10 Epic WWE Championship Reigns That Aren't As Long As You Think
6. The Rock – WWE Championship. Actual: 2 days. Recognised by WWE: 7.
The Rock’s second WWE Championship reign began after a brutal I Quit Match against Mankind at the Royal Rumble 1999. In a chaotic three months where the belt passed between the Rock 'n' Sock Connection colleagues four times, the shortest reign belonged to the Brahma Bull when, one week after giving his future tag-team partner 11 unprotected chair shots to the head, he lost the gold in an Empty Arena Match on Halftime Heat.
The event was part of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999 and was an inadvertent preview of the behind closed doors, cinematic matches that would become necessary in 2020. Mankind took the gold after pinning the Rock underneath a forklift of beer kegs for one of the most unique wins in sports entertainment history.
Despite being part of a live sport spectacle, Halftime Heat was filmed on January 26, 1999 and broadcast five days later, extending the Rock’s two-day reign to an official total of seven days. Due to the tape delay, the Rock’s reign is recognised as longer than those of the Undertaker in 1991, Bob Backlund in 1994, Vince McMahon in 1999 and Batista in 2009, even though each was either the same length or longer.