Since the beginning of time wrestling has captured the creative energies of fans around the globe from the territory days, with its humbling beginnings, to sold-out fields around the globe. Wrestling acclimatized itself to the mainstream.
The WWE Championship was conceived in April 1963 after the then-WWF pulled back from the National Wrestling Collusion. WWE made the previous NWA World Champion, Buddy Rogers, their inaugural WWE Champion. The experienced Rogers was 42 years old when he was granted the belt. He is one of the most seasoned wrestlers within the title’s six-decade history. However, he wasn’t the oldest.
This highlight looks at the five most seasoned wrestlers to have held the WWE Championship.
5) Bobby Lashley (44 years, 7 months & 13 days)
The ruling WWE Champion is additionally one of the most seasoned men to hold the title. He is the second oldest first-time champion within the belt’s 58-year lineage.
Bobby Lashley ousted The Miz in paramount destruction on the March 1, 2021, Raw. Lashley effectively guarded the title against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 37 on April 10, 2021.
Should Lashley set up a changeless home in WWE’s feature scene, the ruling winner might move up this list in case he were to lose and recapture the strap at a later date.
4) Bob Backlund (45 years, 3 months & 9 days)
Bob Backlund held the WWE Championship for five years between 1978 and 1983. Backlund was just 28 years of age when he won his first WWE title. He was 45 years old when he won his second, some 17 years afterward. His astonishing title win made him the belt’s most seasoned titleholder within the strap’s then-three-decade history.
Backlund was a transitional winner. He won the title from Bret Hart after chicanery from his brother, Owen with whom he had been fighting. The experience at that point dropped the belt to WWE’s another huge babyface trust, Diesel on a house show just three days later.
Also Read | Top 10 Greatest Female WWE Champions of all time
3) Triple H (46 years, 5 months & 28 days)
Triple H is one of the foremost respected World Champions in WWE history. ‘The Game’ has won the WWE Championship on nine events and the now-defunct World Heavyweight Championship five times. He won all of his first 13 World titles in a decade between 1999 and 2009.
Seven years passed between ‘The Cerebral Assassin's 13th and 14th World title wins. When Triple H won the 2016 Royal Rumble Match and the WWE Championship which was on the line, he was 46 years old. ‘The Game’ held the title until WrestleMania 32 when he dropped the belt to Roman Reigns.
2) Hulk Hogan (48 years, 8 months & 10 days)
Hulk Hogan won his first WWE Championship in January 1984 at the age of 30. That title win kicked off a close decade of Hulkamania in WWE which took the company to uncommon statures in terms of standard awareness and ubiquity. ‘The Hulkster’ won his fifth WWE Championship at the age of 39, before withdrawing from WWE and joining WCW the following year. In February 2002, after nine years absent from the company, Hogan returned to WWE.
After competing with The Rock in a classic Icon versus Icon battle at WrestleMania X-8, Hogan was chosen to be the following WWE Champion. ‘The Hulkster’ stuck Triple H within the main event of Backlash on April 21, 2002 to win his 6th WWE title at the age of 48. That title win made Hogan the most seasoned dynamic wrestler to have been WWE Champion.
Also Read | Top 5 Greatest WWE Matches Ever
1) Vince McMahon (54 years & 21 days)
Vince McMahon won the WWE Championship from Triple H (with a little help from Stone Cold Steve Austin) on the September 16, 1999 episode of SmackDown.
At 54 years of age, the WWE Chairman was and still is the oldest title holder in the strap’s 58 year history. The history making title change was short-lived. McMahon relinquished the belt on the following week’s Raw broadcast on September 20, 1999.
Must Read | Top 5 youngest WWE champions of all time
