10 Best Insults From WWE's Golden Era

Insults are as common in professional wrestling as a clothesline. Storytellers have used insults to up the intensity of a rivalry since professional wrestling debuted. Different WWE eras have used insults differently though. In the famed Attitude Era insults included profanity laced tirades and sophomoric disrespect. In modern wrestling the ultimate insult comes by the way of a "shoot" (adding true grievances to a scripted exchange) promo. In the Golden Age of WWE performers used physical insults as a way to add the insult to the injury or victory in the ring.

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While many fans associated insult to the gift of gab, the truth is in the Golden Era of WWE the greatest insults were an action and not merely words. While some of the greatest heels of the past used physical insults on their opponents, we also find some of our fan favorites also used this method to their madness. Both heel and face alike used the physical insult to display superiority over their opponents.

10 Rick Rude's Airbrush Tights

"Ravishing" Rick Rude loved to insult the audience and his opponents during his Golden Era feuds. Rude was known for calling the fans "sweat hogs" and gyrating his way to victories throughout the WWE. Yet, Rude's greatest insults would come in the form of his attire. Rude would airbrush his wrestling tights as a mock tribute to his opponents. During a 1988 feud with Jake Roberts, Rude would airbrush the face of Robert's wife onto his tights. This insult would enrage Roberts and the WWE universe. Fans were on fire for this feud and displayed a heated desire for Roberts to defend his wife, Cheryl, and shut up the "Ravishing One." Rude's insults would come back to bite him on his airbrushed tights as Roberts would pin Rude cleanly multiple times during the end of their classic 1988 feud.

9 Ted DiBiase Sticking Money Down Throats

The "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase loved to insult the WWE fans and his opponents. DiBiase would offer fans an opportunity to win his money by embarrassing themselves in the ring. DiBiase believed "every man had a price." He went as far as paying Andre the Giant for the WWE Heavyweight title. DiBiase was a very successful wrestler in WWE, who picked up many wins. After a win DiBiase would take the opportunity to put his money where...his opponents mouth was. He would stick money down his fallen opponents throat as his ultimate insult.

8 Brutus Beefcake Giving Haircuts

As noted earlier, many of the top baby face wrestlers of the WWE's Golden Era would use physical insults as well. Brutus Beefcake had a very strong run in the late 1980's as the Barber. Beefcake would bring garden shears to the ring and strut around the ring gesturing to the crowd that his fingers were scissors. Beefcake would use a sleeper hold to defeat his opponents.

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Once he would get the opponent to sleep, Beefcake would get his shears and go to town insulting the dastardly heel he just defeated. During his feud with the Honky Tonk Man, Beefcake would come up short with his promise to cut the Intercontinental champion's hair, but would manage to get a partial haircut on Jimmy Hart. That insult must have been addressed before Hart became Beefcake's manager in 1993.

7 Honky Tonk Man's Guitar Shots

Honky Tonk Man debuted in the Golden Era of WWE as a baby face Elvis impersonator. Yet the crowd did not warm up to Honky and he quickly became a heel. Never considered the biggest or the toughest heel, Honky would garner heat from his guitar. Honky Tonk would never miss an opportunity to insult an opponent with a lethal guitar shot to the head. Honky Tonk road the momentum of those insults all the way to the Intercontinental title. He leveled many WWE superstars with his guitar shot. Included in his list of insulted victims would be Jake Roberts. Leading up to WrestleMania III, Honky would hit Roberts with a stiff guitar shot that would injure The Snake. Roberts claims that insult from Honky broke his neck.

6 Bushwhackers Licking Their Opponents

The Bushwhackers came to the WWE in 1988, after a run as the violent Sheepherders. In WWE Luke and Butch would turn in their hardcore roots and start developing their comedy routine. The lovable fan favorites would battle against some of the top heel tag teams of the time. The comedic duo would realize early on that a physical insult to their opponents would receive a large roar from the fans. Therefore they started licking their opponents to get that baby face pop that were looking for. Truly, the Bushwhackers licked everyone, the audience, the announcers, even themselves, but to lick a sweaty opponent is an insult in any era.

5 Rick Martel's Arrogance

Rick Martel would debut his new gimmick; the Model in late 1989. During this time the former WWE tag team champion would become a narcissistic heel. He started bringing his own brand of cologne to the ring. His cologne would be called Arrogance and Martel would insult his opponents by spraying them in the eyes. In some cases Arrogance would blind his opponents. Leading to Survivor Series 1990, Martel would blind Jake Roberts with Arrogance on the Brother Love Show. This insult would bring to Martel's his highest profile match as the Model. At WrestleMania, Martel would wrestle Jake Roberts in a blindfold match.

4 Roddy Piper's Coconut

"Hot Rod" Roddy Piper would have been a successful insulter in any era of professional wrestling. His silver tongue would have been tailor-made for today's pipe bomb segments. In 1984, Piper would use his tongue and his actions to insult Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

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On a segment of Piper's Pit, Hot Rod would set up a rivalry for the ages with Snuka. Piper would mock Snuka's culture and then knock Snuka out with a coconut. The off color segment would bring massive heat to the feud between Piper and Snuka. The coconut insult is one of the most famous in WWE history.

3 Nasty Boys' Pity City

In 1990 the Nasty Boys arrived in the WWE claiming they were going to "nastize" the locker room. With manager Jimmy Hart by their side they would soon win the WWE tag team titles. On their way to their many victories they would "invite" opponents to pity city. Pity City is the ultimate physical insult of having a Nasty Boy rub your face in their arm pits. Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags would use pity city as both heels and faces. Known for their insults throughout their careers (both in the ring and backstage), pity city may have been the nastiest.

2 Bobby Heenan Buying And Selling Contracts

Multiple times during the Golden Era of WWE managers would buy, sell and trade wrestler's contracts. Almost always this seemed like an insult to the wrestler. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan once bought the contract of the mighty Hercules in 1986. He brought Herc into the Heenan family and led Hercules to a decent mid card career. Yet, in 1988, The Brain would insult Herc by trying to sell his contract to Ted DiBiase.This would lead to a Hercules heel turn. The Million Dollar Man wanted to make Hercules his slave! Hercules rebelled from the attempted human trafficking and eventually "won" his freedom from Heenan and DiBiase.

1 Jake Robert's Snake

Throughout this article, Jake "The Snake" Roberts has been insulted by WWE heels of the Golden Era. Yet, Jake himself did some insulting as well. Roberts would have a very successful run during the late 1980's in WWE. During that run, Roberts would win a match with his DDT and then insult his prone victims. In most cases these victims were despised heels, so the fans would erupt. Still, Roberts would insult by bringing out his pet snake, Damien, and allowing him to lay on his opponents.Terryfying insult.