WWE: Randy Orton and the 22 Most Unstable Wrestlers of All Time

There are those who are crazy.  There are also those who are just plain nuts.  Whether it's a character that a wrestler has taken on or just their life outside the ring, it is safe to say that instability can define most that are on this list.

Randy Orton has shown in the last month, that he has one of those unstable minds that allow him to inflict mounds of punishment on his opponent.  As his song says, "he has voices in his head."

He is not the only one.  He will be featured later in the list but for now, here are some wrestlers that have a mind of their own, whether it be in the ring or out of it.

There is no particular order to this list so don't gawk at who is where, just enjoy and be sure to comment at the end of it all.

Kharma

Kharma is the only woman on the list and her inclusion has to do with her brute force and the unpredictability that she showed while on WWE television.

It also has to do with getting pregnant amidst her career's biggest push.  Now, that just radiates instability.  Some could call it dumb luck or just plain stupidity, but hey, it is what it is.

Matt Hardy

The Hardy brothers have instability written all over them.  This slide, however, is reserved for Matt, so why is Matt here?

The reason for Matt's inclusion is his uncanny ability to purposely get himself fired and rehired somewhere else.

On screen, he showed the peak of his instability during a feud with Edge.  Hardy came out of the crowd and attacked the man for whom Lita left him.

Sure, that is enough to make a man go crazy, but if you recall, Hardy spent the entire portion of his 90-day no compete clause posting videos about making an impact of some sort (or something along the lines of that, I can't find the videos and it was a long time ago, so sue me).

Again, some call it stupidity, but if you recall, he was driving WWE management insane, trying to get himself fired so he can join his brother on TNA programming.  It went on for months and then he got his release.

Anyway, just take a look at his YouTube channel now and tell me he isn't unstable.

Heidenreich

John Heidenreich, the man, was probably as normal as can be.

The Heidenreich we saw on screen was anything but that.

Case in point, he spent much of his career with a mental patient gimmick.  He feuded with Undertaker and when you cost the Deadman a world championship, you have to have something missing in your head.

He became a fan favourite when he was with a short-lived partnership with Road Warrior Animal as a part of the new Legion of Doom, but his career fizzled out soon after.

Scott Steiner

The man has an opinion and he loves sharing it with the world. 

Whether that opinion is high-strung or he's just yelling at the world because he (allegedly) has too much steroids in his system, you know Scott Steiner is as unstable as they come.

New Jack

You are going to notice a few ECW wrestlers make this list.  The reason is, they were labeled as unstable men the second they set foot in an ECW ring.

New Jack is one of those guys.  He battered and bruised every single one of his opponents and would even threaten to kill some of them if something didn't go right.

It might be Wikipedia, but take a look at his page and you can see that his career has been littered with moments that prove just how unstable New Jack is, both inside the ring with a barbed-wire baseball bat, to outside the ring and his claim to being a bounty hunter before his wrestling career.

Kerry Von Erich

Kerry Von Erich was a talented wrestler inside the ring but couldn't control his life otherwise.

His drug problem got the best of him and he took his own life in 1993.  It was a sad day for wrestling, as it was when his brothers, Mike and Chris, went before him via suicide.

R-Truth

R-Truth's recent work got him onto this list.  It is quite obvious that Truth's character exhibits schizophrenic tendencies.  He is always thinking there is some conspiracy afoot and he can't shake "little Jimmy."

It might be enough to get him a main-event spot, so congratulations are in order for Truth, because his unstable, schizophrenic mind has set him free from the bondage of mid-card status.

George "The Animal" Steele

It's hard to talk about a guy who has dyslexia on a list like this, however, George "The Animal" Steele is one of those wrestlers who proved odd enough to make this list.

His feud with Macho Man Randy Savage showed Steele to be a gentle giant. However, when basing the feud around Steele's crush on Miss Elizabeth and Steele's history of eating turnbuckles and such, it proved to be volatile situation for everyone involved.

Proving that Steele was a bit of an oddball, he returned to the WWE, after a decade hiatus, as part of "The Oddities" stable.

Brian Christopher

Watching his lackluster promo on his father, Jerry "The King" Lawler, earlier this year, proved to me why Brian Christopher belongs on this list.

He has had problems with alcohol abuse and if somebody has that many "daddy issues," your mind can't be very stable.

Sabu

Imagine a match with Sabu in it.  Imagine it without violence, mayhem or multiple table spots.  What's that?  You can't?  That is because Sabu is one of the most twisted individuals ever to set foot on the ring.

His matches in ECW are too epic to name.  However, to name one instance, do you remember a match he had with Mick Foley?  It was a barbed-wire match and Sabu's bicep was torn open by the barbed wire.

Instead of being a sensible, stable individual, Sabu used duct tape, covered his bicep and continued the match.

That is one of many examples why Sabu is known to have an unstable mind.  He might just have passion for the business that he loves, but the lengths Sabu will go puts him on this list without a shadow of a doubt.

The Iron Sheik

If you have been watching WWE programming for more than a few years, than you are aware of who The Iron Sheik is.

Sheik is known for his outrageous rants, most of which cannot be understood without paying very close attention.

He can be heard on The Howard Stern Radio show nowadays and that show screams unpredictability. 

That screams the word "unstable" and it is something that has been tied to the Sheik since before his infamous WWF title loss to Hulk Hogan in 1984.

Terry Funk

Terry Funk might've not been the most unstable wrestler of all time, but he was one that not only lasted for decades, but also proved that even the older wrestlers can take extreme bumps and spill litres of blood for the business he loves.

Funk will always be the Lifelong ECW World Heavyweight Champion and when he debuted in WWE as Chainsaw Charlie in 1998, he displayed his hardcore, unstable style to the new audience.

Just to prove how unstable Funk is, he is still wrestling today, at 67 years of age.

What keeps a man going in this business for that long must be classified as unstable.

Mick Foley

The hardcore legend Mick Foley's unstable mind can only be displayed by one match: Hell in a Cell.

Lifelong wrestling fans know exactly what you are talking about when you mention Foley and Hell in a Cell in the same breath.  Having the idea to be tossed off that Cell in the first place gets Foley a spot on this list.

It is the most played clip in WWE history and is the epitome of what an unstable mind can do in the ring, or in this case, on top of a Cell.

Sandman

The Sandman drinks beer and cuts himself open by bashing his skull open with the empties.  This is before matches that take on more blood and more mayhem. 

Any arguments on this one and you need to watch some of Sandman's matches from his ECW days.

Kane

We have been witness to the mind of Kane for many years.  The true instability started coming to light at the very moment he took his mask off.

The Katie Vick storyline will go down as one of the most ridiculous in wrestling history but what it brought out was the true monster that Kane is.

If you don't believe me, just ask Jim Ross and the interview he conducted with "The Big Red Machine" on RAW.

Randy Orton

That crazed look Randy Orton gets in his eyes as he goes to deliver an RKO or if he's lining up in a corner, preparing to kick someone right in the skull, it is the reason he is in the title of this list.

Orton has had troubles in the past.  Sexual harassment, marijuana, alcohol and just his behaviour behind the scenes made him look like a horrible employee.

He has since overcome it all and has become a multi-time World and WWE Champion and is still a top-tier talent today.

Edge

The reason Edge is on this list is because of how much he has put on the line in this sport throughout his illustrious career.

Edge has speared Mick Foley through a flaming table, taken large bumps from over 16 feet in the air and without him and Christian, the TLC matches of the early 2000's wouldn't have been the success they were.

We thank Edge for the years he has put into the business and the instability is only trumped by the fact that he is listening to his doctors and retired from the ring earlier this year.

Ultimate Warrior

There is a reason the WWE released a DVD entitled "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior."

The man was once a fearless, uplifting superstar that literally gave you energy when he made a sprint to the ring.  His later years caused his "self-destruction."

He was known for being unprofessional and was a ticking time bomb on the WWE payroll.

It wasn't until he had reportedly threatened to no-show events until he got paid that WWE took action.

Warrior was fired by WWE and further plummeted in wrestling lore while in WCW.

That kind of instability, the WWE had no choice but to cut loose the man who they had high hopes for, especially considering he went over Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI in Toronto.

Scott Hall

Scott Hall likes to party...too much.

We don't know when he will get clean (if ever) but we all pray that Hall can get his act together and become prominent for the right reasons once again.

The video of him being carried down the path and into the ring haunts my mind to this day.  He should have been in a hospital somewhere, not in a ring.

The crowd sensed it too.

Hall has had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and it seems to have caught up to the former nWo member.

Chris Benoit

He was one of the quietest people behind the scenes and as they say, it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

Chris Benoit fit the bill here.

The highly publicized double-murder suicide put a black mark on the professional wrestling business for a little while.

It has changed the very nature of the business as we know it in terms of head shots, blading, wellness and everything that goes along with it.

The governing bodies has kept a close eye on the WWE since the Benoit tragedy and when it comes to his mind, it was definitely unstable, considering it was in the same condition of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.

Brian Pillman

When your nickname on television is "The Loose Cannon," how can you not be on a list like this?

Brian Pillman always had a crazed look in his eye and it couldn't have come off better than the controversial "Pillman's Got a Gun" skit from 1997.

Jeff Hardy

The other Hardy brother has become one of the most successful wrestlers in the business today.

His instability can be measured in the ring for his death-defying acts such as diving from 20-foot ladders onto multiple tables, into dumpsters, onto stages and the kitchen sink...well, now this is just getting silly, but you get the point.

Outside the ring, Hardy's life has become as unstable as ever.  Drug charges and substance abuse issues have hindered an otherwise, Hall of Fame career.

He has remained off TV since the debacle at Victory Road, where he showed up to the event in no condition to perform.

Those are 22 of the most unstable wrestlers of all time.  Who isn't on the list? Who should be on the list?  What do you think?  Also, be respectful, we are all wrestling fans with our own opinions and just like my voice is heard through this slide show, your voice can be heard in the comments section.

Mark Pare is a Featured Columnist for WWE. You can follow him on Twitter and don't forget to check out his sportswriter page.