20 Most Iconic WWE Wrestlers Of All Time

15. Bob Backlund

Bob Backlund is another on this list who may not be rightly thought of by some younger readers. If you're only familiar with Backlund from 2000 or so onwards, you'd only be aware of him as some crazed old guy who would pop up here and there and who at one point took a foray into politics. Others may remember Backlund as the guy who made a WWF comeback in the early '90s, built up some steam during a lengthy Royal Rumble stay in 1993, went on to defeat Bret Hart for the WWF Championship, and was then squashed in a matter of seconds by Diesel. In his prime, Bob Backlund was a staple of the Madison Square Garden-centric WWWF and many think of his name as being synonymous with that boom period of wrestling. To many fans of a certain age, Backlund is one of the very best wrestlers of all time, helped largely by a Heavyweight Championship reign that, despite an unrecognised loss and win back, is recognised as being a mammoth 2,135 days, which is more than enough to justify the icon tag bestowed upon him.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.