5. Pedro Morales - 1,027 Combined Days As Champion
Jumping up to the 1,000 club we have Pedro Morales. Remarkably, his 1,027 days as champion, came in just one reign. That makes him the only person in this top ten to feature off of just one title run. The reason for Morales' longevity as a draw was his Puerto Rican heritage. Reigning from February 1971 until December 1973, Morales was a folk hero to the significant Puerto Rican population who had immigrated to New York City. You've got to remember that the WWF was a small regional promotion in this period, so Morales was able to make a focused emotional connection to one demographic of fans. They carried his popularity to an epic title reign, before Morales finally lost the belt to Stank Stasiak in Philadelphia. Another thing that helped Morales' popularity was the man he defeated for the belt, the hated Ivan Koloff. The Russian had defeated the much loved Bruno Sammartino just a month before, so he had all the heat in the world heading into his defence against Pedro.
