10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever

9. Brock Lesnar - 280 Days

The word 'boring' is not an adjective that could be used to describe the professional wrestling career of Brock Lesnar. After acrimoniously walking away from WWE in 2004, Lesnar managed to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his debut match for New Japan, pinning Masahiro Chono in a match that also included previous champion Kazuyuki Fujita at Toukon Souzou New Chapter in October 2005.

Lesnar's 280 days with the championship were as controversial as one expected them to be. After non-title victories over Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata, Lesnar defended the title in the Tokyo Dome against Shinsuke Nakamura before going on to successfully deal with Akebono and Giant Bernard with the title on the line in 2006.

Much like Sasaki, Lesnar was also forced to vacate the title, although there was far less honour involved in The Beast Incarnate's reign coming to an end. New Japan claimed that Lesnar had 'visa issues' and was therefore unable to defend the title, although the word on the grapevine is that the falling out was more financial than legal.

Lesnar subsequently took the championship to Antonio Inoki's IGF and defended it there, eventually losing it to Kurt Angle in what would be his last pro wrestling match for five years. Lesnar remains one of the few men to remain undefeated in NJPW.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.