1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - WWE Championship Reigns (1960s-1990s) : July 28th, 12:00pm

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

WWE Championship Reigns (1960s-1990s)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought you by Canopy Street Market. Boom. In your face. In your face! On a Monday, Monday live, I will, uh, 101 will go.

in this time slot for the next two weeks, Caricker with the family and join the summer. So Bach and I will hang out from 11 to 1. Of course, we'll do some one-on-ones in the evening hours as well to do that. So greatly appreciate you hanging out with us. You can be a part of what we're doing. The Sartor, hit me a text line, 402, 4-6-4-5-6-85.

I'm going to be a part of what we're doing. Hit me with a WhatsApp. And I'll include you in the show. Greatly appreciate it. You can follow on on all the live video, streams, Facebook, YouTube, X, Allo Channel 961. Download the ticket app. Go to your play store and find the ticket, 937, the ticket, and download the app so we can

go wherever you are. Never fake. It never goes away. We can go wherever you go. And then you can also subscribe on all the social media. Make sure you're getting, give us all the likes on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. If you want to do that. Bach, let's set the tone for this hour, kind sir.

It is a special day if you have not heard. You do not know, we are in birthday festivist mode. Bach, if you would please, give me, hit that man's music. You heard it. You heard him. He said, don't dare. Don't dare. That's it.

That's it. Oh, man. 63, beautiful, wonderful, loving years old today. and I'm going to celebrate and be grateful and gracious and appreciative. And I appreciate all of you texting and saying, Happy Birthday, means the world. Glad to be here.

I'm grateful for you all. I'm grateful for Lincoln, for Nebraska, for the Huskers, for the folks who are listening to businesses that have reached out. We have helped people that have reached out today as well. So, and I appreciate Bach for hanging out with me.

Anthony Lyons Hartsmith joined us in the previous hour. and he's recovering from lumbar surgery. And that joint is no joke. Eric just said in his, some pictures of his, yeah, bro. Yeah,

that, that, listen, Anthony Lyre, I mean, again, this guy's been, been in battle battle.

And he said that this pain is a different kind of pain. It's a different level of pain. And so, you know, he and I were commiserating in the midnight hour over, The amount of pain he's going through. And again, it's humbling.

When you lose control of your faculty and your body and you can't just do and move, it's a thing. So shout out to Anthony for joining us in the hour. Shout out to Hosta Breezy for reaching out as well. For all of you who are reaching out, whether it be on Facebook X, Instagram, or otherwise, it is appreciated. Bach, you and I get together, and it's a chance to go back. And talking wrestling in a way that that is a little bit different.

8146, thank you for the happy birthday. We're just greatly appreciated as well. But if I asked you that in the 60s, in the 60s, that from 1960 to 1969, how many world champions were there in wrestling? How many people had the honor of carrying the strat? 10 years. Yeah. Throughout all the promotions?

Well, we're going to, let's just say, let's go WWI. Okay. So in the WWF, how many champions over 10 years? I believe back then it was more, longer rains. It was more of a traveling show and less of on, you know, on TV and stuff like that. Point of reference. and from 2010 to 2019, there were 41. From 2002-09, there were 44.

From 1990 to 1999, there were 41. So I ask how many champions held the strap in the 60s? I'm going to go with, like I said, for the reasons I just threw out there, I think I'm going to go with significantly less. Let's go with one a year. Let's go with 10. So Bach says 10 that Buddy Rogers, the great Buddy Rogers,

the original nature boy, right? Buddy Rogers held the title until May of 1963. And then Bruno San Martino held the title for the rest of the decade. The rest of the decade. And that's a world title. That is,

you talk about, can you imagine that tour? Can you imagine the travel schedule of Bruno San Martina, literally carrying the strap. for all that time. Now, let's go up to the 70s, right? So after carrying it for all of the 60s,

Bruno figures out, hey man, I'm married with kids. I need a vacation. So what did they do? They had him drop the title. Bach, do you know who he dropped the title too? I do not, but I'm intrigued. The Russian bear, I've entertained.

Cole off. Okay. Ivan Cole off the Russian bear in 1971 carried the belt for 21 days. So when you talk transitional title holder. Wow. After that long of a run, they had a transitional title holder. Well, here's why. Because you figured out that you need, you have a ton of faces.

You have a ton of heels. The faces have to get in line. So imagine being a face during the Bruno San Martina era. you're getting no love. Like you, listen, you are the setup, you are the punchline, bro. But they decide that they like having a face, a good guy as a champion. So after 21 days, Ivan Koloff loses the strap. Bach, any I guess is to who took the strap from Ivan Kolo?

I'd just be shooting in the dark, so I can throw out there. Pedro Morales. Okay. Pedro Morales took the strap and carried it for a thousand days. A thousand days carries it until December of 1973 on December 12th, 1973. He loses the title. I guarantee you 100% that you nobody, you don't know who took the title from Pedro Morales. So I will give it to you. and it's a name that we don't talk about enough

when you talk about world champions. Stan the man Stasiak with the vaunted heart punch. He would pull your arm, your hand behind your head, and he would, with this glove fist, he would punch you in the heart, which would stop your heart for three seconds.

He would fall on you and take the pen. And that was how. Now, but in beautiful, beautiful circling. How long do you think Stan Stacey ain't got to hold a strap? Another transitional champion? In the ultimate of transitional champions,

he held it for nine days. There you go. Nine days. I don't even know how many defenses he got in, bro. Nine days. Why? Because Bruno was back from vacation.

Bruno was back. And Bruno said, give me my strap and i'm going to hold this for the next four years so think about this that for 13 of 13 of 13 of 15 years bruno had the strap and there was nothing anybody could do about it nothing you can do about it now this is where the the the wrestling world flips on its head flips and i'm not sure it got it right it started to get it right because Because Bruno was fatigued. Bruno, listen, that's a 15-year run of carrying the world on your shoulders.

And Bruno's like, bro, I'm out. Ducees. So Vince Sr., Vince McMahon, Sr., identifies, and it's always beautiful, Bach, when you find out what the thinking was, right? Who they're going to put the strap on and why? and they make a choice. Who do we give the strat to that can carry this, this organization for the next year?

Their choice, superstar Billy Graham, who listen, folks, if you want to talk about the value of Hulk Hogan and Dusty Rhodes and Rick Flair, you have to circle immediately back to the great superstar Billy Graham, tight-eyed tights, bleach blonde hair,

bodybuilder for physique, physique, and maybe the best Mike game to that point in wrestling history. There were, listen, superstar Billy Graham put them together. Maybe one of the most underrated champions ever. Great battles, some phenomenal battles. battled with Tony Atlas, with the Grillo Monsoon, Don Morocco, Pedro Morales, some great deals.

He held the title for 10 months, 10 months. And I think it was a mistake by the WWF to pull the strap from him because he sold out market upon market upon market, but they wanted a face. They wanted a good guy. So they chose the good guy of all good guys. They chose Bob Backlin. Now, Bach, have you ever put Bob Backlin in your top 10 of wrestlers? No. He held the strap for six years.

Long time. Six years. And he was the good guy of all good guys. He just was until the fans became bored with, as they identified him and the time, but they called the World Heavyweight Champion, Howdy Duty? Because he was the All-American guy. Maybe the most physically fit pro wrestling champion of all time. Conditioning drills out the chart, America, like, you know, he was a good guy.

But they reached a point where they had, they felt like they had to take. take the strap from him. Bach? I'm sure you know who took the title from Bob Backwood. 19, December 12, no, January 1st, 1904. Happy New Year, by the way. We're going to take the strap from your champion. Do you know who did it?

I guess Hulk Hogan, but I don't know, because I've wondered where the story's going. No. Leading back to him. Sheaky baby. Oh, yeah. Iron Sheik pens Bob Backlin, who was injured. Again, so think Anthony Lionheart Smith and the neck injury,

Bob Backlin had a neck injury. And Sheik beat him up to so much to the point that they were going to take the strap, let him heal. They had his manager, the golden boy, Arnold Scholar, throw in the towel to protect his wrestler. Sheiky, how long do you think Sheik held the belt? is 84 uh talk about transitional 28 days 208 days listen he took the title from backwood and madison square garden and literally a month later at the next garden they reintroduced the former

sterling golden as the incredible Hulk Hogan and on January 1st 1980s He leg drops the eye in cheek and one of the shortest heavyweight championship battles in history takes the strap and carries on. Now, here's an iconic one, and I'm going to challenge you on this. Do you know who took the title from Hogan?

First one to take the title from Hogan? Yeah. I do not. He, this is literally the most transitional champion, I can imagine. that on February 2nd, 1988, Hogan drops the strap to Andre the Giant. Right.

Right. Right. February for one day. Okay. For one day, they dropped the title and then Savage wins the title and carries it for the next year. until he meets Hulk Hogan. And they have the Hogan Savage back and forth.

Hogan gets the title back April 4 of 1989. Pretty amazing, like to go through and go, this is what we're talking about. Now, this is where the game changes because WWF comes WWE and the territories start to fate. the other territories start to fade. So there's this influx of talent. And here's the thing about bringing in talent,

world championship talent from other places. You've got to give them something for it. Like folks aren't going to leave the AWA, the NWA, the NWA, the WCW to not get a strap. So this is where the dance, the title strap dance begins. Hulk Hogan gets the title. He loses it to the ultimate war.

Warrior. The ultimate warrior carries the strap for almost a year. Loses the title. You know what? You don't want to wrestle for the World Championship on January 1st because that's when they take the titles from you. Because on January 1st, 1991, if you're a champion and it's a pay-per-view on January or New Year's Day, hey, bro, you're getting ready to go on vacation or have a surgery. because Sergeant Slaughter defeats the ultimate war, you maggots. The greatest jaw in the history of pro wrestling.

Bob Slaughter wins the title, carries it for two months. Because after his movie wrapped, Hulk Hogan returns, takes the strap from Bob Slaughter, carries the title, until November 11, 1991. And on that day,

transitional title, Hogan drops the strap for one week to the Undertaker. For one week. And gets the strap back December 12. So he loses the title on December 12th, gets it back

the very next day, And then three months later, the very first title reign in the WWE for the nature boy Rick Flair. He wins the title. Again, Hogan didn't get the memo, pay-per-view, January 1st, 1992. Give me your strap, bro. It goes to the nature boy and Bobby Heenan. Flair carries it for four months until he loses. it to the macho man Randy Savage. Savage gives it back to Flair, who carries it for 41 days

until the first title reign for our next champion. 1992. Bach, any idea who beat Flair for the WWE title? Oh, was this one we go with Lex Lugar? The hitman. Okay. Oh, yeah, I can't forget about the hitman. The title carries it for 175 days and loses it back to Hulk Hogan.

To Hulk Hogan. Hogan carries it for 70 days, loses it via his own move, the leg drop. Fock, any idea who took the title from Hogan? Uh-uh. Yoko Zuna. Oh, okay, yeah. Yoko Zuna, that fabulous Vegas pay-per-view, right? But then Yokozuno carries it for 280 days,

loses it to Brett Hart, and then in the shocker of all shocker, Brett Hart loses it back to Bob Backlin. In a transitional carry, Backland carries it for three days, and loses the title to Big Duclin. Daddy Diesel's first championship run. He carries it for a year,

loses it to Brett Hart. Brett Hart loses it in one of the more famous matches, loses it to Sean Michaels. Sean Michaels carries the strap until January. Again, why are y'all not paying attention to paper views on January 1st? Because he loses the title to Psycho Sid.

And then Sid loses it on January 1st, 1997, to Sean Michaels, who carries it for 25 days, loses it to Brett Hart. Heart loses it to Sid. Sid carries it until Sid loses it via injury to the Undertaker. Undertaker carries it for a hundred days, it gives it back to Brett Hart. Then Montreal, 140 days. Sean carries it until the very first title reign on March 3rd, 1998. Bach, any guesses who took the title, who took the strap from Sean Michaels?

Getting into the Stone Cold territory. Yatsy! Atta boy, Bach. Stone Cold, Steve Austin wins the strap for the first time, carries it for three months. and then loses it. This was a weird phase because a superstar comes along who gets the strap for one day,

but then he only gets to keep it one day. Do you know who the first time champion was who carried the strap for one day before losing it back to Stone Cold Steve Austin? I don't know. Kane. Kane, okay. That's right the one day reign of cane.

Right, the one day reign of cane. Stone Cole carries it for three months. until he loses it to another first time champion. And in one of the great rivalries that ever existed, Stone Cold dropped the strap to Bach, the Rock, the Rock. January 1st, 1999, party like it's 1999, because on that day, the Rock drops the title to another first time strap holder. But your guesses, the rivalries that existed, who did Rock,

battle with to lose the strap with January 1st, 1999. Ooh. Oh, it was big doings, bro. It was big dealings. As a matter of fact, the rival networks and rival agencies told the story before it happened live, thinking that people wouldn't watch it when they found out the results. But in fact, more viewers too did because they wanted to see this superstar win the strap.

All right, now I know. That's enough of a, that's enough of a, mankind. Mankind. January 1st, 1999, mankind wins the title as well. We will pause there.

But the merry-go-round continues. But think of this, that those three held the title for the next three months. And then another superstar gets his first title. ring. I'm going to ask Bach who got their first title reign in August of 1999 when we come back to one-on-one. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 93-7, The Ticket, and The Ticketfm.com.