He went about the villain thing all wrong. He was always the sort of guy who rubbed people the wrong way and in turn, he embraced it. Problem is, if you're going go all the way and try to be Vader or Ric Flair, you have to be damn good at what you do. You want your peers and the fans to love to hate you. That means they dislike you but respect your ability and if you're cold enough, even fear you. (See Kobe from '04 -- '09.) Everyone just outright hates Apple though and shows him no respect because his ability doesn't match the persona he's trying to portray. Dude is treated like a joke that no one takes seriously. You're not a villain at that point; you're a clown.