8 Famous Wrestlers Whose Careers BRUTALLY Faded Away

At the tail end of Roman Reigns' revolutionary reign as Undisputed WWE Champion, it became Michael Cole's responsibility to list off the only four historical figures who had a World Title reign longer than Roman's: in ascending order, Pedro Morales, Hulk Hogan, Bob Backlund, and Bruno Sammartino.

Disregarding Pedro, given that he's never been relevant to a WWE audience since his retirement in the eighties, only two out of the three of Hogan, Backlund, and Sammartino have been held in (mostly) high regard, and it's certainly not the guy who was eyeing up the White House.

Despite being the last true hero to wrestling fans pre-Hulkamania, Bob Backlund's status as a company-shaping figure never came close to matching that of 'The Hulkster'. Part of that has to do with when their respective title reigns occurred - pro wrestling was more mainstream while Hogan was on the throne - but it has more to do with how WWE presented both men in the years that followed. Hulk Hogan ruled the industry by being booked - see: politicked - as a multi-time WWE Champion and WrestleMania headliner, while Bob Backlund was doing jobs to The Bastion Booger on house shows. He did get another run with the WWE Title, but does it really count when it lasts three days, and you lose it in eight seconds, again on a house show?

The last notable thing Backlund did for WWE was act as Darren Young's life coach between 2016 and 2017.

Christ.

That would be like if, in 2050, Roman Reigns returns to guide Tank Ledger down the garbage chute of WWE's mid-card.