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Nothing is more sweet for a professional athlete than winning a Championship in their professional sport after coming up short year after year.
This is something we have seen through many different sports teams over the years, be it basketball, baseball, soccer and even for the like of Tiger Woods in golf. Some of these droughts have even spawned decades, such as in the NHL, when the New York Rangers suffered a 54-year Stanley Cup drought from 1940 until 1994, or even longer for the baseball team the Chicago Cubs, who went on a 108 year drought in the World Series.
Sometimes it can be no different in wrestling, certainly not as long as the Chicago Cubs, but a long time for the short career of a professional wrestler.
When Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship at the 2014 SummerSlam, it had been the first time in ten and a half years since he had held Championship gold in WWE. The Beast Incarnate is not alone here though as more than a dozen superstars have gone even longer in between Championship reigns.
Whether it is because they left WWE and returned somewhere down the line or were even retired and still officially are, here are the top 10 longest gaps in between Championship reigns for WWE superstars.
Before we get into it, some other interesting WWE title drought for Superstars include...
Kane - 6 years, Drew McIntyre - 6 years and 6 months, Vince McMahon - 7 years and 7 months, Mark Henry - 8 years and 10 months, Hulk Hogan - 8 years and 11 months, The Rock - 10 years and 5 months, Curt Hawkins - 10 years and 6 months, Ric Flair - 11 years and 2 months and Bobby Lashley 11 years and 7 months.
#10 Candice Michelle - 11 Years and 9 months
Candice Michelle really had to work in WWE. She proved her critics wrong with strong performances throughout her tenure in the company.
Michelle went under some pretty serious training in 2006 and 2007 and would actually become a pretty good performer.
The winner of the 2007 PWI award for Most Improved Wrestler of the Year, she would defeat Melina for the WWE Women's Championship at Vengeance 2007. Michelle would hold the Championship until that October, losing it to Beth Phoenix at No Mercy and wouldn't see Women's Championship gold again.
After parting ways with WWE in June 2009, we wouldn't see her return to the company again for an entire decade. Michelle returned to WWE for a cameo appearance on the RAW Reunion show this past July and would incredibly pin fellow former WWE Superstar Kelly Kelly for the WWE 24/7 Championship, before quickly losing it to Alundra Blayze.
#9 The Fabulous Moolah - 12 Years and 3 Months
The late Fabulous Moolah currently holds the record for being the longest reigning Champion of any kind, in WWE history, although the Women's Championship she held had originally began in the NWA. Moolah held the Women's Championship during her first run for an incredible 28 years.
After controversially winning from Wendi Richter, she would hold the gold for another two years before losing it to the Sensational Sherri in July 1987. Amazingly, over 12 years later, Moolah and the legendary Mae Young, would become regulars on WWE TV, despite being in their 70's.
During an episode of RAW in September 1999, Moolah would defeat Women's Champion Ivory in an Evening Gown match to earn a Championship match at the October No Mercy event, and amazingly, would defeat her for the Championship.
Moolah would hold the Women's Championship for just over a week, before dropping it back to Ivory on an episode of RAW.
#8 Bret Hart - 12 Years and 6 Months
Perhaps still the most controversial exit from the company in WWE history, Bret Hart was famously made to lose the WWE Championship in his final match at Survivor Series 1997, before leaving for WCW.
After just over 12 long years, Bret Hart finally returned to WWE in January 2010, to put the past behind him and participate in an angle with Vince McMahon. Ever since, Hart has made sporadic appearances for WWE, perhaps most notably on the May 17 2010 episode of RAW from Toronto, Canada.
Hart was challenged by then WWE United States Champion The Miz to a Championship match, and amazingly, Hart would defeat The A-Lister for the title, with help from the Hart Dynasty. Hart vacated the Championship the following week.
In between Bret Hart's 12 year + WWE Championship drought, he would become a two-time WCW World Champion, four-time WCW United States Champion and a WCW Tag Team Champion.
#7 Road Dogg - 13 Years, 11 Months
WWE Hall of Famer, The Road Dogg, certainly had the best years of his career as apart of D-Generation X, and the New Age Outlaws. When teaming with Billy Gunn, the duo originally held the WWE Tag Team Championships on five separate occasions, before splitting up in early 2000.
The Outlaws had entered the century as Tag Champs, but would lose them to the Dudley Boyz at No Way Out in February, 2000. During the same match, Billy Gunn suffered a serious shoulder injury that would keep him on the shelf until October. While he was away, the Outlaws quietly split and Road Dogg was released by WWE in early 2001.
Road Dogg eventually found his way back to the WWE in 2011, taking a position as a producer. He and then fellow producer Billy Gunn began making special appearances on WWE TV and were briefly written into storyline, which incredibly saw them defeat Goldust and Stardust for the WWE Tag Team Championships on the Royal Rumble pre-show, over 13 years since they had last held them. They eventually lost the titles to The Usos that March.
During Road Dogg's time away from WWE, he wrestled for TNA for seven years, where he was a two-time NWA Tag Team Champion. I am only including Road Dogg in this entry and not Billy Gunn, as Gunn's last title reign in WWE before this was in 2002, when he and Chuck Palumbo had two the WWE Tag Team Championship reigns.
#6 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper - 14 Years and 7 Months
Despite being one of the biggest wrestling stars of the 1980's (and ever), the late great 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper never held the WWE Championship.
Despite being as incredible as he was, his time in the spotlight also had to happen at the same time as Hulk Hogan's three-year reign as WWE Champion. It wouldn't be until 1992 when Piper would finally win gold in WWE, defeating The Mountie for the Intercontinental Championship at the Royal Rumble. He would hold it for a couple months before losing it to Bret Hart at WrestleMania.
Piper would hold Championship gold in WWE once more, but it wouldn't come for another 14 years. Just over a year and a half after he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, piper was announced to be one of the potential candidates to be voted by the fans to team with Ric Flair at Cyber Sunday 2006 to challenge the Spirit Squad for the World Tag Team Championships.
Piper would in fact be voted in, over Dusty Rhodes and Sgt. Slaughter, and he and Flair would defeat the cheerleaders to become Tag Team Champions.
Roddy Piper and Ric Flair would hold the Tag titles for just over a week before losing them to Edge and Randy Orton.
#5 Shane McMahon - 18 Years and 5 Months
Many fans remember Shane McMahon defeating X Pac in 1999 to become the WWE European Champion and holding the gold for a few months. What many often forget, is the dare devils brief stint as WWE Hardcore Champion in 2000.
Shane O'Mac defeated Steve Blackman for the Hardcore Championship in August of that year, with help from Test, Albert, and Edge and Christian. He would hold the title for a couple weeks before losing it back to Blackman at SummerSlam, falling 50 feet off the stage in one of his signature stunts. After leaving WWE in 2009, not many people expected to see him ever return to WWE TV, let alone win another Championship, but that is exactly what would happen.
On the request of The Miz, he and Shane formed a tag team in late 2018, and would become the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions at the 2019 Royal Rumble, defeating The Bar. The title win came over 18 years after McMahon lost the WWE Hardcore Championship. They held the titles for a month before losing them to The Usos at the Elimination Chamber event.
#4 Pat Patterson & Gerald Briscoe - 19 Years and 1 Month
The legendary Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe may have seen their heyday back in the late 1970's, but they still had a memorable presence on WWE TV going into the 21st century.
The two WWE Hall of Famers became comedy heels as Vince McMahon's stooges in late 1997 until 2000. The latter of their time on TV saw them each have reigns as the WWE Hardcore Champion in the early summer of 2000. Hilariously, Briscoe pinned a sleeping Crash Holly to secure the Championship that May. He would lose it to Patterson a few weeks later during a victory celebration. Former Champion Crash Holly would snag the title back from them during their match at the King of the Ring that June.
Just under 20 years later, Patterson and Briscoe would make cameo appearances on the RAW Reunion special, which would see Patterson pin Drake Maverick to become WWE 24/7 Champion. He would lose the title to Gerald Briscoe, off-screen, later in the night. Patterson winning the 24/7 Championship would make him the oldest Champion in history of WWE, at 78 years old. The record had been previously held by the Fabulous Moolah, during her aforementioned Women's Championship reign in 1999.
#3 Pat Patterson - 20 Years and 2 Months
An incredible second entrant in a row for WWE Hall of Famer, Pat Patterson.
As mentioned, before Patterson ended his 19 year + drought of Championships, he had held the WWE Hardcore Championship in June 2000. Not only was it incredible to have won another Championship after that length of time when he won the 24/7 title, but his Hardcore title win was also the first time he held a Championship in WWE since becoming the inaugural WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Patterson became the first ever WWE Intercontinental Champion in September, 1979. He would hold the gold for 233 days before losing it to Ken Patera in April, 1980. Patterson only wrestled sporadically from then on, before retiring from full-time competition in 1984, and wouldn't hold a Championship again until his previously mentioned Hardcore title win in 2000.
#2 Alundra Blayze - 23 Years and 7 Months
WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze was a true trailblazer. At a time in WWE when women's wrestling wasn't given very much attention, she shined bright as a three-time WWE Women's Champion and had solid matches with Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye.
Alundra Blayze departed WWE in 1995 and joined WCW, where she brought the WWE Women's Championship belt with her and infamously dropped the title into a trash can during her return segment on WCW Nitro. Blayze was essentially blacklisted from WWE for the next 20 years, until she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.
Blayze would make a cameo appearance on the WWE RAW Reunion special this past July, where she returned as a heel, attacking Candice Michelle. Blayze would force Michelle to submit for her to become the WWE 24/7 Champion. She later attempted to recreate her famous Women's Championship trash can spot, until Ted DiBiasie persuaded her to sell him the Championship.
In between these Championship reigns, Blayze would also win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship from Evan Karagias in April, 1999.
#1 Ted DiBiase - 26 Years and 1 Month
Amazingly, the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase never held the WWE Championship, despite having all the tools. While he had an unfortunate lack of singles Championships in his WWE career, he did manage to become a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion as apart of Money Inc., with IRS.
Money Inc. would trade WWE Tag Team Championship victores with Rick and Scott Steiner in 1993, where they won them for the final time on the 16 of June, and lost them for the final time to the Steiners just three days later at a live event. This would be the last time DiBiase would hold gold in WWE, that is at least for another 26 years.
With the longest gap in between WWE Championship reigns, after just over 26 years, DiBiasie would win the WWE 24/7 Championship in July, 2019. DiBiasie had appeared on the RAW Reunion special and purchased the Championship from fellow Hall of Famer and runner up of this list, Alundra Blayze. DiBiasie would lose the title to Drake Maverick later that night after being pinned in his limousine.
In between this historic title gap, Ted DiBiase did briefly hold the PWF Tag Team Championships with Stan Hansen in 1993.
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