8 WWE Records Broken This Year

Modified Oct 08, 2018 05:30 GMT

Braun Strowman has had quite an eventful 2018 so far.

#4 Longest reigning World Champion in Smackdown's History

John Bradshaw Layfield defeated Eddie Guerrero at The Great American Bash 2004 to win his first and only WWE Championship. JBL's reign lasted 280 days, making him the longest reigning World Champion exclusive to Smackdown. John Cena's reign in 2005 also lasted 280 days but he was drafted to Raw in June 2005. After the brand split ended in 2011, it looked like JBL's record would never be broken.

However, the brand split was once again announced in 2016. AJ Styles was chosen as Smackdown's second pick and has remained with the Blue Brand since then. Over a year later on 7th November 2017, AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win his 2nd WWE Championship. In August 2018, AJ Styles' reign crossed the 280-day mark and Styles broke JBL's 14-year old record and became the longest reigning World Champion exclusive to Smackdown. As of October 7th, Styles' reign is in its 334th day and if AJ manages to hold on to the title for a few more months, he might be able to cross Punk's reign too.

About the author

Ali Siddiqui is a listicle and feature writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling since 2018. After completing his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, he decided to write for Sportskeeda Wrestling after learning about it through a friend. He briefly worked for The Sportster as well.

Ali's love for pro wrestling dates back to when Randy Orton won a Battle Royal to become the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2004. His current favorite wrestler is Cody Rhodes because he's the ultimate throwback babyface. He believes Rhodes has the Surfer Sting's passion, Bret Hart's prop-gifting schtick, a catchy theme like Hogan's, and a kid-friendly demeanor akin to John Cena's.

When he is not doing research for his articles on Google or catching up with the latest in pro wrestling, Ali can be found honing his Data Science and AI skills as he strives to get back into tech in the near future.

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Edited by Pratyay Ghosh