Champions that struck the MOST gold. Not to conform to cliches, but Number 6 may actually shock you.
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00:00 Ok, I know you're already in the comments going crazy, Simon, how dare you say these
00:04 things, but here's the deal, here is the criteria we are using. Dave Meltzer in the
00:09 Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently sat down with a bunch of WWE champions and he
00:14 worked out how successful they'd been, being on record-setting numbers and buy rates and
00:18 pay-per-views and actually broke it down to say, "Hey, these guys are some of the best."
00:23 So yes, hello, my name is Simon World Culture, please do subscribe, and here's the 10 most
00:27 successful, in terms of statistics, WWE champions in history.
00:34 10. Randy Orton When you go and look at Randy Orton's complete
00:40 WWE title reigns, it is crazy, because his first one happened in 2007 and goes all the
00:46 way to 2020. And this really sums up Orton's career, because for the past 20 years, he
00:53 has basically been on top. And they say, "Yeah, but he never really changed the business,
00:57 he didn't blow it up." But who cares? Not everybody can be a super-duper game-changing
01:03 star, but he has been consistent and when it comes to wrestling, he is so damn good
01:08 and I'm going to say it, underrated. And of course we did struggle a little bit when we
01:11 turned in Babyface after his first World Heavyweight title reign, but still, he has so many bangers
01:18 in the history books, so I say well done to Mr. Randy.
01:22 9. Bob Backlund Bob Backlund may have only had two WWF Championship
01:25 reigns, but as you're about to learn, he was kind of a big deal. Especially because of
01:30 his second one, he only held it for three days. And of course that last one came when
01:33 WWF was doing a little bit of a transitional championship change, because Bret Hart dropped
01:38 into Bob, who subsequently went and dropped into Diesel, less than a week later. But we
01:42 ain't talking about that, we going way back in time when Backlund was the man.
01:46 Because way back in 1978, he beat superstar Billy Graham for the WWF title, and if you
01:52 can believe it, he held onto it for over five years. Kind of ironically he then lost it
01:58 to The Iron Sheik, who would eventually lose it to Hulk Hogan to start a new wave in World
02:02 Wrestling Federation. But yeah, when you hold onto something for that amount of time, you're
02:07 going to have a successful run.
02:09 8. The Rock The Rock first won the WWF title back in 1998,
02:14 and his last one was in 2013. Which is terrifying, because that was almost ten years ago. The
02:20 thing is though, given that he was a champion during the Attitude Era, of course his metrics
02:24 are sky high. Whether you look at merchandise, attendance, TV ratings or PPV buys, if Dwayne
02:31 'The Rock' Johnson was heading up a show, people just took money and threw it at him.
02:35 This is even more impressive because of course he entered wrestling and was gone before you
02:39 could say, "hey wait a minute, why is he a movie star now?" And honestly, we could probably
02:43 move forward 50 years and The Rock is still going to be in lists like this.
02:48 7. Triple H And for the same reasons too, especially
02:50 because he had crazy longevity, Triple H gets into this list. While some people like to
02:56 get on his case now, in the year 2000 when the WWF was crazy profitable, Hunter Hearst
03:02 Helmsley was one of the best they had. If you want to tell me that during this 12 month
03:07 period he was untouchable as a heel, I'm going to agree with you.
03:11 And sure as the years went by and Triple H was still around, the numbers started to go
03:14 down. But this wasn't his fault, it was just during 1998-2001 we got to such a crazy level
03:21 that eventually we were going to have to head the other way. But if you do go and watch
03:25 the King of Kings from basically 1999 until he does suffer his injury in 2001, he is worth
03:31 every penny.
03:32 6. Andre The Giant I know what you're saying, Simon, the 8th wonder
03:35 of the world didn't even really ever hold the WWF title. Because of course it was all
03:40 that shenanigans with Ted DiBiase the Million Dollar Man before the whole thing got cancelled.
03:45 The thing is he still was champion, kind of and kind of not, but when you get into the
03:49 statistics and how much of a star he was around the world, well there's a reason today we
03:54 still talk about Andre.
03:55 And don't forget he absolutely smashed it for most of his career as a good guy, but
03:59 his biggest, most highest point is when he became a bad guy and fought Hulk Hogan at
04:03 WrestleMania 3.
04:04 Their rematch which aired on NBC was the most watched wrestling match in United States
04:09 history. Of course Hulk Hogan was a massive reason for that, but to be a great babyface
04:14 you need the best heel. And that's where The Giant came into it.
04:18 5. Roman Reigns I mean Roman these days is more associated
04:21 with the Universal Championship, but he still has been the WWE Champion. And every time
04:26 he has held it, he's done pretty damn well.
04:28 And all this comes down to the fact that as I say these words, as of right now WWE is
04:32 more profitable than ever, which means they're making a bunch of cash. And who is most definitely
04:37 their top star, it's the head of the table, it's the tribal chief, and those two things
04:41 just go together.
04:42 And of course you can start questioning it, but that's not the point here. Roman Reigns
04:46 is the chosen one. When you get into all the metrics, WWE is swimming through Scrooge McDuck's
04:50 cash, so if you do want to write a list like this, you've got to put Roman right up there.
04:55 And also, I don't care what anyone else says, I think the man is smashing it.
04:59 4. John Cena If I was going to stand here right now and
05:02 go through every single one of John Cena's WWE title reigns, I would probably be dead
05:07 before we got to the end of it. Good grief, that man was on top forever.
05:11 Because do not forget, not only was he a consistent main event player, but he was also the last
05:16 guy to grow even bigger than WWE and go out into the mainstream world and yes, become
05:22 an absolute success.
05:23 So really, he has set the bar too high. Like even when he came back last year, people flocked
05:28 to house shows to see him, because you look at John Cena's name and think "hey honey,
05:32 should we go to the wrestling show?" and they would go yes.
05:34 And really, he may be the last of a dying breed, because as we know, WWE wants those
05:39 three initials to be the biggest star, so even if somebody does come along and knock
05:43 on the door, Vince McMahon probably goes "no, you've got to stay down".
05:46 So never underestimate or undervalue the importance of John Cena. I mean, imagine that 20 year
05:52 period without him. Some things would have been better, but overall, it would have been
05:56 a bit of a struggle.
05:57 3. Buddy Rogers
05:58 Though Buddy Rogers wasn't able to work too long for the WWWF back in 1963, he was
06:04 their champion when Vince McMahon Sr. decided "I don't want to work with anybody else
06:09 anymore and I'm going to go out on my own".
06:11 So if you want to say without Mr. Rogers we never get the success that WWE would go on
06:15 to get, you certainly have a point. And even though Buddy was put in there so he could
06:19 eventually lose this championship to Bruno Sammartino, everything starts with him. So
06:24 he is the catalyst, and come on now, it basically means he helped change the world.
06:29 2. Hulk Hogan
06:31 I mean do we really need to get into this? No matter what your thoughts are on the Hulkster
06:34 these days, and trust me I totally get it, I am with you, back in the 80s and early 90s
06:39 no one was bigger than him and he took the WWF on his back and he took it into pastas
06:46 new.
06:47 I mean he basically changed the face of North American wrestling and even my nan, bless
06:51 her soul, knew who Hulk Hogan was. But if you talked about professional wrestling she
06:57 went "oh that there WWF stuff with that there Hulk Hogan".
07:00 I mean even in 2022 people on the outskirts still use Hulk's name when they want to talk
07:07 about sports entertainment. So of course when you get into the back end and look at the
07:11 numbers, well frankly it is ridiculous.
07:15 1. Bruno Sammartino
07:16 But it is not as nuts as Bruno Sammartino, who basically got the WWF title and decided
07:22 "you know what, I never want to lose it".
07:25 And you cannot fathom how popular he was until you do sit down and read as much as you possibly
07:30 can because in the 60s and 70s people were so into Bruno that even the thought of him
07:36 losing would get an audience to riot.
07:38 I mean he only had two title reigns but they lasted for ages, where much like a Hulk Hogan
07:42 or a Buddy Rogers, we do not get the WWE today without Bruno Sammartino.
07:49 Thankfully in the mid 2010s Triple H was able to mend their relationship so we saw a little
07:53 bit of Bruno back in a new version of World Wrestling Entertainment. But if you have nothing
07:58 else to do today, just type in his name, even go to his Wikipedia entry and you'll be looking
08:04 around going "hahaha how did he do so much".
08:07 And of course before we end this video don't forget I'm sure you have your own vision of
08:11 what a successful WWE Champion is, and that's great, but when it comes to those digits,
08:17 these are the 10 guys.
08:18 But if you want to put anybody else in the comments make sure you do and like the video,
08:21 share the video and subscribe. Head over to WotCulture.com where you can read articles
08:25 like this, make sure you come follow us on social media, and we have a ton of videos,
08:30 just watch half of one. That's right, point five.
08:32 My name is Simon for WotCulture, thank you for joining me as always, see you soon.