Was Punk the longest reigning champion ever?

[Robstar]

Considering his biggest feud was with Randy Savage, who Punk is a modern day version of, Hogan definitely had to work for it.

But it's like saying, who had it worse - soldiers in Afghanistan or Vietnam? The variables are just too great.

[masakaritko]

based on my own guesses on how many title defenses each person had based on what era they reigned in....

If Bruno Sammartino defended his title a whopping 2 times a month, he would have roughly 192 defenses if you rounded his reign up to 8 yrs

If CM Punk defended the title 3 times a week, he would have (at roughly 62 weeks) 186 defenses

If Hogan defended the title 3 times a week during his 1474 day reign, which would be roughly 210 weeks, he would have roughly 631 defenses.

I would have to say that chances are Backlund and Morales worked similar schedules as sammartino, so no need to do the math considering punk's reign is comparable to an exaggerated version of Sammartino's reign. In fact, Sammartino's number of defenses is likely much lower than the embellished number I came up with. Here is what I believe would be the most logical top 4 for most wwe title defenses during one reign of all time....

1. Hulk Hogan
2. CM Punk
3. John Cena
4. Bruno Sammartino

[masakaritko]

based on my own guesses on how many title defenses each person had based on what era they reigned in....

If Bruno Sammartino defended his title a whopping 2 times a month, he would have roughly 192 defenses if you rounded his reign up to 8 yrs

If CM Punk defended the title 3 times a week, he would have (at roughly 62 weeks) 186 defenses

If Hogan defended the title 3 times a week during his 1474 day reign, which would be roughly 210 weeks, he would have roughly 631 defenses.

I would have to say that chances are Backlund and Morales worked similar schedules as sammartino, so no need to do the math considering punk's reign is comparable to an exaggerated version of Sammartino's reign. In fact, Sammartino's number of defenses is likely much lower than the embellished number I came up with. Here is what I believe would be the most logical top 4 for most wwe title defenses during one reign of all time....

1. Hulk Hogan
2. CM Punk
3. John Cena
4. Bruno Sammartino

and chances are, the whopping 2 times a month I allowed for sammartino is inaccurate since most of the time back in those days every title defense was built up for about a month, so the champion only had to work once a month, 2 times occasionally.Therefore, there may be an even longer list of superstars who had more title defenses than sammartino, anyone who came after Hogan of course. Hogan was kind of the first guy that worked a hectic schedule during a title reign, he worked the same schedule as his peers. Before Hogan, being the champ meant you were a special attraction, and they had to protect the fact that you were the special attraction by only showcasing you once a month. Hogan basically changed all that, people didn't pay extra to just see a championship match anymore. They payed extra because they wanted to be a part of HULKAMANIA, BROTHER. That wasn't the only thing though, Hulk wanted to work the same schedule as all of the workhorses did. So he did. Everyone else busted their asses a few shows a week, so he did too.

[AOF666]

I have tosay Punk is not even close. Things were different back then today there a ppv every month. Not to mention how often is the title is defended on tv or house shows. Not to often. Guyslike Bruno probably wrestled all over the place, there were different territories back then and not to mention Japan. So noone really knows how often he defended the title. When Hogan was champ, there were only 4 ppv a year and the title was defended way more on tv and house shows. Does it really matter? The WWE is going by days, not title defense. According to Wiki, Macho Man had the title longer then Punk far as days go. Of coarse there were guys held it longer then Macho.