The “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Andre the Giant, Razor Ramon. What do these men all have in common? All of these current and former WWE superstars had a great run as top shelf bad guy. For most of these men, they used that heel persona to eventually have a great wrestling career as a good guy. (or face) Who are the men in the WWE sports entertainment today that are carrying the torch left by these men? Who are the top heels in the WWE today?

Randy Orton - This multi generational superstar is currently the hottest entity in the WWE. Not only is he red hot as heel, but he is starting to show signs of the Steve Austin/Rock effect. This refers to the phenomenon where a wrestler begins as a heel and the crowd eventually turns him to a face. Stone Cold was the perfect example of this, as he was widely hated long before he was Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock was the same.

Randy Orton has the potential to surpass them all if the WWE uses him correctly. He is currently embroiled in a feud with HHH, and the McMahon family (sound familiar?) and is heading towards yet another run as the world champion. The crowds are already fairly split as to whether they cheer or boo him. That is a sign of future stardom to be sure.

Chris Jericho - Jericho has had more turns than any superstar ever, but he has always been at his best as a heel. When he returned to the WWE, he was the good guy coming back to save the WWE from Randy Orton’s championship run. After a huge reception on the night of his return, Jericho kind of lost his good guy pop with the crowd against Orton.

Once Jericho lost that pop, a heel turn was inevitable. He had a great series of matches with Shawn Michaels, and then went on to feud with the legends of the WWE at Wrestlemania 25. Since then, he has been a thorn in the side of the WWE good guys and had the crowds booing as great as ever. The one thing about Jericho I wish would change is for him to go back to funny and humorous Jericho instead of the serious angry Jericho.

Ted DiBiase - This young wrestler is currently being “groomed” by his coalition with Cody Rhodes and leader Randy Orton. Though the idea and foundation is solid, DiBiase is good enough to break out at any time. I can envision a day when DiBiase breaks free and turns on Randy Orton. The two of them could have a great set of matches together and Randy Orton could use this as his springboard to good guy status.

Matt Hardy - Hardy is having a resurrection of sorts now with the WWE as a bad guy after turning on his brother Jeff. The idea of one of the Hardys being a heel had to sink in for a bit before this dawned on me, but Matt is actually a very good heel. He works the crowd, and seems to relish the boos after being cheered for his entire WWE career. It will be interesting to see how the WWE uses Matt in future storylines.

While there are other WWE heels out there, these are the top four in my estimation. They each have a high ceiling, and could easily go in several directions each. That is the barometer for a great bad guy to me. Who is the best out there? For my money it is easily Randy Orton.