3. Hulk Hogan - 1474 Days
On January 23, 1984, Hulk Hogan defeated the Iron Sheik for the WWE Championship and changed the sports-entertainment landscape forever. On that night, Hulkamania began running wild and the professional wrestling industry would almost immediately ascend to levels of success it had never before known. Hogan, an excellent spokesperson for the business, became a mainstream media star and Vincent K. McMahon's promotion became synonymous with pop culture. Thanks to a relationship with MTV and celebrity involvement from the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T, the industry underwent unprecedented growth. Hogan carried wrestling on his back during the period and became the biggest draw it had ever seen. He was the superhero-like babyface that fans looked up to and his face became plastered on everything from action figures to lunchboxes to board games and apparel. He was as recognizable as any other major sports star and was the equal of many Hollywood celebrities when it came to box office appeal. Between the ropes, Hogan defended his title against the likes of the hated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, the devious "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and always found himself fending off Bobby "the Brain" Heenan's stooges, such as King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd. His greatest challenge came on March 29, 1987 in suburban Detroit, Michigan when he met Andre the Giant in the biggest main event in wrestling history at WrestleMania III. The match drew an unheard of 93,173 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome, breaking the indoor attendance record. Hogan would win the match and establish himself as the greatest star the industry had ever seen to the point. After four years as the face of the company, Hogan dropped the title to Andre in highly controversial fashion during a televised special called The Main Event. The dastardly "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase had orchestrated a plot that saw evil twin Earl Hebner count Hogan down, despite his shoulders being up, and award the title to the Giant. From there, Andre sold the title to DiBiase. That sale, deemed illegal by WWE President Jack Tunney, set up the WrestleMania IV title tournament which, as was already discussed earlier, was won by Randy Savage. While two men will rank higher than Hogan on this list, it is hard to argue that any championship reign in WWE history was as significant to the long-term success of both the company and the industry, than Hogan's first.