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There's no doubt in anyone's mind that when it comes to the entertainment industry, people love bad boys.
A great example is Robert Downey, Jr. Although these days Mr. Downey Jr. walks the straight and narrow, and is one of the biggest and most bankable box office stars of our times, that was not always the case. Drinking, partying, arrests, bad behavior, and unprofessional conduct all nearly derailed his career. If it had not been for his role in Marvel's Iron Man and Avengers franchises he might have simply faded away, but due to his 'bad boy' status anything involving him is instant tabloid fodder.
In some ways, his bad boy behavior may have actually increased his market value, especially playing perennial bad boy billionaire Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man.
And it's nothing new. James Dean was known as the Rebel without a Cause until his untimely death, and even today he is still idolized as one of the top Hollywood stars. Many others, from Hugh Grant to Eddie Murphy, have been caught displaying behavior that is less than appropriate, and yet they still manage to continue their careers.
The phenomenon has also spread to pro wrestling. Bad boy performers always have a certain appeal with some segments of the pro wrestling audience, and perhaps always will. Here are seven irrepressible bad boys from professional wrestling.
#1 Bruiser Brody (Frank Donald Goodish)
A towering, massively muscled man, Bruiser Brody perhaps typifies what many lay people think when they hear the words 'pro wrestling.' From his chiselled physique to his wild 'cave man' hair and beard, Brody looks every bit like the wild man he was.
Brody won over thirty championships during his illustrious, but tragically short, career, including the National Wrestling Alliance's International Heavyweight championship, a title defended primarily in Japan. Brody was said to be a possible opponent for Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III, but that never came to pass.
What makes him a bad boy: Bruiser Brody was allegedly as crazy as they come both in and out of the ring. His wild partying and sometimes unprofessional demeanor clashed with the fact he was a dedicated and loving family man. He was also something of a bully backstage, so much so that he was murdered for it in Puerto Rico. While no one was ever convicted of the crime, it's generally believed that José Huertas González, aka Invader #1, was likely guilty of the murder.
#2 Meng/King Haku
Where you know the man known alternately as Prince Tonga, Haku, or Meng, probably depends on which era of pro wrestling you watched. While Tonga Fifita is most remembered for his feats in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his career stretches back all the way to 1978.
Before he even made his debut in pro wrestling, Fifita was sent by the king of Tonga to study Sumo wrestling in Japan. He and several other young men made the long journey and endured the tough training.
While he impressed his trainer immensely, the man's successor was angry that Gaijin--foreign devils--were infiltrating the sacred art of Sumo. In Japan, Sumo wrestlers are officially members of the Shinto clergy, and the idea of Tongan barbarians entering such a solemn order was met with much resistance. Fifita and the other five Tongans soon quit Sumo, and became pro wrestlers instead.
From there, Fifita would be in several famous tag teams, and also spent time as the unofficial 'king of wrestling' in WWE, inheriting the crown from an injured and aging Harley Race.
What makes him a bad boy: When it comes to his demeanor backstage and in the ring, Haku is considered a consummate professional. It is his antics outside of the wrestling world that cause his reputation. Haku is tremendously strong, one of the only wrestlers that Andre the Giant legit feared. So, when he was heckled by a fan about being a 'fake' wrestler, Meng reached into the man's mouth and broke his bottom teeth off.
Then there was the time he bit a man's nose off -- again, these are not urban legends but matters of public record! He also allegedly took on an entire precinct of police officers, who deployed mace upon the Tongan to no effect. Fifita is one of the original bad boys in wrestling.
#3 Scott Steiner
As a collegiate graduate and standout amateur athlete, you'd think Scott Steiner would have more discipline.
Much like his older brother, the Dogfaced Gremlin Ric Steiner, Big Poppa Pump came up through the amateur wrestling program at the University of Michigan. Scott Steiner even earned the distinction of being an all American division one athlete.
Steiner eventually made his way to WCW, joining his brother Ric in a celebrated tag team. The Steiner Brothers are the only team to hold the NWA, WCW, IWGP, and WWE tag team championships.
All good things must come to an end, however, and Scott Steiner split up with brother Ric and turned heel, joining the NWO. This was where he gained the big poppa pump moniker. It's also the gimmick that parlayed world championship runs. He was one of the few WCW stars to have success in WWE.
Scott Steiner's bad boy credentials: Besides having a reputation as something of an instigator and bully backstage, Steiner has had several brushes with the law. One came when he ran into a department of transportation employee doing roadwork with his truck. Steiner plead guilty to vehicular assault, but violated his court deal and wound up spending two weeks in jail.
He was also thrown off of a plane for causing a disturbance, started a fist fight with Diamond Dallas Page and Terry Taylor in the same six month period, and accidentally choked an EMT who he thought was a kayfabe actor. Then there's his propensity for mouthing off both on and off camera -- off script and out of kayfabe -- and denigrating a lot of legendary figures in the sport.
#4 Hulk Hogan
While on camera, Hogan may have played the part of the all American hero, but behind the scenes, he's been guilty of some unsavoury behavior.
Hulk Hogan was a bodybuilder and out of work guitarist in Florida when he came onto the radar of pro wrestling promoters. After an unpleasant incident in which his leg was broken by a jealous veteran, he returned to training and eventually wound up in the AWA as bad guy Sterling Golden.
Hogan would bounce around different promotions before eventually signing with the WWE in the early 1980s. His name was changed from Terry "The Hulk"Bollea to Hulk Hogan, and he was given red hair dye and told to pretend to be Irish. Hogan, fearing the hair dye would exacerbate his already receding hairline, poured the dye down a drain and kept what would become his trademark blonde locks.
Pushed as the ultimate 1980s action hero, Hogan defeated the Iron Sheik for the WWF world heavyweight championship in a move designed to stoke patriotism after the Iran hostage crisis. He would go on to hold the belt for over five years before losing it to Andre the Giant in controversial fashion. His career was revitalized by the advent of the Hollywood Hogan character, turning heel for the first time since his early years.
Hulk Hogan's bad boy credentials: Hogan has been accused of holding back younger talent, but most of his antics concern his reality show and the aftermath thereof. He once blamed a young man slain in an automobile accident for his own death, even though Hogan's son Nick was driving.
He also publicly sympathized with acquitted murder suspect OJ Simpson, indicating he was considering violence toward his wife. Then there were his racial epithets, filmed in a private moment that became all too public.
#5 Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall
In the early 1980s, Scott Hall was a young buck with loads of potential but no wrestling experience. He was paired with journeyman performer Curt Hennig--the man who would one day become Mr. Perfect -- in a celebrated tag team. Hennig not only did most of the heavy lifting in the ring, he also schooled Hall on not only how to wrestle, but how to behave backstage and with fans.
The two split up, with Hennig headed to WWE and Hall to WCW. Christened Scott "Gator" Hall, his gimmick was of a former alligator wrestler who turned to the professional ring. When that failed to catch on, he was re-christened the Diamond Studd, managed by a man who would become a close friend, Diamond Dallas Page.
But it was in WWE where Hall truly became a star, utilizing the Razor Ramon gimmick. Razor Ramon is perhaps the biggest mid card star produced during the promotion's new generation era, the stars who came after Hulk Hogan's lengthy reign and subsequent defection to WCW. Hall would from there join WCW himself, spurring the NWO gimmick which perhaps gave the most impetus to the Monday Night Wars.
Scott Hall's Bad Boy credentials: Scott Hall has been arrested....a lot. Drunken disorderly conduct, misdemeanor assault, violating restraining orders on ex-wives and girlfriends, you name it Hall's probably been arrested for it.
While substance abuse issues can be blamed for much of his past problems, he also seems to have poor judgment on social media, starting fights with the Dudley Boys and creeping out Paige.
#6 Ken Patera
Ken Patera is a multi-sport athlete, having competed in track and field, shot put, and weightlifting. It was his skill in weightlifting that earned him a place in the 1972 summer Olympics.
Patera would parlay his success in the Olympics into other arenas; he became a strong man competitor, a fixture in the World's Strongest Man tournaments.
Of course, he also worked as a pro wrestler. Patera's natural strength and Olympic background made him a natural all American babyface. He won several championships during his career, and eventually got on the radar of the WWE.
A few bad decisions probably cost him a serious run with the company, because he never quite made it out of the mid-card.
Ken Patera's bad boy credentials: Woe to you if you work in a fast food restaurant late at night and deny Ken Patera his Big Mac. Patera hurled a large rock -- witnesses claimed it was a boulder -- through the window of a McDonald's restaurant when they denied him service after closing time. He fled the scene, and likely would only have had to pay a fine if not for what he did next.
When police arrived at his hotel room, Patera made the bad decision to fight them, eventually being brought down by the sheer weight of the entire police department. He ended up serving two years in prison, something that heel announcer Jesse Ventura would never let him live down.
#7 Enzo Amore/Real1
Enzo Amore won a spot in the WWE performance center despite not having one day of wrestling training. He did this by virtue of his moxie and over the top personality.
For some time WWE was quite high on Enzo Amore. He and Big Cass became fixtures on NXT, holding the tag team gold and forming a trifecta with Carmella. The power trio and their catchphrases were the bee's knees to the NXT audience, who thrilled to their thuggish exploits in a similar way to how they once thrilled to John Cena's rap persona.
Inevitably, the duo were moved to the main roster and immediately encountered problems. Enzo's attitude rubbed many of his co-stars the wrong way, and he even ended up being kicked out of the Raw locker room. Attempts to split him away from the main roster and place him as the Cruiserweight champion on 205 live were met with general disdain from the audience, who were tiring of his act.
After a domestic violence accusation, Enzo was let go from WWE. He has since worked the independent scene and tried to break into hip-hop under the name Real1.
Enzo's bad boy credentials: Almost too many to count! Besides his problems with his ex-girlfriend -- which he was actually exonerated from -- his propensity to start fights backstage and immature behavior are legendary. He was kicked off of an airline because he refused to stop vaping, and then, as if in an attempt to top his own tawdry behavior, crashed Survivor Series. Many believe any chance Enzo had of being rehired by the company went out the window after his perplexing move to attempt to steal the show at the PPV.
There you have it; Seven irrepressible bad boys of wrestling. Questions or comments? Please leave them below the article and thanks for reading!
