50 Biggest Headcases in Wrestling History

You pretty much have to be a little "off" to become a professional wrestler. The idea of getting the hell beaten out of you on a nightly basis for fake storylines and some of the best reality television ever written leaves many of us to wonder if it is the other way around.

Are we the headcases in everyday life and the wrestlers and those in the business lead a normal existence?

Who knows, and who really cares?

But wrestling is the "science" that always leaves us guessing and wanting more.

And we look at some of these larger-than-life characters and "believe" they are who they say they are.

And the gimmick they have us believe and the antics they perform in the ring make them seem a little "too real" for us at the same time.

These wrestlers (and there are hundreds more) stand out as the biggest headcases over the years. This is up for debate, and there is no set order to this list.

I hope you enjoy.

Vince McMahon

You have to be a little crazy to own a wrestling company for one, and then to be a part of its everyday operations and then, the unthinkable, you decide you want to wrestle?

Yep, that's a little "off your rocker" if you ask me. But for some reason, it works for the owner of the WWE. And if it were any different, it probably would not work week in and week out.

For over 30 years now, the WWF/WWE has been the best at wrestling because men and women like McMahon took chances.

Most of them worked out for the better.

Abyss

You wear a Kane-like mask to the ring, you brutally beat wrestlers in an out of the ring and you love the taste of your own blood.

Welcome to the fraternity!

Abyss is the TNA version of Kane with a more twisted existence. Kane is more mainstream.

Abyss is more lost in the clouds.

Vampiro

He looks like "Raven-Lite" to some extreme.

This character from WCW grew a cult-like following, but his in-ring performances were nothing to write home about.

He had some success, but with the right storyline, he could have been so much bigger.

Adrian Street

He was as flamboyant as they came.

Street needed a gimmick that could keep him in the ring.

He was stubby and not the best at holds, but he could brawl and fight and prance around the ring.

He fought with the likes of Dusty Rhodes and he and his sidekick, Miss Linda, were a hoot to watch in and out of the ring.

Jimmy Valiant

The "Boogey Woogey" Man did not always have the crazy biker gimmick. He was a rule-breaker with his "brothers"in the WWF.

A crowd favorite in the Mid-Atlantic area of the NWA, he was a biker type who always looked stoned-cold with flashy colors and odd moves in the ring.

Lou Albano

The rubber bands should have been a dead giveaway.

Albano was a goofy manager who guided scores of tag teams to title, and singles competitors as well.

He was instrumental in helping usher in the "Rock and Wrestling" Era of the WWF, and he helped get Hulkamania off the ground.

Albano was one of the most influential managers ever in the company.

Psycho Syd

He was mean and vicious and had two completely different personas in the WWF and then WCW.

While wrestlers like Hulk Hogan thought he was a great part of the machine, Ric Flair and others were not as impressed.

Either way, any wrestler who has a psychotic personality deserves to be on this list.

Paul Bearer

One of the great gimmicks of all time, especially for a manager.

Paul Bearer struck fear in those who saw him walking down the ramp with both Kane and the Undertaker.

The urn, the face paint, the slow and evil voice.

He was tremendous. And if he were added to Kane's new resurrection, that would rock!

Chris Benoit

I may take some heat for this one, but before we knew all the facts about Chris Benoit, you could see a change in his personality in the ring.

Benoit was a closed case, where even his best friends never knew what he was thinking.

And when the truth came out about his "issues," it all made sense and was a sad tale to hear and read about.

Freddie Blassie

Even before he was a manager, he was a nut job.

Take that, pencil neck geeks.

Blassie was a classic heel and was loved in the Orient.

When he was a manager, he told his wrestlers to beat the hell out their opponents. They were only too willing to oblige his request.

Bruiser Brody

The look alone was enough to scare people to death.

Frank Goodish was as big and "life like" as any wrestler ever. And his legendary years after his death keep getting bigger and bigger.

He was freakishly agile and strong and was as mean as they come, but still, the fans loved him.

The Boogeyman

Just looking at him scares me.

He is a cross between Darth Maul and Papa Shango.

Not a good look, but a headcase in the WWF and in the ring.

Buggsy McGraw

Great gimmick wrestler. He was definitely "out there" in the wrestling ring. A regional competitor who had some success in the South, especially in Florida.

He was a partner and friend of Dusty Rhodes and an upstart named Eric Embry in the early 1980s.

Kevin Sullivan

He was as odd as they came in the early 1980s.

A regional worker and a successful one. He came to Florida and feuded with Dusty Rhodes and Barry Windham.

Had a cult following and led the likes of Woman, Luna Vachon, Jake Roberts and the Purple Haze.

Scott Steiner

Maybe the biggest waste of wrestling talent ever.

We used to holler when we heard Steiner talk. Now, we want him to go away.

The muscles aren't doing it for us anymore, and the act is old.

Chyna

She was a headcase in thinking she could command as much money wrestling as some of the men in the WWF.

She was also a headcase after she left the WWF and joined reality television.

Could she make a return to the ring? Sure, but her life is so drama-filled, does anyone want to take a flier on that?

Edge and Christian

They were two of the best tag team wrestlers of all time. And honestly, Edge is more crazy of the two. But together, with chair shots and some of the dirtiest wrestling in the biz during the Attitude Era, they were part of the machine that made it work.

And they did it so well.

The Road Warriors

They looked like something out of a time machine when they reach the wrestling world in 1982.

And they lived up to their crazy billing, beating everyone in sight.

No one was safe. Eventually, they become one of the most popular tag teams of all time.

Kamala

Painted stars on his belly. Moons and a tribal outfit. He slapped his belly, bellowed and inflicted pain.

And had a handler, Kimchi, to do his bidding.

Not a bad gig.

The Moon Dogs

A 1970s and early '80s tag team that came to the ring bearing big bogs and acting all pre-historic. They looked like homeless men in the ring who wrestled.

Another invention that was successful in the McMahon circus.

Kharma

Big, strong and intimidating.

That is Kharma.

There is no denying she is the most powerful female wrestler in the business today and just because she is on leave right now, it does not take away from her dominance.

She is just evil.

Daffney

A hot and sexy goth girl...hmmm.

Daffney could also wrestle and was a mainstay in WCW with David Flair and Crowbar.

She moved on to TNA.

She was unpredictable, but her look was unmistakable.

Eric Embry

A mid-card talent who excelled in WCCW for his script writing.

He was bizarre in that he bled all the time and changed between a face and heel from day to day.

If there was ever a bi-polar wrestler, he may have been it.

Eugene

The poster child for this list?

Nick Dinsmore did more with this character than could be asked.

He played the part to perfection and anyone out there could identify with him.

A true classic.

The Nasty Boys

Knobbs and Saggs were as ugly and odd a tag team to come into the business.

And they played off their oddities well.

As multiple-time tag team champions, they had success whenever they got into the ring.

Mick Foley/Dude Love/Mankind

Three people in one. And Foley plays all of them well.

There is no one like Foley on the planet.

And he is as smart a businessperson in and out of the ring.

Foley has to be a headcase to do some of the things he has done over the years. He makes the impossible seem possible.

We love that.

Purple Haze

Mark Lewin was a good singles and tag team wrestler who evolved into the "Maniac" he became in the Purple Haze.

Haze was under the control of Kevin Sullivan and was part of the cult in Florida and then under the control of Gary Hart in Texas when he battled the Von Erichs.

Lewin wrestled over five decades and was a perennial regional champion during the time period

Meng

He did not talk. He let his headbutts and chops do his talking.

Meng/Haku or whatever you wanted to call him, may have been one of the strongest and most misunderstood wrestlers in the business.

And maybe one of the most underrated.

Terry Funk

One of the great NWA champions of all time turned to hardcore wrestling, and he may have lost some of his marbles in the process.

A real legend in the business, he put his body through torture to get great results.

He became a fan favorite in his later years and at times, still gets in the ring to mix it up.

George "The Animal" Steele

This lovable freak was a mainstay in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the WWF.

Steele ate ring corners and looked like an overgrown ape in the ring. He parlayed that into a pretty decent wrestling career.

He was enamoured with Miss Elizabeth and drove Randy Savage nuts.

He was a true original.

Goldust

Big, strong and feminine.

That best described Goldust, one of the best gimmicks of all time in the WWF.

His vignettes with his "wife" Marlena were ahead of its time and he could control the crowd with his antics and get the best of his opponents whether in a win or a loss.

Kane and the Undertaker

No two men will ever be linked in wrestling like these two.

The stroyline is the best ever written. Sadistic, dark and evil. With a side of heroism and favoritism.

These two "monsters of destruction" have been mainstays in the WWE and have perfected their craft like few before them.

Eric Bischoff

He has helped run two businesses into the ground and is working on a third.

And he still thinks he can save wrestling.

Bischoff is now working on an angle to hurt his real life son. If that is not worthy of a trip to the psychiatric ward, nothing is.

The Hurricane and Rosey

Maybe the oddest tag team ever in the WWE.

Big man and small man. Fighting for good against evil.

Some of the better "cartoonish" characters of the 1990s and 2000s.

Al Snow

We all need a little...well, you finish the sentence.

Snow was a classic headcase who used that to win regional titles and have a good career in the WWF. I wonder whatever happened to the styling head he carried around?

It belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame.

The Sheik

Ed Farhat was one of those guys who loved to inflict pain in and out of the ring.

His brand of wrestling mixed well with Abdullah the Butcher, Carlos Colon and Bruiser Brody.

And no one ever doubted for a minute how tough this guy was.

Randy Savage

Savage worried all the time about the matches he was involved in. From accounts in books by Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, the man may have never slept.

He was also worried about his wife, Elizabeth, and her association with Hogan's then-wife, Linda.

Savage's "crazed" persona may have played out in real life as well, but there were few better in the ring.

Paul Heyman

No one worked harder to earn his spot in this business than Heyman.

He is one of the creators of extreme wrestling and has worked to keep it a constant within the business.

Heyman was crazed in his approach to making it work and earned the respect of the bigs in the business. He may not be liked as others are, but they certainly see the brilliance in his work.

Hollywood Hulk Hogan

He is on this list because he can play heel or hero and still be appreciated.

I am not a huge fan, mainly because I always thought Hogan believed he was bigger than the business.

And he still does.

The "heel" turn was one of the greatest moves in wrestling history.

Jake Roberts

Just that look alone gets him on this list.

Roberts was an enigma in that he had all the talent in the world and then allowed outside demons to take away his ability.

It is sad that a talent like this still gets in the ring from time to time because, honestly, he needs the work and needs to feel alive.

Andy Kaufman

He wrestled women!

And he and Jerry Lawler put together one of the best celebrity spoofs of all time.

Kaufman's personality was perfect for wrestling and, for the most part, he was believable.

Nikita Koloff

American Scott Simpson, a native of Minnesota, loved his Russian character so much, he shaved his head and legally changed his name to Nikita Koloff.

That's all we need to say about this entry.

Luna Vachon

It amazes me that there are women on this list who are scarier than the men.

Luna Vachon is one of them.

A member of the famed Vachon family, there may not been as vicious a wrestler in the bunch.

He look alone gave us chills.

Randy Orton

He heard voices in his head. They allowed him to punt heads and inflict pain on other wrestlers.

Enough said.

And The Viper looks to inflict more pain and terror on his opponents when he returns to the ring from a back injury.

Sabu

He is one of the best hardcore champions of all time.

A relative of The Sheik, it is not uncommon for him to go through tables or fire to prove a point and secure a win.

Missing Link

He used his head as a battering ram and painted his body in green.

And he looked deranged when he got in the ring.

There were no words, just action and pain.

ODB

She grabs her crotch and her boobs when she wrestles and brings out a flask for good measure.

Every outing in the ring with ODB is like happy hour at the bar.

Roddy Piper

One of the great mouths on wrestling.

He kept changing all the rules to his benefit.

Piper was an original. And his character seemed to play right along with his lifestyle.