a few matches he had in WCW before debuting on Raw in April 2004 as the lovable Eugene and on-screen nephew of Eric Bischoff.
The Eugene character was portrayed as having a disability which was questionable from the beginning but stayed a face until late 2006 when he turned on his then-partner "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, attacking Jim with his trademark 2x4 which was the peak of the villainous Eugene. He switched back to being a face (the "good guy" wrestler) weeks later.
4 Linda McMahon
The former CEO of WWE was the corporate executive that set things straight and was the heart of the McMahon family and glue that held them together. Linda named Steve Austin as the new CEO in 1999, added Mick Foley to the main event of WrestleMania 2000 and came out of paralysis to groin kick her husband Vince at WrestleMania X-Seven.
The latter action was fair game for Vince drugging her. Linda's heel turn came on the October 10, 2005, Raw when she shockingly fired Jim Ross before delivering a groin kick to "Good Ol' JR." She appeared the following week, pre-recorded, to deliver her final heel act of orchestrating an attack on Mick Foley.
3 Spike Dudley
In today's product, Sasha Banks is referred to as "The Boss" but that name has also been used for Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and little Spike Dudley. Spike, the runt of the Dudley clan, became beloved by fans in the 90s for the beatings he took in ECW.
After debuting in WWE in 2001 he turned heel on the July 29, 2004, SmackDown where he aligned himself with his "brothers" Bubba and D-Von. Spike began to refer to himself as "the boss" of The Dudley Boyz and would orchestrate attacks. Besides the common in-ring heel tactics, Spike as a villain was laughable and would be released a year later.
2 3 Count
Boy bands were all the rage in the late '90s. While groups like N'SYNC and The Backstreet Boys were frequenting radio airplay, 3 Count was making their presence known on WCW television. Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Evan Karagias, and Tank Abbott made up the boy band parody group that ran for a year and disbanded just before WCW's 2001 closure.
The group of heels had feuds with other cruiserweights and tag teams but really had no villainous actions of significance. Sure, they were incredibly obnoxious, and having Tank Abbott as their security and heater did not win fans over but overall they were underwhelming heels.
1 Imposter Kane
Before finding his calling in WWE as Luke Gallows and as Doc Gallows in NJPW and Impact Wrestling, Andrew Hankinson first appeared on WWE television on the May 29, 2006, episode of Raw in Kane's old full mask and bodysuit, confronting The Big Red Machine.
"Imposter Kane," as he became known, would attack Kane in the following weeks on Raw before fighting each other at Vengeance 2006. Despite being the villain Imposter Kane won their match cleanly by pinfall. Imposter Kane was thrown out of the arena the following night by Kane. A lot of promise but only with a few run-ins, a villainous bust.