AJ Styles Closing In On Historic Milestone

If AJ Styles retains his WWE Championship at Crown Jewel – assuming he has an opponent that is – he will join a very elite club: he will become only the eighth man in WWE history to hold the title for one year.

AJ celebrates that particular milestone on November 7, having defeated Jinder Mahal in Manchester, England on the same date last year.

Styles is currently sat on 357 days as champion so unless he loses the title tonight on SmackDown he is guaranteed to beat Diesel’s 358 days with the belt, which came between 1994 and 1995.

After that, Styles starts to enter truly legendary territory.

Next on the list is Hulk Hogan, who managed 364 days as the title holder between beating Randy Savage at WrestleMania V and losing to The Ultimate Warrior and WrestleMania VI.

He has a long way to go until he reaches the total set on Hogan’s first run as champion though, which was a mammoth 1,474 days (four years).

If Styles reaches November 14 as champion he will surpass the aforementioned Savage, who held the title between WrestleMania IV and V. Ten days later he will, perhaps remarkably, top John Cena’s 381 days.

Image a scenario a decade ago where AJ Styles would have a longer run as WWE Champion than John Cena ever had. Wrestling is strange, sometimes.

The next realistic target for AJ – and one WWE may want him to reach for screamingly obvious reasons – is CM Punk’s 434 days at champ. If Styles reaches WrestleMania while still champion then he will comfortably beat that number.

Beyond that, it becomes unrealistic, with Pedro Morales, Bruno Sammartino and Hogan all enjoying reigns in the thousands of days.

1. Bruno Sammartino (2,803)
2. Bob Backlund (2,135)
3. Hulk Hogan (1,474)
4. Bruno Sammartino (1,237)
5. Pedro Morales (1,027)
6. CM Punk (434)
7. John Cena (381)
8. Randy Savage (371)
9. Hulk Hogan (364)
10. Diesel (358)
11. AJ Styles (357)* 

* As of October 30, 2018

What is the highest milestone that you think Styles will surpass? Let us know in our poll:

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