Hangman Page & Bryan Danielson Just Had AEW's Longest Match EVER
The AEW World Title match DOMINATED Winter Is Coming's runtime.
'Hangman' Adam Page successfully defended his AEW World Championship against Bryan Danielson at Winter is Coming last night, though he couldn't defeat his game challenger before the 60-minute time limit expired.
A slow-building, layered title flight played out at the start of the show. Danielson attacked multiple body parts throughout, looking to weaken Page on multiple levels, while Hangman grew as the bout progressed - in confidence and as a top champion. By the end, he had broken Danielson's stiflement, levelling up in spite of the experience gulf, finally hitting the Buckshot Lariat after a long, gruelling battle.
And then the bell rang.
Going the full hour, this was comfortably the longest match in AEW history, outdoing the previous record of 38:45 set by Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega in their Unsanctioned Lights Out match at Full Gear 2019. 5 May 2021's Blood & Guts match (34:01) sits in third, Double Or Nothing 2021's Stadium Stampede (34:00) is fourth, and at fifth is The Young Bucks vs. The Brotherhood (31:26) from Fight For The Fallen 2019.
Including the ring entrances and brief post-match fallout, Danielson vs. Page ended up consuming more than half of the Dynamite special. A ballsy, experimental move, it'll be interesting to see how it impacts ratings.