I'm a child of the 1980s, so naturally when the subject of professional wrestling is brought up, I can't help but think of the likes of Nature Boy Ric Flair and Rowdy Roddy Pipper.

Unfortunately, the death of Macho Man Randy Savage this week prompted a look back to one of the most enjoyable aspects of my youth: watching professional wrestling. More important, rooting and loving the bad boys of professional wrestling.

Naturally, my top 5 list of favorite wrestlers of the 80s only consists of heels, and for good reason. They talked the best smack, strutted better than the likes of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior and, shall we say, never shied away from the good ole "foreign object."

Here's my list, with each wrestler ranked from 1 to 5 in four categories: Cool factor, bad-boy factor, skill set and a rant factor:

1. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair - Cool factor: 5 (styling and profiling); bad-boy factor: 5 (Two words: Four Horsemen); skill set: 4 (forget getting out of the figure-four hold); rant factor: 5 (Wooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Total: 19

2. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - Cool factor: 3 (dude wore a kilt); bad-boy factor 5 (It was wise to never turn your back on Pipper in the Pit); skill set: 3 (sleeper hold kind of bland); rant factor: 5 (Two words: Pipper's Pit). Total: 16

2. Randy "Macho Man" Savage - Cool factor: 5 (Ohhhhh yeahhhhh!!!!!); bad-boy factor: 3 (He was always nice to Elizabeth); skill set: 5 (the flying elbow was a thing of beauty); rant factor: 3 (very good when he got rolling). Total: 16

4. Iron Shiek: Cool factor: 4 (He was a Shiek after all); bad-boy factor: 5 (Shiek was from Iran for crying out loud); skill set: 3 (the camel clutch was unbreakable until Hulk Hogan broke the hold to win the heavyweight belt from the Shiek in the late 1970s); rant factor 2 (tried his best for Gene Mean). Total: 14

5. King Kong Bundy: Cool factor: 2 (a singlet with that figure?); bad-boy factor: 5 (one of the baddest of the bad); skill set: 2 (get out of the way of the big slash!); rant factor: 2 (it was more like growling with the big guy). Total: 11

- Mark Podolski