A Champ By Any Other Name

[80s4life]

Looking at the decade between 1984 and 1995 or so, who would you say was the best W.W.F. World Champion other than Hulk Hogan?

I guess your choices would be Iron Shiek, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Yokozuna, Diesel, and, well, Bob Backlund for a couple days. Backlund's first reign is inadmissible.

Please try to base your choice on the actual reign of the individual and the climate in which he was champion, not personal admiration of the superstar. For example, you may think The Undertaker's career in W.W.F. / W.W.E. for sixteen years is awesome, but in the period I'm talking about, he was only champ for a week. Andre the Giant's defeat of Hulk Hogan on February 5th, 1988 has also been eliminated as a candidate due to the bogus nature of the title change.

My personal vote is Savage, with a bit of a nod to Bret Hart. The only thing for me working against Bret is he was champ in the biggest downswing of business the W.W.F. had seen Vince McMahon took over from his dad. Remember, climate counts, too.

[Scott Joyce]

I would say Savage because he had a intensity about him that I feel a champion needs. He had some really good title matches as well with Hogan and Flair that I consider classics.

[Burnham]

Yeh i agree, savage was the best champion of that era!

[80s4life]

Yeah, Savage's feud with DiBiase was much more believable than The Warrior's 1990 feud with Rick Rude.

[Scott Joyce]

I still go with Savage but an argument could be made for Brett Hart and Undertaker. Hart was a great technician in the ring and the Undertaker was just plain intimidating to opponents and very popular.

[80s4life]

True, but his reign was so short. Undertaker, that is. Bret made a very good champion, but his roster of challengers after Ric Flair's departure was kinda thin in terms of credible opponents, plus business was in a huge slump. Even if he's the greatest technician of all time (possible, but debatable), he wasn't putting very many asses in the seats, to use an Eric Bischoff line. That's not a slam against Bret, but rather the state of the industry at the time.

[Alpha Clash]

80s4life said:

True, but his reign was so short. Undertaker, that is. Bret made a very good champion, but his roster of challengers after Ric Flair's departure was kinda thin in terms of credible opponents, plus business was in a huge slump. Even if he's the greatest technician of all time (possible, but debatable), he wasn't putting very many asses in the seats, to use an Eric Bischoff line. That's not a slam against Bret, but rather the state of the industry at the time.

True, but I liked Bret more than Savage, but not by much. I would have loved to have seen '88 Savage vs. '97 Bret Hart. That would be a superb match!

[Scott Joyce]

88 Savage vs 97 Hart would have been a killer match. I think its a toss up and basically opinionated as to whos better between Hart and Savage. I personally liked Savage better but I have all the respect in the world for Hart and his abilities.

[80s4life]

We did get Savage vs. Bret once - in 1987 on Saturday Night's Main Event right after Survivor Series. I was glued to the TV and the match was awesome.