10 Times WWE Legends Got Squashed

10. Bob Backlund (Vs. Diesel - MSG House Show Nov. 1994)

Bob Backlund is the second longest reigning WWE champion of all time, holding the company's top strap for an impressive 2135 days total. Less impressive is the fact that his final reign lasted only a week and ended in a seven second squash courtesy of Big Daddy Cool, Diesel.

Backlund was playing a demented heel at the time and had just beaten Bret Hart at Survivor Series after Owen Hart threw in the towel to screw his brother out of the title (Bret got screwed more times than a stuck cork in a wine bottle). However, Backlund was never more than a buffer to protect Bret from having to drop the belt to Diesel. McMahon wanted a new babyface as his champion but didn't want to diminish the elder Hart's star power in the process, hence Backlund being used as a sacrificial pawn to keep both Hart and Diesel looking strong.

Backlund deserved a longer run with the strap. His heel character was way ahead of its time, his attacks on backstage personnel coming across as genuinely shocking and transgressive instead of merely yawn inducing (*coughYoungBucks*cough*). Hell, after losing the belt he even did a fourth-wall breaking promo where he referred to Diesel as Kevin Nash! (We like to think that Eric Bischoff saw that and thought "Now there's an idea...")