11 Wrestlers Who Waited The Longest To Win A World Title

Having recently been crowned the new WWE Champion, Bray Wyatt ended a lengthy wait for his first taste of world title glory.

Six-and-a-half years had passed since he first debuted as Husky Harris, or more specifically 2441 days. Regardless of how you want to slice it, that’s an awfully long time, although, it’s by no means the longest time that someone’s had to wait for their maiden world championship run—as the following eleven wrestlers will attest to.

But before we run through this patient bunch, first a bit of housekeeping.

Rankings have been based upon the total time between a wrestler’s officially-recognised debut and the date at which they won their first world championship—be it WWE, World Heavyweight or ECW. So, for example, even though Ric Flair made a couple of appearances for the company in 1976, he hasn’t been included because his official debut is recognised as 1991. Likewise, guys such as AJ Styles or Mick Foley, who had try-out matches a number of years before their actual arrivals, haven’t been considered either.

And finally, the likes of Pedro Morales and Sgt. Slaughter have been left out because, despite long waits for a world title, during those years they actually spent more time away from the company than in it.

Before racking up 14 world titles, Triple H's career was relatively humble.

He made his TV debut as Hunter Hearst Helmsley on the 30 April 1995 showing of WWF Wrestling Challenge, but his early days hardly set the world alight. Arguably the most memorable moment of his first year was being squashed by the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania XII.

Then in 1996, the MSG Curtain Call incident didn’t do him any favours, allegedly resulting in a King of the Ring push being scrapped, and so it wasn’t until the formation of D-Generation X in ‘97 that his career really started to take off. Even then, though, he found himself firmly in the shadow of his partner in crime, Shawn Michaels.

That meant that Triple H had to wait until his buddy’s departure in ‘98 before he'd finally get his own moment in the sun. Emerging as the faction’s new leader, Triple H went on to establish himself as one of the top heels in the company, and on the 23 August 1999 showing of Raw—the next night after SummerSlam—he beat Mankind for the WWF Championship: the pay-off to a 1576-day wait for his maiden world title victory.