10 Oldest First-Time WWE World Champions
Achieving immortality doesn't happen overnight...
Despite the fact that the title doesn't have the cache that it once did, to many fans and observers, the WWE World Championship is the most prestigious belt in the sport of wrestling. Not only does it have a lineage that stretches back more than 53 years, but it's the main championship of the world's most recognizable pro wrestling company. Also, it doesn't hurt that WWE, for all intents and purposes, controls wrestling history.
That's why when a wrestler wins the WWE World Championship, no matter what his previous accomplishments were, it's always treated as his arrival into the upper echelon of the sport. Whether the wrestler was a multi-time world champion elsewhere, a career midcarder, or a fast-rising rookie, he's now considered to have achieved immortality.
AJ Styles - who turned 39 last June - just joined the club last weekend, pinning Dean Ambrose to capture his latest world championship, but his first WWE World Championship. It's no secret that he's on the older end of the spectrum - but where does he rank on the all-time list? Here are the ten oldest first-time WWE World Champions ever.
Just a note, before we start - this list only references the title known as the WWE World Championship (currently the Smackdown's brand's top belt). Any other title reigns prior to a champion's first WWE World Title win are not counted.
10. Stan Stasiak - 36 Years, 7 Months, 18 Days
Quebec native Stan Stasiak may have made his WWE debut in the 1970s, but he had already been wrestling in his home province since 1958. The fearsome "Crusher," as he was known, dominated opponents with his bearhug and heart punch.
Stasiak's largest claim to fame came in 1973. One of the top heels in the company, Stasiak was doing a run of house show matches with WWE World Champion Pedro Morales, losing to the popular babyface in every city. However, on December 1 of that year, Stasiak was told that his match that evening in Philadelphia would have a different finish.
As the bout came to a conclusion, Morales gave Stasiak a belly-to-back suplex into a pin. Though Stasiak managed to get his shoulder up after the two count, Morales's own shoulders remained on the mat, resulting in a pinfall. His three-year title reign had just ended, and Stasiak was the new champion.
Even though Stasiak would only reign for nine days before dropping the belt to Bruno Sammartino, he had etched his name in the record books.