The WWE championship is the biggest prize in professional wrestling and WWE as well. It’s lineage is more than 50 years old and many of the greatest WWE superstars of all time have held it and holding this title means that you are the best in the world at that point of time so it means a lot to every wrestler when he reigns as the WWE champion.
Out of the many superstars that reigned as the WWE champion, there were a select few that held the title for a long period of time and they etched their names in the history books and became a legend during their reigns. Let’s look at the Top 10 Longest reigning WWE champions of all time.
1. Bruno Sammartino (2803 Days):
Bruno Sammartino is the greatest WWE champion of all time and the longest reigning in history by a fair distance. This historic reign started in the year 1963 when he won the WWE title from Buddy Rogers and for 8 years till 1971 , he beat every superstar that came before him and still holds the record for the longest reign of all time and it won't be beaten maybe ever.
2. Bob Backlund (2135 Days):
Imagine being second in this list even after holding the WWE title for 2135 days but this incredible achievement by Bob will always be a part of WWE folklore. During his time as the WWE champion he was involved in a long list of historic feuds like Rick Flair and the others and he was one of the strongest wrestlers.
3. Hulk Hogan (1474 Days):
In 1984 when Hulk Hogan won the WWE championship from the Iron Shiek it was the arrival of the biggest superstar in WWE History and this historic reign by The Hulkster was one of the most popular Reigns of all time and his match with Andre The Giant at WrestleMania 3 was in this reign as well.
Check here Hulk Hogan Best WWE matches
4. Bruno Sammartino (1237 Days):
Bruno Sammartino won the WWE championship in 1973, it looked like he would never lose it and he faced some of the most legendary wrestlers such as Bruiser Brody, Ken Parera etc. It ended being the second reign of his to last over a 1000 days which is just staggering in these modern times. He is easily the greatest of all time.
5. Roman Reigns (1083 Days and Counting):
Roman Reigns has been the most dominant Champion in the past 40 years and recently he went past Pedro Morales to go into the 5th spot for the longest WWE Championship Reigns of all time. Since August 30 2020, Roman Reigns has ruled over WWE and he has had more than 30 title defenses and 3 back to back WrestleMania main events where he successfully defended the Championship and at WrestleMania 38, he became the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. There looks to be no stopping him till WrestleMania 40 and by that time he will move places in this list.
6. Pedro Morales (1027 Days):
Amongst the big names who feature on this list , Pedro Morales is one name that doesn’t get mentioned a lot but he is one of the top 5 reigns in history. He won the WWE championship in 1971 and kept it till 1973 and he was the 4th superstar to hold the title.
7. CM Punk (434 Days):
CM Punk was one of the best WWE champions in recent memory. He was a great wrestler and in incredible promo. He won the WWE title in the year 2011 and would beat top WWE superstars like Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton and the Miz among others. The fans loved him as WWE champion.
8. John Cena (380 Days):
It won’t be wrong in saying that John Cena is one of the biggest WWE superstars of all time and he has won the WWE championship 13 times but his third reign which started in 2006 after he beat Edge was his longest in his career and he could have held in for much longer had he not torn his pectoral muscle.
Also Read | Best Matches of John Cena
9. AJ Styles (371 Days):
He is the latest addition to this list and what an incredible title reign it was for the phenomenal one. It started in 2017 when he beat Jinder Mahal and he would hold onto it for another year before losing it to Daniel Bryan on SmackDown. He wrestled in some amazing matches during this reign and the one against Brock Lesnar stands out.
10. Randy Savage (371 Days):
Randy Savage is tied with AJ Styles with the most number of days as WWE champion. He beat Ted Dibiase to win the title and he even beat Andre The giant during his reign and it wasn’t untill WrestleMania 5 when he lost the title to Hulk Hogan in the main event.
