10 Legendary Wrestling Records That Should Never Be Broken
Sometimes, "making history" just isn't worth it.
It's a worrying time to be a WWE record holder. The company has gradually shifted away from straightforward, show-by-show storytelling in recent years, and their booking patterns now largely revolve around creating big moments and "making history." In 2016, WWE are more intent on writing their wrestlers' names into the record books rather than letting them create their own, organic legacies, and there are no better examples than Raw's women's and tag team divisions.
Sasha Banks and Charlotte were the first women to ever headline a WWE PPV at Hell In A Cell, but the build largely stripped away their years-long rivalry and disdain for one another. They focused almost entirely on being the first women to wrestle inside the demonic structure, and it greatly reduced the impact of what should've been women's wrestling's most significant moment.
The New Day's run as Raw Tag Team Champions, meanwhile, has become a mindless trudge towards breaking Demolition's record 478-day run as champions. It has been blatantly obvious that they're going to break the record for months, and it has killed all competition in the tag division.
WWE should be wary of treating longstanding records with such flippancy. The cliché that "all records exist to be broken" isn't always applicable, and some records aren't just an important part of their holders' legacies, but products of a wrestling environment that can't be recreated in the modern era.
Here are 10 legendary wrestling records that should never be broken.
10. WWE's Longest Match
WWE’s annual Royal Rumble matches regularly break the 60-minute mark, but even the longest Rumble (1994: 70 minutes, 6 seconds) isn’t even close to breaking the record for WWE’s longest match.
Bruno Sammartino wasn’t just known for his lengthy world title reigns, but his endurance inside the squared circle. His title defences would regularly break the 30 minute mark, and his matches with Dr. Bill Miller, Pedro Morales, Gorilla Monsoon, and Waldo Von Erich stretched beyond an hour.
Taking place in August 1964, Bruno’s WWE Championship defence against Von Erich remains the longest match in WWE history. The duo went at it for 81 minutes inside Madison Square Garden, but they were inseparable as the final bell rang. Sadly, Bruno and Waldo wrestled for so long that the event’s curfew expired: they were forced to stop, and the fans were made to leave.
The only chance WWE have of breaking this 52-year record is by stretching a Royal Rumble out, because let’s be honest: we probably aren’t going to see Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns wrestling for an hour and a half at Roadblock. It’s hard enough to hold fans’ attention for anything longer than 20 minutes in 2016, let alone 81, and such lengthy epics are best left in a bygone era.
Bruno vs. Waldo isn’t the longest match in documented wrestling history, however. Former WWE developmental talent Chris Hero earned that honor by wrestling a staggering 3-hour long gauntlet match for Canada’s SMASH Wrestling last year, which is about the same length as the average WWE PPV.