10 Most Successful Champions In WWE History

1. Bruno Sammartino

John Cena
WWE.com

WWE Championship Reign(s): May 17, 1963 - January 18, 1971, December 10, 1973 - April 30, 1977

Long before Encanto turned not talking about Bruno into a f*cking art form, WWE were masters of it in a rather unfair whitewashing of The Guy.

When WWE had more initials and owned New York City, Bruno Sammartino was their top star and an enormous reason for all the success. A working class hero that appealed to diverse audience within an otherwise fractious multicultural city in the 1960s and 70s,

Two lengthy stints as Champion defined the decades for Vince McMahon Snr's territory, etching Sammartino's place in company history even if it didn't seem that way after an acrimonious split with Junior in the late 1980s. Triple H repaired the relationship in the mid-2010s, and a series of awesome matches, moments and new interviews at long last made it to the Network, undoubtedly finding a few tenners for the coffers as a result.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett