Every 1-Time WWE Champion Ranked From Worst To Best

5. Superstar Billy Graham

Eddie Guerrero
WWE.com

The DNA of legends like Jesse Ventura, Scott Steiner, and Hulk Hogan contains more than a little hint of "Superstar" Billy Graham.

He helped revolutionise pro wrestling in the 1970s as one of the business' first "body guys" and his charismatic promo delivery - including liberal use of the word "brother" - was unlike anything anyone had seen at the time.

It's no surprise then that Graham was chosen to end Bruno Sammartino's second reign with the WWWF Championship in 1977. The list of men who challenged Graham for the championship reads like a Hall of Fame roll call - Dusty Rhodes, Don Muraco, Mil Mascaras, Riki Chosu - before the Superstar finally lost the belt to Bob Backlund after 296 days.

Just the sixth person person to hold the top prize, Graham was also the first heel champion to reign for longer than five weeks. He set the mould for all future bad guy champs and is still amongst the best to ever do it.

He may not get much recognition these days (for one reason or another), but wrestling owes a lot of its popularity to Billy Graham and this was on full display during his one and only title reign.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.