5 oldest Superstars to win the WWE Championship

The WWE Championship is the most prestigious title in professional wrestling. Ever since it was first unveiled on April 25, 1963, there have been 54 different superstars to hold the title across 145 reigns.

Buddy Rogers was the first champion, gifted the title with the story that he had won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro. Brock Lesnar is the current champion in his seventh reign.

Here is a list of the five oldest WWE Champions in the history of the companym sorted by age. For the sake of continuity, WWE Championship reigns during the WWF and WWWF eras will be referred to in the WWE name.

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#5. Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship at 44

Starting off our list is The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar. He won the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber 2022 aged 44 years, 7 months, and 7 days.

The irony is that while being the fifth oldest WWE Champion, Lesnar also holds the record for being the youngest champion, winning the title aged 25 in his first reign. He beat The Rock and was the second-fastest WWE Superstar to win the WWE title since his debut at 126 days.

The Beast Incarnate is currently set to defend his WWE title in a Title vs. Title Winner Takes All Match against the Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38.

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#4. Bob Backlund won the WWE Championship at 45

Bob Backlund in his second reign as WWE Champion

At 45 years, 3 months, and 9 days old, Bob Backlund won the WWE Championship from Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1994. The special stipulation of this submission match was that the title could not change hands unless a superstar’s manager threw in the towel in the ring to stop the match.

This was Backlund’s second reign. But he went on to lose the title three days later to Diesel at a non-televised house show at Madison Square Garden.

Backlund’s first reign with the title came after he pinned Superstar Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1978. He held the championship for 2135 days, the second-longest reign in the title’s history.

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#3. Bobby Lashley won the WWE Championship at 45

The All Mighty famously won his first WWE Championship after defeating The Miz on the March 1, 2020 episode of RAW in a lumberjack match. He won the right to be in after defeating Braun Strowman in a number-one contender's match.

Lashley’s second reign came when he won the WWE title aged 45 years, 6 months, and 14 days, from Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2022. He lost the championship 21 days later at the Elimination Chamber.

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#2. Hulk Hogan won the WWE Championship at 48

Hulk Hogan with the WWE Championship

The Immortal Hulk Hogan has held the prestigious WWE Championship on six different occasions.

In his first reign, he won the title from the Iron Sheik on January 23, 1984 and held it for four years before losing it to Andre the Giant on February 5, 1988.

On the March 4, 2002 episode of SmackDown, Vince McMahon announced Hogan as the next contender to Triple H’s WWE title. This episode also marked the first time that Hogan returned with his iconic red-and-yellow since turning heel at WCW in 1996. Their match was set for Backlash.

Hogan pinned Triple H at the pay-per-view to win the WWE title for the sixth time. He was 48 years, 8 months, and 10 days old.

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#1. Vince McMahon won the WWE Championship at 54

Vince McMahon as WWE Champion

The chairman of WWE has won WWE Championship only once when he defeated Triple H on the September 14, 1999, episode of SmackDown. Their match had Shane McMahon as the special guest referee.

Triple H laid out the challenge, insistently calling out Vince to a match for the title. Vince was reluctant, saying no until Hunter made a comment about his wife Linda. This angered McMahon to the point where he just beat down on HHH, starting the match.

Shane had enough once Hunter hit Vince with a chair to the head, attacking Triple H with a flurry of punches. Chyna interfered to stop Shane’s attack, and together with Triple H, she stomped McMahon angrily.

Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco then entered with Linda in an attempt to stop Triple H and save McMahon.

Chyna held Linda and made her watch as Triple H beat down on Vince. Stone Cold Steve Austin then emerged and hit a Stunner on Hunter. Austin carried Vince over a downed Triple H as Shane counted the pinfall. At 54 years and 27 days old, Vince McMahon won the WWE title.

What do you think of this list? Will these records ever be broken? Let us know in the comments section below.