WWE Forgotten Legends 5: Bob Backlund
The Doctor Chris Mueller@@BR_Doctor
Featured ColumnistJune 7, 2010
Robert "Bob" Backlund was born on August 14, 1949. He was a standout athlete in high school and went on to win the NCAA Division 2 Amateur Wrestling Championship during his time at North Dakota State University, where he later earned a degree in physical education.
Little is known about what sparked Backlund's interest in turning to the pro wrestling circuit. He made his debut in the now defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1973.
Backlund was clean cut and had a very technical approach to his wrestling, quickly earning him babyface status among the crowds. After gaining critical success in the AWA, Backlund began wrestling around the country for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
During 1974 Backlund found himself wrestling in Texas for Terry and Dory Funk Jr. He would end up beating Terry Funk for the NWA Western states Championship, a title he would only hold for two months before dropping it to Karl Van Steiger.
While touring the US and making a name for himself, Bob Backlund began teaming with the legendary hall of famer Jerry Brisco. The two would eventually win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship. Again Backlund found himself losing a title after only two months when the team lost to Les Thornton and Tony Charles.
Bob stayed in the tag division for a while, eventually winning the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship. Backlund would end up losing this title to the original Hollywood Blondes Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown.
During his time in the NWA Backlund had what is considered to be the best match of 1976 against Harley Race, where Backlund won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship from the Icon.
By this point, Backlund had gained fans and wowed critics all over the country.
After losing the title to the other Brisco Brother Jack, Bob joined up with the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) under it's original owner Vincent J. McMahon.
McMahon must have seen something special in Backlund, as he was granted his first WWWF title shot within four months of debuting for the promotion.
He lost in his first attempt to gain the belt from then champion Superstar Billy Graham, but would end up sparking a feud with the champion that lasted close to a year.
The two fought several times, with Backlund getting closer to defeating the champion each time. They fought to a double count out, 60 minute draw, and double disqualification before Bob gained his first victory over Graham, but due to being a count out he would not gain the title.
Bob finally beat the champion to win the title on February 2, 1978 in Madison Square Garden.
After finally winning the Title, Backlund would team with Peter Maivia to win the Tag team championship. Maivia would end up turning on Backlund and costing the duo the titles in the process.
In a post match interview conducted by a much younger Vince K. McMahon, Backlund went crazy and was quoted as saying "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch." It was a unique promo for the times, and gained attention from fans.
However, before any of these events with Maivia transpired, Bob Backlund competed in a series of title vs. title matches against champions from other promotions during a time when WWWF still had working relationships with some other companies.
He first faced NWA champion, and past rival, Harley Race. The two fought to a time limit draw, so neither lost their title. The cross promotional match was a huge success, and facing champions from other promotions would become Backlund's trademark. He faced Harley Race and additional three times, Ric Flair once and AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel.
His most famous feud with another champion came against NWF World Champion Antonio Inoki. The two fought many times over the course of the year, with neither man ever getting the better of the other.
In 1980 Bob teamed with Pedro Morales to win the WWF tag team championship, but was forced to vacate the title after he was told no champion could hold two belts at the same time.
Bob Backlund became one of WWF's most successful champions in history, going on to hold the belt for a staggering five years and eight months between 1978 and 1983. During that time Backlund fought anyone who was anyone in the pro wrestling world.
The likes of Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Billy Graha, Jimmy Snuka, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Ladd, Gorilla Monsoon, and Greg Valentine all tried to dethrone the champion without success.
Vince Jr. began running the WWF around this time, and he wanted to put the belt on Hulk Hogan because he felt Hogan was the key to WWF taking over the world of wrestling. Backlund was asked to turn heel and lose to Hogan, but refused.
There is controversy surrounding Backlund's reign as the title was held up after a ref accidentally handed the belt to Greg Valentine after Backlund had won the match. There was also an instance where Antonio Inoki had won the belt from Backlund in Japan, but Backlund showed up back in the states with the belt giving no explanation to the events in Japan.
The choice was made to have him lose to the Iron Sheik, who served as a transitional champion in order to put the belt on Hogan. The match with Sheik is considered very controversial as Backlund was never seen giving up to the Camel Clutch submission, it was his manager Arnold Skaaland who threw in the towel causing Backlund to lose.
After losing the title, Backlund continued to work for WWF, but was never granted a rematch for the title he held for over half a decade.
Bob Eventually left wrestling after working for a few independent promotions after leaving the WWF. He would not make his return until 1991 where he defeated Ivan Kolloff in a match for the short lived UWF promotion.
Bob made his return to the WWF in 1992, but found that the company he left almost a decade earlier had changed drastically.
He still wore his plain tights and wrestled the same style as he did in the seventies and eighties, while the new generation had become more colorful and outspoken due to the Hogan explosion in the eighties.
Many fans who had not been around before McMahon's national expansion had never seen or heard of Backlund, and he found himself stuck in the mid-card scene.
Backlund's first Wrestlemania match was against Razor Ramon in a losing effort. Some say the match was too short and did not feature either wrestler's full ability as they were both considered great workers at the time.
It wasn't until the 1993 Royal Rumble that Bob Backlund would remind fans who he was. He lasted over sixty minutes in the Rumble match, a record that lasted until 2004.
In 1994, The former World Champion found himself in the hunt for the gold again when he began a feud with Bret Hart. The two faced off in a highly publicized match on WWF Superstars.
Backlund thought he had won the match, and offered Hart his hand to help the Pink and Black Warrior to his feet, not realizing he had not won the match. Hart rolled up Backlund to get the win.
Bret offered a hand shake to Backlund, who snapped and locked in the devastating Croos Face Chicken Wing submission on the Hitman while laughing maniacally. After releasing the champion he looked down at his hands and seemed to be shocked and disgusted by what he had just done.
This new gimmick helped Backlund get over as a heel. He would often "snap" during matches and attack his opponents, locking in the Chickenwing, until he was pulled off by the refs. He always looked horrified afterwards which added a lot of depth and intrigue to the character.
On an episode of Monday Night Raw Backlund emerged as a changed man, dressing in suits and demanding people refer to him as Mr. Backlund. He would use big words in his promos to show his intellect, and would ask fans requesting autographs to recite all the Presidents in order.
This also led to a kayfabe story where Backlund ran for president, but with the real election almost two years away, fans didn't seem to buy into it that much.
Bob stated that he should still be recognized as champion after never having submitted to the Camel Clutch years earlier.
It wasn't until Survivor Series 1994, 11 years after losing the WWF championship, would he regain his precious belt. The match was a "Throw in the towel" match which featured The British Bulldog in the corner of Bret Hart, and Hart's younger brother Owen in Backlund's.
During the match The British Bulldog had been knocked unconscious, and Bret was left without a corner man. Backlund slapped on his trade mark submission, and held Bret in the hold for over eight minutes.
Owen, feigning fear for his brother's condition, pleaded with Bret's mom Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. After much debate the Hart Matriarch threw in the towel, costing her son the WWF title. Owen immediately changed his tune and celebrated with the new champion in the ring.
In interviews since, Bret has stated that he felt truly honored to be the one who could hand Backlund back his title after so many years.
This title reign would not last long, as Backlund ended up dropping the title to Diesel in a match that lasted a record eight seconds. In the very beginning of the match Diesel hit his trademark Jacknife powerbomb for the win.
In a PWI interview Kevin Nash said that Backlund sold the powerbomb by crawling back up the ring ramp after the match instead of walking. Nash said that Backlund was a real pro and couldn't have put him over any better than he did.
This loss marked the last time the WWF championship changed hands at a live event that was not televised. Fans were treated to a tape of the short match the Monday following on RAW is WAR.
Bob Backlund's last match of any significance in the WWF was with Bret Hart in an "I quit" match. This was done so there would be no "towel" controversy as there had been in their last encounter.
Backlund lost the match, but those who watched the match never actually heard him say "I quit", they only heard him mumble in the mic, which guest ref Roddy Piper interpreted as him giving up. Backlund was defeated after he locked in the Cross Face on Hart, only to be reversed and put in his own hold by the Hitman.
Bret and Bob's matches were always highly acclaimed due to both man's incredible mat wrestling ability, and their ability to sell moves.
After unsuccessfully running for Congress in 1995, Bob left the political world for good.
Backlund returned to WWE in 2000 to manage the Euro-continental champion Kurt Angle. After scheduling Angle to be in a triple threat match where both his title belts were on the line, Angle slapped on Backlund's famous Cross Face Chicken Wing to put the legend out.
In 2007 Bob Backlund began making appearances for TNA wrestling, and even wrestled a couple matches for the budding promotion, before being written off TV. He was usually seen wearing the same style suits from his Mr. Backlund days, and was called weird and creepy by the announcers at the time.
His last appearance for a wrestling company was at Monday Night Raw's fifteenth anniversary show, where he competed in a battle royal that consisted of superstars from Raw's fifteen year run.
Bob Backlund was inducted in the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008. He has yet to be given that honor by the WWE, but some see it as only a matter of time. He is a sure candidate due to his skill, and five year tenure with the gold.
Bob Backlund may not have been the most charismatic, colorful or big wrestler, but he was definitely one of the best. His monumental run with the title as well as his in ring skills make him one of the most respected wrestlers of all time.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. This is my final Forgotten Legends piece, but have no fear, I will be starting up another series soon about Forgotten Tag Teams.
I want to thank all the readers who have kept up with this series and have shown their support. I have nothing but love for the Bleacher Report Community.
If anyone would like to check out the first four Forgotten Legends articles, I will post the links below. Thanks for reading and as always, comments are appreciated.
And for those who really like the history articles, check out this article about Max Moon.