Every 1-Time WWE Champion Ranked From Worst To Best
14. Buddy Rogers
Sometimes one detail is enough to make a so-so championship reign feel important. For the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers, that detail changed the entire wrestling business.
OG Naitch became the first ever WWWF Champion on 11 April 1963 after "winning a tournament in Brazil" (in reality he was just given the belt, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story). This decision came after bookers Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt decided to break away from the NWA and form their own promotion. They decided to take the most recent NWA World's Heavyweight Champion with them, which just so happened to be Buddy Rogers.
Rogers may have reigned for much longer than 36 days had a minor heart attack not forced him to a temporary retirement. Still, he helped establish the new company and the new championship with his existing star power, which in turn established the man who beat him for the gold - a certain Bruno Sammartino.
For his place in wrestling history as the first man to hold the sport's most prestigious championship, Buddy Rogers should be fondly remembered, even if most people remember the other Nature Boy way more often.