A random question about rookie year title reigns
 

I was thinking about how long Dean Ambrose has been the United States Champion today. He's spent 158+ days as the US Champion. This got me thinking about Superstars that have won championships in their rookie year on the main roster and gone on to be the longest reigning serving champion within that reign.

Dean Ambrose has done it now, having won the US Title way back at Extreme Rules. But Antonio Cesaro also became the longest reigning and defending champion this year when CM Punk lost the WWE Title to The Rock, and that was within his rookie year.

There are probably quite a few guys I am not aware of, of course. It actually seems like a pretty solid accomplishment, if you think about it. Often the commentators do point out when a guy has a long reign or when they have held their title the longest, but to achieve that in your rookie year can't be too common.

Is anyone aware of any more?

I think Primo can be added to the list. He won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Carlito not long after debuting and they outlasted all their contemporaries, even unifying their titles with the World Tag Team Titles on the WrestleMania XXV pre-show.

Taka Michinoku and Dean Malenko both had very long reigns with the Light Heavyweight Title soon after showing up in the WWE. Considering most titles changed hands in the WWE quite frequently at that time, I'm sure they would have been the longest running champions with their titles. Dean Malenko had a past in WCW though. Taka Michinoku was, of course, celebrated in Japan, but I think you could still count him.

Cody Rhodes helf the tag belt from December to August. Won the belt with Hardcore Holly, turned on Holly and became Dibiase's partner, all while holding the belt. That's 239 days.

Diesel won the Triple Crown in his rookie year and went on to be the longest reigning WWF champion of the 90s. Hard to beat that.

I briefly thought of Rhodes, but didn't get the chance to check it out. After doing some research, you're right -- Cody Rhodes did have one hell of a reign. It's arguable whether or not you count his World Tag Team Title reign with Hardcore Holly as the same as his one with Ted DiBiase, however. But they were certainly consecutive days as champion that extended outside his rookie year. During this time in his rookie year, John Morrison & The Miz were holding the WWE Tag Team Championship, however.

Certainly an impressive accolade for Rhodes that announcers could point occasionally. "Cody Rhodes won a Tag Team Championship in his rookie year and spent 239 consecutive days as champion." Makes Rhodes sound solid as hell.

He never really lost the title, so I guess it counts.

Hogan won the World Title in his first WCW match and held it for 15 months.

I was actually unaware this happened during Diesel's rookie year. I've looked it up and I think that while Diesel won the Triple Crown within a year of each other, the dates he won the WWE Title and World Tag Team Titles actually fell outside of his rookie year. His IC Title reign, while impressive, didn't extend past Bret Hart's WWE Title reign at the time. Alunda Blayze was also the Women's Champion for the entire duration of Diesel's IC Title reign.

This would actually put Blayze into the discussion. She debuted in the WWE in 1993 and proceeded to hold the Women's Title for 342 days, but she had appeared in WCW in the past. It just comes down to whether you want to talk about company rookie years or "big stage" rookie years, in which case you'd probably count promotions that had legitimate World Titles as "big stage" promotions.

Diesel winning the Triple Crown all within a year was certainly something worth getting the man notice, however. CM Punk did a similar thing when he won the World Heavyweight Championship, World Tag Team Championship and Intercontinental Championship all within a year of each other around 2008.

Yeah. I guess you could definitely make the case that Cody Rhodes won a title in his rookie year, and by the time he was no longer a champion, he had surpassed all other title holders, which is what I am looking for, I guess. Technically, Rhodes' first reign came to an end before he got to make that claim, however. This is what happens when you win a title from yourself. :p

This would qualify in the same bracket as Alundra Blayze. :y:

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just talking about the different qualifiers you could use when compiling a list of wrestlers who have done this sort of thing. Depending on how you define "rookie year," Primo may be the first in wrestling history. :eek:

Actually, MVP qualifies in every sense. He debuted at No Mercy in 2006, defeating Marty Garner. He would go on to win the US Title from Chris Benoit at Judgment Day in 2007, and would then dethrone the longest reigning champions of the time, Deuce N' Domino with Matt Hardy to become a WWE Tag Team Champion within his rookie year as well.

So not only does MVP qualify as having won the title in his rookie year, but he held his title longer than any other champion within this year, and he actually dethroned the last standing champions himself to achieve this.

Think Carlito won both the IC and US title in his first year although neither were record-breaking reigns.

Won the US title on his WWE debut against Cena on Smackdown and then several months later won the IC title in his debut match for the Raw brand.

The word Rookie and Dean Ambrose don't really mix.

Sure it does. He was a minor leaguer until this year.

Taka totally counts, especially considering WWE was building the Light Heavyweight Title around the man.

Santino Marella won the IC title in his first year and kept it for... I dunno, but it was long.

A month and a half

No mention of Goldberg in here? Racist forum!

Oh. Thought it was longer than that, probably because of that counter thing.

You mean the Honk-a-meter?

What about Gillberg?

I just mean in the sense that it was Taka's first year with the company, but he was quite the player already in Japan, wasn't he? It's not like he came up through developmental or anything like that. I meant it more as a talking point than anything.

Gillberg is an interesting one. Duane Gill had worked for the company a few years before as an enhancement talent. It just depends if you start with the kayfabe beginning of the Gillberg character as his "debut."