Former NJPW Star Kazuchika Okada Reaches New Milestone As AEW Continental Champion

For some AEW fans, it can be hard to imagine the AEW Continental Championship not being around the waist of "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada, and on March 20, he reached a milestone with the title that no one has achieved before.

March 20 marks the one year anniversary of Okada's match with Eddie Kingston where he won the AEW Continental Championship, making him the first man in the title's history to hold the belt for a full calendar year. Granted, the only other AEW star to hold the title was Kingston as he became the inaugural champion at the 2023 Worlds End pay-per-view, but Okada holding the title for a full year puts him amongst an elite group in AEW history.

At 365 days, Okada currently has the longest title reign out of the current set of AEW champions, and has the sixth longest title reign out of any AEW champion. He currently sits behind Hikaru Shida's first reign with the AEW Women's World Championship at 372 days, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks who both held the unofficial FTW Championship for 377 and 378 days respectively, MJF's run as AEW World Champion that clocked in at 406 days, and Jade Cargill's time as the inaugural AEW TBS Champion, which lasted for 508 days.

If Okada makes it to Dynasty on April 6 with the title in hand, he will jump to third on the list of longest AEW title reigns, and if he holds the title until after Forbidden Door on August 24, he will surpass Cargill's record to have the longest reign as an AEW champion in history. However, that might not happen given the recent reports that AEW are considering merging the Continental Championship with the International Championship, but whatever happens, Okada will be considered the greatest AEW Continental Champion in history.