Roman Reigns has been the WWE Universal Champion for over 1070 days now – and WWE Champion for 492 days. Having only been pinned once since 2020, and with that being a tag team match, it seems like his reign will not be ending anytime soon. But can he become the longest reigning WWE Champion of all time?
The Longest Reigning Champion Of The Modern Era
Reigns is easily the longest reigning champion of the modern era, with the only real competition there being the 434 day reign of CM Punk – which Reigns has already smashed.
Between the 1990’s and 2010’s – a long reign was considered to be around the one year mark, with many reigns barely reaching 100 days. There was a few reigns that pushed past 300 days, with the likes of Diesel & John Cena having longer reigns.
However, the 1980’s were very different. There were six champions from 1978 to 1990. Bob Backlund had a 2135 day reign from February 2nd, 1978 to December 26th 1983.
The Iron Sheik was a transitional champion, holding the belt for 28 days before Hulk Hogan had a 1474 day reign – holding the belt until 1988.
Andre The Giant would have one day as a recognized champion, before Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan each spent about one year as champion – before long reigns became a thing of the past.
While Hogan & Backlund had big reigns, they still fail to even come close to the record set by Bruno Sammartino – who had a staggering 2803 days as champion, reigning from March 17th 1963 to January 18th, 1971. He also had a 1237 day reign from 1973 to 1977.
May 3rd, 2028 Would Be The Day Reigns Becomes The Greatest Champion In WWE History
Right now, the only names standing between Reigns and the top of the history books are Hogan, Backlund & Sammartino.
He’s closing in on the second reign of Sammartino, and will hit that milestone on June 19th, 2024. The next milestone would be September 12th, 2024 – another fairly reachable spot for Reigns. Even with fan fatigue, one more year as champion.
The hard part comes in the form of Bob Backlund, with that record broken on July 5th, 2026. That is nearly three more years of Reigns as champion, which even WWE will have a hard time stretching the Bloodline storyline for.
For Reigns to become the longest reigning champion in WWE history, he would need to reach May 3rd, 2028 to break the record set by Sammartino.
Can WWE Keep Fans Interested Until 2028?
Given the schedule of Reigns which has been shifted to a more part time basis, with him only wrestling nine matches so far in 2023 – the physical condition of Reigns is no issue.
Even if he gets injured, WWE can wipe that under the rug and just stretch out the time before his next match. The issue is keeping fans engaged.
Fans are beginning to fall out of love with The Bloodline – with the Tribal Combat match from Summerslam 2023 leaving many fans less than satisfied.
This has been common after the latest Reigns victory, but many felt having Jimmy Uso so quickly turn on Jey Uso really kneecapped the Bloodline Civil War storyline that has been set up in the last few months.
With WWE rushing through this storyline, and Cody Rhodes still keen on ‘finishing the story’ by defeating Roman Reigns – the main event of WrestleMania 40 is something fans look at as the end of this reign.
There is a chance that WWE simply makes that match for the WWE Championship, and allows Reigns to push on as Universal Champion to break records – while Rhodes and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion become the true champion in the eyes of fans.
Even if Reigns loses both belts on April 7th, 2024 – he will have broken one record set by Bruno Sammartino – which alone is a massive deal.
What records do you see Reigns reasonably breaking during his reign? Could he last until 2028? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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