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Long gone are the days when one wrestler held on to his championship title for days on end without any serious, or maybe not-so-serious contender challenging him to a match.
Daniel Bryan‘s WWE Championship reign that lasted only a few minutes at SummerSlam isn’t even the shortest title reign in the promotion’s history. Several short WWE title reigns have only lasted a few minutes.
Here’s a look at the top six shortest WWE Championship reigns in history.
6. Kane – 24 hours (Longest reign on this list)
In the late 90′s Kane had popped onto the scene as the Undertakers brother.
Kane quickly found himself in the mix for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s WWE title. Austin would lose to Kane, thanks to some help from the Undertaker.
However, the following night on RAW Kane was goaded into a rematch, and the rest is history.
5. Randy Orton - 22 minutes 55 seconds
After John Cena had held the WWE Championship for over a year from September of 2006 to October of 2007, the next WWE title reign was much shorter.
Cena vacated the WWE Championship due to injury and Vince McMahon awarded the belt to Randy Orton in the opening segment of No Mercy.
In what turned out to be a bizarre pay-per-view, Randy Orton immediately lost the belt to Triple H, but he he won it back two hours later in the main event.
4. Daniel Bryan - 4 minutes 7 seconds
Most wrestling fans saw this finish coming at SummerSlam 2013.
Before leaving to have surgery, Cena fought through an injury to put over Daniel Bryan. But shortly after Bryan’s victory, referee Triple H delivered a Pedigree to the short-lived new WWE Champion.
This prompted Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, after which he quickly pinned Bryan. At least Daniel Bryan’s next WWE Championship reign of nearly 22 hours wasn’t as short.
3. John Cena - 3 minutes 33 seconds
At Elimination Chamber 2010, John Cena defeated several other wrestlers to become WWE Champion.
After Cena’s long, physical match, Vince McMahon appeared on the ramp, congratulated him, and then sent Batista to the ring to wrestle the new WWE Champion for the belt.
The WWE title match lasted under a minute, as Cena was no match for his fresh opponent. John Cena’s short title reign remains the shortest WWE Championship reign of the WWE era.
2. Yokozuna - 2 minutes 6 seconds
At Wrestlemania IX on April 4, 1993, Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become WWF Champion. He won the match when his manager, Mr. Fuji, threw salt in Hart’s eyes.
This prompted Hulk Hogan to come down and check on Hart. For some reason, Fuji then offered Hogan a title match. Despite Yokozuna’s immense size, even he was no match for the power of Hulkamania.
A misguided salt toss, followed by a leg drop, ended Yokozuna’s very short title reign.
1. Andre the Giant - 1 minute 48 seconds
The events of February 5, 1988 may be one of the most over-booked segments in WWE history.
On NBC’s The Main Event, Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan after The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase got referee Dave Hebner’s evil twin to count three even though Hogan’s shoulder was up.
When Gene Okerlund interviewed the new champion, Andre immediately gave the belt to DiBiase.
The WWF recognized Andre’s relinquishment for the shortest WWF Championship reign in history.
