Earlier this week, AJ Styles’ second WWE Championship reign hit a milestone. As a result, the Phenomenal One joined some pretty exclusive company...
AJ is the ninth man to hold the title for more than 300 days. At 305 days and counting, his is the 11th longest reign (in addition to owning two of the three longest runs with the strap in history, Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino each have another 300+ day stint on their resumes).
If he keeps the belt throughout his feud with Samoa Joe, with whom he already has two title matches announced for Hell in a Cell on Sept. 16 and Super Show-Down on Oct. 6, Styles could start to climb the ranks pretty rapidly.
Here’s the 300 Day WWE Title club, listed by company-recognized* duration:
- Bruno Sammartino, 2803 days (1963 - 1971)
- Bob Backlund, 2135 (1978 - 1983)*
- Hulk Hogan, 1474 days (1984 - 1988)
- Bruno Sammartino, 1237 days (1973 - 1977)
- Pedro Morales, 1027 days (1971 -1973)
- CM Punk, 435 days (2011 - 2012)
- John Cena, 381 days (2006 - 2007)
- Randy Savage, 371 days (1988 - 1989)
- Hulk Hogan, 364 days (1989 - 1990)
- Diesel (aka Kevin Nash), 358 days (1994 - 1995)
- AJ Styles, 305 days and counting (2017 - )
* Antonio Inoki defeated Backlund for the championship at a 1979 live event in Japan, but vacated/refused it in an angle when Tiger Jeet Singh interfered with their rematch. WWE’s version of history doesn’t recognize Inoki as holding the belt and views Backlund’s reign as uninterrupted.
How much higher will Styles climb? Let us know what you think, Cagesiders.