Brock Lesnar Breaks Sacred WWE Record

While much has been made about how activity level of Brock Lesnar‘s turn as Universal Champion, there is now an unassailable fact attached to his term: he’s the longest reigning champion of WWE’s modern era.

On Monday, Lesnar’s sovereignty hit 434 days, exactly one better than the previous record holder, CM Punk. WWE.com wrote up a statement to commemorate the Beat Incarnate’s rule.

“Brock Lesnar’s long list of WWE accomplishments has now grown by one: The Beast Incarnate has officially notched the longest World Championship reign of the modern era.

Lesnar’s ongoing run as Universal Champion surpassed the previous marker, CM Punk’s 434-day stint as WWE Champion that stretched between 2011 and 2013. Lesnar’s advocate (and, coincidentally, Punk’s former hype man) Paul Heyman commemorated the occasion by taking to Twitter.

That Lesnar has powered his way into the history books is impressive in and of itself, but given that no challengers have yet to emerge for The Conqueror’s throne, the most awe-inspiring aspect of his reign isn’t that it has lasted this long, but that it seems unlikely to end anytime soon.”

Paul Heyman, who’s been the consigliere for both Punk and Lesnar’s run, issued the following tweet:

“Congratulations to @BrockLesnar for day #435 as the reigning defending undisputed @WWE #UniversalHeavyweightChampion. This is yet another historic accomplishment for my client, the longest consecutive-day tenure as a globally-recognized champion in the modern era!”

While “modern era” is quite the qualifier—Bruno Sammartino held the strap for 4,400 days—it’s an impeccable accomplishment. Hell, Sasha Banks has trouble holding her titles longer than a week.

Lesnar’s time on top has drawn no shortage of criticism, but regardless of how little he’s defended the belt (10 times), the fact remains that WWE trusts him enough to be the face of their company for well over a year.

We’ve grown too accustomed to complaining about Lesnar’s sporadic schedule and have forgotten just how rare of a talent he actually is. He will be the only person to ever walk the planet to win both UFC and WWE’s grandest championships—and earned a cup of coffee in the NFL, to boot!

Lesnar is the most potent injection of reality that WWE captured with Mike Tyson, Ken Shamrock, Kurt Angle and hoping to nab with Ronda Rousey. While we all know WWE is scripted, Lesnar’s mere presence gives us pause to consider if what we’re watching is actually real.

And that element of quasi-reality is what made the nWo so popular and Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon so transcendental. So instead of rolling your eyes at Lesnar, let’s try to soak in his final chapters as a WWE Superstar.