Source
r/SquaredCircle•
Bookerman32

I logged the time between each wrestler's in-ring WWE debut to their first WWE World Heavyweight Title Win.

As the title suggest, just some info on who has the longest and shortest journeys between first stepping into the WWE and their first time holding the WWE World Heavyweight Title. A few notes as to the rules here;

  1. I'll be counting from their first ever match in the company, not the start of the run that lead to their world title. So Drew McIntryre will be counting from his initial debut in 2007, not from his return to WWE.

  2. Untelevised Dark Matches will not be counted, however live events from the days before national TV will be.

  3. This rule may be controversial, but as long as they were televised - tryout matches, local jobber squashes, and initial runs under different names will be counted. Styles' and Bryan's matches on Velocity will be treated as the start of their journey, and we'll be counting from Glen Jacob's first WWF match, not just his debut as Kane. However, I will not be counting their debuts in WWE developmental brands.

  4. Buddy Rogers is a weird case, unsurprisingly, as the WWWF was formed in the first place in order to keep billing him as world champion. However, his number on this table isn't zero, as I'm counting from when he first appeared as the generic branded "World Champion" to the officially declared beginning of his reign as "WWWF World Champion".

  5. On that note, I will be counting from their debut with the WWWF after it officially split from the NWA. I will not be counting anyone's debut in NWA Capitol Wrestling.

  6. I will be using Cagematch as a source for most of this, so don't expect perfect accuracy in regards to some of the earlier names to hold the gold.

With that out of the way, enjoy this pointless research.

WrestlerDebut DateTitle WinDays
Buddy Rogers25.01.196311.4.196376
Bruno Sammartino25.02.196317.5.196381
Ivan Koloff02.03.196318.01.19712879
Pedro Morales29.01.196308.02.19712932
Stan Stasiak30.08.19711.12.1973824
Superstar Billy Graham27.08.197530.04.1977612
Bob Backlund07.12.197620.02.1978440
The Iron Sheik14.02.197926.12.19831776
Hulk Hogan13.11.197923.1.19841532
Andre The Giant26.03.197305.02.19885429
Randy Savage17.06.198527.03.19881014
The Ultimate Warrior17.06.198701.04.19901019
Sgt. Slaughter29.07.198019.01.19913826
The Undertaker19.11.199027.11.1991373
Ric Flair01.03.197619.01.19925802
Bret Hart29.08.198412.10.19922966
Yokozuna12.10.199204.04.1993174
Diesel27.09.199326.11.1994425
Shawn Michaels31.05.198831.03.19962861
Sycho Sid19.08.199117.11.19961917
Stone Cold Steve Austin18.12.199529.03.1998832
Kane27.08.199528.06.1998975
The Rock17.11.199615.11.1998728
Mankind26.08.198629.12.19984508
Triple H25.04.199523.08.19991581
Vince McMahon13.04.199814.09.1999519
Big Show16.02.199914.11.1999271
Kurt Angle14.11.199922.10.2000343
Chris Jericho24.08.199909.12.2001838
Brock Lesnar21.04.200225.08.2002126
Eddie Guerrero01.02.200015.02.20041475
John Bradshaw Layfield23.01.199627.06.20043078
John Cena25.06.200203.04.20051013
Edge16.06.199808.01.20062763
Rob Van Dam12.05.199711.06.20063317
Randy Orton01.05.200107.10.20072350
Jeff Hardy23.05.199414.12.20085319
Batista25.06.200207.06.20092539
Sheamus03.06.200913.12.2009193
The Miz12.12.200422.11.20102171
CM Punk11.04.200517.07.20112288
Rey Mysterio23.07.200225.07.20113289
Alberto Del Rio17.08.201014.08.2011362
Daniel Bryan12.01.200318.08.20133871
Seth Rollins16.12.201229.03.2015833
Roman Reigns16.12.201222.11.20151071
Dean Ambrose15.01.200619/06/20163808
AJ Styles21.01.200211.09.20165347
Bray Wyatt18.10.201012.02.20172309
Jinder Mahal31.05.201121.05.20172182
Kofi Kingston22.01.200807.04.20194093
Drew McIntyre09.10.200725.03.20204551

And there you have it. Ric Flair was the biggest surprise for me, I expected him to have one of the shortest distances between debut and title, but as it turns out he had a couple of televised matches in the 1976 that actually meant he had the longest distance of anyone.

Bonus Fact: The average length between a televised in-ring debut and winning the WWE title is 2,036 days.

Posted Sep 12, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

4427
Ojntoast•

Considering some of your stipulations, this data became irrelevant for me unfortunately. Counting a debut due to some random televised match 10 years before someone actually joined the company doesn't seem like it adds any value.

May consider a lapse in time away from the company in the criteria to help really show the average length the journey takes to become champion.

Hell of a lot of work put into this though so kudos

72
Bookerman32OP•

I debated a lot on where to start counting for each one, and every restriction caused some weirdness in the list. I may do an alternate list specifically starting between each person's gimmick debut and the title win, but for this list I ultimately decided to go with the journey of the performer.

7
TomorrowWeKillToday•

Yeah, there needs to be a break if they lapse with the company and come back because theoretically they’re chasing a different title when they switch promotions for guys like Drew and Bobby.

Edit: cool idea, the maths just aren’t completely correct yet to reflect true data but keep on it please, this is a good concept.

1†
69BRabbit•

Bro, they did my man AJ dirty according to you contrary to what the reality is

great job though

14
Bookerman32OP•

It's pretty interesting, with the exception of Jeff Hardy, the guys with 5000+ days between first match on the company and their title win are guys who were clearly undeniable to WWE but spent the majority of their time elsewhere, only to be crowned when they were well travelled. Andre was America's travelling special attraction, Flair defined the NWA, and AJ was Mr. TNA along with his great Japan run. They were pushed quickly when they finally committed, but they were on the company radar forever.

9
jxan•

Surely Bray Wyatt / Husky Harris' debut be June 8th 2010 (NXT Season 2 episode 1)? NXT Seasons 1 and 2 were nationally televised on SyFy.

The same would also apply to Titus O'Neil (also from Season 2) if he becomes WWE Champion. Also it would apply to Wade Barrett and David Otunga from Season 1 if they return to in-ring competition (immediately places a bet on Otunga being the one to take the title off Drew).

It wouldn't necessarily apply to Fandango / Johnny Curtis (or Byron Saxton if he wrestles again) as NXT Season 4 was internet only in the US, though it was televised in some countries (such as the UK).

7
Bookerman32OP•

You're right, I should have counted NXT during its game show days as it was fully televised and technically part of the main roster.

4
CBJKevin91581•

If Titus O’Neill becomes WWE champion?

Hold on while I borrow from Bookah T’s bag of phrases......

3
SmithyPlayzYour Text Here•

Shows how much they loved Sheamus

7
StarWolf128•

Iron Sheik=1776 days. Was that done on purpose? 😄

5
hack_benjamin•

It'd be interesting to see if there's a correlation to heel / face status. Or maybe win / loss ratio on their way to the first title. There's so many interesting questions to find in the Cagematch data. Good work!

3
trevor_daniles•

Buddy, you said in ring WWE debut. So why are Flair and Styles so many days?

2
trevor_daniles•

I guess I didn't read the post in full. Still, I think you shouldn't have counted those as debuts.

3
Bookerman32OP•

I answered another, but I did consider being more selective with the dates, but felt that mind up making a lot of the debit dates too arbitrary. For example, Drew McIntyre. Would I count the matches he had when he first debuted in 2007? His redebut in 2009? Or his re-redebut in 2018?

So it doesn't lead to the most satisfying results, but for the sake of just the Raw numbers I decided that ultimately for this listing I would go with the earliest possible televised match of the performer in the company, rather than a specific start of a run or debut of a gimmick. Maybe I'll do another version that starts from their more prominent debuts.

3
bathory21•

I think you should have counted the actual days they were in the company rather than the days outside of it

3
davidbowieguy69•

This is great

2
AutoModeratorMOD•

Hello! Our rules were most recently updated on June 12th. For more information and the full rules list, please see this thread.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1
OkTemporary0•

I’ll take the most pointless things ever done for 300, Alex.

1†
Bookerman32OP•

Sometimes, you have too much free time.

7
raath666•

Randy won heavyweight title in 2004.

1
Bookerman32OP•

But he didn't win the WWE title until 2007, separate lineages.

3
raath666•

Shouldn't we consider both since currently both are unified.

-3
Bookerman32OP•

WWE themselves only consider the lineage of the current title to be the WWE title's. If you were to count titles that have been unified/merged into the WWE title, then we'd also have to count the WCW title.

3
xorangeelephantMr. Royal Rumble•

What? So we should consider JBL and Orton as the same champion at the same in 2004?

2
Chorde12•

Where is The Great Khali?

1
Bookerman32OP•

He never held the WWE title, only the big gold world Heavyweight.

6
sdixon90•

Why?

0