Post a Comment On: Indeed Wrestling

Win/Loss Records for WWF Champions prior to winning the Belt by Chris Harrington

I was thinking about WWWF/WWF/WWE Champions 1963-2013.

 wondered whether there was any correlation between the length of a championship reign and whether that wrestler had a winning-record in the months prior to winning the belt.

Name won Cumulative Six Prior Months REIGN Bruno Sammartino 5/17/1963 20-5-1 and 8 other 80% 2803 Ivan Koloff 1/18/1971 29-3-4 and 9 other 91% 21 Pedro Morales 2/8/1971 13-0-3 and 3 other 100% 1027 Stan Stasiak 12/1/1973 9-11-4 and 5 other 45% 9 Bruno Sammartino 12/10/1973 4-1 and 5 other 80% 1237 Superstar Billy Graham 4/30/1977 10-0 100% 296 Bob Backlund 2/20/1978 49-1-1 and 15 other 98% 648 Antonio Inoki 11/30/1979 0-0 na 6 Bob Backlund 12/17/1979 55-9-7 and 9 other 86% 1470 Iron Sheik 12/26/1983 36-4-1 and 4 other 90% 28 Hulk Hogan 1/23/1984 3-0 100% 1474 Andre the Giant 2/5/1988 2-4 and 1 other 33% 0 Randy Savage 3/27/1988 78-43-1 and 16 other 64% 371 Hulk Hogan 4/2/1989 82-5 and 10 other 94% 364 Ultimate Warrior 4/1/1990 103-0 and 18 other 100% 293 Sgt Slaughter 1/19/1991 79-2-1 and 9 other 98% 64 Hulk Hogan 3/24/1991 58-10 and 6 other 85% 248 Undertaker 11/27/1991 46-80-1 and 17 other 37% 6 Hulk Hogan 12/3/1991 49-7 and 6 other 88% 1 Ric Flair 1/19/1992 38-37-1 and 7 other 51% 77 Randy Savage 4/5/1992 75-6 and 12 other 93% 149 Ric Flair 9/1/1992 21-98 and 6 other 18% 41 Bret Hart 10/12/1992 109-7-2 and 9 other 94% 174 Yokozuna 4/4/1993 47-25 and 6 other 65% 0 Hulk Hogan 4/4/1993 3-0 100% 70 Yokozuna 6/13/1993 72-35 and 9 other 67% 280 Bret Hart 3/20/1994 79-16-1 and 4 other 83% 248 Bob Backlund 11/23/1994 27-14 and 1 other 66% 3 Kevin Nash 11/26/1994 64-29-7 and 3 other 69% 358 Bret Hart 11/19/1995 62-4 and 1 other 94% 133 Shawn Michaels 3/31/1996 48-6-3 and 1 other 89% 231 Sid Vicious 11/17/1996 68-5-2 and 2 other 93% 63 Shawn Michaels 1/19/1997 89-8-2 and 2 other 92% 25 Bret Hart 2/16/1997 26-15 63% 1 Sid Vicious 2/17/1997 83-16-4 and 2 other 84% 34 Undertaker 3/23/1997 75-17-5 and 2 other 82% 133 Bret Hart 8/3/1997 23-36-2 39% 98 Shawn Michaels 11/9/1997 6-5-4 55% 140 Steve Austin 3/29/1998 51-1-1 and 1 other 98% 91 Glen Jacobs 6/28/1998 48-35-5 and 2 other 58% 1 Steve Austin 6/29/1998 76-3-6 and 2 other 96% 90 Rock 11/15/1998 45-52-7 and 1 other 46% 44 Mick Foley 12/29/1998 27-67-7 and 1 other 29% 26 Rock 1/24/1999 51-56-6 48% 2 Mick Foley 1/26/1999 32-61-6 34% 20 Rock 2/15/1999 50-57-5 47% 41 Steve Austin 3/28/1999 51-5-4 91% 56 Undertaker 5/23/1999 42-28-6 60% 36 Steve Austin 6/28/1999 53-4-4 93% 55 Mick Foley 8/22/1999 52-12-6 81% 1 Triple H 8/23/1999 24-65-8 27% 22 Vince McMahon 9/14/1999 4-1-2 80% 6 Triple H 9/26/1999 27-66-6 29% 49 Big Show 11/14/1999 58-35-14 62% 50 Triple H 1/3/2000 29-52-11 36% 118 Rock 4/30/2000 63-24-9 72% 21 Triple H 5/21/2000 31-46-6 40% 35 Rock 6/25/2000 58-25-8 70% 119 Kurt Angle 10/22/2000 37-58-2 39% 126 Rock 2/25/2001 56-19-4 75% 35 Steve Austin 4/1/2001 40-6-8 87% 175 Kurt Angle 9/23/2001 42-38-4 53% 15 Steve Austin 10/8/2001 24-28-3 46% 62 Chris Jericho 12/9/2001 56-40-1 58% 98 Triple H 3/17/2002 19-9-1 68% 35 Hulk Hogan 4/21/2002 5-2-1 71% 28 Undertaker 5/19/2002 38-22-2 63% 63 Rock 7/21/2002 17-7 71% 35 Brock Lesnar 8/25/2002 53-21 72% 84 Big Show 11/17/2002 34-47-4 42% 28 Kurt Angle 12/15/2002 28-67-2 29% 105 Brock Lesnar 3/30/2003 61-7-5 90% 119 Kurt Angle 7/27/2003 27-12 69% 51 Brock Lesnar 9/16/2003 45-24-3 65% 152 Eddie Guerrero 2/15/2004 44-28 61% 133 JBL 6/27/2004 37-31 54% 280 John Cena 4/3/2005 48-1-1 98% 280 Edge 1/8/2006 13-31-4 30% 21 Edge 1/8/2006 13-31-4 30% 21 John Cena 1/29/2006 81-9-1 90% 133 Rob Van Dam 6/11/2006 28-23 55% 22 John Cena 9/17/2006 75-21-4 78% 380 Randy Orton 10/7/2007 18-58-2 24% 0 Triple H 10/7/2007 7-2 78% 0 Triple H 4/27/2008 62-8-1 and 1 other 89% 210 Edge 11/23/2008 6-35-1 15% 21 Jeff Hardy 12/14/2008 67-24-3 74% 42 Edge 1/25/2009 10-33-1 23% 21 Triple H 2/15/2009 66-11-3 and 1 other 86% 70 Randy Orton 4/26/2009 14-54-3 21% 42 Batista 6/7/2009 26-11 70% 2 Randy Orton 6/15/2009 14-59-7 19% 90 John Cena 9/13/2009 76-7-4 92% 21 Randy Orton 10/4/2009 16-64-9 20% 21 John Cena 10/25/2009 81-12-4 87% 49 Sheamus 12/13/2009 40-8-3 83% 70 John Cena 2/21/2010 71-11-2 87% 0 Batista 2/21/2010 18-37-3 33% 35 John Cena 3/28/2010 75-13-2 85% 84 Sheamus 6/20/2010 27-58-4 32% 91 Randy Orton 9/19/2010 52-19-6 73% 64 Miz 11/22/2010 40-42-4 49% 160 John Cena 5/1/2011 70-17-3 80% 77 CM Punk 7/17/2011 17-77-1 18% 8 Rey Mysterio Jr 7/25/2011 66-12-2 85% 0 John Cena 7/25/2011 90-17-2 84% 20 CM Punk 8/14/2011 15-72-7 17% 0 Alberto Del Rio 8/14/2011 26-65-1 29% 35 John Cena 9/18/2011 98-13-9 88% 14 Alberto Del Rio 10/2/2011 26-75-1 26% 49 CM Punk 11/20/2011 33-45-8 42% 434 Rock 1/27/2013 0-0 na 70 John Cena 4/7/2013 32-3-1 91% 133
[Image] This image is a detailed record
of the 6 months prior winning the belt.
Observations: This only covers the WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship which is now typically considered the RAW brand belt.  It does not include the "World Heavyweight Title" (Smackdown!) history. The 1963-1987 era is so separated from the 1988-2013 era.  There were six reigns over 500 hundred days in the WWWF/WWF era dominated by Sammartino, Morales, Backlund and Hogan. Meanwhile the new average title reign drops to under 90 days (per capita) from 1989-2013. Let's focus on the last 25 years (1988-2013)

winning % examples avg reign below 10%5            32 20% 12            34 30% 8            62 40% 8          101 50% 7            90 60% 14          118 70% 10            69 80% 20            90 above 90% 17          129
[Image]
There is a general trend that champions with a higher winning percentage prior to obtaining the belt do have longer reigns.  However, the counter-example is found in CM Punk's modern record-making 400+ day reign which was on the heels of a very low winning percentage (42%).