Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Heels of all time

39. Michael Hayes

A single moment turned Hayes into one of the most hated wrestlers in the USA – that moment was when The Fabulous Freebirds turned on the Von Erichs in a cage match. With P.S. Hayes officiating a bout between NWA champion Ric Flair and Kerry Von Erich, it soon turned nasty when a number of miscommunications led to Hayes screwing Von Erich out of the world title.

Hated with seething anger by fans, especially in the Texas market, Hayes led the reviled Fabulous Freebirds faction with his natural charisma and mic skills drawing fan ire so much so that the Freebirds/Von Erichs feud is likely the biggest in WCCW history and would span a decade. The southern musical-mind would become a huge name even if his WWF run in the mid-80s was short-lived.

Hayes jumped to Jim Crockett Promotions in the late 80s, turning on Lex Luger and joining Hiro Matsuda’s Yamazaki Corporationand again cementing himself as a heel. He would briefly pick up the US title on top of runs with the WCW World Tag titles (a reign listed as lasting -5 days due to them losing it before their title reign was aired), WCW 6-Man Tag titles and WCW US Tag titles. He would shortly reform The Freebirds but with Buddy Roberts (and largely Terry Gordy) absent and instead with Jimmy Garvin and Badstreet. He would go on to have an involvement with The Dangerous Alliance before becoming more involved behind the scenes having left a huge legacy in front of the camera.