Bruno Sammartino's Original WWE Title Belt Went Missing For 50 Years
The lineage of the current WWE Championship stretches back to 1963, with the first title reign being attributed to Buddy Rogers. However, Rogers would only hold the championship for a few short weeks before the formidable Bruno Sammartino would defeat him. Sammartino would go on to hold the title, then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation Championship, for an astronomical 2,803 days.
With a title reign nearly eight years long under his belt, in addition to another four-year reign that began just two years after the first ended, it seems highly unlikely that any wrestler in the modern era will be able to catch up to Sammartino's time as champion. Throughout his reigns as champion, Sammartino defended the championship against the likes of Gorilla Monsoon, Killer Kowalski, George "The Animal" Steele, and many more.
Early in Sammartino's first reign, WWWF owner Vince McMahon Sr. commissioned a new championship to replace the belt he'd won from Buddy Rogers. The previous belt was returned to Rogers and would soon fade into history for a long time before being rediscovered a decade ago.
The original WWWF title rediscovered
In 2012, the widow of a wrestler named Johnny Barend discovered the championship in her attic. This news eventually made its way to WWE employee and archivist Ben Brown, who reached out to management and was granted the go-ahead to acquire the belt for Sammartino's upcoming Hall of Fame induction.
However, it would not be quite that simple. By the time Brown got around to tracking down the championship, it had already exchanged hands and was in the possession of championship belt designer Dave Millican. Millican let Brown know that he was not interested in selling the title but would be open to a trade. From there, Brown went about gathering the necessary memorabilia for Millican and made his way to Memphis to trade for the title just days before Sammartino was set to enter the WWE Hall of Fame.
The exchange was a success, and Sammartino was able to reunite with the original version of the WWE Championship on the night of his induction ceremony. Just six years later, Sammartino passed away at his home, hopefully able to look back on his legendary career with pride.