10 Fastest Pushes In WWE History
4. Buddy Rogers (90 Days)
Buddy Rogers has
already made an appearance on this list, getting a mention as he played a
supporting role in Bruno Sammartino’s push. But Rogers actually went one better
than his eventual successor, winning the WWE Championship just 90 days after
his debut.
Or at least, that’s what the company’s history books will tell you. The story surrounding Rogers’ title win is actually a fairly messy one.
The WWE claims that Rogers became the first-ever WWE Champion on 25 April 1963, after winning a tournament in Rio de Janeiro. However, Rogers had been appearing as a “World Heavyweight Champion” since his WWWF debut on 25 January 1963. This was because, technically, he was still the NWA Champion—the organisation that WWWF had in fact split from in order to compete under their own banner. They don’t make it easy, do they?
Add to that the fact that Rogers was another to have previously appeared for Capitol Wrestling Corporation, and the exact dates for both his title win and his debut are somewhat hazy.
It seems the most logical course of action is to go by the date at which the WWE claims—truthfully or not—that he won the tournament in Rio, and the date of his first official WWWF appearance—the different between which is just 90 days.