10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever

3. The Great Muta - 400 Days

The Great Muta IWGP Champion
njpwworld.com

Keiji Mutoh has had one heck of a life. The man who rose to fame as The Great Muta was one of the first Japanese wrestlers to gain international fame and has arguably the most mimicked gimmick in pro wrestling history, as well as taking part in a match so bloody that it inspired what has become known as The Muta Scale for gauging the bloodiness of a match. Mutoh was also a Mast Sergeant in the Japanese military.

The Great Muta is a four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and his 1238 cumulative days as champion put him second in the all time list behind Hiroshi Tanahashi, although Tanahashi's 1358 days are spread out over seven reigns. Muta won his first IWGP title in 1992 and his fourth in 2008, displaying a longevity that can't be matched.

Muta's first reign remains his longest. After defeating Riki Choshu for the title on 16 August 1992, Muta held on to the title for 400 days before losing it to Shinya Hashimoto at the G1 Climax Special in September 1993. Muta defended the title on just five occasions over those 400 days however, defeating Hashimoto, Scott Norton, Sting, Masahiro Chono, and The Great Kabuki.

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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.