I've always heard people saying it, I didn't watch during the Attitude Era so I've always believed these people. But to be frank, I got curious. So I set up multiple Eras for WWE history and put down every champ and how long they held the belt. Then I averaged each era and created my results. *note if they didn't hold the title for a whole day, I counted it as a day so I didn't have to ignore them or count hours 
The Really Old Era as I called it, this includes 1963-1984. Basically, the first WWE champion all the way until Hogan wins his first World title. The average length per recognized reign? 842 days per reign. To put that into perspective it's about twice as long as CM Punk's reign. It's 2 years and about an extra 3 months. That was the average in a 21 year period.
The Golden Era as everyone calls it, this was 1984-1994. I stopped it at 1994 because the next generation was about new stars being born, the reign I stopped on was the Yokozuna run, Bret hart ended to begin his second reign as champ. The average length of a world title run, 225 days. For perspective, Lesnar's run as champ will be just a hair longer.
The New Generation Era is the Wikipedia name for it, it lasted from 1994-1997. I ended it after the Montreal Screwjob, feel free to end it at Wrestlemania. The downward average continues, this era an average champ would hold it for 120 days. This period seems like a dark period in wrestling from at least what I've heard, Diesel had an almost year long run as champ, Bret Hart won it four times for about 490 days.
Then it's obviously the Attitude Era which I started at Survivor Series 1997 and ended at SummerSlam 2002 when Lesnar won the title and the brands split. And if you actually look back, things look bad. 31 title swaps and each reign averaged a length of 55 days. As in not even 2 months. Less than half of the previous era's average. You'd win the title and be expected to drop it after a successful title defense. That was it. Only 12 people held the title during this period, one of these people being Vince and another being Hogan. With people passing it back and forth quite frequently(Rock and Mankind pass it back and forth quite a few times). This is by no means me insulting the era but I mean, damn they passed that title around a lot!
Then I have the Brand Extension Era, 2002-2013. I know the brand extension technically ended in 2012 but there was 2 world titles still. So I'm pretending it continued until Orton won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. There were two belts so I'll look at them both. The World Heavyweight championship, the one people don't even count sometimes, the average length of a run was 75 days. As in 3 weeks longer than the world title in the attitude era. It actually started to go up. Funny we say the titles have been deprestiged in the modern era. But let's look at the WWE championship you say, the title that matters. The belt, Orton won 2 times in one night. The one Daniel Bryan has held for less than a day on 2 different occasions. What's the average? 86 days! As in almost 3 months. Obviously CM Punk pulls it up and Orton/Edge/Daniel Bryan pull the average down but still. That is quite an improvement from 55 days.
Now the modern era. 91 days per champion. That number gets more impressive when you consider what they wanted to happen. Bryan was supposed to drop it to Lesnar, so it would've been 3 champions from TLC 2013-Wrestlemania 2015. An average of over 150. Even with Bryan being injured, Lesnar is "booked" to hold the title till Mania if he does the average length of title reigns will be 121 days. Higher than the New Generation Era.
What am I getting at here you're thinking? WWE is trying to put prestige on the main belt, I don't know how it'll work out but we're on the upside. Hopefully we won't hit the point where a 3 year reign is normal, but we might be hitting a point of time where a 4 month reign is considered average! Granted the pool of numbers is too small, so I'm not saying this is for certain.
we'll have to wait and see. I just find it funny people say the attitude era was the best yet the belt swapped so quickly, yet if it happens now it's this horrible thing. I know that the IC belt was more "valuable." Maybe I'll do that belt at some point too.
I put all the info in spoilers so it wouldn't be too much all at once, hope the formatting stays legible
The Really Old Era as I called it, this includes 1963-1984. Basically, the first WWE champion all the way until Hogan wins his first World title. The average length per recognized reign? 842 days per reign. To put that into perspective it's about twice as long as CM Punk's reign. It's 2 years and about an extra 3 months. That was the average in a 21 year period.
The Golden Era as everyone calls it, this was 1984-1994. I stopped it at 1994 because the next generation was about new stars being born, the reign I stopped on was the Yokozuna run, Bret hart ended to begin his second reign as champ. The average length of a world title run, 225 days. For perspective, Lesnar's run as champ will be just a hair longer.
The New Generation Era is the Wikipedia name for it, it lasted from 1994-1997. I ended it after the Montreal Screwjob, feel free to end it at Wrestlemania. The downward average continues, this era an average champ would hold it for 120 days. This period seems like a dark period in wrestling from at least what I've heard, Diesel had an almost year long run as champ, Bret Hart won it four times for about 490 days.
Then it's obviously the Attitude Era which I started at Survivor Series 1997 and ended at SummerSlam 2002 when Lesnar won the title and the brands split. And if you actually look back, things look bad. 31 title swaps and each reign averaged a length of 55 days. As in not even 2 months. Less than half of the previous era's average. You'd win the title and be expected to drop it after a successful title defense. That was it. Only 12 people held the title during this period, one of these people being Vince and another being Hogan. With people passing it back and forth quite frequently(Rock and Mankind pass it back and forth quite a few times). This is by no means me insulting the era but I mean, damn they passed that title around a lot!
Then I have the Brand Extension Era, 2002-2013. I know the brand extension technically ended in 2012 but there was 2 world titles still. So I'm pretending it continued until Orton won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. There were two belts so I'll look at them both. The World Heavyweight championship, the one people don't even count sometimes, the average length of a run was 75 days. As in 3 weeks longer than the world title in the attitude era. It actually started to go up. Funny we say the titles have been deprestiged in the modern era. But let's look at the WWE championship you say, the title that matters. The belt, Orton won 2 times in one night. The one Daniel Bryan has held for less than a day on 2 different occasions. What's the average? 86 days! As in almost 3 months. Obviously CM Punk pulls it up and Orton/Edge/Daniel Bryan pull the average down but still. That is quite an improvement from 55 days.
Now the modern era. 91 days per champion. That number gets more impressive when you consider what they wanted to happen. Bryan was supposed to drop it to Lesnar, so it would've been 3 champions from TLC 2013-Wrestlemania 2015. An average of over 150. Even with Bryan being injured, Lesnar is "booked" to hold the title till Mania if he does the average length of title reigns will be 121 days. Higher than the New Generation Era.
What am I getting at here you're thinking? WWE is trying to put prestige on the main belt, I don't know how it'll work out but we're on the upside. Hopefully we won't hit the point where a 3 year reign is normal, but we might be hitting a point of time where a 4 month reign is considered average! Granted the pool of numbers is too small, so I'm not saying this is for certain.
we'll have to wait and see. I just find it funny people say the attitude era was the best yet the belt swapped so quickly, yet if it happens now it's this horrible thing. I know that the IC belt was more "valuable." Maybe I'll do that belt at some point too. The Way back Era:1963-1984
Buddy Rogers 22 days
Bruno Sammartino 2803 days
Ivan Koloff 21 days
Pedro Morales 1027 days
Stan Stasiak 9 days
Bruno Sammartino 1237 days
Billy Graham 296 days
Bob Backlund 2135 days
The Iron Shiek 28 days
9 7578 842 days on average
The Golden Era 1984-1994
Hulk Hogan 1474 days
Andre the Giant 1 day
Randy Savage 371 days
Hulk Hogan 364 days
The Ultimate Warrior 293 days
Sgt Slaughter 64 days
Hulk Hogan 248 days
Undertaker 6 days
Hulk Hogan 1 day
Ric Flair 77 days
Randy Savage 149 days
Ric Flair 41 days
Bret Hart 174 days
Yokozuna 1 day
Hulk Hogan 70 days
Yokozuna 280 days
16 3614 225.875 on average
The New Generation 1994-1997
Bret Hart 248 days
Bob Backlund 3 days
Diesel 358 days
Bret Hart 133 days
Shawn Michaels 231 days
Sycho Sid 63 days
Shawn Michaels 25 days
Bret Hart 1 day
Sycho Sid 34 days
The Undertaker 133 days
Bret Hart 98 days
11 1327 120.63 days
The Attitude Era 1997-2002
Shawn Michaels 140 days
Stone Cold 91 days
Kane 1 day
Stone Cold 90 days
Rock 44 days
Mankind 26 days
Rock 2 days
Mankind 20 days
Rock 41 days
Stone Cold 56 days
Undertaker 36 days
Stone Cold 55 days
Mankind 1 day
Triple H 22 days
Vince 6 days
Triple H 49 days
Big Show 50 days
Triple H 118 days
Rock 21 days
Triple H 35 days
Rock 119 days
Kurt Angle 126 days
Rock 35 days
Stone Cold 175 days
Kurt Angle 15 days
Stone Cold 62 days
Chris Jericho 98 days
Triple H 35 days
Hulk Hogan 28 days
The Undertaker 63 days
The Rock 35 days
31 1695 54.7 days
Brand Extension 2002-2013
WWE Title World Heavyweight
Brock Lesnar 84 days Triple H 76 days
Big Show 28 days Shawn Michaels 28 days
Kurt Angle 105 days Triple H 280 days
Brock Lesnar 119 days Goldberg 84 days
Kurt Angle 51 days Triple H 91 days
Brock Lesnar 152 days Chris Benoit 154 days
Eddie Guerrero 133 days Randy Orton 28 days
JBL 280 days Triple H 85 days
John Cena 280 days Triple H 84 days
Edge 21 days Batista 282 days
John Cena 133 days Kurt Angle 82 days
Rob Van Dam 22 days Rey Mysterio 112 days
Edge 76 days King Booker 126 days
John Cena 380 days Batista 126 days
Randy Orton 1 day Undertaker 37 days
Triple H 1 day Edge 70 days
Randy Orton 203 days Khali 61 days
Triple H 210 days Batista 91 days
Edge 21 days Edge 105 days
Jeff Hardy 42 days Undertaker 30 days
Edge 21 days Edge 29 days
Triple H 70 days CM Punk 69 days
Randy Orton 42 days Chris Jericho 49 days
Batista 2 days Batista 8 days
Randy Orton 90 days Chris Jericho 20 days
John Cena 21 days John Cena 84 days
Randy Orton 21 days Edge 49 days
John Cena 49 days John Cena 21 days
Sheamus 70 days Edge 42 days
John Cena 1 day Jeff Hardy 1 day
Batista 35 days CM Punk 49 days
John Cena 84 days Jeff Hardy 28 days
Sheamus 91 days CM Punk 42 days
Randy Orton 64 days Undertaker 140 days
The Miz 160 days Chris Jericho 37 days
John Cena 77 days Jack Swagger 82 days
CM Punk 28 days Rey Mysterio 28 days
Rey Mysterio 1 day Kane 154 days
John Cena 20 days Edge 58 days
Del Rio 35 days Dolph Ziggler 1 day
John Cena 14 days Edge 56 days
Del Rio 49 days Christian 2 days
CM Punk 434 days Randy Orton 75 days
Rock 70 days Christian 28 days
John Cena 133 days Randy Orton 35 days
Daniel Bryan 1 day Mark Henry 91 days
Randy Orton 28 days Big Show 1 day
Daniel Bryan 1 day Daniel Bryan 105 days
Randy Orton 161 days Sheamus 210 days
Big Show 72 days
Del Rio 90 days
Ziggler 69 days
Del Rio 133 days
John Cena 49 days
49 4215 86 days 54 4039 75 days
Buddy Rogers 22 days
Bruno Sammartino 2803 days
Ivan Koloff 21 days
Pedro Morales 1027 days
Stan Stasiak 9 days
Bruno Sammartino 1237 days
Billy Graham 296 days
Bob Backlund 2135 days
The Iron Shiek 28 days
9 7578 842 days on average
The Golden Era 1984-1994
Hulk Hogan 1474 days
Andre the Giant 1 day
Randy Savage 371 days
Hulk Hogan 364 days
The Ultimate Warrior 293 days
Sgt Slaughter 64 days
Hulk Hogan 248 days
Undertaker 6 days
Hulk Hogan 1 day
Ric Flair 77 days
Randy Savage 149 days
Ric Flair 41 days
Bret Hart 174 days
Yokozuna 1 day
Hulk Hogan 70 days
Yokozuna 280 days
16 3614 225.875 on average
The New Generation 1994-1997
Bret Hart 248 days
Bob Backlund 3 days
Diesel 358 days
Bret Hart 133 days
Shawn Michaels 231 days
Sycho Sid 63 days
Shawn Michaels 25 days
Bret Hart 1 day
Sycho Sid 34 days
The Undertaker 133 days
Bret Hart 98 days
11 1327 120.63 days
The Attitude Era 1997-2002
Shawn Michaels 140 days
Stone Cold 91 days
Kane 1 day
Stone Cold 90 days
Rock 44 days
Mankind 26 days
Rock 2 days
Mankind 20 days
Rock 41 days
Stone Cold 56 days
Undertaker 36 days
Stone Cold 55 days
Mankind 1 day
Triple H 22 days
Vince 6 days
Triple H 49 days
Big Show 50 days
Triple H 118 days
Rock 21 days
Triple H 35 days
Rock 119 days
Kurt Angle 126 days
Rock 35 days
Stone Cold 175 days
Kurt Angle 15 days
Stone Cold 62 days
Chris Jericho 98 days
Triple H 35 days
Hulk Hogan 28 days
The Undertaker 63 days
The Rock 35 days
31 1695 54.7 days
Brand Extension 2002-2013
WWE Title World Heavyweight
Brock Lesnar 84 days Triple H 76 days
Big Show 28 days Shawn Michaels 28 days
Kurt Angle 105 days Triple H 280 days
Brock Lesnar 119 days Goldberg 84 days
Kurt Angle 51 days Triple H 91 days
Brock Lesnar 152 days Chris Benoit 154 days
Eddie Guerrero 133 days Randy Orton 28 days
JBL 280 days Triple H 85 days
John Cena 280 days Triple H 84 days
Edge 21 days Batista 282 days
John Cena 133 days Kurt Angle 82 days
Rob Van Dam 22 days Rey Mysterio 112 days
Edge 76 days King Booker 126 days
John Cena 380 days Batista 126 days
Randy Orton 1 day Undertaker 37 days
Triple H 1 day Edge 70 days
Randy Orton 203 days Khali 61 days
Triple H 210 days Batista 91 days
Edge 21 days Edge 105 days
Jeff Hardy 42 days Undertaker 30 days
Edge 21 days Edge 29 days
Triple H 70 days CM Punk 69 days
Randy Orton 42 days Chris Jericho 49 days
Batista 2 days Batista 8 days
Randy Orton 90 days Chris Jericho 20 days
John Cena 21 days John Cena 84 days
Randy Orton 21 days Edge 49 days
John Cena 49 days John Cena 21 days
Sheamus 70 days Edge 42 days
John Cena 1 day Jeff Hardy 1 day
Batista 35 days CM Punk 49 days
John Cena 84 days Jeff Hardy 28 days
Sheamus 91 days CM Punk 42 days
Randy Orton 64 days Undertaker 140 days
The Miz 160 days Chris Jericho 37 days
John Cena 77 days Jack Swagger 82 days
CM Punk 28 days Rey Mysterio 28 days
Rey Mysterio 1 day Kane 154 days
John Cena 20 days Edge 58 days
Del Rio 35 days Dolph Ziggler 1 day
John Cena 14 days Edge 56 days
Del Rio 49 days Christian 2 days
CM Punk 434 days Randy Orton 75 days
Rock 70 days Christian 28 days
John Cena 133 days Randy Orton 35 days
Daniel Bryan 1 day Mark Henry 91 days
Randy Orton 28 days Big Show 1 day
Daniel Bryan 1 day Daniel Bryan 105 days
Randy Orton 161 days Sheamus 210 days
Big Show 72 days
Del Rio 90 days
Ziggler 69 days
Del Rio 133 days
John Cena 49 days
49 4215 86 days 54 4039 75 days
I put all the info in spoilers so it wouldn't be too much all at once, hope the formatting stays legible
