Who Is The Longest Reigning WWE Champion?

Find out who the longest reigning WWE Champion is and how long they held the title for.

WWE Basics

WWE is a publicly traded, privately controlled American integrated media and entertainment company that deals primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales.

What is WWE?

WWE is a publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company specializing in professional wrestling. WWE also refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. As of 2020, it is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 500 live events a year and broadcasting to approximately 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries. The company’s headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in major cities around the world.

What is the WWE Championship?

The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently defended on theirRaw brand. It is one of WWE’s two flagship titles, alongside the Universal Championship that was created for the SmackDown brand as a result of the 2016 draft. The current holder is Drew McIntyre, who is in his first reign.

The title was introduced in 1963 by the then-worldwide leader in professional wrestling, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, who defeated Antonio Inoki in the finals of a tournament to become the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion on April 25, 1963. Since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and ownership changes.

In 1971, the WWWF became known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) when Vincent J. McMahon conquered his father’s company and became sole owner. The title then became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship until 1993 when McMahon and his wife Linda founded World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) and some wrestlers who were competing both in boxing and wrestling started appearing on WBF events cutting promos for both products saying that they are real athletes. As a result of this, WWF felt it necessary to create another world championship for its wrestlers who perform exclusively in wrestling; thus The Undisputed WWF Championship was born which would be defended at boxing events while The Real WWF Championship would only be defended at wrestling events. This situation remained until 1996 when all titles were unified under one championship following Monday Night Raw becoming a weekly show instead of being pre-recorded like most other weekly shows at that time as well as being shown on terrestrial television rather than only being seen on pay-per-view.

In 2002 after the last brand extension had begun, Vince McMahon announced that he wasShould you learn basics? going to unify all of his company’s world titles into one so that there would only be one world champion at any given time much like there had been before 1986 when there were multiple world champions due to multiple regional promotions existing side by side; however unlike before 1986 where each regional promotion had its own version of what was supposed to be THE world championship with no connection to any other version McMahon stated that his new Undisputed WWF Championship would be THE one true world championship with all other previous versions of world championships being abandoned or retired. This unification took place at Vengeance when then WWE Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho defeated then WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Rock and then ECW World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam in a triple threat match to become THE Undisputed WWE Champion thus unifying all three titles into one. Following this unification several former WCW and ECW stars including Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg and Rey Mysterio came into WWE bringing with them their former championships which were quickly retired by WWE; however over time certain former WCW and ECW championships have been brought back by WWE such as Lesnar winning “The Big Gold Belt” (the original name of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) once again at WrestleMania XIX in 2003 only for it to be quickly retired again following Lesnar leaving WWE soon afterwards while Mysterio won “The Hardcore Title” (the original name of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship) at WrestleMania 22 in 2006 only for it too be decommissioned not long after.

The Longest Reigning WWE Champions

The longest reigning WWE Champion is Bruno Sammartino, who held the title for 2,803 days from 1963 to 1971. Sammartino is a two-time WWE Champion, having won the title twice. He is also the only WWE Champion to have held the title for more than one reign.

Bruno Sammartino

Bruno Sammartino is a WWE legend, and he is also the longest reigning WWE Champion in history. Sammartino held the title for a total of 11 years and 8 months (4,040 days) between 1963 and 1971, and then again between 1973 and 1977. He is considered to be one of the greatest WWE Champions of all time.

Bob Backlund

Bob Backlund is a former professional wrestler who is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). He held the WWF Championship for a record-setting 2,135 days from 1978 to 1983, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.

Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan is the longest-reigning WWE Champion of all time, having held the title for a combined 1,474 days across several reigns. Hogan’s first WWE Championship reign began on January 23, 1984, when he defeated The Iron Sheik to win the title.

Hogan would go on to hold the title for six years before losing it to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI. Hogan regained the title one year later at WrestleMania VII, beginning his second reign. Hogan’s second reign lasted until February 5, 1992, when he was defeated by Ric Flair.

Hogan’s final WWE Championship reign began on December 3, 1993, when he defeated Yokozuna to win the title for a third time. Hogan held the title until August 26, 1994, when he was defeated by Bret Hart at SummerSlam.

The Rock

The Rock is an American actor, producer, and semi-retired professional wrestler. Born in Hayward, California, Johnson’s first leading film role was in The Scorpion King (2002). For this role, he was paid a record for an actor in his first starring role. Johnson has since appeared in numerous films, including The Rundown (2003), Be Cool (2005), The Tooth Fairy (2010), Faster (2010), Snitch (2013), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), and Central Intelligence (2016). He returned to wrestling part-time for WWE from 2011 to 2013 and continues to make occasional appearances. He is widely considered one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers.

As of 2019, The Rock has held the WWE Championship eight times and is the sixth Triple Crown Champion in WWE history and won the 2000 Royal Rumble. He is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a five-time world tag team champion.

John Cena

John Cena is the longest-reigning WWE champion of all time, having held the title for a total of 1,140 days. He first won the title in 2005 and held it for 380 days before losing it to Edge. He regained the title in 2006 and held it for an additional 455 days before losing it to Brock Lesnar. He won the title for a third time in 2008 and held it for 205 days before losing it to Batista.

The Current WWE Champion

The current WWE Champion is Brock Lesnar. He won the championship at WrestleMania 34 on April 8, 2018. He is also a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and NCAA Division I Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Lesnar has held the title for a total of 434 days as of September 2019.

Drew McIntyre

On April 5, 2020 at WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to become WWE Champion for the first time in his career. He is currently the longest-reigning WWE Champion in history, having held the title for 408 days as of June 2021.

Drew Galloway was born on June 6, 1985 in Ayrshire, Scotland. He began his professional wrestling career in 2005, working for various independent promotions in the United Kingdom and United States. In 2009, he signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He made his main roster debut in 2010 as a member of The Nexus. Galloway was released from WWE in 2014 and returned to the independent circuit.

In 2017, Galloway returned to WWE under his current ring name Drew McIntyre. He quickly rose through the ranks of NXT, winning the NXT Championship in 2018. McIntyre made his return to the main roster later that year and won the Royal Rumble match in 2020. At WrestleMania 36, he defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career.

As WWE Champion, McIntyre has defended his title against some of WWE’s top superstars including Randy Orton, Big Show, Goldberg, Braun Strowman, and Bobby Lashley. He is currently scheduled to defend his title against Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 37.