Bob Backlund
 

He seems to be the most forgotten WWF/E champion in history. Nobody talks about him and he had the second longest title run in company history next to Bruno I've always wondered: what is your opinion of him? Have you only seen his Mr.Backlund run? Why do you think he gets forgotten?

Love Backlund's heel work, though his babyface character was meh. Either way, I always thought he brought it in the ring.

As for why he gets short shrift, I'd say being sandwiched between Bruno and the explosion of Hulkamania just dwarfs him in comparison to the other ball carriers of the past 55 years.

Forgotten because he had a similar run as Bruno but far less successful. Also because Hogan came in right after and made shittons of money for everybody.

I've watched a ton of his 70's-80's stuff over the past couple of years since I've really gotten into the history of the company. Bob was incredible in the ring. He was so far ahead of anyone else in the company. I've watched him have great matches with Stan Hansen, Adrian Adonis, Patterson, Buddy Rose etc....the best though we're his matches with Slaughter

It wasn't far less successful. It was a lot better than people think. Bruno's was better, but Bob's wasn't that far off.

Oh and his book is the best wrestling book I've ever read

Well as I've already stated here before he genuinely seems to be a very nice, funny older guy.

its a little sad most fans only know him for the crazy Mr Backlund era.

Bob in the late 70s & early 80s was one of the best performers in the country.

Vanilla midget

He seems like a completely different flavor to what was "in" at the time. I think people probably wanted guys like Billy Graham to keep on keeping on with the belt, and when he got it people may have felt like it was the change they didn't really want?

Billy Graham had about an additional 6 months tops with the belt left in him. His drugs issues were becoming terrible and he was becoming less and less reliable.

He sold out practically every MSG show that he headlined. Bob was very over despite what people like Superstar and Larry Zbyszko say.

Hmm. Maybe it is just the sandwiching between the Sammartino and Hogan eras?

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Bob Backlund's return at the 2000 Royal Rumble in the Garden was a real WTF moment, but in a great way.

Him being as a forgotten huge star in WWE history is probably a mix of him being sandwiched in between two mega stars and his overall style.

He might have been very successful for the WWE at the time but didn't have the same huge mainstream or overall importance Bruno and Hogan had.

Part of it is due to him being less charismatic than those two because his biggest strength was as a mat technician. The other part due to his era being more of a continuation of Bruno's era and not as a huge break like Hogan's era was.

Oh God yes. Hogan and Sammartino were way bigger mainstream stars. That being said, I've found it sad that Backlund's place in WWF history is overlooked by a lot. I have Backlund matches that even today people would enjoy. The Snuka cage match in 82 was incredible. Snuka misses the splash from the top of the cage.

I guess being "THAT GUY" who dropped the world title in 4 seconds doesn't help. I mean, maybe there was a need for a title change but give it at least 5-10 minutes.

I need to watch some old Backlund stuff.

Here's the Snuka vs Backlund MSG cage match from 1982

https://youtu.be/Eub_aMleqCY

Here's Backlund vs Stan Hansen 1981 MSG. Great match.

http://youtu.be/65VUgphpk8k

Given that a Diesel vs Backlund match would be a mess, 4 seconds was about right lol

Backlund vs Slaughter cage match from Philly Spectrum in 1981
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyr...-3-21-81_sport

Backlund vs Muraco in a Texas Death match from MSG in 1982.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1y...th-match_sport

Backlund vs Masked Superstar from MSG in 1983.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27...10-17-83_sport

I only know him from his 90s run which was awesome in itself.

Bob Backlund is no John Cena, that's for sure! CENATION!!!

Roman Reigns has never done drugs, I bet Bob Backlund can not say the same. He probably doped up all the time in the 70's while he was wrestling.

Watched the first two. Man that match with Hansen was stellar.

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only person more overlooked in WWF history is The Undertaker.....

He'll beat Darren Young with the Chickenwing and then go on to redeem America against Rusev.

Why was he the champ again before getting crushed by Diesel? Seems so odd.

Transitional Champ. Bret and Diesel were both faces.

Bret-Backlund-Diesel

Doesn't get enough credit for when he came back and reinvented himself as a heel, working with Owen and all those guys.