Biggest Fan: Barry M. Reardon
Bob Backlund's career in professional wrestling was preceded by a successful amateur wrestling career at North Dakota State University. After training to be a professional wrestler under the tutelage of Eddie Sharkey (called "The Trainer of Champions"), Backlund competed in the AWA and the NWA until 1977 when he signed with Vincent J. McMahon to compete in the WWWF. Backlund scored a controversial pinfall victory over the reigning champion, Superstar Billy Graham, on February 20, 1978, beginning his first title run. Backlund would hold on to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship until the day after Christmas in 1983.
Backlund's time as champion bridged the gap between the Sammartino Era and the Hulk Hogan Era, a time when wrestling was on the threshold of a plethora of changes. By the time Backlund returned to the WWF in 1992, the wrestling landscape was an immensely different place. The clean-cut, technically-sound grappler that fans were so fond of in the late-70s wasn't quite as over with the fans almost a decade later. It wasn't long before Backlund "snapped" during a match with Bret Hart in one of the industry's most shocking heel turns in history. The new, slightly crazed, Mr. Backlund ended up being a very engaging villain during this second WWF stint, and at the 1994 Survivor Series, more than ten years after the end of his original title reign, Backlund became a two-time WWF Heavyweight Champion. As impressively long as his first title run was, his second stint as the champ would be shockingly brief...
In the shortest WWF title match in history, Backlund dropped the title to "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel a mere eight seconds after the opening bell sounded. Backlund only held the championship for three days. This was also the last time the WWF Heavyweight Championship changed hands at a non-televised event. Altogether, November 26, 1994 was an historic night in many ways, although Backlund was certainly on the wrong end of most of those reasons.
In total, Backlund held the WWF Championship for 2,138 days. Only two men have ever been the World Wrestling Federation's top dog longer than that. The master of the crossface chickenwing is a one-of-a-kind superstar whose adaptability made him relevant again, against all odds, years after his late-70s heyday. What a superstar.
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