Diesel's WWF Title Reign

[The Brain]

A lot of members on this forum consider Diesel to have been a horrible WWF champion. I enjoyed Diesel’s reign as champion and have always felt people were a little hard on him. Then I started thinking about everything that happened during Diesel’s reign and can see where people are coming from.

Diesel won the title at the end of 1994. Throughout 1994 it was pretty obvious the fans wanted to cheer for Diesel but he was a heel and going against some of the most popular stars in the WWF. Finally at the Survivor Series Diesel completed his long awaited face turn by ending his partnership with Shawn Michaels when Michaels superkicked him during a match for the third time. We knew this turn was coming and the fans loved it when it finally happened. Just like that Diesel was one of the most popular guys in the WWF. Three days later at a house show in Madison Square Garden Diesel beat Bob Backlund (who just beat Bret Hart for the title at Survivor Series) for the WWF title in eight seconds. The live crowd was thrilled and the WWF was officially running on Diesel power. Diesel would go on to hold the title for just one week shy of a full year, the longest reign since Randy Savage’s from WrestleMania IV to WrestleMania V.

Diesel’s first high profile title match came against Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble. Diesel did not beat Hart as the match ended in a no contest but he more than proved he could hang with the main eventers as the two put on a great match. That night Shawn Michaels won the Royal Rumble earning a title shot at WrestleMania XI. Once again Diesel proved he was deserving of his spot and had a great match in a successful title defense against HBK. Throughout the rest of the year Diesel had successful defenses against Bam Bam Bigelow, Sid, Jeff Jarrett, Mabel, and Davey Boy Smith before dropping the title to Bret Hart at Survivor Series. After thinking about it I admit there were a few things that could have gone better for Diesel to make his reign more successful.

First of all, I’m not sure many people appreciated how Diesel became champion. There was no build to Diesel vs. Backlund. Backlund won the title only three days before Diesel took it from him and Diesel wasn’t even the scheduled opponent. Diesel filled in for Bret Hart and the fans didn’t even get a chance to get fully behind Diesel before he became champion. Part of the excitement of a babyface becoming champion is the journey he takes to get there. With Diesel the fans that didn’t order Survivor Series 94 on ppv didn’t even know he turned face by the time he became champion. They watched Raw before the ppv and Diesel was about to be part of a heel team at Survivor Series. Then they tune in the next week and all of a sudden Diesel has split with Michaels and is champion. Pretty cool, but no chance to enjoy the drama. Plus a lot of people thought Diesel beat a weak champion. Nothing against Backlund but nobody was going to buy him as champion in 1994. Not since the Iron Sheik had the term transitional champion been more appropriate. The fans liked Diesel but they weren’t convinced he should be champion.

Let’s look a Diesel’s first two major defenses. As I mentioned Diesel walked out of the Royal Rumble as champion but he did not defeat Bret Hart. Hart lost the title to Backlund in a very controversial decision and before he could get a rematch Diesel had won the title. To a lot of fans Bret Hart was still the true champion. A victory over Hart would have solidified Diesel. Personally I was satisfied with the match despite the outcome but a lot of people thought Diesel needed that win. Then there was the match against Michaels at WrestleMania. Diesel did get the win there but he didn’t look as strong as he should have. There was a point in the match where Michaels had Diesel pinned for well over three seconds but the referee was not there for the count. This has happened countless times before but there were two things that made this different. First, the ref was not knocked down by a wrestler during the match. He twisted his ankle when jumping to the floor and could not get back in the ring to make the count. It might not sound like much of a difference than a normal ref bump but it looked much worse when watching that match, almost as if the ref was out to screw Michaels. Also normally when that kind of thing happens the babyface is the victim. This time the face benefited when the heel clearly had him beat. That didn’t do Diesel any favors in winning over those critics. Not to mention the WWF didn’t show enough faith in Diesel as champion to allow him to close the show at mania.

I think the biggest reason people didn’t like Diesel’s reign is because of the SummerSlam match with Mabel. Everyone hated Mabel as the number one contender. Not like they wanted to see the good guy beat the bad guy. They didn’t want to see Mabel at all. Some were still having a hard time buying Diesel as champion but nobody was buying Mabel as a challenger. It didn’t help that the match itself was just awful. The WWF was lacking heel challengers at the time and unfortunately, like it or not, Mabel was probably the best option. I suppose they could have turned Davey Boy a little earlier and gone that route but I think that would have felt rushed. At the time I thought Razor Ramon might have turned heel but that never happened. Hart, Michaels, and Taker were not logical options for various reasons. As bad as it sounds Mabel may have been the best choice. After SummerSlam Diesel feuded with Bulldog but even that ppv title match ended in a DQ. I could see such a finish against Hart but Diesel should have been able to get a clean win over Davey. After that Diesel lost to Hart at Survivor Series and the year long reign came to an end.

I always thought people were unfairly hard on Diesel just because of the feud with Mabel. That seems to be what’s brought up most when discussing the reign. Now I see there were more flaws than just that feud. While I enjoyed Diesel’s run at the top I see why so many were not impressed by it. What are your thoughts on Diesel’s title reign? Which of these things hurt him the most? Do you have a better idea for SummerSlam than Mabel keeping in mind Hart, Michaels, and Taker were not logical? I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bring up tv ratings, attendance figures, and ppv buy rate statistics. Those facts are irrelevant to me when I form my opinion on what I see on tv from a creative point of view. We know business was down in 1995 and maybe it was because people didn’t believe in Diesel. Discuss as you please but I don’t see why those things should play a role in this conversation when discussing your personal opinion.

 

[Sweettre15]

With all things considered when Diesel became a face, a lot of the things that made him badass was no longer there. Notice that he was more popular than he had ever been when he reverted to being a heel during his feud with Undertaker and his second feud with Shawn Michaels. Same mistake was made with Shawn Michaels in that a lot of the antics people were liking about Shawn was taken away from him when he became a white meat babyface and their title reigns didnt work as well because of it.

So overall, I think the best option would have been to either have Diesel as an "edgy" face champion or he could have just been a badass heel champ.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I don't think Diesel was a bad champion at all. He was very popular at the time, he was putting on very good matches against guys like Hart and Michaels, and he had the right look. It was just a very weak time for the WWF and Diesel suffered as a result of that. I don't put that on his shoulders at all.

Things they could've done differently:

1. Book Diesel Vs. Backlund at RAW - This was just a no-brainer. Why not let the fans witness this? Why make this a house show match? Let the switch happen in full view of the world.
2. Get rid of Mabel - I reject the idea that Mabel was the WWF's best option. Nonsense. They planned Mabel as top contender over the course of a couple of months. They could've chosen Sid, Davey Boy Smith, Bigelow, Owen Hart, or Yokozuna. Instead, his blow off with Sid came a month earlier. Bigelow was turned face. Owen and Yokozuna were tag team champs, but either easily could've made the run and been more convincing challengers. The WWF had options.

 

[CeramicDuck]

The house show title change was something that in theory was suppose to boost all house show attendance I believe. Bret Hart won the championship at a house show as well and at the time it was common for tag team titles to switch hands show to show with no mention of it ever on TV. I think they just wanted to give meaning to people buying house show tickets, which was probably not the best move but I understand why they did it.

Diesel was a decent champion but he did need more credible, clean wins during his run. The mabel thing was disasterous, but I mean it was the option they choose. With a Crystal Ball and looking at the roster at the time I would have maybe done one of the following...

- Turned Ahmed Johnson and had him chase and loose clean to Diesel in place of Mabel

- Had him do a face vs. face program with Lex Luger.

But hey, it is what it is

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The mistakes happened early with Nash and they were irrepressibly damaging to his run.

As someone mentioned the Backlund match was wrong to be a house show but more importantly Backlund was the wrong guy to win it from if they wanted him to be a superface. To this day I will never understand why Owen didn't win the title from Bret instead and drop it straight to Diesel. Backlund made little sense and the feud with Bret was pretty horrible. Had Owen won the title that way, with Helen throwing in the towel the heat Owen had when he faced off against Diesel on RAW would have been palpable. Sure the quick win may not have been quite as quick, a minute rather than 8 seconds but the impact that Diesel made would have been far greater.

He then would have had rematches with Bret AND Owen in those early PPV's - something that would have added a unique dimension, especially if the brothers at times appeared "on the same page".

From there Shawn could have stalked him, winning the Rumble and building a strong 4 way feud with the other 2.

In real life, they did some bits right with Diesel but again a big mistake was not having Davey beat him. Davey's turn was huge at the time but the loss derailed it - Diesel could have stood the loss, winning the title back a short time later (much as Shawn could have with Davey in 96) but created a rivalry that would have been for the ages.

Diesels trouble was he was so bound up with Shawn and that feud simply didn't ignite as it was then pretty common knowledge they were besties... Diesel missed that killer feuds that Hogan had with Piper and then Savage and Owen and Davey both fit those bills perfectly.

I remember being pleased when Diesel won the belt, I liked his work and swagger but he was the first proper "face turn the moment you get the title" and it failed...so why they've insisted on doing it ever since is beyond me... they've ruined some serious talent by always wanting faces to be "the guy".

 

[Matty~!]

Book Diesel Vs. Backlund at RAW - This was just a no-brainer. Why not let the fans witness this? Why make this a house show match? Let the switch happen in full view of the world.

MSG was still seen as the be all and end all of the WWF world at this point, Raw wasn't at the stage of being the centre of the WWF world. The footage aired on TV I from what I remember it was 8 seconds it was better for the title change to be in front of a big crowd at MSG than 1000 people at a Raw taping.

- Turned Ahmed Johnson and had him chase and loose clean to Diesel in place of Mabel

Had Ahmed even debuted at the point Mabel won the KOTR and the WWF title show? Let alone Summerslam?

Generally I quite liked the Diesel character he was quite a cool figure and despite Nash's obvious limitations was capable with the right guys to have good matches. However, I don't really believe he was World Champion material when he got it. I think his first title defences against bonafide main eventers were tepid at best as compared to defences Bret and Yoko had in 1994. The post Mania he was basically booked against guys that the matches were going to suck regardless which. His best title match in the end turned out to be when he lost it to Bret due to the fact the desperation of his character really came through with elements that where rarely seen on WWF TV at the time.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

The WWF booking of their babyface world champions during the mid-90's was always a little strange. They didn't exactly book Bret Hart very strong during his second reign either. And they continued this style of booking with Diesel afterwards.

Look at the WWF PPV championship events from WMX - WMXI:

• WrestleMania X: Bret Hart beats Yokozuna
• King of the Ring: Diesel beat Bret Hart by DQ
• Summer Slam: Bret Hart beats Owen Hart in a cage match
• Survivor Series: Bob Backlund beats Bret Hart in a submission match
• Royal Rumble: Diesel and Bret Hart fight to a draw

For both Bret and Diesel, their first title defense ends in a non-finish. Neither one could really get some momentum going.

For Diesel... I personally always liked Kevin Nash. He has a great mind for the business, despite being limited in the ring. I think what made his reign feel weak is a combination of three things: 1) as already mentioned, he had no momentum after winning the title 2) there were next to zero believable heel challengers at the time and 3) they turned him into the typical baby face, which went against everything that made him popular in the first place. He needed to be less of a cartoon face and more of the Wolfpac Kevin Nash that got him over in WCW. I think if Diesel kept going as the cool tweener, they could have booked him in more matches with 'Taker, Razor, Bret, Sid and Shawn.. and those would have felt like legitimate big PPV matches.

Instead, in typical mid-90s WWF fashion, they kept the faces away from each other for as long as possible, and instead put all of them up against weak heel opponents like Mabel, Lawler, Isaac Yankem and the like.

Another thing which could be mentioned here was the 1995 debut of the In Your House PPV's. Also known as the half-assed PPV's. These were just RAW events you needed to pay for. Titles never or rarely switched hands during this time as well, so Diesel was defending his title at events that already nobody cared about.

 

[Makaveli31]

I don't think the MSG title win hurt Diesel. It's not like he won it at some back roads house show....it was the Garden, and the Garden was still the mecca. Diesel and Backlund had no history so you needed it to be fast, quick and decisive to establish Diesel as the monster he is. He did not need to be rolling around with Backlund, Owen or anybody else in the ring.

The things that hurt Diesel have already been mentioned here.

1) The no decision vs Bret right out of the gate at Royal Rumble.

2) Shawn turning himself face at Diesel expense at WM 11. Shawn totally hijacked that match. He did not work heel, he worked as a babyface at Diesel's expense and got himself over. By the time that match was over, Shawn was solidly over and Nash's fate as Champ was signed, sealed and delivered. He was just a placeholder until Shawn could get the strap WM 12.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The WWF booking of their babyface world champions during the mid-90's was always a little strange. They didn't exactly book Bret Hart very strong during his second reign either. And they continued this style of booking with Diesel afterwards.

Look at the WWF PPV championship events from WMX - WMXI:

• WrestleMania X: Bret Hart beats Yokozuna
• King of the Ring: Diesel beat Bret Hart by DQ
• Summer Slam: Bret Hart beats Owen Hart in a cage match
• Survivor Series: Bob Backlund beats Bret Hart in a submission match
• Royal Rumble: Diesel and Bret Hart fight to a draw

For both Bret and Diesel, their first title defense ends in a non-finish. Neither one could really get some momentum going.

For Diesel... I personally always liked Kevin Nash. He has a great mind for the business, despite being limited in the ring. I think what made his reign feel weak is a combination of three things: 1) as already mentioned, he had no momentum after winning the title 2) there were next to zero believable heel challengers at the time and 3) they turned him into the typical baby face, which went against everything that made him popular in the first place. He needed to be less of a cartoon face and more of the Wolfpac Kevin Nash that got him over in WCW. I think if Diesel kept going as the cool tweener, they could have booked him in more matches with 'Taker, Razor, Bret, Sid and Shawn.. and those would have felt like legitimate big PPV matches.

Instead, in typical mid-90s WWF fashion, they kept the faces away from each other for as long as possible, and instead put all of them up against weak heel opponents like Mabel, Lawler, Isaac Yankem and the like.

Another thing which could be mentioned here was the 1995 debut of the In Your House PPV's. Also known as the half-assed PPV's. These were just RAW events you needed to pay for. Titles never or rarely switched hands during this time as well, so Diesel was defending his title at events that already nobody cared about.

I don't think you can call IYH "half assed", while titles etc maybe didn't change hands on them they were a way to utilize the talent on offer in a way that helped build stars, something they were desperately trying to do.

The IYH format was built to get newer guys over who hadn't had the experience that Bret, Shawn and perhaps Taker had. Look back at IYH 1 - you had Bret wrestle Hakushi in an amazing match and then Lawler, he didn't show up again until IYH 5 when he headlined against Davey Boy. You regularly saw guys like Savio Vega, Goldust, Road Dog and Ahmed Johnson at IYH - those matches were invaluable in building them as credible. It also made use of their "featured jobbers" that Vince had brought it... higher quality squashes with their "dumb" gimmicks. Guys like Henry Godwinn, Buddy Landell, Salvatore Sincere and the like.

To dismiss them as RAW you had to pay for is unfair, sure there was some dross but every show had at least 2 strong matches that actually developed something for the future. It proved they could run a show monthly and allowed them to keep pace with WCW who had started the monthly show trend.

What IYH did for Diesel was get him PPV wins under his belt against major opponents. In those first 4 shows he beat Sid twice, won the tag titles from Owen and Yoko and beat Davey Boy... it did the job in that it raised his profile and made up for his poor title win and padded out that reign to it's near 1 year length.

IYH got better as it went on and begun to become more of a monthly PPV with ALL strong matches rather than a way to build new talent but look how many guys had their first major wins at an IYH PPV early and you'll see it was a pretty important thing.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Always was a fan of Diesil and the year 1995. The Diesil/Shawn split was done really well. It was orginally teased at Rumble 1994 and heated up in the summer and didnt actually happen until Survivor Series.

Diesils title win at a house show was ok by me. But like someone said above, I think it would have made more sense for Owen to be the transistional champion.

Rumble 1995: Diesil and Bret had a fantastic match. I just wish Bret would have put Diesil over. Shawn wins the rumble and finally sets up the showdown between the two.

WMX1: Shawn/Diesil was certainly the go to match for Wrestlemania that year. And again, Diesil was able to be carried to a really good match. With Shawn turning face, there was no time for a rematch which could drawn the feud out a little longer and had Diesil come out on top, clean.

Summerslam 95: Why they went with Mabel, Ill never know. I would have liked to have saw Davey turn on Lex during their feud with Yoko/Owen and have Davey win the KOTR and get the title shot at summerslam 95.

Survivor Series 95: Diesils best match ever. Ill even go as far as it was one of Brets best matches ever. While I do think Shawn/Diesil was a good choice for PWI match of the year, I personally would have went with this one.

A good match and really good feud with Shawn. Two good matches with Bret. A decent match with Davey at IYH. Just wish they gave him a good heel feud in the summer of 1995. I consider Diesils reign enjoyable.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

MSG was still seen as the be all and end all of the WWF world at this point, Raw wasn't at the stage of being the centre of the WWF world. The footage aired on TV I from what I remember it was 8 seconds it was better for the title change to be in front of a big crowd at MSG than 1000 people at a Raw taping.

That could be, however, by that time even a single point of Nielsen ratings was worth far more in terms of exposure than an untelevised MSG card. I would've thought their management would've known that, but I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[No Count Pup]

I know that Diesel was fairly over when he beat Backlund in 1995. But so was Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. For me, it was confusing to me that Diesel got a title shot despite the fact that Ramon was the lone survivor just three days prior, Undertaker had just defeated Yokozuna, and Bret Hart was the previous world champion. From a storyline perspective, it was impressive that Diesel had single-handedly pinned four of the Bad Guys at Survivor Series. But he was also responsible for the biggest kayfabe choke job in the event's history.

In terms of title reign, I don't understand why he needed such a lengthy reign. While Diesel was feuding with the likes of Mabel, Sid, and Tatanka, Bret Hart was feuding with Jerry Lawler, Michaels was in the Intercontinental Title division, Luger was in a tag team, and Ramon wasted time with Men on a Mission and Dean Douglas. Diesel could have had a title changing feud with any one of those guys, and eventually come out on top. There was simply way too much garbage time in 1995, and many missed opportunities to put the title on wrestlers that the fans wanted to see.

I will give Diesel credit in one regard. He was the first WWE Champion with "Attitude". He had the smirk and the swagger that many champions before him lacked. He was certainly not cookie-cutter by any stretch. But overall, I think his reign was handled poorly.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

As someone mentioned the Backlund match was wrong to be a house show but more importantly Backlund was the wrong guy to win it from if they wanted him to be a superface. To this day I will never understand why Owen didn't win the title from Bret instead and drop it straight to Diesel. Backlund made little sense and the feud with Bret was pretty horrible.

I think your first sentence answered your next question. Vince was banking as Diesel as the next Hulk Hogan. Bret Hart was a reliable champion and a fan favorite but Vince never wanted Bret Hart as the "the man" during Bret Hart's run it's no secret Vince was trying to find his next Hulk Hogan to be the face of the company Luger and Diesel come into mind yet they always ended up going back to Bret.

Now with this Diesel's title win was supposed to be reflective of how Hogan won the title. I believe Backlund lost the World Title to the Iron Sheik in a controversial fashion, this was supposed to make The Iron Shiek as a transitional champion for Hogan to win the title via a Squash Match. That way Hogan looked dominant in avenging the title loss of the previous face champion, making it easier for fans to support Hogan.

If you replace Backlund with Bret Hart, The Iron Sheik with 1994 Backlund, and Hogan with Diesel you pretty much see Vince trying to replicate the rise of Hogan as the face of the company. Problem is Diesel is a talented guy but fans still supported Bret Hart and Diesel does not have the charisma Hogan did.

Vince was trying to create a new Hogan in his image which is why Mabel happened. Just like Hogan being challenged by Monster like King Kong Bundy or Earhquake, Mabel was supposed to be the equivalent of those big monstrous heels.

 

[berlinbrawler]

To me it was a very odd time as a WWF fan.

For starters, it all happened so suddenly. All of a sudden Diesel totally dominates the match at Survivor Series, eliminating one guy after another in short order. More or less over night Diesel had become Superman. That is until he got eliminated by but one superkick and a delayed pin, the first offensive move that hit him. It didn't make any sense. Just because the kick wasn't meant for him he sold it like he got hit by a train. The match was a mess. It bothered me because that was one I had been looking forward to. But the point was made. Diesel is a good guy now and an unstoppable monster (albeit with a glass chin, apparently). To be fair, Diesel had been shown to be dominating before. He had had a strong showing at the Royal Rumble, I recall, and was a former IC champion. But to me he was still but Shawn's sidekick.

Then Bob Backlung became champion. Huh? If Diesel suddenly having superpowers was odd then Backlung being champion was nuts. All due respect to legendary Bob, but this was a joke. Sure, he had like a 6 year run as the WWWF champion and all, but that was what felt like 50 years ago and by the current standards he was old, small, bland and BORING. He was the last guy I wanted to be champion. When Bob was declared champion I was like: "Ugh! This is going to be a dry and boring spell hitting the WWF. I hope this Bob thing ends sooner rather than later." Little did I know that my prayer would be heard just a couple of days later.

So the next time I tune into WWF TV out comes WWF Champion Diesel. WTF?!
OK, as far as I was concerned, everything was preferable to Bob, so this must have been a step in the right direction. But I was seriously confused/concerned about how unexpectantly and dramatically everything in the WWF world had changed in just a couple of days.

And I wasn't sure I bought any of it!!

I didn't buy Backlund beating Hart. The whole thing with throwing in the towel was stupid. Sure, it was an ironic twist to how Backlund lost the belt all those years ago, yada yada yada. I still didn't buy it. Hart never lost the Belt.

So Diesel beat the colorless bum, this non-champion, who just happened to have stumbled on the WWF's most coveted prize the day before yesterday. (Seriously, Bob didn't even have a ring music - AAAGH, I can't let go of how much the Bob thing bothered me!)
I didn't buy Diesel beating Backlung in like 5 seconds in a match that was never shown on TV. Well, OK, actually I did buy that Diesel beat Bob in 5 seconds. As a matter of fact there were a lot of guys I would have believed could beat Bob in 5 seconds. That's the thing - what the hell was Bob doing holding that belt? It was messed up! And why the frag did they not show it on TV? What was the deal there?? It annoyed the living hell out of me.

I didn't buy Diesel, period. Not really, anyway. I my mind he was still a one-dimensional Shawn Michaels-accesory. And even if I could buy him as an entity on his own, he was way behind Michaels in every way - talent, charisma, credibility. Here I was awaiting the advent of the Heartbreak Kid, instead they're hotshotting his bodyguard. It didn't make sense to me.

Next came the match against Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble. That match was one of the biggest yawners I have ever seen. So boring! I dare you to sit through the entire match (without fast-forwarding!) and then tell me otherwise. My opinion of both wrestlers sunk through that bout. It certainly didn't contribute to me taking Diesel seriously as champion.

On a sidenote: Did Bob ever get a rematch with Diesel? Not that I wanted to see it, but wouldn't it have been prudent?

Next came Wrestlemania against Shawn Michaels. It should have been Diesel's greatest showing at Wrestlemania (and maybe it was), instead I remember it as one of Michaels' weakest. They botched the finish. D'oh! And they weren't the main event, either. D'oh! Worst. Wrestlemania. Ever.

Next in line was without a doubt the lowest point in the entire history of the WWF. And I'm not saying that lightly. King Mabel. DAIMN!Whether or not they had a serious lack of options - it was just awful through and through and was unwatchable. Sheesh, imagine paying to see that.

So when Hart regained the title at Survivor Series that year (in a match vastly superior to their Royal Rumble encounter) it was a mercy killing.
It wasn't all Diesel's fault. Those were just bad times for the WWF in general.
I dare say, though they could have done better.

The one match I wanted to see - Diesel vs. Undertaker - never happend. Well, it did at Wrestlemania as Diesel was on his way out of the WWF. Very anticlimatic. I would have liked a title match.

 

[Just Do It]

I was young when the reign happened, and of course as a sheep I bought it. Looking back objectively, it wasn't as bad as people make out. He was believable as a champion who couldn't be beaten. When Bret Hart beat him, you bought it because Bret Hart was the man. But when Big D had the belt, he was a great champion in my book.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think your first sentence answered your next question. Vince was banking as Diesel as the next Hulk Hogan. Bret Hart was a reliable champion and a fan favorite but Vince never wanted Bret Hart as the "the man" during Bret Hart's run it's no secret Vince was trying to find his next Hulk Hogan to be the face of the company Luger and Diesel come into mind yet they always ended up going back to Bret.

Now with this Diesel's title win was supposed to be reflective of how Hogan won the title. I believe Backlund lost the World Title to the Iron Sheik in a controversial fashion, this was supposed to make The Iron Shiek as a transitional champion for Hogan to win the title via a Squash Match. That way Hogan looked dominant in avenging the title loss of the previous face champion, making it easier for fans to support Hogan.

If you replace Backlund with Bret Hart, The Iron Sheik with 1994 Backlund, and Hogan with Diesel you pretty much see Vince trying to replicate the rise of Hogan as the face of the company. Problem is Diesel is a talented guy but fans still supported Bret Hart and Diesel does not have the charisma Hogan did.

Vince was trying to create a new Hogan in his image which is why Mabel happened. Just like Hogan being challenged by Monster like King Kong Bundy or Earhquake, Mabel was supposed to be the equivalent of those big monstrous heels.

Hate to shoot you down Shooter, but I said OWEN...not Bret...

Owen was hated by that point and if he'd finally gotten the title by deceiving Helen into throwing in the towel on his brother, THEN you have a hated champion of the level of Iron Sheik and a mega face in Nash when he wins... like I said, you can't quite do it as quick - maybe a minute tops but the effect would have been rocket fuel to Diesel, instead of a bottle rocket that Backlund was.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I was young when the reign happened, and of course as a sheep I bought it. Looking back objectively, it wasn't as bad as people make out. He was believable as a champion who couldn't be beaten. When Bret Hart beat him, you bought it because Bret Hart was the man. But when Big D had the belt, he was a great champion in my book.

He was never terrible, he just wasn't a face.

That was Diesel's problem, it seemed stupid to turn him heel and Shawn face barely a year later when they could have had face Shawn chasing the evil Diesel. It would have played to Nash's strengths and built to the eventual face turn when he was that bit more seasoned.

Rememer Nash was barely 4-5 years into his career when he won that title, he had only ever played a heel and was asked to suddenly be the top good guy. Then he was fed crap to play off of. I long maintain the best thing was to give Davey the belt after that turn. Let that be his face turn and have him chase the heel Davey till the Rumble.

 

[Goldie]

Diesel was champ in a dark era for the WWE, and is often associated with the period where WWE operated in the red (losing money)... though in fairness, Bret and Shawn were also champs in the same era.
I had no problem with Diesel being champ, but thought it dragged out too long. He was rushed into it... Maybe if he had more time established as a baby face he could have been eased into it and have more time to be accepted as a hero by the fans.
As discussed he had no real build up with Backlund... Vince had tried the belt with Bret and probably wanted to see if the numbers would improve with a big guy (though they didn't).

Sure Nash had a good match with Bret at the 95 Rumble, but pitching your newly turned baby face against the guy who had been the top baby face in the company 3 Years, was a fight Diesel had no chance of winning. Though WWE led on that fan opinion was split, then fans were rooting for Bret.
Also at WM11 there were a division of fans who were cheering for Shawn (the heel) against Nash... You can even hear loud boos when Diesel kicks out of pin attempts, and as he wins at the end. Again I never felt that the fans were as behind Diesel as they should have been with a baby face champ.

Luckily Diesel worked great matches with Bret and Shawn... When it came to working with guys who couldn't carry him... Sid, Mabel... there were some match stinkers. Bulldog struggled to get a good match out of him too. In fact booking Mabel as KOTR in 95 and having title shots at Diesel is a decision that still baffles me!

I preferred Diesel as a heel... Bret, Taker and Shawn (when he turned) were all more over as baby faces.... If Diesel turned heel part way through his reign, it could have turned out to be a little more memorable.

 

[RicSpade]

I think what people don't think about with Nash as Diesel was there were almost no legitmate heels in WWE at the time, most guys were mid carders at best when he turned face, so when you pit him with a guy like Mabel people look at Mabel and go "oh, Mabel was always a midcarder", right but the point of being King of the Ring was to make you a legitmate guy, Bret already was legitmate, Owen was a legitmate midcard guy who never ran with the title, but could be used as a main event catylyst for guys like HBK and Bret. Mabel was one of those guys who I think Vince thought "giving him KOTR will make him a main event success!" but in reality when your gimmick is two black guys rapping in purple outfits how legitmate are you going to look as a main eventer? The WWE never relied on guys like Hakushi, Jeff Jarrett, unless they were paired with guys like HBK or Bret, so really who did Nash have to wrestle against in WWE to make him look good, on the short list of main eventers the answer was no one...

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem was Vince never trusted the heels he had since 1990... Rude wasn't "good enough" yet could dominate WCW for 3 years and was the best heel in the business.

Perfect got hurt, but they had to turn him face for his big return, rather than have him pick up where he left off.

Lex Luger had to become the Lex Express within 6 Months of The Narcissict's debut and Diesel had to go face to be "the guy..." Bam Bam had to go face to get a shot even THE FRIGGING UNDERTAKER had to go face.

Vince missed the point that what made Hogan and even Backlund before him were not monster heels but having that depth of bad guys in the roster. Greg Valentine, Honky Tonk Man, Randy Savage, Hercules, Rick Martel, Big Bossman, Quake, Crush, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect and even the Brooklyn Brawler. There was a heel for every situation and opponent during that WM6-WM7 era... yet Vince turned most of them either face or out of the company by the time Diesel got to the title.

One simple change in 1990, Rude getting the title would have opened up so much more - Bret, Perfect, Ric Flair all would have been great face turns against him - and... when someine like Nash (or Nash himself came along) then he could have thrashed Rude or Flair or whoever had the belt at that time as the heel and THEN he's Hogan.

The biggest problem as I said was he beat a no one... for his 7 year reign to most WWE fans he was the guy who Russo made fun of in WWE magazine for mugging in on a Virgil photoshoot... or the "slightly disabled looking guy" who danced around at the Rumble... That one switch I suggested of Owen for Backlund and Diesel is a HERO for beating the nefarious guy who screwed his own brother out of the title...

I'd bet money Vince would do it differently now.

 

[Wald]

Bret and Diesel's first reigns always seem similar to me. Neither had the full confidence of Vince to be the top guy and neither had a proper creative plan to support them once they became champ.

For the Hitman he got feuds with Jean Pierre LaFitte over his leather jacket, with a not quite ready HBK and Razor and with Yokozuna to lose the title. There just never seemed to be any thought given to how to get him over as the WWF Champion and Diesel fell foul of the same thing.

Whatever about Backlund, I personally liked the guy's heel turn and thought he did a great job in the role but lets look past Diesel beating him for the belt. First he was booked to go to the Royal Rumble and prove he wasn't the better man of who a lot of fans believed was the rightful champ, Bret Hart. I've said it before and I'll say it again, anyone who books a newly turned face champion against the then current number babyface is looking to fail. It's no way to get a newly turned face over, HBK would encounter the same issue in 1996 to a lesser extent. Putting Diesel up against the Hitman and not having him win killed his title reign almost on arrival.

After that though, because I guess they did have to get the Hitman rematch out of the way somehow, they actually put him in a logical storyline against a heel at Wrestlemania when he took on Shawn Michaels. Here though Vince was more concerned with laying the foundations for Michaels' face turn than with getting Diesel over as champ and here is where analysis of Diesel as champ should nearly end. Michaels was booked to have Diesel cleanly pinned if the ref hadn't screwed up, that absolutely never happened in the WWF at the time unless you were a babyface who they wanted to protect. Diesel was the babyface here, Diesel not only got no protection but he was sacrificed for his opponent and there in lies the issue with Diesel's title reign.

Vince McMahon 's primary concern at this time was turning HBK face and building him for Wrestlemania 12, thus making Diesel the longest reigning transitional champion ever but nothing more.

I'm fully convinced that the initial plan was to have Diesel win the title as he did and hold it almost 18 months to Wrestelmania 12 to drop it to Shawn, possibly with a heel turn for Diesel whilst champion to echo the Mega Powers exploding. Vince lost faith in Diesel at some stage after Summerslam and decided that beating Bret at Wrestlemania for the belt would get Shawn over more and so Survivor Series 1995 was booked the way it was. But Diesel never had a chance of becoming the top guy because that spot was earmarked for Shawn by January 1995 at the latest.

 

[god-soldier]

Brain has the best threads on here but I'm one of the biggest adovocate of Diesel having the worse title reign in history second to HBK and Cena. Diesel should have never gotten that spot sure he had won the IC title and the Tag titles but too me I never saw Diesel I only saw Vinnie Vegas and Oz from WCW. The talent on the roster and the hard working stars who deserved a chance as champion no Hogan and Savage and Warrior the chance was up for grabs for guys who were truly the top faces like Razor Ramon, Undertaker, Davey Boy Smith, and my pick after more than one entire year of being screwed out of the title was Lex Luger. As a huge fan of WWF at the time the tease of Luger being champion after SummerSlam The Royal Rumble and Maina X, and being betrayed by his friend Tatanka calling him a sell out and being defeated by the Corporation at Survivor Series. It made no sense even at 11 yrs old that Diesel got the shot at Backland. Credibillity Bret put on a great match and so did HBK that match against Sid and Mabel were terrible not to say that anyone can do better with working with big stiff guys but atleast try your the WWF champ!!!!!!! Diesel too me will always be a terrible champion off someones terrible pick at the Garden or before the Garden that day. But I'm sticking with a terrible pick and a bad title reign.

 

[The Boss]

I waited too long for Bob Backlund to get the WWF World title back. To have this leathered fart end Backlund's reign after just three days (and in only 8 seconds) made me sick. I had high hopes of Backlund keeping the belt until WrestleMania and dropping it to Davey Boy Smith. I was disgusted. It would take HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN and the formation of the nWo before I could cheer for Nash again.