With 2,138 days as WWF Champion across two reigns, Bob Backlund is well and truly a legendary name. His first title victory came against Billy Graham in February 1978. However, controversially, Backlund lost the title to Antonio Inoki on a November 30th 1979 at a house show in Japan. Inoki then vacated the belt, with Backlund then winning it back during December. The WWE don't recognise this transaction though, so officially, Backlund never lost to Inoki - he therefore had one continuous title run from the '78 Graham match until losing to The Iron Sheik in December 1983. The heat Iron Sheik got for beating Backlund was red hot, so a month later, a young man by the name of Hulk Hogan bested the foreign heel for the belt. Backlund had indirectly set up the next great phase of wrestling history. His '78 to '83 reign had been remarkable in itself, a huge time span, but he was nothing compared to Hogan's star power. In many ways, Backlund was a regional champion, a man of his time. Years later and he actually made a return to the WWF title scene, beating Bret Hart in November 1994. Surprisingly, he then held the title for just a few days, before losing to Diesel in just eight seconds!
