Roman Reigns Appears To Break Insane WWE Championship Record

Roman Reigns has set another championship record, as his reign at the "Head of the Table" continues unabated in WWE. On Wednesday, Reigns passed GUNTHER (formerly WALTER) as the longest-reigning title holder of WWE's modern era. Reigns has held the WWE Universal Championship for 871 days and counting, officially surpassing GUNTHER's 870-day reign as the "WWE NXT" United Kingdom Champion. GUNTHER held the "NXT" United Kingdom Championship from April 2019 until August 2021. Reigns has held the WWE Universal Championship since August 2020, when he defeated both "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman at WWE's Payback event. Reigns went on to also win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38, unifying the titles.

Reigns' record-breaking title run has moved him into the upper echelon of WWE champions throughout history, and stands as the longest WWE world title reign since Hulk Hogan's 1,474-day reign beginning in 1984 and ending in 1988. While no WWE star may ever touch Bruno Sammartino's famous 2,803-day run as the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion throughout the '60s and '70s, or The Fabulous Moolah's unthinkable (and also highly exaggerated) 10,170-day reign as WWF Women's Champion from 1956 until 1984, few wrestlers have ever pulled off title runs remotely close to Reigns' ongoing tenure.

In terms of WWE world titles, Brock Lesnar held the WWE Championship for 503 days from 2017 until 2018, CM Punk held his WWE title for 434 days from 2011 until 2013, and John Cena held the WWE Championship for 380 consecutive days between 2006 and 2007. Beyond world titles, other recently notable title reigns include Pete Dunne holding the "NXT" United Kingdom Championship for 685 days, and Kay Lee Ray holding the "NXT" United Kingdom Women's Championship for 649 days.