Award Description:

To be given to the person who was the best villain this past year. This
person should bring out the fans' wrath. Match quality is not paramount
here; this award should be based primarily on how over the wrestler was in
the past year.

Previous Winners:

  1990: Ted DiBiase
  1991: Cactus Jack
  1992: Jake Roberts
  1993: Big Van Vader
  1994: Bob Backlund
  1995: Big Van Vader
  1996: Steve Austin (Ring Master)
  1997: Shawn Michaels
  1998: Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon)
  1999: Triple H
  2000: Triple H

**2001**: Stone Cold Steve Austin

300 first place votes
298 second place votes
290 third place votes

157 46 20  963   Steve Austin
 78 67 39  669   Triple H
 15 50 49  323   Kurt Angle
 10 25 23  171   Scott Steiner
  3 24 30  147   Christian
  4 16 23  114   William Regal
  2 20 21  112   Booker T
  4  5 10   55   Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
  3  5 10   50   Vince McMahon
  1  6 10   43   Lance Storm
  2  5  7   39   Rhyno
  4  2  2   30   Kazunari Murakami
  2  2  2   20   SUWA
  0  2  7   20   X-Pac
  0  4  3   18   Shane McMahon
  0  3  3   15   Gedo
  1  1  3   14   Lana Star
  2  1  0   13   Adam Pearce
  2  0  0   10   Mima Shimoda
  1  1  1   10   Ivory
  0  2  2   10   Chris Jericho
  0  0  4    8   Hurricane
  1  0  1    7   Shocker
  1  0  1    7   Mr. Gannosuke
  1  0  1    7   Dr. Wagner Jr.
  0  1  2    7   Chris Benoit
  1  0  0    5   Shane Douglas
  1  0  0    5   Leilani Kai
  1  0  0    5   Kumiko Maekawa
  1  0  0    5   Eddie Guerrero
  1  0  0    5   Diamond Dallas Page
  1  0  0    5   Christopher Daniels
  0  1  1    5   M2K
  0  0  2    4   Dr. Luther
  0  1  0    3   Yumiko Hotta
  0  1  0    3   Ultimo Guerrero
  0  1  0    3   Thug
  0  1  0    3   Tetsuhiro Kuroda
  0  1  0    3   Satanico
  0  1  0    3   Mayumi Ozaki
  0  1  0    3   Hiromichi Fuyuki
  0  1  0    3   Genichiro Tenryu
  0  1  0    3   Brandi Alexander
  0  0  1    2   Trent Acid
  0  0  1    2   Steven Richards
  0  0  1    2   Slam Dunk
  0  0  1    2   Rikishi
  0  0  1    2   Ric Flair
  0  0  1    2   Rey Bucanero
  0  0  1    2   Las Cachorrus Orientales - Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita
  0  0  1    2   Kodo Fuyuki
  0  0  1    2   Jungle Grrrl
  0  0  1    2   Jeff Jarrett
  0  0  1    2   Chris Kanyon
  0  0  1    2   Chavo Guerrero Jr.
  0  0  1    2   Carol Midori

MICHAELANGELO MCCULLAR: Screw what people think.  SCSA has been near
brilliant as a heel.

RYAN HALL: Austin, HHH, Vince. Austin best as heel and face

EDDIE BURKETT: Triple H is PURE EVIL!!!  Just when it seemed he was
becoming a sweet old babyface, he reveals to be behind Rikishi, and
becomes even more heelish than he was before.  Then, he continues his evil
ways by assaulting the Undertaker and destroying his bike and being mean!  
Then he picks on Jericho and Benoit and gets hurt and goes away.  By that
point, Austin became evil, but not as evil as HHH.  Austin is too
cowardly, and tends to play too much to the audience (especially with his
what) to get the nod above Triple H.  That said, Austin is still EVIL!  
His match against Matt Hardy on the Aug. 8 Raw, where he kept putting Matt
in Hammerlocks and smiling at Lita may have been a squash was so evil it
was brilliant.  Christian has also been a great heel this year, handling
himself in both a funny, understanding, and slightly evil fashion during
his feud with Edge especially, but even prior to that.  His (and Edge's)
arrogance going into the TLC II match at WM was rather enjoyable.

HIRO: No outstanding heel acts this year. Too bad Triple H got injured.

PAUL ZOROVICH: Triple H plays the part of old-school heel so perfectly.  
Every time he came on my TV I absolutely believed him.  Nobody else even
came close.

NATE GURNETT: Austin's heel schtick is a hell of a lot of fun to watch.  
I liked the Steiner angle over the last 4 months or so of WCW.  Was I the
only one that watched?  Anyway, Booker's feud with La Roca was cut way to
short.  The Book has been getting pretty good heat since anyway.

VIKRAM BIRRING: Steve Austin is the best heel since Ric Flair. Enough
said. Vince McMahon is an evil man (Hart family, etc.)

AGUGARTY: 1st: What?

DEAN RASMUSSEN: SUWA is the best rudo in the world. His offense if farking
hellish and he is master of guiding the young punks along- thus he is my
number one and the best. Gedo was great this year, opting to go the
Southern Heel route. Kazunari Murakami was a total bastard punching
Ishikawa and the ilk in the face.  All that and and he's got the facials
that say "Punch me!"

CHIP BOOTS: Austin completely remade his character this year.

MARKUS: HHH is still The "New" Man. Steiner just killed me everytime they
gave him a mic. Not letting Lance Storm continue getting mic time and do
his heel schtick really pissed me off.

GREG NECASTRO: A short year, but nobody plays the heel better than Triple
H.

SCOTT WORDEN: Steve Austin played the heel rather well me thinks.. Props
for getting a simple word, "what,"  over as a catchphrase.

SEAN FLYNN: It's all about Steve Austin in this category.  Crowds hated
him during his time as a heel, even if they loved the WHAT? humor.  
Though it really wasn't a good year for heels in general.  Booker's
anti-Rock heel run did seem to get the crowds against him well enough
though.

MARK POLISHUK: Stone Cold did it.  After all of the bad press about his
heel turn at WrestleMania, Austin managed to create an original,
entertaining and very over heel character.  I predict the over/under on
people that include a 'What?' in their comments to be fifteen.

CANZ: Dr. Wagner Jr choked a kitten and threw it out the window. Good luck
beating that.

KEVIN WONG: Both Booker and Stone Cold really grew into the heel roles
this year, and you gotta dig that.

DONNY L: Austin was a pure heel this year, (not a cool heel which I hate),
he tried everything to make people hate him, Angle is the dork no one
likes worked well as well.

PETER HAZLETT: No one does it better than HHH, even when the fans seem to
want to love him. Rhyno has so much potential, if they pushed him right

SIMON GRIER: Stone Cold Steve Austin was an excellent heel - funny, yet
irritating at the same time and you always wanted the face to give him a
good kicking.  Scott Steiner and Rhino ran roughshod over WCW and ECW in
classic heel fashion, and you couldn't help but mark out for the babyfaces
opposing them just as Booker T and Kid Kash. Shame their companies died
before they truly got their comeuppance.

ESTRAGAND: People really seemed to HATE Booker's "Wannabe Rock" routine.
The Great Tome of Wrestling Crap says "getting people to dislike you,
qualifies you as an effective heel". Angle was wonderfully annoying as the
arrogant, egotistical heel. Austin was fun as the paranoid "WHAT?" freak.
In the Summer, William Regal would stop in the middle of his matches and
WAVE to the crowd and say "hello to all my friends in (NAME OF CITY)"-
that always got a good round of "boooo's"

MICHAEL STAKELY: I'm not a particularly big fan of HHH but the last few
months have really made me miss a dominating heel whose name isn't
McMahon.

EDC: Well given the fact that Heels and faces are almost changing weekly,
it was hard to vote for the best. Steiner was really the best heel,
instilling terror to both fans and opponents.

JOHN C.: Steve Austin is the runaway winner in this category. His ability
to go from the best babyface ever to one of the best heels ever is proof
that he is an exceptional overall talent. He made us laugh and he made us
think he was a psycho. It was hard to hate him in the traditional sense
but as a heel he did his job very well. Triple H finishes second even
though he has been out since late May. He was awesome as usual
particularly during his feud with Austin. Christian gets my third vote
because he plays a great heel that always knows how to get a crowd to
react to him. One day he'll be the top heel in the business. It's only a
matter of time.

CHRIS GRIMM: I still can't believe how great Austin's heel run was,
despite people online who still refuse to admit that it got over.  What?  
Kurt Angle rules, face or hell, although HHH probably would've grabbed
number two if he didn't get hurt right in the middle of the year.

SCOTT CHRIST: What?

JOE GENTILE: What?

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Is Kurt Angle an awesome heel or what? I enjoyed him as
a face too, but he's soooo much better as a heel. He was especially good
when he went psycho after losing the WWF title in February, though he was
fun as Steve Austin's dorky sidekick too. Shame the hell re-turn made no
sense... Christian gets second, for the most awesome heel turn in recent
history. He plays a psycho as well as Kurt does, too. Austin gets third.
He's an utter asshole and incredibly creepy at times. He'd probably get
first but, er, unfortunately... the fans still love him. Just watch how
they've taken to the "what" catchphrase... Honourable mention to Lance
Storm ("If I could be serious for a moment..." is somehow just cool.)

MATTY TONKIN: Austin without a doubt. So much more interesting &
entertaining as a heel. Face Austin = Boring. Heel Austin = Funny &
entertaining. Christian is still the best at antagonising the crowd
pre-match & Triple H was still extremely strong as a heel before his
injury.

YNAE316: Scott Steiner:  The Genetic Freak. Now's THAT'S a monster heel
Triple H:  The Game Christian:  Love his cocky promos, dick actions,
wise-ass remarks

JEREMY SORIA: Trip's still the best heel out there. I bask in his
arrogance, I shiver at his extreme self-confidence. Kurt Angle was as
cocky as ever, just as much as Trip is. Steve Austin made for an okay
heel, even if he couldn't really replicate his heelish tendencies from
1996. However, anyone that can pretty much get away with his near rape of
Michael Cole on SmackDown last June gets a huge thumbs up from me as a
heel.

SHANE SPEAR: There will be enough "What" jokes in this section, so I'll
leave that to the other and just say that Steve Austin was the coolest
heel ever.  Between the "My name is" and his talking watch, I don't know
if anybody will be able to top him next year.  The Book also made a real
nice transition to being a bad guy, something I wouldn't have believed was
possible from such a really likeable character.  BOO-YA!  Helms take the
final spot just for being the best idea for a heel in a long time.

RYAN FAULCONER: Mima Shimoda is wrestling world's most badass Susan
Sarandon. She's such a great heel. Murakami is a great psychotic heel so
he gets second. Third goes to Steve Austin because his heel mic work was
tremendous.

SHAWN MULLIN: Steve Austin was an awesome heel, he just got dealt some bad
cards.  For instance, if HHH had turned face after WrestleMania, Austin
would have actually had a strong (and over) babyface to feed off.  
Instead, he and HHH overshadowed each other in their consistent uses of
the sledgehammer of plot (WE ARE HEELS! WE ARE EVIL! WE ARE MEAN!).  Once
HHH was gone, Austin was able to build his own identity as a heel, and
it's by far the most entertaining he's been as a character since 1998.  
However, he had no drawing power as a heel, and whether you blame that on
Austin being a heel or a really crappy/boring product surrounding him, it
is still a reality.  Kurt Angle is probably the most natural heel I've
ever seen, he just makes it seem so easy!  Regal also knows how to inspire
hate like almost nobody I've seen.