5 Longest Time Periods Between WWE Title Reigns

Much like with any sport, professional wrestling has characters with certain championship dry spells. Whether it’s because of no longer working in the company or simply stepped away from the spotlight, you have moments where even the biggest of legends don’t have gold around their waist.

With Goldberg becoming Universal Champion at WWE Fastlane Sunday night, he has officially become the holder of the longest time period between world (or something similar) championships in the WWE.

But who are the rest? This list is a who’s who in professional wrestling, but even they weren’t always at the top of wrestling’s food chain.

Now before we get started it should be noted that we are not counting World Championships in other promotions. This is simply world title reigns within WWE.

So with that in mind, let’s take a look at who made this list of longest periods between world title reigns in WWE history.

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Hulk Hogan: 3,235 Days

It’s hard to disagree that Hogan’s name is synonymous with the phrase “world champion”. Being the first five-time WWE Champion, Hogan’s last reign is also his shortest at just over three months. The Immortal One won his last taste of WWE gold at WrestleMania IX with an impromptu match against Yokozuna who just briefly won the title from Bret Hart.

Hogan beat Yoko in under two minutes, giving Hulkster his fifth title reign. However, Yokozuna would take back his championship at the inaugural King of the Ring pay-per-view in June of that year. It was Hogan’s last stand in WWE for almost a decade. 

Upon his return to the WWE in early 2002, Hogan wasn’t immediately thrust into the championship circle, but after his WrestleMania match with the Rock, it was clear that Hogan had found his fanbase once again. At Backlash, Triple H put his newly-won WWE Undisputed Championship on the line against Hogan in a one-on-one match up. Hogan was back in true form and pinned Triple H (after some interference from both Chris Jericho and the Undertaker) to become a six-time WWE Champion, nearly a decade after his last reign. 

The Rock: 3,809 Days

The Rock was the first seven-time WWE Champion after beating the Undertaker at Judgement day in 2002. The big question on wrestling fans’ mind at the time was how much longer will Rock be with the company since it was obvious that Hollywood was calling his name. 

At SummerSlam 2002, Rock gave the “Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar the ultimate rub by losing his WWE Championship to the newcomer and solidified Lesnar’s WWE career. It was also an interesting passing of the torch as Rock was the youngest WWE Champion at 26, who then lost to Brock who was just 25. 

After sporadic appearances, it was clear that Rock was about to make Hollywood his new home starring in movie after movie and filling his schedule pretty quickly. Rock resorted to part-time status and came back here and then, but was soon back to making movies. 

It wasn’t until his feud with CM Punk in late 2012 that culminated in a showdown between the two at the 2013 Royal Rumble. Rock pinned Punk, ending one of the longest single reigns in WWE history and became WWE Champion for the 8th time almost 11 years after his last reign. 

Brock Lesnar: 3,837 Days

Speaking of Lesnar…

Brock Lesnar had cemented himself as one of the cornerstones of the Ruthless Aggression era in WWE. He was already the youngest WWE Champion in history and his future looked brighter than the sun.

However, at No Way Out in 2004, Lesnar lost to longtime ring veteran Eddie Guerrero and there would be no rematch. Lesnar’s last match in the WWE was against Goldberg in their much-maligned encounter at WrestleMania XX. The once Next Big Thing left the company in hopes of an NFL career, but that soon fizzled out and he once focused again on MMA and professional wrestling in Japan.

Brock would make a name for himself in combat sports, but would soon be forgotten by WWE audiences, until his return in 2012 where he made himself known once again. Since his Lesnar’s schedule was so limited, it would be a while before Lesnar got a championship opportunity, but at the 2014 SummerSlam event, that all changed. 

Ten years after leaving WWE, Lesnar would once again become WWE Champion after defeating John Cena, one of his former rivals from the same era, and became a four-time champion. 

Bob Backlund: 3,986 Days

Before Hulk Hogan, there was Bob Backlund.

Backlund has the distinction of the second longest WWE Championship title reign and the second longest time between being the champion. As a staple of the late 70’s and early 80’s WWE, Backlund defended his WWE Championship against various other champions of different promotions including the likes of Nick Bockwinkel and Ric Flair.

After five years, Backlund lost his championship to the villainous Iron Shiek (who in turn, lost it to Hulk Hogan almost a month later) in a controversial finish when his manager literally threw in the towel when Backlund was placed in the Shiek’s Camel Clutch submission hold, but Backlund himself never gave up.

It’s interesting to note though that a little over a decade later, at the 1994 Survivor Series, Bret Hart’s mother also literally threw in the towel to prevent her son from receiving more harm from Backlund’s Crossface Chickenwing maneuver.

Of course, Backlund’s second reign in the company wouldn’t last and he would be pinned by Diesel at a house show three days later in an unprecedented eight seconds. 

Goldberg: 4,830 Days

From December 14, 2003 – March 5th, 2017, the man called Goldberg was without any sort of WWE gold. 

His first World Heavyweight Championship reign was something of a watered down version of what he accomplished in WCW and would only last for 3 months before losing to the man he won it from in the first place, Triple H. 

Goldberg’s modern push is something of a mystery. Chalk it up to nostalgia, but his last days of his initial WWE run were not his best and do not hold up well upon review. Similar to Hogan, though, absence makes the heart grow fonder and Goldberg was welcomed back with open arms and catapaulted right back into the spotlight. 

Kevin Owens accepted Goldberg’s challenge a few weeks ago for his Universal Championship and with Goldberg’s dominant streak in full effect it was only a matter of time before he would have championship gold once again. 

In similar fashion to his match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens in just over two minutes to claim Raw’s top-tiered title and to break the longest world championship dry spell in WWE history.