Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
9. Superstar Billy Graham
Influence is difficult to quantify in all art-forms, but Superstar Billy Graham's doesn't start and end with the 296 days he spent as WWE Champion.
A strong run for a heel in the era where long-running babyface was king, Graham was more than just the man to beat Bruno Sammartino and hand the gold over to Bob Backlund. With the gift of the gab to match Dusty Rhodes on his best day and a body to rival Arnold Schwarzenegger before the Austrian's biceps had even driven him to total world domination, Graham was a totally different beast in charge of the belt and a sign of things to come once Vince McMahon Jr took control of his Father's territory years later.
Hulk Hogan's babyface persona borrowed liberally from Superstar's aesthetics and attitude, as did his 'Hollywood' Hogan character a full decade later. Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, Scott Steiner, Triple H and Austin Idol and many others took either a lot or a little from Graham, having seen him propelled to the highest heights as an ostentatious and audacious heel. Wrestling's never had a fair relationship with royalties, but if it did, Billy Graham would have been a billionaire.