11 Wrestlers Who Waited The Longest To Win A World Title

Jeff Hardy’s world title coronation in December 2008 was a true feel-good affair, partly because it was a classic story of an underdog coming good, and partly because it took so long to finally materialise.

5305 days before winning the WWE Championship at Armageddon 2008, Hardy—performing under the ring name Keith Davis—made his first-ever appearance by getting the tar beaten out of him by Razor Ramon. It was to be the first of many squash matches, as Hardy became one of the company’s go-to jobbers between 1994 and 1997.

In September 1998 though, he and his brother were repackaged as the Hardy Boyz, and almost immediately they became a major hit. Tag titles followed, as did numerous show-stealing displays, before Jeff soon became a singles star and, like the aforementioned Christian, even had a brief main event run in TNA before returning to his old stomping ground.

Again, the case could be made to count Hardy’s wait for the title from the date at which he re-debuted. But again, much like Christian, his initial run was no flash in the pan, and saw some major dues paid on his way to eventually becoming world champion.