10 Best WWE Title Runs Ever

10. Bruno Sammartino - May 17, 1963 To January 18, 1971

...with one omission.

Few can pretend, in 2018, to have witnessed the minutiae of Bruno's epic reign, which is not widely available on the WWE Network, nor did it survive through the era of early 1990s tape trading, a practise that saw only the craziest (FMW) and most exciting (AJPW) cult wrestling action change hands. Bruno, on the evidence available, wrestled a brawling style that, while formulaic and dry to the modern armchair audience, deserves the utmost respect for drawing so many fans for so many years. As a sort of crib sheet summarising the emotion that defined Sammartino's lucrative bond with the audience, consider the reaction to his shocking loss to Ivan Koloff. To modern audiences, this means little - it's telling that, despite repaired relations, WWE, knowing the appetite isn't there, has not released a Sammartino BioDVD - but to his people, this was a crushing blow. It was so unexpected and upsetting that, once the shock wore off, it reduced grown women to tears and men to stuff upper lips.

A huge and consistent box office draw, Bruno's legend is such that it has survived well beyond the extinction of tape trading.