The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 1

Ivan Koloff (January 18, 1971 - February 8, 1971)

Ivan Koloff gets set to wrestle Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Championship

The "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff actually hailed from Canada, but despite his true heritage he was one of the most feared "foreign" menaces in American wrestling history - particularly during the 1960s and 1970s.

The most famous moment of Koloff's long career was his WWWF Championship winning effort that ended the legendary, record breaking seven year title reign of one Bruno Sammartino.

That incredible event took place in front of a 20,000 sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden on January 18, 1971.

You could hear a pin drop in MSG, when Koloff pinned Sammartino clean as a whistle following a kneedrop from the top rope. Sammartino would later state that he thought he had gone deaf following the decision due to the complete silence in the arena. In truth, the crowd were in a state of shock that their invincible champion had been defeated.

Koloff's reign isn't remembered for much of anything else, and it ended just three short weeks later.

Koloff was the first transitional champion in the title's history; a caretaker to pass the belt from Sammartino to the next babyface super draw. That man would be...