Every Foreign WWE Champion Ranked From Worst To Best
1. Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino's numbers are just ridiculous. You can't really fathom the enormity of his time with the WWE Championship because it's just so wildly ahead of anyone else. Not even close. The Italian legend just owned wrestling in the United States for such a long time it's hard to compare to the modern day.
Buddy Rogers may have the distinction of being the first ever WWE Champion, but he was overshadowed in monstrous fashion by Sammartino when he ended Rogers' reign after just a few weeks, embarking on the single-greatest reign of all time.
Winning the title in 1963, Sammartino would go nearly eight years before he would lose his crown, selling out Madison Square Garden over and over and over again for 2,803 days as the face of the ever-rising New York promotion. He was the man of the people, representing the working class man that dominated the fan base, often wrestling hour-long matches multiple times a week.
His (in)famous loss to Ivan Koloff that finally ended the reign is one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history.
What makes his career so ridiculous, is that many people forget he had a second reign that lasted nearly another four years, giving him the first and fourth-longest single reigns of all time.
His total tally is an unbelievable 4,040 days across two reigns, holding the belt for more than 11 years all up. It's nearly double his closest competitor on the list, which is Hulk Hogan's 2,185 days.