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After Triple H began his 12th run as a World Champion recently, I started thinking--who are the greatest WWE/F Champions ever? Who had the biggest impact? Who had lengthy reigns? All this was taken into account...

Greatest WWE/F Champions Ever

by Ryan (Senior Writer)

18

1,164 reads

Opinion

July 01, 2008


After Triple H began his 12th run as a World Champion recently, I started thinking--who are the greatest WWE/F Champions ever? Who had the biggest impact? Who had lengthy reigns?  All this was taken into account.

So, without further ado, the top ten WWE/F Champions of all-time--

10.) The Nature Boy Ric Flair (2 Reigns)--

Flair came to the WWF surrounded by controversy.  He left the NWA/WCW in a spat over money and brought with him WCW's World Title (the big gold belt as it was known), claiming on WWF TV to be the "real" world champion.

He would win his first WWF Title at the 1992 Royal Rumble, defeating 29 other superstars, including the Immortal Hulk Hogan, to win the title. He would, however, go on to lose the title just three months later at Wrestlemania VIII to "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Flair would claim his second and final WWF Title in September of that year, defeating Randy Savage at a house show.  Flair would hold the belt just one month before dropping it to Bret "Hitman" Hart.  He would return to WCW by 1993.

9.) "Macho Man" Randy Savage (2 Reigns)--

After a lengthy heel run to start his WWF career, Savage would become a successful face culminating in his first WWF Title by defeating "Million Dollar Man" in a tournament at Wrestlemania IV, with help from Hulk Hogan.

This would lead to the epic feud between Savage and Hogan that stemmed from Savage's belief that Hogan was after Miss Elizabeth. The feud came to a climax at Wrestlemania V, where Hogan ended Savage's nearly year-long reign.

Savage wouldn't sniff the title again until three years later when, at Wrestlemania VIII he defeated Ric Flair for his second title run.  He would successfully defend it through Summerslam of that year, but would lose it back to Flair in September before departing to the WCW in 1994.

An interesting note: of all of Savage's WWF & WCW title reigns, they all ended with losses to either Flair or Hogan.

8.) The Undertaker (4 Reings)--

The Dead Man has had a long history in the company and it all began at the 1990 Survivor Series.

After an impressive winning streak, he was granted a shot at Hulk Hogan's WWF Title at the 1991 Survivor Series.  He would win the match, but in controversial fashion, as Ric Flair pushed a chair into the ring resulting in a tombstone piledriver on the chair.  The title would be vacated only to be won back by Hogan at "Texas Tuesday".

The Undertaker would enter into a myriad of feuds with odd characters until finally getting another shot at the title heading into Wrestlemania 13. There, he defeated "Psycho" Sid to claim his second WWF title.

That reign, however, would end at Summerslam of that year when an errant Shawn Michaels chair shot allowed Bret Hart to pick up the victory, launching a tremendous feud between Michaels and the dead man.

His third reign would come during the Austin Era, with help from Mr.McMahon, at Over the Edge (the event where Owen Hart tragically lost his life).  This reign would be totally uneventful, as he would drop the title back to Austin a month later on Raw.

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18 comments Last one added 12 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. ...

    Stone Cold is the best wrestler ever period. I hope Stone Cold really drives trucks drunk and stuns people that don't agree with him.

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    One of the best is missing from this list and that is HHH!!

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      Too much surrounding how he got there (politicking) and his impact wasn't that great. He didn't lead the WWF anywhere. They were well ahead of WCW when he took the driver's seat.

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    Triple H and John Cena should be on this list, but one superstar, though he only had one reign as Champion, that should be on this list is Eddie Guerrero. It was a lifelong dream for Eddie, and he was held back in WCW with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger, The Giant (aka The Big Show). It's hard to say whether Eddie would have been a great champion or not, but he definitely deserves to be on this list.

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      Cena doesn't make it because he had one good reign. Eddie didn't make it because he had one run of about 6 months and wasn't all that impressive of a champion. Mankind makes it because he was a versatile and entertaining performer and a LEGEND. Triple H just has too many factors working for him that the others didn't to be considered.

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    Eddie Guerrero should be on the list agreed, so should Triple H. How the hell did Mankind make the list before those two lol

    John Cena loses all votes for turning the Title into a spin disk!

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    I must say that I like that Mankind is on there. I think he does deserve it because he was one of the few wrestlers in WWE/F in my knowledge to put so much on the line and risk it all. I don't think Triple H deserves the title because even though he is a 12 time champion, there are few people left that are worth seeing as champion...the only ones I can think of are Cena and maybe JBL...but HHH just isn't worth noting.

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    Doesn't The Undertaker have 6 title reigns? He's had two in the last 15 months...

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      World Heavyweight, not WWE Title.

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      Then none of them are right. The "World Heavyweight" title was the one that was handed to Triple H by Eric Bischoff in 2002. If that's the one you're looking at Austin has none, Rock has none and Flair has about 13.

      The WWE title is the one that stretches back to Sammartino.

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      Oh, and Hunter's are about 6 of each.

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      Uh, yes. They are right. Austin never held the World Title, neither did Flair nor did Rock. This is the WWF (originial, winged eagle, attitude era)/E (JBL Era/spinner). Trust me. Those reigns are accurate as far as the WWE title is concerned.

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    i agree how in the hell did mankind make the list? i think spot could have been given to the iron sheik!!!

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    As much as I love The Undertaker he does not deserve to be on this list, neither does Mankind. Wheres Buddy Rogers? or Bob Backland? This list blows!!!!!

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      Mankind makes it because of his true underdog role, his entertainment and the pure physicality he showed. Taker is subjective, I suppose and Backlund had one good (albeit really long) run. Rogers? Again, a fringer as far as I'm concerned but then again it's my opinion.

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    IF Stone Cold wasnt #1 I'm glad Hogan would be. Hogan is defenitly my favorite wrestler. Come on Hogan vs Austin in their prime. Hogan would smash Austin. He would go Thunder Lips on Austins ASS. 316 rules though.

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    I will admit there are some flaws with this list (starting with Ric Flair being at the bottom and Randy Savage even making it) but its decent .. He is forgetting some that should be there such as HHH, Eddie Gurrero, and dare is say .... Kurt Angle ? .. and I give it up to the other fans who want to see legends up there like Bruno Sammartino & Bob Backland but I think we should be leaning towards the greats of our generation.. and judging by the photos i see on some of ya'll pages .. most of you aren't even old enough to have seen their matches when they happened yet alone "remember them" .. just because you read up on them on Wiki. (not to pass judgement on people I'm just making an opinion so don't get all offended) .. And yes i think mankind should be .... no wait ... Mick Foley should be up there .. because really no one has given more of themselves to this business than him and he should be remember as a great "champ"

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