10 Best WWE Championship Reigns Of The 1990s
4. The Rock (November-December 1998)
If you wanna talk about a title reign that feels longer than it actually was, look no further than The Rock's first go-around with the WWE Championship.
At Survivor Series 1998, Rock stunned the world by turning heel, aligning himself with The Corporation, and leaving poor Mankind defeated and alone. This was the climax of the legendary Deadly Games tournament, which Rock had valiantly fought his way through, only to swerve everyone right at the last minute.
The newly-crowned Corporate Champion stuffed plenty of title defences into this minute reign, fending off Steve Austin, Triple H, X-Pac, and Mankind again before the year was out. Then came the night he lost the title, a night that will live on in wrestling folklore forever.
The January 4th 1999 episode of Raw (which was taped on December 29th 1998) culminated with Mick Foley beating Rocky with a massive assist from Stone Cold to one of, if not the loudest crowd reactions in WWE history.
At just 44 days long, this title reign should have been little more than throwaway, but The Great One stepped up and made it one for the ages.