The heel manager in WWE (and wrestling as a whole) is something of a lost art. It's not a completely dead one, thanks to popular modern managers such as Paul Heyman and Zelina Vega, and MVP looks to be in the process of transitioning into the role.
As good as Heyman and Vega are, they don't reach the level of nuclear heat, and that's where the art of managing is being lost. The best managers didn't just make fans hate them - they could start riots.
"Classy" Freddie Blassie
Blassie actually toned his act as a manager down from his days as an active competitor. He was famous for filing his teeth down and biting his opponents to draw blood. During his time in Los Angeles, Blassie was so hated by fans that he received a police escort to and from the ring. He even had acid thrown on his back during a match. He also made himself infamous in Japan, where fans were so shocked by him bloodying national hero Rikidozan that it caused heart attacks.
As a manager, Blassie was one of "the Three Wise Men of the East," the top managers in the New York territory that would eventually become WWE. Blassie managed everyone from a young Hulk Hogan to Muhammad Ali, whom he seconded in his boxer vs. wrestler match against New Japan Pro Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki. He and his trusty cane were never far from ringside.
Blassie played a part in the birth of the '80s wrestling boom. He helped end one of the longest title reigns in WWE history when he led the Iron Sheik to victory over Bob Backlund on December 26th, 1983. The Sheik would go on to lose the title to Blassie's old client Hogan less than a month later, kicking off the Rock' n' Wrestling Era. Blassie would also manage the Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff to the first title change at WrestleMania when they defeated The U.S. Express for the World Tag Team Titles at the inaugural installment of the show.
Captain Lou Albano
Before his face turn in the build-up to the first WrestleMania, Captain Lou Albano spent 32 years of his career as a heel. He transitioned from wrestling to managing at the suggestion of the legendary Bruno Sammartino, who saw potential in the undercard wrestler's "gift of gab."
Albano proved Sammartino right in 1970. Albano's promos on Sammartino, in support of new heel "Crusher" Verdu, led to a sellout for the then WWWF at Madison Square Garden. It set a gate record in the World's Most Famous Arena that would be broken a month later by the rematch. Sammartino credited the fan's desire to see him make a liar out of Albano for the success of the feud, saying Albano got "the kind of heat no one else could."
As the top manager in the territory, Albano tried to unseat Sammartino as the champion. He ultimately succeeded, when Ivan Koloff ended Sammartino's seven-year run with the title. Legend has it that the crowd was so silent from shock after Sammartino lost that he thought he had gone deaf. Albano and Koloff had to be escorted out of the arena by security, without the championship belt, as a riot broke out. An angry mob of fans chased Albano, his wife, and a family friend from the Garden to a nearby bar, causing damage to the tune of $171,472 in 2019 money.
Bobby "the Brain" Heenan
In his days in the AWA, Heenan incensed a fan so much that they fired a gun at him. After years of being a top manager in the midwestern territory, Heenan jumped to WWE in 1984 alongside the likes of Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and David Schultz.
Heenan and his "Heenan Family" stable wound up feuding with Hogan for years, managing his challengers at back-to-back WrestleManias. The WrestleMania 3 match between Hogan and Andre the Giant remains one of the most famous ever, and the already hated Heenan became an even bigger heel by leading Andre to the dark side. Andre was only able to redeem himself by turning on Heenan after his final match in WWE at WrestleMania VI.
Vickie Guerrero
Guerrero drew incredible heat solely with the sound of her voice. She had to scream her catchphrase, "Excuse me!" over the boos she got.
Although she spent the majority of her time in WWE as an authority figure, she did her share of traditional managing. Her best run in that role was with Dolph Ziggler. She led him to the first of his six Intercontinental Championship reigns and managed him to the precipice of the main event.
Guerrero took on the old school heel manager role of feuding with the biggest stars by proxy, working with top stars like the Undertaker, John Cena, and Rey Mysterio in the process. She and Ziggler even feuded with Edge, proving how good of a heel she was by making the Rated-R Superstar sympathetic by comparison.
Lana
Lana has had two very different runs as a hated heel manager. She was a big part of building Rusev up as a modern-day version of the foreign monster heel when they debuted on the main roster. She dedicated his victories to her hero, Vladimir Putin, during his long winning streak. One of her promos caused some controversy that went beyond WWE fandom when it was interpreted as a comment on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash and received mainstream coverage.
Years after dropping her evil Russian character, and trying her hand being a babyface a few times, Lana recently returned to her heat drawing roots. The storyline that saw her leave Rusev for Bobby Lashley, with its soap opera twists and turns, made her one of the most hated people on the roster. That dredged up the dark side of fandom, as she received multiple death threats.