Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best

24. Diesel

WWE Champions Ranked
WWE.com

Objectively the lowest drawing WWE Champion of all time, Kevin Nash always made a point of defending the honour of Diesel's run based on just how poorly it was booked most of the time. 

Failing to win his first pay-per-view match against Bret Hart at the 1995 Royal Rumble, he was ran ragged by his best friend Shawn Michaels in a contest structured around him turning babyface one night later, then failed to conclusively beat the likes of Sid and Davey Boy Smith in total stinkers thanks to roster depth problems and financials being stretched so thin that the water coolers were taken out of Titan Tower. 

Aside from all of that, the abandonment of everything that had gotten 'Big Daddy Cool' over in the first place was parked so Nash could awkwardly morph into the typical smiling sub-Hulk Hogan persona Vince McMahon still believed made a top guy. Not-so-coincidentally, when he lost the belt to Bret Hart having held it for a year, he became the first true tweener and was the most convincing he'd ever been in the role. So much so that he got a mega-money deal with WCW rather than getting another shot with the gold. 

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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