Wrestling Six Packs: Wrestlers Who Are Most Fun to Heckle

Heckling is the inverse of marking out, and is a time-honored practice not only in pro wrestling but in other sports. However, the difference is that if I heckle someone at, say, a baseball game, it's because I don't like him or I don't like his team. If I heckle someone at a wrestling event, well, I like and respect them, but there are certain qualities, most of them in-character, that lend me to want to hurl insults at them. You see, when I go to a wrestling event, I become a mark. I'm not ashamed of this, and in fact, I've found that it enhances my experience. So, while the Jerichos and Genericos and Bryce Remsburgs of the world make me cheer with enthusiasm, here are six guys that I love heckling (or would love to heckle) when I go to wrestling events:

1. Jakob Hammermeir

For those not in the know, Hammermeir is the multi-lingual ring announcer for the BDK in Chikara. He stomps out to the ring in his all-white suit whenever BDK members have a match, snatches the microphone from resident rock 'n roll ring announcer Louden Noxious Gavin Loudspeaker and demands respect from the crowd that starts booing him from the moment he puts the mic to lips. Why is Hammermeir so fun to heckle? Well, he throws temper tantrums in the ring, especially after the match if his wrestlers lose. The way he acts lends itself very, very well to eliciting mockery from a rabid Arena crowd, and he not only feeds off it but feeds into it. Plus, he's on Twitter talking poop and he gets into it with Chikara fans. Really an all-access experience of kayfabe mockery.

2. Shane Hagadorn

His character is such a sleazy, hanger-on douchebag that you can't help but turn your attentions to him and not the ROH heels he manages. Good thing, since his stable includes Davey Richards, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, all three being smark favorites. The best (worst?) was when he wore a Cosby show-style sweater vest at the February SNOWKILL~! tapings. It was like he was begging for barbs to be thrown his way.

3. Eddie Edwards

He's a decent wrestler and an otherwise inoffensive heel personality, but he's got the worst possible name for heckling purposes since Rad Radford. It's so easy to pile on the other half of the American Wolves (and I do heckle DR as well, actually) given his repeating ring name as well as the fact that he's usually in there against guys I like better like Danielson or Delirious.

4. Batista

I haven't been to a WWE show since early 2000 (when it was still the WWF), but just given Batista's rep since turning heel, he's a guy I'd probably have a ball with. For example, courtesy of my blogger BFF PizzaBodySlam:



Another example was at a recent show where a fan screamed out "I HATE YOU, BATISTA!", and Big Dave replied back "I HATE YOU TOO!" Seriously, the best part about heckling someone in wrestling is when they respond to you. For a guy of Big Dave's caliber to play along and really get into his heelosity, well... it's a shame the guy's leaving because now I don't think I'll get the chance to see him before he retires.

5. Team FIST

This is a three-for-one deal, and a great one at that. You have three guys who all resemble something easy to identify with them. Chuck Taylor looks kinda like Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) with a slacker mullet instead of a curly Jew-fro. Icarus looks like a red-headed Glenn Howerton (Dennis Reynolds from It's Always Sunny...). And Gran Akuma? He looks like an overgrown fetus. There's no shortage of barbs you can hurl at them. The kicker is that Icarus has this really terrible tattoo on his back of... uh... well, it's better that you look:



See?

6. The Rock

The Rock is celebrated as a major deity of wrestling on this blog, and for good reason. He's awesome. So why would he make this list? Well, at one point in young Rocky Maivia's career, the crowds turned on him something fierce. He could have done one of two things: ball up and cry or dish the "Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!" chants back at them with cutting wit and brutal derision. You know which one he chose. Because of that, he became a really, really fun target to mock as a heel, and even when he would start to get that glimmer of support from those whom he had won over with said smartassery, he'd be there to shove them back into line. "This is NOT singalong with the Rock"... what a masterful line. He is one of the greatest ever, both to mark for and to heckle. What can I say? The man can do it all.

Hammermeir and Icarus Photo Credits: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

MS Paint: All me, baby

Batista Photo Credit: PizzaBodySlam. If you're not reading his blog, you're a bad, bad person.

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