Wrestling With My Stream of Consciousness
“At some point in the late 1970’s… let’s say 1977 for the sake of argument, Bob Backlund beat ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham for the then WWWF Championship. He held onto this for six years, briefly losing it to Antonio Inoki in this time. The Championship was also held up following a draw with Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine. Neither of these title changes are officially recognised by the now WWE - their history records an unbroken title run, until The Iron Shiek made Backlund submit to his Camel Clutch in late-1983.
The evil Iranian’s reign of terror lasted barely a week (1), before Hulk Hogan, fresh off a starring role in Rocky III, dropped the big legdrop on The Shiek and blew the roof off Maddison Square Garden. He went on to headline WrestleMania I in 1985, teaming with Mr. T to beat Paul Orndorff and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper. WrestleMania II saw Hogan successfully defend his title in a steel cage against King Kong Bundy, whilst WrestleMania III in Detroit saw him pin Andre the Giant in front of an estimated crowd of 93,000 (2) people.
However, three years into his title reign, Hogan was finally beaten for the title by Andre the Giant before WrestleMania IV, following crooked officiating by referee Earl Hebner. Andre tried to hand the belt straight over to ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase. He was immediately stripped of the title, and a tournament was held to crown a new champion at WrestleMania. The tournament was eventually won by ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.
Hogan won the title back from Savage at WrestleMania V, holding it for another year before losing to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI. The Warrior succumbed to the challenge of Iraqi turncoat Sgt. Slaughter at Royal Rumble 1991, before Hogan won back the championship in underwhelming fashion at the Main Event of WrestleMania VII.
The Undertaker was the next man to win the Championship, following interference in his Survivor Series 1991 match by Ric Flair. He held the belt for a couple of days before apparently dropping it back to Hogan at the experimental ‘Tuesday in Texas’ Pay-per-view. Unfortunately, figurehead WWF president Jack Tunney, tiring of the outside interference, denied Hogan a fourth championship and declared the title vacant (3). The winner of the forthcoming Royal Rumble would be declared champion.
In one of the greatest matches of all time, Ric Flair entered the Rumble match at Number 3 and won his first WWF Championship. Randy Savage won the belt at WresleMania VIII, before dropping it back to Flair following Summerslam 1992. Flair promptly lost the belt to Bret Hart, who held onto it until 1993’s WrestleMania IX, where Yokozuna (literally) squashed him. Moments later, Hulk Hogan made his way to the ring, challenged Yokozuna to an impromptu match, and beat him for his fourth WWF Championship 30 seconds later (4).
Hogan would hold the belt until King of the Ring 1993, where Yokozuna exacted some revenge. The mighty Sumo Wrestler from Samoa would eventually lose the Championship to Bret Hart at WrestleMania X. Hart would then go on to submit to Bob Backlund (remember him) who had a one-day reign following Survivor Series 1994 (5). ‘Big Daddy Cool’ Diesel then squashed him in approximately 9 seconds (6). Diesel would go on to hold the title for almost a year, before losing to Bret Hart.
Now my knowledge gets a bit fuzzy… I believe Hart lost to Shawn Michaels, who lost to Sycho Sid, who lost to Shawn Michaels, who lost ‘his smile’ and surrended the Championship. Bret Hart won it in 1997 in a Fatal Four Way match over Vader, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and The Undertaker, before losing it to Sycho Sid the very next day. Sid lost to The Undertaker at WresleMania XIII. And then someone else won. Possibly Bret Hart again? He lost it to Shawn Michaels at the infamous Survivor Series 1997 Montreal Screw Job. And that’s about as far as I can go… (7)“
Am I cool now?
Corrections
- It was actually almost a month - 26.12.1983 - 23.1.1984.
- The precise figure was 93,173, although this is sometimes disputed.
- Although the title was declared vacant, the offical WWE Title History page records this as Hogan’s fourth world title.
- Wikipedia state 21 seconds. And, obviously, this would be Hogan’s fifth Championship run.
- It was actually a three day reign - 23.11.1994 - 26.11.1994.
- Wikipedia says 8 seconds. Like it matters.
- All correct. The title history for the next year (1998) reads Steve Austin -> Kane -> Steve Austin -> The Rock.