The Longest WWE Championship Droughts

Bray Wyatt is the new WWE Champion and the Era of Wyatt is upon us. The victory felt long overdo to many fans who have been following Wyatt (and the buzzards, I suppose) since his character debuted in 2012. While five years has seemed like an eternity for Wyatt, it’s actually been seven years since Windham Rotunda debuted in the WWE under the name Husky Harris in 2010.

Still, at seven years Bray has not had the longest drought before capturing his the WWE Championship. Several WWE Hall of Famers had to wait even longer to get their first taste of championship gold.

Click through the slides to see which WWE superstars had the longest waits between debuting in the WWE and winning their first WWE Championship.*

Note that this list does not include the former “World Championship.”

5. Shawn Michaels – 8 Years

The boyhood dream of Shawn Michaels finally came true in March of 1996 when he defeated Bret Hart in a 60 minute Ironman match at Wrestlemania 12 to capture his first WWE Championship. The victory came 8 years after he originally made his debut and 4 years after he sent his Rockers partner, Marty Janetty, through a barbershop window. 

The Heartbreak Kid would go on to hold the WWE title on 3 ocassions and the WWE World Championship on one other. 

4. Edge – 8 Years

Eight years after Adam Copeland made his WWF television debut on the June 22, 1998 episode of Raw as Edge, a loner character who entered the arena through the crowd for his matches, he would cash in his Money in the Bank contract from WrestleMania 21 immediately after John Cena won a 2007 Elimination Chamber match.

Edge would hold the WWE Championship four times and the WWE World Championship a record seven times before being forced to retire due to

3. JBL – 9 Years

JBL debuted in January 1996 as Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw, defeating Bob Holly in his debut match. Nine years later,as the JBL most current WWE fans remember him for, he would win his first and only WWE Championship in a Texas bullrope match against Eddie Guerrero. 

2. Sgt. Slaughter – 11 Years

If it weren’t for the Gulf War and a brave booking decision, Slaughter would have likely never even made this list. Eleven years after Slaughter debuted in the WWE as a heel drill sergeant, the Sarge would return to the WWE as an Iraqi sympathizer and take the WWE Championship from The Ultimate Warrior at the 1991 Royal Rumble. 

The angle was so hot that Slaughter said he routinely feared for his safety with the WWE crowds. The championship would be Slaughter’s only in the WWE. 

1. Andre The Giant – 15 Years

On March 26, 1973, André debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Federation) as a fan favorite, defeating Buddy Wolfe in New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Eighth Wonder of The World would allegedly remain undefeated until he faced Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 3. Despite that, it wasn’t until fifteen years after Andre’s debut, in 1988, that André defeated Hulk Hogan for his first and only WWE Championship. Referee Earl Hebner, who was bribed by Ted DiBiase, scored the three-count, despite Hogan raising his shoulder past the two-count. Andre’s reign would be short lived as, per his contract with the Million Dollar Man, he immediately handed the championship belt to Ted DiBiase. President Jack Tunney ruled this as vacating the title.