Bob Backlund's first reign

[Bad News Gertner]

Now I've been getting more into WWWF history lately, and from some interviews I've watched with guys like Larry Zbyszko and Billy Graham, the theme seems to be that Bob Backlund was not a successful champion. Now, I know Larry is known to "push the truth", but he said Vince Sr was close to bankruptcy around 1980. Can anyone shine some light on this? I can see some validity in this as post-Bruno, I'm guessing business died off a bit and the company was head by the likes of Ivan Putski, Graham, Larry Zbyszko, Backlund. Not exactly Bruno Sammartino.