5 longest world title reigns in WWE history
Winning a World Championship in WWE is considered to be one of the biggest achievements in the pro-wrestling business. The World Championship has a historic heritage of close to seven decades, with multiple legends, Hall of Famers, and pioneers of the industry having held multiple titles.
As WWE has progressed over the years, they have added multiple titles to the World Championship category. Until the year 2002, the company had only the WWF/E championship as its main championship.
In 2002, Eric Bischoff announced the World Heavyweight Championship on Monday Night Raw. In 2016, Stephanie McMahon announced the Universal Championship as the latest addition to the World Championship category.
Several young superstars dream of holding this championship. Young aspiring wrestlers leave their homes at a young age to one day have this championship wrapped around their waist.
While there are many superstars who wrestle their entire life and don't even get to sniff the championship, there are many stars who have held it for a long time. Here are the top five longest world title reigns in WWE history.
This article will contain championship reigns from the golden generation of the WWF to date. Hence, legendary stars like Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, and Pedro Morales miss out on making this list.
#5 AJ Styles held the WWE Championship for 371 days
AJ Styles is definitely one of the best in-ring performers in the business. He signed with the company in 2016 as a surprise entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble.
Within one and a half years of his tenure in the company, Styles faced Jinder Mahal on an episode of SmackDown Live for the WWE Championship. Styles defeated Mahal to become the WWE Champion for the second time and thus began a historic reign of over one year.
2017 was easily the best year for AJ Styles in WWE as he became the longest-reigning champion in SmackDown history. He had successful defenses against the likes of John Cena, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn.
Styles finally lost his WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan on the episode of SmackDown before Survivor Series 2018. The Phenomenal One's reign ended at 371 days following a low blow that got the job done for Bryan.
#5 Randy Savage held the WWF Championship for 371 days
The Macho Man's journey to the WWF championship started at WrestleMania IV. Savage took part in a 14-man tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. He reached the finals defeating Butch Reed, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and The One Man Gang. Savage won the WWF Championship by defeating "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in the tournament's final with a bit of help from Hulk Hogan.
For a little over a year, Savage successfully defended his title against legends like André the Giant, the Big Boss Man, and One Man Gang. In early 1989, The Mega Powers had problems with each other, with Miss Elizabeth being the key reason. Savage turned heel, blaming Hogan for trying to steal Miss Elizabeth from him.
This led to a WWF Championship match at WrestleMania V between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, which The Macho Man lost, thus ending his 371-day run as Champion.