What are the records Roman Reigns will have to overcome to be WWE's longest-reigning world champion? Checking the facts

Roman Reigns may be WWE’s longest-reigning world champion of the modern era, but the Tribal Chief is still nowhere close to being the longest-reigning world champion of all time. As a matter of fact, he isn’t even in the top three at the time of the writing.

Reigns has been the WWE Universal Champion for the past 1,169 days. He won the title at Payback 2023, and has since defended it against some of the biggest names in the company, such as John Cena and Brock Lesnar.

With that said, Reigns needs to surpass Hulk Hogan’s first reign of 1,474 days to officially enter the list of WWE’s top three longest-reigning world champions of all time. He’ll have to surpass Bob Backlund’s historic title run of 2,135 days to clinch the second spot.

Finally, Roman Reigns will have to remain Universal Champion for 2,804 days to surpass Bruno Sammartino’s current record of 2,803 days as the longest-reigning world champion of the sports entertainment juggernaut.

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When will Roman Reigns surpass Hulk Hogan’s record of third longest WWE title reign?

Hulk Hogan kicked off his legendary run with the WWE Championship in the mid-80s. The Hulkster defeated the legendary Iron Shiek (who had Freddie Blassie in his corner) at Madison Square Garden for the title on January 23, 1984.

Hogan’s iconic reign, however, was ended in controversial fashion by Andre the Giant. The Hulkster lost the title to the Eight Wonder of the World at "The Main Event" show on February 8, 1988. Andre would immediately "sell" the title to Ted DiBiase only for the decision to be overruled.

Roman Reigns would need to remain Universal Champion until September 2024 in order to surpass Hulk Hogan’s record of 1,474 days. It remains to be seen if the Head of the Table will surpass the iconic run of the two-time WWE Hall of Famer.