WrestleMania 31: Top 5 Heel Performances in the History of the Pay-Per-View

The art of being a heel is not easy to perfect. Making the audience hate you is indeed a paramount task and the WWE superstars who find the key to this went down in history as some of the best villains in the WWE. And if the superstar is able to make the fans jeer at a stage like WrestleMania, then he or she could be classified as the real deal.In the history of WrestleMania, there have been many such instances, and the fans will be looking for something similar at WrestleMania 31 as well. This year’s heels include the likes of Bray Wyatt, Rusev, Triple H and Brock Lesnar to a certain extent and here is a look at some of the names from which they could draw some inspiration.

#5 Triple H (WrestleMania 30)

Triple H has a rich legacy of playing heel throughout his career but his best work in WrestleMania probably came last year. It was the culmination of a yearlong feud with Daniel Bryan and the entire WWE Universe wanted to see Hunter lose.

He had a match with Bryan to start the event and it set up the tone pretty well for rest of the night. Hunter would later come down to help Orton and Batista in the main event as well only to be fended off by a resilient Bryan. It was a prime example of how good Hunter is when he is a heel and he had some good amount of help from Stephanie McMahon as well during the pay-per-view.

#4 Vince McMahon (WrestleMania 22)

If we take the list of all the best heels in WWE history, Vince McMahon would probably top it. He took the evil boss character from real life and molded it into a phenomenon in professional wrestling. It was crucial for WWE’s rise during the Attitude Era but McMahon’s best heel performance at WrestleMania didn’t come during the Attitude Era.

It might sound a bit awkward, but the WrestleMania 22 match between Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels was probably the best outing for Vince at the granddaddy of them all.

The two superstars faced off in a no holds barred match and everyone in the arena wanted to see Vince suffer. There were interferences from Shane McMahon and Spirit Squad during the match. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a match that exceeded expectations and still is ‘the’ best match of Vince at Mania.

#3 CM Punk (WrestleMania 29)

Going up against Undertaker at WrestleMania is no cakewalk and when CM Punk was entitled with the opportunity for WrestleMania 29, WWE smelt money. Punk played the heel during the feud and though it was a cheap move from the company, they used the real death of Paul Bearer to perfection.

Punk could run around with his anti-Undertaker promos throughout the buildup and the ultimate insult was when Punk used ashes to indicate Bearer’s urn. The segment drew immense amount of heat on the company and some fans even started hating Punk legitimately.

Punk remained a credible heel during the match as well. He was so close to becoming the one to end the streak but unfortunately for Punk, for one reason or the other, WWE had other plans.

#2 Rowdy Roddy Piper (WrestleMania 1)

Back when Vince McMahon had the idea of taking professional wrestling mainstream with WrestleMania, he had a huge hero in the form of Hulk Hogan. Hogan was the typical baby face and everyone from children to old men loved him. What Vince needed next was a bad guy who had to reach Hogan’s level.

Enter Rowdy Roddy Piper. He was gold in the microphone and was an instant heat magnet among the crowd. WWE pitted Roddy Piper against Hogan and within no time booked the WrestleMania 1 Main event tag team match.

Piper teamed up with Paul Orndorff to face Hogan and Mr. T in the match and the reason for the match being remembered so much is because the good guys had some credible enemies in the other corner.

#1 Chris Jericho (WrestleMania 19)

There aren’t many superstars who could give Chris Jericho a run for his money when it comes to microphone work. And it’s this same microphone work that made him one of the best heels in WWE history.

Michaels was fresh from losing his World heavyweight championship to Triple H during the buildup of this match and Jericho accused Michaels of being a wash up. Jericho then went on to push the envelope further in the segments that followed, until Michaels snapped in the end. Michaels and Jericho would then eliminate each other in Royal Rumble which served as the final nail.

The match was set for Mania and was arguably the best match in the night which had Rock vs. Steve Austin, Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle and Hogan vs. Vince. At the end of the match, Jericho and Michaels hugged each other, but then, Jericho played his part perfectly and kicked him low in a classic heel move.