10 Things You Didn't Know About The WWE Title
6. Bob Backlund = Longest Between Reigns
Sprightly WWF lovers in 1994 must've thought they'd turned on the wrong show when Bob Backlund beat Bret Hart to become champ at Survivor Series that year. It was insane to think Vince McMahon would put the big belt on Bob, but he did. By winning, Backlund entered the history books as the dude with the longest gap between reigns.
He went an incredible 3,985 days between stints as WWF Champion. Bobby had last held the belt in December 1983, then won it again in November 1994. That near-11 year gap is a record that's never been matched. At time of publishing, you'd need CM Punk to win the WWE Title to beat Backlund.
That's possible. It could've happened by the time you read this. Who knows?
Bob's out of touch character was a blessing on the WWF product in '94, but nobody thought for a second he'd be besting workers like Bret on pay-per-view. Decades later, someone significantly more famous almost pipped Backlund to top spot...