Top 10 Most Hated Wrestlers of All Time

In 2019, Dom joined the WWE and formed a team with his father, Rey Mysterio. All was well...until 2022’s “Clash at the Castle.” After Edge and Rey beat Judgement Day, Dom celebrated with the two. Then, he booted Edge below the belt before clotheslining his father, sealing his heel turn as he joined Judgement Day. Renamed “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio, he soon formed a special bond with his "Mami," Rhea Ripley. Despite this, fans still hated Dom for his underhand tactics and arrogance. That only got worse when he turned on Ripley to hook up with Liv Morgan. Due to his volatile history, "Dirty" Dom has been awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” in 2023 and 2024.

Nowadays, he’s one of the industry's most popular wrestlers at WWE. But during the latter part of his AEW days, it was very different for Rhodes. As one of the brainchildren who created the brand, his feud with Anthony Ogogo, especially the awful weigh-in segment, caused a backlash. On top of relentless booing, even though he was seemingly a babyface, the fans really showed their displeasure at Rhodes’s character in 2021. During a tag match, he threw his weight belt into the crowd, only for them to toss it back at him. Yikes. A few months later, while he stated it was due to personal reasons, Rhodes left AEW.

When he returned to the WWE ring from a serious back injury in 2002, The Heartbreak Kid began showing why people today call him one of the best. However, while Michaels was talented before that, his reputation in and out of the squared circle was vastly different. 1997 was a particular highlight in Michaels hatred. At “WWF One Night Only” in Birmingham, England, he controversially beat home country hero The British Bulldog to win the European Championship, causing the crowd to cover the ring in litter as Michaels taunted them. Two months later, at “Survivor Series,” HBK was involved in the infamous Montreal Screwjob, where he controversially won the WWF Championship from Bret Hart. Canadians still haven’t forgiven Michaels.

When the Iranian-born wrestler returned to the then-WWF in 1983, he soon began carving out his name in heel legend. With his pro-Iran stance and spitting on the floor whenever he had to mention the US, Sheik was a heat magnet with the crowd. When he faced off against American heroes like Hulk Hogan and Sgt. Slaughter, it only got worse as fans reigned boos upon him and sometimes garbage. Occasionally, they would go too far as they sent The Iron Sheik death threats. The peak of Sheik-hatred was when he controversially beat Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship in 1983. Thousands of people in Madison Square Garden shouted abuse and booed as he taunted them.

Nowadays, it can be difficult for a heel to generate heat without being beloved by some for being cool. Yet that’s not an issue for Maxwell Jacob Friedman. With his arrogant, brash, and cowardly attitude, alongside constantly telling other wrestlers and the crowd that he’s better than them, he became one of the industry’s most despised characters. Starting from the days of betraying Rhodes during his AEW Championship bout against Chris Jericho in 2019, MJF has drawn further ire with his mistreatment of Wardlow and tossing Jericho off a cage. Whenever MJF interacts with the crowd, it usually ends with an insult to them or him grabbing their drink to throw over them.

There’s nothing wrestling fans hate more than when a character is forced down their throats. Case in point, Super Cena. Since rising to the top with his first WWE Championship win in 2005, a large portion of the fanbase has despised him. Some of their reasons for hating him include Cena’s undefeatable positioning, his child-friendly appearance, the “5 moves of doom,” and his mantra. The most anti-Cena experience happened at 2006’s “ECW One Night Stand.” While facing Rob Van Dam to defend his title, he was greeted with signs saying, “If Cena Wins, We Riot.” Multiple times, Cena threw his shirt into the crowd, only to get chucked back. Thankfully, Cena lost. Otherwise, we dread to think what would’ve happened.

In recent times, WWE took the successful plunge of making Reigns a heel. But for years, they positioned him as Cena 2.0, infuriating the audience. Still wearing Shield attire and using the theme tune post-breakup, Reigns was thrust into the top of the company, even when fans felt others were more deserving. One such beloved wrestler was Daniel Bryan. When he was unceremoniously eliminated from the 2015 “Royal Rumble,” the crowd turned on the pay-per-view as they knew what was to come...the coronation of Reigns. Even the Big Dog getting the rub from The Rock didn’t settle the crowd’s loathing. The backlash against Reigns would continue for years, with a highlight being the night after Wrestlemania 33 where he was relentlessly booed.

During the ‘80s, you couldn’t get much more American than Sgt. Slaughter defending the nation against the anti-US hatred of the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Yet when he returned to the then-WWF in 1990, Slaughter did the unthinkable. With real-life tensions between Iraq and the US, which led to the Gulf War, Slaughter betrayed his country by becoming an Iraqi sympathizer. He would criticize Americans by calling them “puke” and “maggots” while wearing Arab attire and teaming with the Iron Sheik. The hatred, which only got worse when Slaughter won the WWF Champion, was so intense that Slaughter received many death threats and reportedly had to wear a bulletproof vest. Understandably, after only a year with the gimmick, he switched back to the US.

No wrestler has one more of Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” awards than Triple H. With 5 to his name, he spent the majority of his career as a heel for a good reason. Whether he was a cool baddie, like with D-Generation X, or an overpowered authority figure, Triple H has drawn a lot of hate, even from fellow wrestlers, for backstage politics. Certain moments where the animosity for him increased were when he won a racially-charged feud with Booker T, the terrible Kaite Vick angle with Kane and dominating the Heavyweight title picture for way too long. Plus, we can’t forgive him for beating Sting at “WrestleMania 31.”

Back in the ‘80s, Hulkamania was running wild, brother, even outside of the ring as the media jumped on the bandwagon. Hogan, with his 24-inch “pythons,” was a national treasure, even when he jumped from the then-WWF to WCW. Yet, at 1996’s “Bash at the Beach,” not only was his legacy altered forever, but so was wrestling’s. In the main event, with the Outsiders’ Scott Hall and Kevin Nash being sneaky against Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting, Hogan seemingly came down to the ring to confront them. Instead, he attacked Savage and joined Nash and Scott to form the New World Order. Hulkamaniacs were livid as they chucked trash at the trio, who were instantly turned into the industry’s biggest bads.


Which wrestler persona moment do you hate the most that we haven’t mentioned in the list? Let us know below!