WWE on the Psycho Path Revisited: The 13 Most Demented Wrestlers of All Time

In a first version of the current article, I messed up by not mentioning some major names. And, because I wanted to avoid repetition from a previous article in the same vein, I left out two names that definitely belong on the following list.

So, to fix up my mess, I decided to come with a new list, featuring the 13 most demented wrestlers to have roamed in WWE instead of 10. Anyway, 13 is a better number considering the introduction picture.

I have also added two extra slides to present honorable mentions from the past and names that should make the cut in a near future.

To feature on the list, the wrestlers must have constant psychotic behaviours. They can be bi-polar; they can have maniacal tendencies, while being usually calm; they can be cool dudes who can suddenly snap; or they can be simply crazy.

That being said, let's roll on the WWE psycho path and, hopefully, you'll enjoy the ride. 

Honorable Mentions (From the Past)

Before going any further, I'd like to give an honorable mention to Damien Demento, Waylon Mercy, Nailz, Festus and The Dudley Boyz. They barely made the cut, but missed it mostly because of their too-short runs with WWE.

For a few months in 1992-93, Damien Demento defeated some jobbers and his biggest win was against Jim Brunzell. His biggest match was against The Undertaker, in the main event of the first-ever episode of Raw. To complete his psychotic character, he was billed from "The Outer Reaches of Your Mind."

Waylon Mercy was that cool guy who shook fans' hands but who had a darker side. From June to October 1995, he portrayed a persona who looked like the maniac in the movie Cape Fear. With his sinister tone during his promos, he used to finish his speeches saying, "Lives are gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands. You know what I mean?"

Nailz was an ex-prisoner who claimed to have been abused by The Big Boss Man. Both men had a grueling feud after Nailz viciously attacked Boss Man in May 1992. The lunatic convict squashed many jobbers, but he was fired in December the same year after he actually assaulted Vince McMahon in his office.

Festus was a calm retarded persona who didn't talk and controlled by his tag team partner. When the bell rang, Festus suddenly transformed himself in an unstoppable beast until the bell was heard again to announce the end of the match. That weird gimmick lasted from 2007 to 2009.

The Dudley Boyz had a brutal obsession for tables. Bubba Ray was sadistically delighted when he threw women through tables which he did frequently. On the list of his victims, we can find Stacy Keibler, Trish Stratus and even the 77-year-old Mae Young.

Honorable Mentions (For The Future)

Now, I would like to give some more honorable mentions, to three current wrestlers who might make the cut in a near future. I would like to underline the great work by Cody Rhodes, Kharma and R-Truth as three demented characters who appeared recently.

Cody Rhodes went through an interesting metamorphosis since he was disfigured by Rey Mysterio in January 2011. After he removed the word "Dashing" from his name and from his gimmick, Rhodes is portraying a mentally affected individual obsessed with ugliness.

Kharma hasn't had any match so far, but her promos in which she dismembered plastic dolls showed a scary woman. Her sadistic laugh and the brutal attacks on random Divas might succeed to build an uncommon wrestler in the women's division.

R-Truth went nuts after he lost a match for the WWE Title No. 1 contendership against his former friend John Morrison. Since he snapped, R-Truth is a vicious man seeking vengeance. With his crazy eyes and his brand-new sadistic attitude, he operated one of the greatest heel turns of the last few years. 

13. Edge

"You Think You Know Me" are the words we can hear at the beginning of his entrance song and it fit his persona perfectly.

When he debuted, he was a mysterious loner who assaulted random people on the streets, for no reason. He then joined The Brood and became a vampire for nearly 10 months.

With his tag team partner, he dropped the vampire gimmick, but kept the Gothic look. Edge and Christian emerged as one of the greatest tag team ever in WWE, with numerous comedic segments.

After his tag-team journey with Christian, he became a top wrestler in the singles division. He then became noted for his affinity for mind games, earning the Master Manipulator moniker.

He was also The Ultimate Opportunist who once was obsessed about the World Heavyweight Championship. And, before delivering the Spear, he became possessed and pulled his hair, with a psychotic facial expression.

When his rival was down, his cool guy mannerisms returned.

12. Ken Shamrock

From 1997 to 1999, The World's Most Dangerous Man was known to snap and to lose his mind on many occasions, especially in his first months when he was a face.

In fact, he built his reputation in WWE with that and his uncommon intensity to go with his nickname.

With his UFC background, he will be remembered as a sound technician and a submission specialist who often refused to release his holds.

And by not releasing his signature ankle lock after his opponents tapped out, he was disqualified, enraging him further. He then went on rampage against all the referees and the WWE officials in sight.

The 1998 King of the Ring's most famous insanity moment was at WrestleMania XIV.

In a match over the Intercontinental Title, The Rock tapped out and Shamrock was declared the new champion.

After he refused to release the ankle lock, the win was reversed.

11. Randy Orton

"I hear voices in my head. They talk to me."

These words from his entrance song describe the persona. He doesn't always act possessed, but when he snaps, he becomes out of control.

Orton used to get in a demented zone before hitting his signature RKO and he truly become The Apex Predator.

The Viper is then in attack position and his eyes show, for a few seconds, that predator instinct.

And, after his victim, is down for the count, he comes back to his calm mannerism.

He also enter into a trance when he is in destruction mode, right before hitting his devastating punt to his rival's skull.  

10. Mr. Backlund

Bob Backlund once was one of the greatest WWF champions in the late '70s and early '80s. When he came back in 1992, the fans didn't really care about him and actually didn't remember who he was.

For nearly two years, he ran with that old-school gimmick until he snapped after he lost against Bret Hart in a match billed as a "Old vs. New Generation" encounter in July of 1994. From that moment, the good old Bob Backlund became Mr. Backlund.

Mr. Backlund was a psychotic persona, wearing a two-piece suit and a bow tie.

With that new persona, he acted like a possessed man and applied his signature Crossface Chickenwing on anyone, no matter if they were spectators, interviewers or wrestlers.

He did it randomly and, when he released the hold, he looked at his hands wondering what just happened, with a lunatic facial expression.

After he retired from the ring, following a controversial loss at WrestleMania 11, he was put in a storyline in which he tried to become a candidate for the position of President of the United States, always with that desire to educate the younger fans about history and other stuff like that. 

9. Sid

Sycho Sid. The name says it all. With his possessed eyes and his sinister smile, he shown no one could trust him after he turned on all of his allies, including Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels. His heel turns became legendary due to the violence following the move.

Only a completely insane person can proclaim himself The Master And The Ruler Of The World.

Sid was a dangerous character because he was both wild and demented. He had pure adrenaline running in his veins and he was sadistic. 

8. Goldust

The Bizarre One used to creep out his opponents with his weird mannerisms.

He destabilized his opponents with groping in the middle of a match.

Goldust was obsessed by movies, Hollywood and the color gold when he debuted in 1995.

Until 1999, when he left for WCW, he was accompanied by either Marlena or Luna Vachon. With the first, he had an unclear relation. She acted like a movie director.

With Luna Vachon, he became even freakier.

During that run, he showed a split personality, wore women's underwear, was a freak show creature and called himself The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust.

He came back in 2001 and had a few runs with WWE with the same bizarre gimmick, but toned down until recently.

7. The Undertaker

The most demented part of the undead Undertaker was his obsession for caskets. The Ultimate Warrior became his first victim and was stuffed in a casket or in a body bag on many occasions.

The Phenom wasn't exactly psychotic until he entered his Ministry Of Darkness phase.

As the leader of some kind of sect, he sacrificed wrestlers to transform them into some kind of zombie followers. He also crucified rivals and he even hung someone from the top of a cell. 

6. The Boogeyman

The Boogeyman was some kind of weird maniac who enjoyed to eat worms and to scare his opponents with his disgusting habits.

His gimmick was inspired by some horror movies characters such as Candyman, but with some original touches.

He used to hide backstage to surprise wrestlers and creeped them out with his catch phrase, "I'm The Boogeyman and I'm comin' to get'cha!"

When he was feuding with rivals, he used to stalk them and he especially enjoyed to do it with wrestlers who were accompanied by a female valet to add extra screaming effects.

His most notable rivalries were against JBL with Jillian Hall and Booker T with Sharmell. 

5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Jake Roberts was a cold calculator and he could hit at any moment. He also had a sadistic pleasure to terrorize his opponents with snakes.

As maybe the greatest master of mind games in pro wrestling history, he could never be trusted. He could turn on anyone at any moment and his rivals were never safe in his presence.

Either as face or heel, he always had that dark and mysterious aura.

One of his most famous victims was Andre The Giant, who suffered an heart attack after being scared by a snake and Roberts' mind games. 

4. Snitsky

Snitsky's gimmick was one of an actual psychopath who debuted in 2004 and targeted Kane as his first victim, leaving him to recover off-screen for several months.

In his first years, he was that sadistic persona who had, "It wasn't my fault!" as his catch phrase.

He was involved in an incident that caused Lita to miscarry the baby she had with Kane. It was also revealed that Snitsky was a foot fetishist and that led to a weird angle among him, Edge and Lita.

In 2007, after a short face run in the tag-team division, he joined the ECW brand, with a new bald look and yellow teeth. He came back to his initial psychotic behaviour, even more vicious.

He only won squash matches against jobbers and mid-carders while he constantly attacked random top face wrestlers after their matches.  

3. Ric Flair

When Ric Flair joined the WWE in 1991 for one and an half year, he brought in the company a craziness never seen before. There have been some wild men as described earlier, but not crazy like The Nature Boy.

Flair was that "Limousine Ridin', Jet Flying, Kiss Stealin', Wheelin' Dealin', Son of a Gun", but when he entered his zone of madness, he was completely a different man, especially in interviews.

"I'm every woman's dream and every man's nightmare," and, "I can take more punishment than anyone in the business," are two quotes from Ric Flair that can also summarize how crazy he was.

He was more than just over-confident; he considered himself as great as God.

When he came back in 2001, he was way past his prime but he did not lose his intensity or his crazy side.

2. Mick Foley

From the deranged Mankind to the hardcore Cactus Jack, with his weird Dude Love alter ego and his stinky Mr. Socko, Mick Foley was one of the most twisted wrestlers ever.

From the three characters he portrayed, Mankind was certainly the most demented. He talked to rats in the boiler rooms, he pulled off his own hair and he constantly squealed like a pig.

Cactus Jack was the most sadistic of the three while Dude Love was simply bizarre.

1. Kane

The Big Red Machine was believed to be dead when the family house was destroyed by the flames. It's still unclear if it was Kane or The Undertaker who had set the fire and a storyline was built around that, with Paul Bearer.

The only thing I will mention about the angle is that Kane was hidden by Paul Bearer in a mental asylum. After the fire, Kane was mentally and physically affected, which explains why he turned into the maniac we know today.

After feuds and alliances with The Undertaker and following various other rivalries, Kane was unmasked in June 2003. He then continued with his tortured soul gimmick, but with new unstable behaviour.

Then, a major change occurred after he starred in the movie See No Evil in 2006.

He built his new gimmick around his role in the horror movie in which he portrayed Jacob Goodnight; he became that sadistic character, a psychopath in constant search for a new victim.

Nowadays, he toned down his character, but he still has a deranged mind. 

Conclusion

You could see Mick Foley and Sid in my previous slideshow* featuring the wildest wrestlers in WWE history, but I couldn't let them on the side because they are both wild and demented.

As you could see, the wildest are those who are always on an adrenaline rush and who rarely calm down or who act like animals.

However, those I call demented act more like evil humans than like animals and the only animal side they have is the predator instinct.

I hope you enjoyed this remake of my previous flop, but knowing no list is perfect, I would like to hear from you.


Who should have make the cut, and who doesn't deserve his spot on the list? If you disagree with the ranking, how do you see it?

* http://bleacherreport.com/articles/679975-wwe-gone-wild-the-25-wildest-wrestlers-of-all-time