Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
15. Mankind
The collected lengths of Mankind's WWE Champion reigns betray just how over he was as a babyface titleholder in 1998 and 1999, and are more indicative of Vince Russo's booking patterns than the inability of Mick Foley to draw on top.
Playing hot potato was normalised in line with the frantic pace of the Attitude Era, and little thought was given to burning through big business moves if they drew a rating every Monday Night. Few stories from the time define the vibe quite as much as that of Mankind and The Rock. From September 1998 to April 1999, they worked six pay-per-view matches together and traded the industry's richest prize on television twice.
Over that period, The Rock turned babyface then heel then babyface, Foley's boyhood dream to win the belt came true before having his WrestleMania main event hopes dashed, and a brutal Royal Rumble match was so appallingly violent that it became the emotional centre of Barry Blaustein's fabled Beyond The Mat. All of this informed the beloved Rock & Sock Connection unit they'd form later that year, and Foley snuck in one last run to transition the gold between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H following SummerSlam.