As the dominance of The Tribal Chief continues, can Roman Reigns break the record Hulk Hogan has held for nearly four decades?
Since his shocking return at WWE Payback on August 30, 2020, there has been no stopping Roman Reigns. He defeated Braun Strowman and The Fiend to capture the Universal Championship, and Roman has yet to spend a single day without a World Championship since that moment.
With his combined reign since unifying it with the WWE Championship into the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Roman Reigns is now knocking on the door of one of wrestling’s longest held records. Few men have been champion for longer, but will Roman actually knock off the next longest reign?
When would Roman Reigns break Hulk Hogan’s WWE Championship record?
WWE has continued to tout Roman’s record as something that includes the entire duration of his Universal Championship reign, and as such they’ll absolutely use that benchmark if this is a record they intend to have him break. Hulk Hogan held the WWE Championship from January 23, 1984 to February 5, 1988 in a reign that lasted 1,474 days.
To break that record, Roman Reigns would need to remain champion until Friday, September 13, 2024. That would give him 1,475 days as a World Champion and make it the longest World Championship reign in WWE throughout the last 40+ years.
If WWE actually wants Roman Reigns to break that record specifically with the WWE Championship, which he only captured at WrestleMania 38 on April 3, 2022, Roman’s reign would have to continue until April 16, 2026.
There are only two WWE Championship reigns in history that have been even longer. Bob Backlund is recognized as having been WWE Champion (or WWWF Heavyweight Champion, until it was renamed the WWF Heavyweight Championship) for 2,135 days between 1978 and 1983, but that reign has the asterisk of Antonio Inoki’s brief but unrecognized defeat of Backlund as well as a vacancy in 1979 thanks to controversy with the NY State Athletic Commission.
Bruno Sammartino held the original WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, which is the start of the modern WWE Championship lineage, for 2,803 days between 1963 and 1971. To have the longest uninterrupted WWE Championship reign of all time based purely on the original title’s lineage, Roman would need to remain champion until December 6, 2029.
