10 Epic WWE Championship Reigns That Aren't As Long As You Think
7. Brock Lesnar - Universal Championship. Days: 504. Recognised by WWE: 503.
Nobody thought they’d see Brock Lesnar or Goldberg in a WWE ring again after their shared disaster of a last match at WrestleMania XX. Nearly a decade and a half later they’d have their third and final match, at WrestleMania 33 with the Universal Championship on the line. Lesnar finally got his win back and kept the belt for 18 months, losing it to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam on August 19, 2018.
It was a reign that divided opinion. Sporadic title defences, rare appearances on weekly shows, and an I don’t want to be here attitude pushed fans away from the Beast Incarnate, meaning his numerous matches against Roman Reigns were true between a rock and a hard place situations. The pop when Lesnar won their match at WrestleMania 34 was as shocking as it was expected, people genuinely didn’t know who to cheer anymore.
He'd soon hold the belt again, but when this reign came to an end it clocked in at 504 days, making it the longest world title reign in WWE for nearly 30 years. Lesnar was only bested by Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Bob Backlund, and Pedro Morales (more on some of those later) for time spent at the head of the table.
Count the days between WrestleMania 33 and SummerSlam 2018 and you’ll get to 504. WWE has a knack for excluding the day the belt was lost from the overall record, meaning one of their longest reigns finds itself short-changed by 24 hours.