Josh Alexander Smashes Major IMPACT Wrestling Record
How IMPACT's Josh Alexander has surpassed Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Sting, and more.
Josh Alexander is now the longest-reigning IMPACT Wrestling World Champion in the company's history, having just hit 257 days atop the promotion to claim the top spot as his own.
The record stretches all the way back to May 2007, when the TNA World Heavyweight Champion was created after the company's working relationship with the NWA came to an end. In breaking this record, Alexander has outdone such names as Sting, AJ Styles, and Kurt Angle, none of whom enjoyed a single reign as the one Josh is currently in the middle of.
Bobby Roode has the second-longest reign in history at 256 days. Beneath him and Alexander are Styles at 211 days and Johnny Impact at 196, with Sting rounding out the top five at 189.
Alexander captured the IMPACT World Championship upon defeating Moose at Rebellion 2022 on 23 April last year. He has since mounted 20 successful defences inside IMPACT and out, facing such opponents as Alex Shelley, Tomohiro Ishii, Masha Slamovich, and Mike Bailey.
IMPACT Wrestling has provided the following press release on Alexander's landmark moment:-
Josh Alexander Becomes Longest-Reigning IMPACT Wrestling World Champion – 257 Consecutive Days
Next Up: Josh Alexander Defends The World Championship Against Bully Ray At The Hard To Kill Pay-Per-View Event On Friday, January 13, In Atlanta
Josh Alexander today becomes the Longest-Reigning IMPACT Wrestling World Champion of All-Time. He claimed the title on April 23, 2022, at the Rebellion pay-per-view, defeating Moose. He has now been the World Champion for 257 consecutive days, surpassing Bobby Roode’s 256-day World Championship run that started on Oct. 26, 2011.
With his history-making title reign, Josh Alexander has established himself as one of the best pro wrestlers of all-time.
It also marks an amazing, improbable and unexpected journey – from overweight, troubled teenager to the pinnacle of the pro wrestling industry, focused on perfection and nothing less. He even endured a serious neck injury along the way that required two vertebrae be fused together.
“The IMPACT World Championship has a long and prestigious line of champions, and for Josh Alexander to break the record as the longest-reigning champion in company history is not something to be taken lightly. He worked for this, earned it, and deserves it. Congratulations,” said Chris Sabin, a former World Champion, three-time World Tag Team Champion and record- holding 8-time X Division Champion.
There have been 32 wrestlers to hold the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship, dating back to Kurt Angle in 2007. Alexander has been the World Champion for a combined 258 days, including his brief title run after the 2021 Bound For Glory event – and those combined 258 days as World Champion rank Alexander No. 6 all-time. Angle is the leader with a combined 608- days as World Champion in his six title reigns.
“The greatness of Josh Alexander and his tenure as IMPACT World Champion cannot be overlooked, but somehow it will because he has never needed to tell the world how great he is. He just is,” said Andreas Hale of The Sporting News. “The epitome of ‘Show and Prove,’ Alexander has etched his name into the Mount Rushmore of IMPACT World Champions, alongside the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle. But the frightening thing is that we may not have seen the final form of ‘The Walking Weapon’ … the best is yet to come.”
Alexander, 35, made his pro wrestling debut in 2005 and was signed by IMPACT in early-2019. He has been the IMPACT X Division Champion and is a two-time IMPACT World Tag Team Champion as The North, a team that also was record-setting. The North captured the World Tag Team Championship on July 5, 2019, in San Antonio – and they held the titles for a record 380 consecutive days.
“I’ve been lucky enough in my career to work with some of best wrestlers in this business, both in and out of the ring,” said IMPACT color commentator Matthew Rehwoldt. “Josh Alexander, without a doubt, is one of the most driven, most consistent, hardest working, and yes – best – athletes I’ve had the pleasure of being around, both in Impact Wrestling and professional wrestling as a whole.”
During Alexander’s amazing 257-day stretch, he has had 9 televised title matches (against Moose, Tomohiro Ishii, Eric Young, Joe Doering, Alex Shelley, Eddie Edwards, Bobby Fish, Frankie Kazarian and Mike Bailey) – and four of those nine matches are ranked in the top five IMPACT Matches of 2022 on the Cagematch website. And, the classic 60-minute battle, Alexander vs. Bailey, which aired in December, ranked in the top ten Matches of the Year anywhere on the Cagematch website.
Alexander had 4 hours and 16 minutes total worth of World Title matches in IMPACT in 2022, with an average World Title match length of 25 minutes, 37 seconds.
“Josh Alexander is The Standard of IMPACT Wrestling for a reason: he represents the best of us in the ring and behind the curtain,” said IMPACT play-by-play announcer Tom Hannifan. “Josh gets better with every match, and I firmly believe his best is yet to come. He’s now our longest reigning IMPACT World Champion of all time … imagine what else Josh will accomplish.”