Reply #5: He came along at a tough time

[Wetzelbill]

Hogan and Savage owned that thing for a while, then Vince tried to make the Ultimate Warrior into the next big thing, and he flamed out. Then the first Iraq War broke out and Sgt. Slaughter got the belt as an Iraqi sympathizer because they wanted to build up a patriotic thing with him vs Hogan. Flair showed up and Hennig seriously hurt his back. Vince was still stuck in that big man era, with Yokuzuna and those guys too. Bret Hart was the only smaller guy who really broke into that until Shawn Michaels came along and hit his stride. If Hennig had hit his prime around the same time as guys like Benoit and Eddie he would have held it. As it turned out he got ignored. I always thought Hennig and Rick Rude were two guys who deserved a title run, but never got one.