When Diesel hoisted Bob Backlund up over his head and planted him with a jackknife powerbomb and pinned him eight seconds later to win the WWE Championship, it stunned the wrestling world. After all, he had only been a full-time in-ring performer for Vince McMahon's promotion for a year and had only turned babyface days earlier at Survivor Series. His rise was the very epitome of meteoric as McMahon attempted to find the "Hulk Hogan of the '90s." Unfortunately for McMahon and his new champion, a lack of quality competition and a major downturn in business led to the least financially successful title reign in WWE history. Rematches with Backlund and bouts against Jeff Jarrett and Bam Bam Bigelow were hardly enough to get fans to flock to arenas across the country to see Big Daddy Cool defend his title. He would work several tag matches with the likes of Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels as his partner helped mask some of the big man's weaknesses but even those matches came against talented competitors that were anything but main event stars. Awful pay-per-view main events against Sycho Sid, Mabel and the British Bulldog did little to enhance the quality of his title reign. His defense against best friend Michaels at WrestleMania XI was rewarded with Match of the Year honors and he had two excellent matches with Bret Hart in 1995, proving that when he was motivated by better workers, His title reign would come to an end at the hands of Hart on November 19, 1995 when he lost a no disqualification match at the Survivor Series. The match provided the emphasis for a heel turn, which would take full effect two months later following the Royal Rumble. While Diesel was the least successful champion in company history, at least from a business standpoint, he provided stability to a company that was at its lowest point and facing increasing competition from World Championship Wrestling, who had been signing former WWE stars to lucrative contracts in an attempt to put McMahon's company out of business. Diesel, along with Hart, Michaels, Razor Ramon and Undertaker provided a foundation that could be built upon. Anyone of those men could have been champion and in most cases, the results would have likely been the same or at least comparable.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
