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Not the oldest, but definitely not the youngest champion in history a booking decision soundly criticised by many, a 46-year-old Triple H won the WWE World Heavyweight title at the Royal Rumble.However, Triple H is not the first 45 plus wrestler to win the gold and as the trend goes, he definitely won’t be the last. Also, there have been cases of wrestlers winning the World title when they were above Hunter’s age as well.Jericho won the US Championship at Payback this year at the age of 46 in a match against Kevin Owens which means he is the latest addition to our list.This list takes a look at the seven oldest wrestlers to win a World Championship.
#7 Randy Savage - 46
Both Triple H and Kurt Angle were 46 years old when they captured their most recent world titles in WWE and TNA respectively, but they are pipped to seventh place on this list by ‘Machoman’ Randy Savage.
Another one among the long list of relatively old wrestlers to win the WCW title since the exodus from WWE to down south began, Savage would win his fourth WCW World Heavyweight title in a tag team match – yes, a tag team match.
It would be Savage teaming up with Sid Vicious to take on Sting and WCW Champion Kevin Nash at Bash at the Beach 1999 and whoever got the pinfall would have become the WCW champion.
Savage would pin Nash to win the title and just like any other WCW star at the time, would drop the title to Hulk Hogan the very next night after suffering a Jack knife powerbomb from Nash.
#6 Lou Thesz - 46
Simply put, Lou Thesz is one of the greatest and most respected wrestlers of all time.
Credited as the inventor of a number of popular wrestling moves including the German Suplex, the Lou Thesz press, the powerbomb and the STF, Thesz is the only man in history to have wrestled actively in seven different decades.
Equally impressive is his collection of World Championships. A six-time World champion, Thesz holds the record for the longest combined run in the history of the NWA World championship at a whopping 3749 days.
His final world title would come in Toronto after a victory over NWA Champion Buddy Rogers in 1963. It was a significant event as the North Eastern promoters led by Vince McMahon Sr decided to break off from the NWA following Rogers’ loss as they perceived the booking decision as a means to punish Rogers, who had the reputation of favouring North Eastern promoters over the others.
Vince Sr would form the WWWF, which would transition into the WWE.
Rogers was reluctant to drop the title, but Thesz – a renowned shooter – was chosen as his opponent as it was clear that Thesz could take the title from Rogers by force if the script wasn’t followed.
Thesz allegedly told Rogers "we could do this the easy way or the hard way” when he heard that Rogers was having second thoughts of the match and the match proceeded without incident.
#5 Hulk Hogan - 48
Hogan might have owned WCW with one title reign after another, with WWE always trying hard to tell everyone that Hulk was politicking his way to the title at the expense of younger wrestlers.
Well, when Hogan made his way to the WWE in 2002, what did Vince and co do? They put the WWE Championship on the 48-year-old Hulk.
They had no choice, actually. Brought in as a heel to reprise the nWo angle, Hogan was cheered in one arena after another by his loyal fans. Vince was so taken aback by Hulk’s reception that he decided to put the WWE title from Triple H – who had just made his triumphant return to the company at Wrestlemania – on to the 24-inch pythons of Hogan.
Hogan was starting to show his age in the ring and thankfully the title run wasn’t long. The Undertaker would beat the Hulkster at the very next PPV and start an entertaining title reign filled with exciting title defences against the likes of Triple H, Kurt Angle, The Rock and even a young Jeff Hardy.
#4 Ric Flair - 51
The year was 2000 and WCW was in really bad shape. The panicking WCW Creative sought to make radical changes and decided to pass around the World title as some sort of a hot potato.
Guys from Diamond Dallas Paige to David Arquette won the title during this period. In total, the world title changed hands 19 times in 2000 alone!!!!
A 51-year-old Flair would win the title twice during this period. First, he would beat Jeff Jarrett on Nitro to become the champion, only to have Vince Russo strip him of the belt. In the space of a week, Jarrett and Kevin Nash would win the title as well, with Nash handing over the title to Flair on Thunder saying that Ric had never lost it in the first place.
Ironically, Flair would lose the title the same night to Jarett – mindboggling!
#3 Sting - 51
Sting’s full-time entry into TNA in 2006 did help raise the profile of the company. The Icon won four world titles in the company and the last World title that came in the year 2011 gains Sting an entry into this list.
Sting was 51 at the time and he would beat Bobby Roode – a guy TNA should have pushed to become the future of the company. TNA storylines around the time were centered around legends who were well past their prime – namely Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair – with their respective stables, would have a say in Sting getting the victory.
Sting would lose the title to Kurt Angle before long and TNA’s policy of ignoring younger talent would come back to haunt them with ratings taking a nose dive soon after.
#2 Terry Funk - 52
Terry Funk had a lot to do with building the original ECW brand.
ECW was headed for an uncertain future after it’s split from the NWA in 1993 and Funk, who was already a world-renowned wrestler, promised Paul Heyman to help the fledgling company by making regular appearances.
Mick Foley, Shane Douglas, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer all benefitted from their on-screen feuds with Funk and the situation was more of a case of the wrestler being bigger than the company as a whole.
When ECW decided to stage its first PPV event in 1997, it was partly out of gratitude that Heyman decided to have a 52-year-old Funk win the ECW World title. Funk would beat The Sandman and Steven Richards during the early hours of the ‘Barely Legal’ Pay Per View and then proceeded to outlast Raven later to win the title.
Funk would drop the title to Sabu in a barbaric match at another ECW PPV ‘Born to be wired’ where the ring ropes were replaced with barbwires – and to think that Funk was well over 50 at that time!
#1 Mr.McMahon - 54 years
Vince McMahon was 61 when he booked himself to win the ECW World title during its mellow run as part of the WWE brand in 2007. However, by then the title had become a secondary championship and was not considered as a true World title.
But never fear, McMahon has another world title reign to his credit that cements his place atop this list.
Way back in 1999, as a 54-year-old, McMahon won the WWE Championship on Smackdown following a match against Triple H. Ironically, McMahon was booked as a face fighting for the honour of his daughter Stephanie against the evil Hunter.
Stone Cold’s assist would provide the difference in this match, but McMahon would vacate the title soon enough, allowing Triple H to regain the gold at the next PPV.
