8 Greatest Transitional WWE Champions Of All Time
2. Bret Hart
Believe it or not, Bret Hart was treated as a transitional champion in 1995. After having been the victim of bogus transition jobs himself twice in the previous two years - once when Yokozuna beat him at WrestleMania IX just to drop the belt to Hulk Hogan minutes later, and again when Bob Backlund beat him with a nine-minute crossface chickenwing and then lost to Diesel three days later - it was Hart's turn to act as the middleman.
His role as the transitional champion was a bit unusual, however, as he and Diesel were the top two babyfaces in the company going into their feud for the WWE title. Bret, however, excelled at turning heel mid-match, despite most in the crowd preferring him to Diesel by a large margin.
When Hart emerged from Survivor Series 1995 victorious, diehard WWE fans across the world breathed a heavy sigh of relief; the awful reign of Diesel had finally ended.
"Finally," they thought, "we have a legitimate champion again". But WWE had different plans. They wanted to build up Shawn Michaels as a believable champion, and so the painful process of preparing to drop the belt to HBK began almost immediately.
Still, Bret being the consummate professional, even in the face of getting crapped on, made him a fantastic champ, regardless of the situation.