Ranking All 50 WWE World Heavyweight Champions - From Worst To Best

44. Buddy Rogers

WWE Champions
WWE.com

Buddy Rogers' WWWF Championship win in 1963 kicked off two traditions of differing prestige. He was, irrefutably, the first ever titleholder, earning the trust of Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt as the pair moved away permanently from the embrace of the National Wrestling Alliance.

He also "won the belt in a tournament in Rio de Janerio", a tale too daft to be refuted back then, and a line used repeatedly by the company when future phantom events were required.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett