Sheldon Cooper endures the nasty, childish taunts and pranks of Barry Kripke, but his true enemy is another person — Wil Wheaton, the former child star who played Wesley Crusher on Sheldon's beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation. So what's up with the hatred? Well, Wheaton did him wrong years earlier by failing to show up for an autograph session Sheldon worked hard to attend.
Wheaton played himself over several episodes of The Big Bang Theory, usually to gleefully antagonize Sheldon. For example, in a tabletop game tournament, he explains that he missed that fateful autograph session to be with his sick grandmother, and Sheldon, close to his own grandmom, lets his guard down in a rare show of empathy, leading Wheaton to win ... because he was lying about the whole thing.
In the final season of The Big Bang Theory, the characters square off once more when both are gunning to play children's science show host Professor Proton, a role evacuated with the death of the original actor (Bob Newhart). Wheaton, with his television experience, rightfully gets the gig, devastating Sheldon. It's a fitting end for the well-qualified rogue.
