CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar: Whose record title reign was better?
CM Punk became the longest-reigning holder of a WWE men’s singles title in 25 years when he retained the WWE Championship for 434 days between November 2011 and January 2013.
“The Best In The World” captured the title from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series 2011 and successfully defended it at 12 PPV events before eventually losing to The Rock at the 2013 Royal Rumble.
It looked for a long time as if Punk’s modern-era record reign with a world title would never be beaten, with closest challengers Brock Lesnar (224 days), Seth Rollins (220 days) and Kevin Owens (188 days) all falling way short of 434 days.
However, all good things come to an end, and today is the day that it’s finally official: Lesnar’s reign with the Universal Championship has hit 435 days, which means “The Beast” can now lay claim to being the longest-reigning holder of a WWE men’s singles title since 1988.
So, has Lesnar really deserved to break Punk’s record? Whose title reign will live for longer in the memory? Let’s take a look at five key aspects of both title reigns, ranging from crowd interest to match quality, and decide whose reign was/is better.
#5 Crowd interest/excitement
While Brock Lesnar’s box-office attraction status worked for a while, especially in the two years after he ended ‘The Streak’, crowd interest in his matches has drastically plummeted recently and the majority of fans are disappointed that Raw hasn’t had a full-time holder of the show’s main title for over 14 months.
CM Punk, by contrast, was a popular fan favorite for the first seven months of his title reign and then freshened his character up by turning heel, which proved to be the perfect way to keep fans interested in his storylines for the rest of his time as champion.
Winner: CM Punk