It's still gotta be "Big Lazy" with me.

Diesel. While all the people with one week reigns (or less) were pointless, that was their job... get the title off hot face champion A, and transition it to hot babyface B. Diesel was given the title for a YEAR, drew the worst numbers for House Shows EVER, and had such epic feuds with Sid, Mabel, and Davey Boy Smith... past his prime.

Thank You for not putting Kane on the list... HE DESERVED A LONGER REIGN THAN 25 HOURS and 19 MINUTES!

Easily JBL. He was in a mid-card tag team before jumping straight to a title win. It wouldn't be so bad if he actually got clean wins and if his title reign wasn't so long. He's also the worst because he was rewarded for creating a PR nightmare. Diesel at least had been built up.

Hmm.... actually I forgot all about Kane ;) Kane was built up really well at the time though, so I guess he's safe in my book.

Vinne Mac. Should've never happened.

I'm going with HHH, only because he's held the belt several times in the past 3 years, and it blurs together with blandness

That's who I voted for.......for Christ's sake guys....Vince wasn't even a wrestler.

Yeah, it was just Vince giving his ego some more fuel. The reason I voted for Diesel over Vince was because Vince's title reign was short and forgettable... while Diesel's nearly sunk the WWF as he was champion for a week short of a year.

The only reason I didn't pick Vince was because it was over with after 4 days. The main reason that I voted for JBL is because of how long his reign has been.

I dunno, JBL's title reign has become a guilty pleasure of mine...

That, and when I saw him live at a house show in January, I was astounded by how over he was. I guess Manchester, NH is a real mark community.

Yeah, Vince at least didn't keep the belt... and didn't drag the company down to near death in terms of everything financially.

WWE isn't in near death.

But I also voted for Vince, simply because he's not a wrestler and in almost every case, even the worst champions like Diesel and JBL have been carried to good matches. Diesel had good defenses against Michaels and Hart, and had a great match dropping the belt, and all the Eddy/JBL matches were great from the accounts of people I trust on match quality (I haven't seen them yet).

I really don't get all the criticism with JBL. Most people who whine about him don't even watch the show. Cause if you did, you would see that he is over, bigtime. He isn't great in the ring, but he isn't appalling. He has a moveset. He is a little sluggish, but for gods sake, so are Triple H, Taker, Batista, and even Angle nowadays. Its blind bitching by people just because he used to be a tag team wrestler, and they shot him to the top. He is entertaining as hell, and he sure isn't what is hurting smackdown. What is hurting smackdown is the undercard:

Reigns is horrible. Jindrak is lame. Heidenrich is horrible. Booker T needs to vanish for 6 months, cause there isn't a more boring wrestler on either roster. Kenzo Suzuki is horrible. I honestly have no idea why he is in the WWE. Holly, Haas, blah blah blah. It just sucks. All these guys I've listed need to be sent away for a long time. Eddie is money, Rey is money and deserves a push to a title, and I mean the World Title. THe cruisers need some development character wise and they should run the mid-card on Smackdown. I'm done. Sorry.

Holly is actually quite over (I mean over, which surprised me), and Haas is a good worker, hes just rarely booked against someone with talent. He wrestles RENE DUPREE every other week.

Ok, now I'm going to start asking people to back up what they say here.


Let it be known.....I watch SD EVERY week as well.

First off, I would love for you to explain to me how JBL is over BIG TIME? Now, I'm not saying he's not over.....but big time? Give me a break. If he was over big time the PPV's that he headlines would get super buyrates. If he was over big time, house show attendance would be up....and that's just not the case. He has a moveset? How exactly is being a 6'6 300 lb brawler mean you have a moveset? Also, I'm not one of the people that brings up the sluggish argument for him, but all those that you named besides Bautista have payed their dues.......so people are not as inclined to be hard on all their ringwork. People bitching about him being the champion also has less to do with him being a tag wrestler and more with him being skyrocketed to the main event for virtually no reason. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were tag wrestlers, and nobody bitched when they got belts. Know why? They had singles careers before they were ever considered to be champions.

I was a tossed-up this time, thinking of more into consideration. But...I'm sticking with Sid. But...as much as I never want to admit it, he was over.

Let me clarify perhaps. When I refer to "over" I am saying nothing about buyrates, ratings, attendance, merchandise sales, nothing cash-oriented. The business is down. No-one is tearing it up in that regard because it is a entire-business issue, not about one guy. I don't personally think wrestling picked up because of Austin or Rock or Triple H. I think it picked up because of the entire atmospher and the entire roster. Anyway, thats another rant. When I say JBL is over, I am referring to crowd reactions. He is hated, on not in the "get off my screen Triple H" way, but in a "man this guy is a prick" kinda way. Then again, remember, we're talking about a performance art here. It is all in the eye of the beholder. I'm enjoying the JBL character, alot. In fact, he is the best character on smackdown hands down. Tell me who else I should care about. He is a greatly appealing heel for the wrestling audience. He is an old, conservative, republican bastard "wrestling god" who can't seem to lose the damn title. On to the moveset. He is a full capable wrestler in the ring. Perhaps "moveset" isn't the best word, as I'm not referring to the amount of moves he does. Rather his ability to carry a match. Give me a break, this guy had to work Taker, Booker, and Big Show. Who in the hell on the roster can pull a match out of any of these guys today? No-one. When he was wrestling Eddie, they had some nice chemistry, and things looked good in the ring. I'm not calling him Bret Hart...I'm just saying he is full capable and just as capable as Triple H, while being a much better character. This whole "skyrocketing to the main event" argument is the worst thing I've ever heard. People bitch and bitch and bitch about the same people always being in main events, so they take a chance and shoot someone new straight into a title match, and now people bitch, cause it wasn't their little fanboy crush like RVD, Jericho, or some other equally bland wrestler of today. They did what people always say is the best way: take someone's real life personality and transfer it onto an on screen explosion of that. JBL was even becoming a bit of a public figure due to his book and appearances on CNBC (I believe it was), so it was definitely worth a shot. And it stuck. Look how bad people want the title off of him. Now if they would only get a wrestler or two over on Smackdown, it would help. Lastly I'll comment on the fact that you say HBK and Hart paid their dues in the singles ranks before going to the title. Thats true. But hell, in 93 I remember everyone bitching that Hart got the strap from Flair in that quick switch Saskatoon taping. Everyone thought "they made Bret Hart World Champ? And people didn't want to except it at first. But with time, people let go of the past and were able to except him as a legit World Champion, and now, in my eyes, the best there ever was. However, "wrestling" is not even the same thing it was back then. We are talking about two totally different systems. There arent squash matches today on Primetime and Superstars for JBL to roll through. Their arent pre-recorded promos airing during someone else's match to give someone a sense of your character. It is a different system now, and with the short attention span these days, they had no choice but to propel JBL immediately into the picture. Make him a singles wrestler and he gets lost among the rest of the talentless slobs that fill up Smackdown. I didn't like JBL at all, till I stopped thinking about the fact that he is drunk Bradshaw, and instead suspended my disbelief and found that he is a great character that is a concieted prick and I want him to lose the strap. He's working, at least in my eyes.

Whew

First off let me say nice rebuttal......I actually wasn't expecting that. Good job. Also, I'm sorry if this came off like I was arguing with you.....I'm just trying to get some discussion going....

Fair enough, I can live with that. Plus, that's kind of what I thought you meant......now I'm sure.

Well, I wouldn't argue that he's over......but I would argue that he's over big time (maybe you were just exaggerating, but I took it as if you were serious). Considering that you cannot even tell what kind of reaction he's getting with all of the canned heat on SD. I did attend a live PPV (No Way Out this past Sunday) and I can speak for that crowd........as they were basically sitting on their hands when it concerned JBL. Now I know that's only one crowd, but that and the bland reactions he gets on PPV (That is the only TRUE way we could judge the crowd noise on SD), make me think that maybe he's not as over as he seems. Plus, of course people are going to remotely boo you when you fighting the people he has (Eddie/Undertaker can wake mostly any crowd up and I doubt JBL would have been cheered against any of his other opponents either....at least the ones on PPV) fought.

Angle, Eddie, Brock when he was there, Benoit, Mysterio.....I could probably even name a few others......

Well, that also had a lot to do with Eddie busting his ass during those matches. I'm not saying it was 100% Eddie......but he was working his ass off. By the way, it may not be the most popular thing to say.....but Triple H is WAY more capable in the ring than JBL.

This is the only argument that you rebutted that seriously doesn't hold ANY ground. You are arguing the wrong argument. It's not bitching about putting someone new in the main event spot. Hell, I've heard VERY little bitching about the way it was done with Bautista because it was done well. It was a flash in the pan build for JBL and that pissed people off. Now putting RVD or Jericho in JBL's position would actually make MORE sense as they are both more over than JBL's ever been at ANY point.

I actually agree with you on this point.

People want the title off of him because he's been a terrible champion. Who has he defeated cleanly? How exactly was he given a rub by anyone? Hell, when he beat Eddie for it it was in the bullrope match.....aka Eddie wasn't even pinned. That's more booking that it's JBL's fault.....but that's also not my problem either.

Well, considering there was no Internet Wrestling Community in 1993 for me to discuss it with I can only speak of people I watched wrestling with then......and we all thought it was great when Bret won the title. So I can't even debate that point....I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

The worst WWF Champion was Hulk Hogan from 4/4/93-6/13/93. From the awful way he won it, to the fact that he never defended the title nor had a good match, to the fact that it was a massive ego-trip that buried Bret Hart and hurt his potential drawing power, it was a terrible reign.

Terrific point, actually. Hogan's 1993 run with the WWF title was ridiculous and was a total power play to hurt Bret.

I was going to put Hogan down as an option but I backed out, remembering mostly his runs in the 80's...

Now that I'm thinking about it, he belongs on this list for his 93 and 02 reigns over some of the other choices.

Hogans 2002 run wasn't bad as in "Worst Champion" bad. It was bad in a "Stupid Booking Decision", but it got the title off of Triple H, so that boosts it 295609 points. Hogans run from 1984-1988 obliterates anything else he's ever done negative. I don't care if he sold poisoned milk to school children... that reign just owned everyones ass and sold them to the white people.

1993... Hogan didn't cause Bret Harts burial (at least not the sole responsibility). Remember, Hogan was gone at KOTR (June 14th I think). Instead of pushing Bret, WWF went with Luger for the remainder of 1993 until the 1994 Rumble when the crowd voiced their love for Bret over Luger. Now, either Hogan had imaginary pull despite being out of the company, or Vince never had enough faith in Bret to begin with since his original reign really did nothing for the company.

THOU SHALT NOT MESS WITH MY HOGAN! (swings baseball bat)

I dunno, any title reign that gives us "Hogan vs HHH" and "Hogan vs Undertaker... in 2002" deserves some real shit.

He did put over Brock Lesnar (:angry:), Kurt Angle, and The Rock clean as a whistle. That should be good enough.

Those instances were outside his title reign though. I think he only defended the Undisputed Championship against William Regal, Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, and finally the Undertaker.

He did make Jericho look good, and didn't even pin him clean, which is more than you can say for any time HHH squashed Jericho.

To be honest, I never saw the Jericho/Hogan match (though I did see the match where Jericho actually beat Triple H to earn the title shot).

I forget how that particular Jericho/Triple H match ended, but I remember it was 10x better than their WrestleMania X8 main event.

I honestly have no idea... the ONE HHH/Jericho match I don't see, and Jericho actually won. I'm fucking shocked.

Oh yes, it was a fantastic match. I think it got 15-20 minutes (hard to say, it was a long time ago) and Jericho went over. I gave it **** at the time.

4-stars, Triple H, and 2002 just doesn't blend well with my database.

Yeah, I know, I might've been overexcited that Jericho actually won, but I remember it being a great fast-paced match.

I remember thinking "THIS is the Triple H that I missed."

"1993... Hogan didn't cause Bret Harts burial (at least not the sole responsibility)."

Hogan whines about being in a tag match, gets title shot, beats Yoko in 30 seconds. This does nothing but make Bret look bad. This is all well-known, you had to have heard about it by now?

"Remember, Hogan was gone at KOTR (June 14th I think)."

Hogan's last WWF match was on August 6th. The original plan was for him to put over Bret at Summerslam. Hogan complained that Bret was too small.

"Now, either Hogan had imaginary pull despite being out of the company"

Except he was in the company until August, AND at Wrestlemania where he beat Yoko in 30 seconds taking all the attention away from Bret.

"Vince never had enough faith in Bret to begin with since his original reign really did nothing for the company."

Or Vince didn't want Hogan to no-show so he gave him the title. And Bret's reign "did nothing for the company" but Hogan's did?

"THOU SHALT NOT MESS WITH MY HOGAN!"

IF you want to defend his reigns from 84-91, when he was drawing money and having good matches (relatively speaking), then go right ahead. But his horrid 1993 reign is indefensible.

dynamite kido...

great discussion. Its nice to meet someone around the 'Net who can talk wrestling without getting all LOL and OMG on me. You made some great, great points, a ton of which I agree with. Just letting you know, I hope to have many more of these on here with you, and everyone else for that matter. I can't reply again though, cause then I might actually come off as if I like JBL. That really isn't the case. I just think he doesn't deserve to be shit on quite as much as he has. But I totally see why. Personally, I'm enjoying his schtick now.

And for the record, I voted for Randy Orton.

Since you voted for Orton and I voted for Vince......then I guess we at least agree with JBL NOT being the worst champion ever.

You know, I'm not gonna say JBL has been good, nor will I say he deserved the title, but he's actually exceeded my expectations for his reign.

Exactly my point too. I think he's been fucked with shitty booking, but that obviously isn't his fault.

Hogan was never mentioned on TV after KOTR 1993, and was technically finishing his contractual obligations at house shows. The name Hogan wasn't even muttered once at all, so obviously, Vince didn't care enough to promote him at shows anymore. Saying Hogan had any say about someone elses push following the night after the King of the Ring I can't take seriously.

However, Bret has said before in interviews, if Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart was planned for Summerslam, he didn't know about it, despite being Bret Hart. He was either kept in the dark, or is lying in his shoot interviews, despite being a very open minded person who doesn't really care about Hogan.

I'm not defending Hogans reign completely, but he really isn't the devil that everyone claims he is who buried everyone he ever met, was a dickhead backstage, and refused to do anything he's told... at elast in WWF, when Vince McMahon kinda had him on a leash. Just because Bischoff was a fucking dumbass doesn't mean anything for what he did in WCW. I would've done the exact same stuff too.

Hogan was taken off of TV after KOTR because they wanted to play up Yokozuna for his huge heel push. Hogan was technically with the company until August as it was mentioned above. Hogan still had stroke in the WWF until he was gone because they were trying to set up a new deal for Hogan and build to Bret/Hogan, but Hulk played politics and it never happened. He went to WCW at a later date instead.....

See, Bret is the type of guy that is about saving face. Do you really think that Bret is going to tell everyone that Hogan (the guy that left for WCW) pulled a power play on him (a guy that was still with the WWF at the time he said such comments)? Also, Bret hated Hogan so I would say that's more than giving a shit about him.

See if you are a Hogan mark, I understand. Hell, I loved the guy as a kid growing up watching wrestling. But your just being nieve if you think that he's ever been out for anything other than himself. He has done an effective job burying talent time and time again (i.e - Randy Savage), he does what he wants.... not what he's told. The only time Hogan had even remotely limited power was his last stint in the WWE. Oh, and for the record......they still gave him another run with the title.

I have to disagree. Yoko beats an injured Bret, I believe by cheating too. Hogan comes out and quickly finishes a very winded Yoko. It doesn't really make Bret look as bad as you'd think. Sure it was stupid but it wasn't the burial it was made out to be.

That 2002 reign was Vince McMahon just being stupid. The smark in me knew that was a dumb idea, but getting the title off Triple H was a good move I guess... to people that hated him of course. However, the mark in me wanted Hogan to be champ forever :lol:.

(no selling everything else because I'm acting like a mark right now, and my arguments are really paper thin and grasping for anything I can reach).