10 Longest title reigns of the modern era

Pete Dunne's successful title defense at last night's NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, solidified his reign as comfortably the longest of the modern era. You heard it a lot and will hear it some more.

That begs the question. What does the "modern era" mean? Usually, it's understood to mean from the time after Hulk Hogan's first reign as WWE Champion ended. Hogan first won the title at a house show in New York City from the Iron Sheik on January 23rd, 1984.

He would run with it for 1,474 days before dropping it to Andre the Giant on February 5th, 1988. Since then, no one has gotten close to the 1,000-day mark, let alone Hogan's reign. The advent of weekly television, monthly pay per view, and now, the WWE Network, guarantees that those kinds of reigns would get long in the tooth quickly.

Who has come the closest since then, though? You might think about AJ Styles' second run with the WWE title, which ties Macho Man's reign during the Mega Powers storyline, both at 371 days. They came close but didn't quite make the top 10. Instead, we need to look at an even more obvious place first.

#10 John Cena as WWE Champion - 380 days

The peak of the "Super Cena" era, John Cena's third reign as WWE Champion was his longest. He won the championship off of Edge at TLC 2006 in September and had to vacate the title in October 2007 due to an injury, after entering a rivalry with Randy Orton. If he wasn't suddenly injured, his reign may well have been for much longer, because it appeared at the time that there was no end in sight.

During this reign, John Cena would defeat Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 23, successfully defend his title in a critically acclaimed iron man match on Raw, again against Michaels, shortly afterward, and fell opponents like Umaga and The Great Khali.

His act was beginning to wear thin with a lot of the audience at the time, though. He'd run through most of the competition on Raw, and many wondered when his reign would end.

#9 CM Punk as WWE Champion - 434 days

It's a reign that became a legend with a certain subset of fans, but one which in many respects didn't do all that it could have. CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series in 2011 and dropped his title to The Rock at the 2013 Royal Rumble.

During those 434 days, CM Punk entered a rivalry with Chris Jericho and then turned heel midway through the reign by attacking The Rock at Raw's 1,000th episode in July 2012. He secured the managerial services of Paul Heyman as well.

Unfortunately, even during his long reign, he played second fiddle to John Cena, who had entered rivalries with the likes of John Laurinaitis of all people.

Since his reign ended to set up a rematch between John Cena and The Rock, it felt transitional at the end of the day, as well.

#8 Trish Stratus as WWE Women's Champion - 448 days

Trish Stratus secured her sixth women's championship by defeating her longtime rival Lita at New Year's Revolution on January 9th, 2005. She would hold the championship all throughout that year and well into 2006.

It was during this reign that she began her legendary angle with Mickie James, who was obsessed with her. James' psychosis soon began to show itself, and the two would do battle at WrestleMania 22, where Trish's 448 days as champion finally came to an end at the hands of the then-rookie James.

This rivalry became so beloved that Trish's standoff with Mickie during last year's women's Royal Rumble match was one of the biggest pops of the contest, showing that it was still fresh in the minds of the viewing audience. That's how you know a reign has been a success.

#7 Demolition as WWE World Tag Team Champions - 478 days

Coming just after the modern era began, Demolition won WWE's then World tag team titles (since succeeded) on March 27th, 1988 at WrestleMania IV by defeating Strike Force.

The two would go on to reign throughout the rest of the year and halfway into the following one, finally dropping the titles on July 18th, 1989 to the Brain Busters on an Episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. It was the longest reign with the original tag team titles in WWE.

Ax and Smash's reign has been somewhat overlooked. Some have accused the following reign of trying to wipe it off the record books, given their somewhat acrimonious relationship with WWE since leaving the company, but at the time, it was a significant event in tag team wrestling. The duo would go on to hold the titles two more times.

#6 The New Day as WWE (then Raw) Tag Team Champions - 483 days

The New Day won the then-WWE Tag Team titles at SummerSlam in 2015 in a multi-tag team match. They would go on to reign throughout the rest of 2015 and almost through the entirety of 2016, going through the original draft in the current brand split. Drafted to Raw as champions, their titles were renamed as the Raw Tag Team Championship.

During this time, they began their long and still ongoing rivalry with former opponents Sheamus and Cesaro. The two would go on to finally end the New Day's long run with the titles at Roadblock: End of the Line in December 2016.

At the time, it was the third longest reign of the modern era, but in the two years since, more champions have stepped up to make their mark.

#5 Rockin' Robin as WWE Women's Champion - 502 days

An overlooked figure in the history of WWE's women's division, Rockin' Robin actually had a women's title reign that wasn't surpassed until 2017. Her run lasted for 502 days. She first won the title by defeating Sensational Sherri at a house show on October 7th, 1987. She never actually lost the title, either. It was instead deactivated by WWE on February 21st, 1990.

Rockin' Robin's reign came during a time when the division was still in transition from the Fabulous Moolah's influence over the entire sport, and in the years before the likes of Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano, so perhaps it's unsurprising that there hasn't been a whole lot of moments which have gone down in the highlight reels.

Either way, it would have been nice to hear WWE mention more about such a long run with the title in their buildup to WWE Evolution.

#4 Brock Lesnar as Universal Champion - 504 days

WrestleMania 33 has become an event that's lived in infamy among WWE fans. On that April night, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg for the Universal Championship. Raw's main event was then essentially held hostage for 504 days until SummerSlam 2018 when the expected result finally materialized and he dropped the title to Roman Reigns.

During his reign, Lesnar only showed up sparingly, and only had title defenses against three different people - Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Samoa Joe.

After the summer of 2017, more people got tired of it, and this only accelerated after Lesnar retained at WrestleMania 34. His dropping of the title felt like a relief rather than a big moment.

Unfortunately, we're now back to where we started, because Roman Reigns got sick, and Lesnar is champion again. Will he drop the title at WrestleMania 35?

#3 Asuka as NXT Women's Champion - 510 days

At NXT TakeOver: Dallas, Asuka defeated Bayley for the NXT Women's Championship. Her title reign and undefeated streak with it went on, and on, and on.

Unlike Brock Lesnar, though, she was a fighting champion, and her matches were always exciting. Who could forget her classics with Ember Moon or the legendary last woman standing match with Nikki Cross?

Asuka's reign finally ended after NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, when she suffered a collarbone injury during her match with Ember Moon. She relinquished the championship undefeated and was called up to the main roster, after a reign of 510 days. WWE officially lists it at 523 days, when the episode of her title relinquishment was aired, but the actual number of days was 510.

Though it was hailed as a record for the modern era, Asuka's reign actually fell short to a completely unexpected champion.

#2 Lex Luger as WCW United States Champion - 523 days

The United States Championship is an odd title, in the sense that WWE counts its time with WCW as part of its official title history.

The US title on SmackDown isn't a successor belt but is held as a lineal one, making it technically the second oldest in the promotion after the WWE Championship.

Unlike Asuka, Lex Luger had an actual reign with this title of 523 days, making his the second longest of the modern era.

He first won the championship from Michael Hayes at a House Show on May 22nd, 1989. His run with the title would last until Halloween Havoc of 1990, where he dropped it to Stan Hansen.

Though Lex Luger is mostly known for his failed main event push in WWE from 1993 to 1994, his time with WCW was more successful.

#1 Pete Dunne as WWE United Kingdom Champion - 603 days and counting

At NXT TakeOver: Chicago in May of 2017, Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate in the match of the year to become the second WWE United Kingdom Champion. Since then, he's defended his title in classic matches against the likes of Bate, Roderick Strong, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, and more.

No one has been able to stop him so far, and his long, gruelling match with Joe Coffey in Blackpool looked like it would solidify this once and for all.

Then out came WALTER, who finally made his maiden WWE appearance. Pete Dunne now looks like he'll face his toughest challenge yet, and his record reign has a good chance of being ended at the hands of the critically acclaimed Austrian.

We're not there yet, though. When Dunne's reign finally ends, it's going to be a huge moment. His record-shattering run full of excellent matches guarantees that.

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