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Every wrestler steps into the ring hoping to create such a lasting impact that people remember them long after their career ends. The is only achievable this is by building an inspiring, memorable persona, fighting in entertaining, unforgettable matches, and getting entangled in interesting, captivating storylines.
Of course, doing all that means nothing if you don’t win and hold onto your championship title. Indeed, holding onto any WWE championship for a long time is such an incredible achievement that only a few wrestlers have done it.
Wrestlers who’ve held onto their championship titles for a significant duration are highly valued by the WWE corporation. Hence, here’s a quick look at some of the longest title reigns in WWE History.
In 1956, the Fabulous Moolah won a battle royal to become the Nation Wrestling Alliance world women’s champion. In the early 1980s, the NWA women’s championship was rebranded to the WWF Women’s Championship, and Moolah continued to wear the championship gold for a whopping 28 years. Imagine if in today’s MMA someone can do that! It would surely be something new and unseen for MMA betting.
Being a champion for close to two decades propelled Moolah to pro wrestling stardom. And even though she might be a polarizing figure in WWE, we can’t overlook Moolah’s incredible in-ring accomplishment.
Moolah finally lost her title to one of her former students, Wendi Richter, during 1984’s ‘Brawl to End it All.’
In 1963, Bruno Sammartino beat Buddy Rogers to become the reigning WWWF heavyweight champion. He then went on to beat every superstar that came up against him, including Waldo Von Erich, Bill Watts, Killer Kowalski, and more, for the next eight years. Bruno lost his title to Ivan Koloff in 1971.
Bruno’s reign as the WWE champion made him a superhero of his time who sold out the Madison square garden many times. Every Italian-American who ever saw Bruno in his heydays speaks glowingly about him.
Bob’s incredible run as the WWWF/WWF heavyweight champion will always be part of the world wrestling folklore. He took down ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham in February 1978, starting an impressive 2,135-day championship tenure.
People loved this rising star. He might have had an adorable babyface, but Bob Buckland never backed down from any challenge. He floored a good number of legends, including Killer Khan ad Ken Patera to hold onto his title until December 1983.
There a few interesting notes about Bob’s championship. In 1979, the WWWF rebranded to WWF. So, technically, Bob Buckland was the very first WWF champion. In the same year, Antonio Inoki briefly took Backlund’s title, but the WWE didn’t recognize this victory.
In late January 1984, two titans, the Iron Sheik and Hulk Hogan, clashed at Madison Square Garden. The match didn’t last long and ended with Hogan being crowned the new WWF Heavyweight Champion. This was the official dawn of the Hulkamania era.
Although, some people today might have a poor opinion of Hulk Hogan, his reign was undoubtedly one of history’s most popular.
The Hulkster’s run with the WWF championship title is truly the stuff of legends. He had to defend it against incredibly ambitious pro wrestlers, including ‘Mach Man’ Randy Savage, ‘Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff, ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, Big John Studd, and King Kong Bundy, among others.
During Hulk Hogan’s iconic four-year reign, he held the top card across three WrestleMania events. Nonetheless, his eventual loss of the title was pretty much due to happenstance. The fluky loss to Andre the Giant occurred because Ted DiBiase had bought the ref, so he counted three despite Hogan having raised his shoulder.
Bruno Sammartino is arguably one of the biggest professional wrestling superstars. After his initial lengthy reign as champion was foiled in 1971, Bruno got a second chance at the throne in December 1973. This came after he defeated Stan Stasiak.
During his second historic champion run, Bruno became a global sensation. His competitions would draw crowds from far and wide. This herculean reign saw Bruno face up against many formidable opponents, including Bruiser Brody and Spiros Arion.
In April 1977, this living legend eventually fell to Billy Graham before a multitude of dazzled arena attendees, thus ending yet another incredibly long reign as a world wrestling champ.
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