The colorful villains, heels, bad guys, and rule breakers worthy of a spot in the pro wrestling hall of fame In The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels , critically acclaimed authors Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson take readers on an informative and entertaining ride through mat mayhem. With their signature mix of original research, interviews, and anecdotes, they describe the rise and development of wrestling’s bad guys, from riots in small-town arenas in the 1920s to the mega-event pay-per-views of today. The Heels explains how a barrel-chested Milwaukee brewer became wrestling’s first Nazi, then served his country with distinction in World War II, as well as how bleached blond bad guys like the legendary Ric Flair trace their lineage to Gorgeous George — and about the little-known Ohioan that George himself emulated. And of course, Oliver and Johnson’s list of the most influential heels in history is sure to spark debate. Like its predecessors in the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series, The Heels features more than a hundred rarely or never-before-seen photos of wrestling’s most despised characters. From the casual fan to the wrestling historian, anyone interested in the unique world of sports entertainment should have this on their bookshelf. "An irreplaceable reference tool and a great documentation of our storied wrestling history."  —KayfabeMemories.com "A fascinating journey. . . . Rating: 9.5 / 10."  —Online World of Wrestling A Virginia-based writer and editor, Steven Johnson has won more than 20 regional and national awards for his reporting on a variety of stories. He wrote his first wrestling magazine story in 1973 and contributes to SLAM! Wrestling and other publications. Greg Oliver is the author of 14 books and counting, and the producer of the long-running SLAM! Wrestling website. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife and son. The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame the Heels By Greg Oliver, Steven Johnson, Michael Holmes ECW PRESS Copyright © 2007 Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55022-759-8 Contents Acknowledgements, Foreword by Rick Martel, Introduction, The Top Twenty, The Next Five, The Pioneers, The Madmen, The Egotists, The Monsters, The Technicians, The Connivers, The Tough Guys, The Foreigners, Notes on Sources, CHAPTER 1 The Top 20 1. "NATURE BOY" BUDDY ROGERS You still see him everywhere. You see him every time Vince McMahon swaggers down the runway to the ring on TV. You see him every time someone clamps on a figure-four leglock. You see him every time someone screams out, "NA-ture Boy!" You see him everywhere because wrestlers, promoters, and fans all agree that he was the most imitated, most talented, most ... everything heel in history. The ironic thing is that there wasn't much original about Buddy Rogers. His name was lifted from Charles "Buddy" Rogers, an actor and jazz musician who starred in Wings, the first winner of an Academy Award for best picture. "Nature Boy" was a number one hit on the Billboard charts in 1948. The sneer, the strut, the pretty boy looks ... those were parts of wrestling almost from the start. It's just that all-time greats like Don Leo Jonathan agree Rogers packaged them like no wrestler before. "He really wasn't that good of a hand, but he was a hell of a showman. He could draw houses where other guys couldn't. He just had that thing. He had a way of making those people want to kill him, and he could do it just with a look, a posture," Jonathan said. Billy Darnell, Rogers' friend and greatest rival, tells of an incident in the early 1950s that puts it all in perspective. "In those days, in Hollywood, you could go in small clubs and see the best entertainment in the world, and never spend a dime for a cover charge or anything. At the Brown Derby, Nat King Cole was there and he had his trio. So I walk in, and I'm sitting down, and there's Nat up there playing something. And Buddy Rogers walked in the door. It was an amazing thing. The spotlight went over to Buddy Rogers, and Nat looked over and saw him and nodded, and he transposed the song he was playing right into 'Nature Boy.'" Rogers was the sport's top gate attraction for the better part of two decades, until he lost the World Wide Wrestling Federation world title to Bruno Sammartino in May 1963, and essentially ended his active career. In his most famous match, he drew a record 38,600 to Chicago's Comiskey Park in June 1961, when he beat Pat O'Connor for the National Wrestling Alliance championship. While he served some duty as a fan favorite, especially early in his career under his real name of Herman "Dutch" Rohde, he was meant to be a heel. "Buddy Rogers loves being hated. He loves being hated almost as much as he loves being Buddy Rogers," observed famed Chicago sportswriter Dave Condon. As Rogers himself once explained, "It's bread and butter, and cake, too, for me. The more the fans hate me, the m