The Oldest Champion For Every Major Title In Wrestling Today

Becoming a champion is what nearly every single wrestler inside and outside of kayfabe strive for. A championship title is a symbol of hard work and is the reward for being viewed as worthy of carrying a belt over their shoulder or around their waist.RELATED: The Oldest Wrestler To Hold Every WWE Championship On Raw & SmackDownAt times, young up and comers are given the opportunity to hold a major championship to kickstart their career with a bang, but at times, veterans and old hands are given titles to make sure there is a respected, safe, and at times, star-studded name to represent the entire brand or company. Some don’t like it when older wrestlers are chosen over younger ones, but that doesn’t change the fact that it will likely always happen at some points.

12 NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Tim Storm, 51

In what is the oldest known championship belt alive, with its lineage tracing all the way back to 1905, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship has a sea of former champions. Over a 100 years is enough time to give the belt to somebody older.

Tim Storm has had a fairly respected career, though not too notable at times. In 2016, at the start of his run with NWA, he defeated Jax Dane to become the oldest champion in the belt’s history, at age 51.

11 NWA World Women’s Championships: The Fabulous Moolah, 55

Like its male counterpart, the NWA Worlds Women’s Title has a very long history, with the first champion dating back to around 1937, with some records lost from there to 1954. Just like she did elsewhere in the wrestling industry, The Fabulous Moolah held a tight hold over the company’s top women’s belt for many, many years.

At the age of 55, she started her record fourth reign. Moolah also holds the record for the longest reign, at nearly 4,000 days – with over 9,000 days in total of holding the belt, showcasing the sway she had over wrestling at the time.

10 Ring Of Honor World Championship: PCO, 51

Despite Ring of Honor’s future being up in the air, releasing all their talents towards the end of 2021, their World Championship has still been defended around the independent circuit by champion, Jonathan Gresham.

Their oldest champion is PCO, who won the title in 2019. ROH has notoriously been a place for younger names to rise to the top of the indies, but he has been a big name in wrestling, working for WWE, ECW, and TNA throughout his career. He is better known as Pierre Carl Ouellet as one-half of The Quebecers.

9 IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kota Ibushi, 38

This title has only officially been around since 2021 after the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles were unified, so having Ibushi as its oldest champion will no doubt change in the future. Regardless of its age, it is still the biggest championship in all of Japan.

The previous Heavyweight Championship’s lineage ended at the unification, but the oldest champion for that belt was Genichiro Tenryu, who was 49.

8 World Of Stardom Championship: Meiko Satomura, 35

Whilst Stardom has only been around since 2011, it has birthed some of the biggest female stars in the world, establishing itself as the biggest all-women’s promotion on the planet. Names such as Io Shirai, Toni Storm, and Bea Priestly have been elevated by working there and winning the top title.

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The oldest name thus far, at just 35, is the current NXT UK Women’s Champion, Meiko Satomura.

7 Impact Knockouts Championship: Mickie James, 42

Impact has put together one of the most respected women’s divisions on the planet, with its top female title being a huge prize to win in wrestling. Current champion, Mickie James, has won the belt four times to this point, but her latest and current reign has made history.

After a poor run in WWE, James returned to the wider wrestling world, proving her quality, and at the age of 42, she showed everybody that she is still a top performer by winning the Knockouts Championship from Deonna Purrazzo.

6 Impact World Championship: Sting, 52

Impact’s top title has experienced many iterations in its history, but the man who is the oldest to hold that belt is one of the legends of the company and one of the biggest icons in the wrestling business full stop.

Sting’s final stint as champion came when he was 52, completing his fourth reign and remaining to this day as one of the most accomplished individuals that the company had to offer. 10 years after that victory, he is still actively wrestling, now in AEW.

5 AEW Women’s World Championship: Nyla Rose, 37

The AEW Women’s World Title has a small history thus far, with just four champions to date. The oldest of those four is Nyla Rose, who became the second-ever champion, dethroning inaugural champion, Riho.

Rose is a dominant individual who will likely hold the belt again at some point in her career, so her record as the oldest champion will likely remain, though she will be older the next time she wins it.

4 AEW World Championship: Chris Jericho, 48

AEW’s first champion is still their oldest, and it may remain that way for a very long time. Jericho was the most recognizable signing that AEW made early on, so giving him the title was a good business decision and one which brought several entertaining moments.

With AEW’s focus on pushing younger stars as champions, such as "Hangman" Adam Page, MJF, and Darby Allin, AEW’s next World Champions will undoubtedly be younger than Jericho was at the time, being 48 years old.

3 WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg, 53

WWE’s second World Title may have currently surpassed the other in terms of importance, but it will likely always be second to the WWE Championship in the hearts of many. Goldberg has controversially won the Universal Championship on two occasions, beating full-time stars Kevin Owens and Bray Wyatt.

In his second title run, he broke his own record of being the oldest champion, as he was 53 years of age.

2 WWE Raw & Smackdown Women’s Championship: Asuka, 38, 37

The lineage for these championships only started in 2016, but they are the biggest prizes for women to win in WWE. Since then, several women have won both belts, and Asuka is one of them. In her most recent runs with either belt, she was 37 and 38 years of age respectively.

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Asuka is one of the most talented competitors in the world and is sure to claim back one of the two championships eventually to break this record.

1 WWE Championship: Mr. McMahon, 54

Out of all the talented performers who have held the WWE Championship, none have been as old as Mr. McMahon was during his one and only title reign – not even Hulk Hogan. McMahon controversially won the championship in 1999 and is still perhaps the worst champion of all time.

Despite owning the company, McMahon was given too many accomplishments as an on-screen character, with an ECW Title to his name in addition to a Royal Rumble win. There is no doubt that a 54-year-old McMahon was a terrible choice as champion. But to his credit, there were very few heels as effective as Vinnie Mac.