10 Times WWE Threw Their Champion Under The Bus

6. Bob Backlund Loses WWE Title To Diesel (1994)

Bob Backlund. The ultimate 'transitional champion'. The year was 1994, and Backlund was back in WWE for a second run. Having previously worked for the company from the late 70s to the early 80s, and having had the second longest run with the title after Bruno Sammartino, the WWE that Backlund returned to was much changed to the one he left. He was a throwback to a simpler time, before the outlandish characters of the 90s, and struggled to make much of an impact until he added a psychotic element to his gimmick, regularly snapping during matches and locking opponents in the Crossface Chickenwing. He won his second WWE Championship at Survivor Series, applying this hold to Bret Hart until the Hitman's mother was convinced to throw in the towel by dastardly brother Owen. In today's WWE, the idea of a face vs face matchup for the WWE title isn't such a strange thing, but it was clearly somewhere they feared to tread in 1994. Diesel was to be the next WWE Champion, having just made a face turn, but WWE did not want him winning it from Bret, so Backlund served as the go between. The way it went down, however, made the title itself look cheap, and made Hart look weak for not being able to beat Backlund. Diesel (Kevin Nash to his pals) won the title in just 8 seconds at a house show at Madison Square Garden, pinning Backlund after a kick to the gut and a Jackknife Powerbomb. For all Nash's compliments directed towards Backlund for the way he sold the Jackkinfe - Backlund crawled back up the ramp in theatric agony - it was clear that Bob was done in WWE, and would never be taken seriously as a main event performer again.