10 Oldest WWE Champions Ever

3. Hulk Hogan - 48

Triple H
WWE.com

Date Last WWE Title Won: April 21st, 2002

Age: 48 years, 8 months, 10 days

WWE fans were sh*tfaced on 'member berry wine when Hulk Hogan returned to the organisation nine years after Yokozuna legdropped him all the way to WCW.

The New World Order's return in February 2002 masked an overwhelming desperation for jaded post-Attitude Era fans that had survived adolescence to warmly embrace the phenomenon that introduced them to professional wrestling in their youth.

When Hogan severed ties with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash at the climax of his emotionally exhausting WrestleMania clash with The Rock, a return to the aesthetics and ethics of Hulkamania was a bizarrely enjoyable inevitability.

Hindsight rapidly showed the error in putting the title on Hogan one month later, but it logically clung together at the time. Audiences were rabid for Hogan having started to finally tire of WWE's established Austin/Rock/HHH topline trio, but the nostalgia pops didn't translate to particularly strong ticket sales or ratings with 'The Hulkster' actually back at the top of the tree.

It's worth noting that although he looked every bit the weathered relic his video packages presented him as at the time, Hulk was just 8 years older then than AJ Styles and Bobby Roode are now. Maybe the fountain of youth was hidden in the Impact Zone all along?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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