Minutes to Bell Time

                    It’s Funny How Times Can Change

                    Newsletter #82 – It’s Funny How Times Can Change

                    April 20, 2022

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                    It’s funny how times can change.

                    Do you know what happened 20 years ago tomorrow? Does April 21, 2002 ring a bell? Probably not unless you’re a serious student of WWE Championship title history.

                    Here’s the answer – Hulk Hogan won his 6th and final WWE Championship.

                    On April 21, 2002 Hulk Hogan defeated HHH in the main event of the WWE Backlash PPV (in those days it wasn’t called WrestleMania Backlash).

                    The victory came nine years removed from Hogan’s previous WWE (then WWF) championship run (he defeated Yokozuna and lost to Yokozuna) and over 18 years from his first WWF Championship run that began at the tail end of 1983 (defeating the Iron Sheik).

                    The 2002 Hogan run as champion lasted just 28 days before Hogan would drop the title to The Undertaker at the May PPV event Judgement Day.

                    It’s funny how times can change.

                    The decade when Hogan won his first championship (1980’s) saw just six WWE Champions: Bob Backlund, Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan again.

                    The decade when Hogan won his last championship (2000’s) saw 44 separate title reigns, and WWE actually had a second “World Championship” in the 2000’s with 34 championship reigns.

                    6 world champions in the 80’s compared with 78 world champions in the 00’s.

                    In this decade, we’re already up to 16 different world championship title runs in WWE (that includes the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship).

                    It’s funny how times can change.

                    We’re long removed from the days of super long multi-year world championship title reigns . . . except for the current Universal Champion.

                    Roman Reigns has held the Universal Championship for close to 600 days. While Roman has a long way to go before he catches the 1,474 day run that Hulk Hogan had as champion starting back in 1983, it doesn’t feel like Roman’s title reign is in any jeopardy of ending.

                    So it’s funny how times can change.

                    It seems we went from a time when title reigns were super long (Hogan – 1,474 days in the 1980’s) to a time when title reigns were super short (Hogan – 28 days in the 1990’s) to a time where title reigns might be super long again (Roman – 600 days and counting).

                    So maybe. . . depending on what Roman does . . .the funniest thing of all might not be how times can change.

                    Perhaps it’s not “funny how times can change,” but maybe the line should be “it’s funny how times can change and sometimes change right back.”

                    I hope you all continue to have a great week!

                    Read on for some great wrestling resources.

                    Thanks,

                    Ryan

                    PS – The Vampire Warrior Gangrel was my guest on CCW Insider this week. Check out that interview by clicking on any of the logos below.

                     


                    MTBT Resources

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