10 longest matches in pro-wrestling history

Pro-wrestling matches often last between 5 and 15 minutes, while PPV show matches go for a little bit longer. But there are some wrestlers from around the world who are technically and physically capable of going even longer and impressing audiences with their tenacity, stamina and desire to put on a good show!

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Here are ten of the longest matches in pro-wrestling history (as of 29th, October 2018; credit: ProFightDB)

#10 Austin Aries vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH Testing The Limit (2004) - 76:00

Bryan Danielson (Image Courtesy: wrestlingobsessed.files.wordpress.com)

Before Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) became household names after featuring in the WWE, the two were popular wrestlers on the indie scene.

In this match at Ring of Honor's Testing The Limit show in 2004, the two future WWE stars battled it out for a mind-boggling 76 minutes in a 2 out of 3 Falls match! Aries and Danielson were the final two in the Survival of the Fittest match and the ROH management booked a match between the two to see who was the best of the two.

Aries got the first pin in the 42nd-minute mark after putting his opponent in the Cattle Mutilation hold and Danielson tapping out.

The second fall goes to Danielson in the 63rd minute after some good work on the knee of Aries. After a lot of back and forth and change in the pace of the match, Aries gets the third and final fall in the 76th minute!

Fun fact: Another future WWE megastar, CM Punk, was on commentary, while the referee was changed midway through the match!

#9 16-Man Tag Elimination - Chikara - The Cibernetico Cometh (2004) - 76:06

Chikara is a popular American indie wrestling promotion, and this match featured a Torneo Cibernetico 16-Man Elimination tag team match between Team Chikara and Sweet 'n' Sour International.

The match featured 16 wrestlers - 8 on each side and was held at The Cibernetico Cometh event on October 30, 2004.

The first elimination happened in the 41st minute when Team Chikara's Jolly Roger eliminated Mano Metalico.

Jigsaw was the main man for Team Chikara as he made four eliminations, including the last one in the 76th minute, where he eliminated Sweet 'n' Sour International's Larry Sweeney, who himself had eliminated three Team Chikara wrestlers.

#8 50-Man Royal Rumble - WWE Greatest Royal Rumble (2018) - 77:17

Braun Strowman won the Greatest Royal Rumble

The 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble was a unique event, where WWE held a PPV, on a Friday, in Saudi Arabia! The show did not feature any of the women Superstars, keeping in mind the local traditions, but it did feature several Superstars of yesteryear and now, including the likes of The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Triple H, John Cena and more.

The main event, the 50-man Royal Rumble, was the biggest in the WWE's history. The match went on for a staggering 77 minutes and 17 seconds and was won by Braun Strowman, who eliminated Big Cass, the final and 13th elimination by the 'Monster Among Men on the night - a new record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match.

#7 8-Person Tag Elimination - ROH Northern Aggression (2011) - 80:33

This historic 8-person tag elimination match at Ring of Honor's Northern Aggression event featured some now big names, including El Generico (Sami Zayn) Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Roderick Strong, as well as The Briscoes.

Benjamin was the first one to be eliminated after he was hit with a steel chair and was eliminated by the Briscoes, while Benjamin's partner, Haas, eliminated Mark Briscoe, and then Jay Briscoe is eliminated by Generico, and Haas is eliminated by Roderick Strong.

In spite of Edwards' partner, El Generico, eliminated, he eliminates Elgin and Strong, and gets the victory, with the match ending at 80 minutes and 33 seconds!

#6 Bruno Sammartino vs Waldo Von Erich - WWWF MSG Show (1964) - 81:00

Bruno Sammartino is regarded as one of the greatest ever professional wrestlers in the history of the business, while Waldo Von Erich was the kayfabe brother of the legendary Fritz Von Erich.

When Sammartino and Von Erich wrestled in a World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) match on August 22, 1964, the match ended in a draw at 81 minutes, and is still the longest match in WWE/WWF history!

The historic match was held at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City.

#5 Battle Royal - BJW/DDT/K-DOJO Tenka Sanbun No Kai - New Years Eve Special (2009) - 85:12

Another battle royal makes this list, but this one featured 108 (yes, 108!) wrestlers from three different Japanese promotions. Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), and Kaientai Dojo (K-DOJO) held an incredible event where the grand finale was a 108-man battle royale, held on 31st December, 2009.

The match featured Japanese pro wrestlers and went on for 85 minutes and 12 seconds, and the winner of the match was Jun Kasai, who has worked for several Japanese promotions.

#4 Chris Hero vs CM Punk - IWA-MS - When Hero Met Punk (2003) - 92:15

Before becoming Kassius Ohno on NXT, Chris Hero was a popular wrestler in the indie scene, wrestling for various promotions like Chikara, ROH, TNA and CZW. And during his many years in the indies, he put on several incredible matches against a future WWE legend by the name of CM Punk.

Hero and Punk wrestled in a 2-out-of-3 falls match in the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South) promotion back in 2003, and the match went on for a whopping 92 minutes and 15 seconds.

The match titled 'When Hero Met Punk' was held in Clarksville, Indiana. Hero and Punk battled it out and the first fall of the match went to Punk at the 53-minute mark! After some more acrobatic action, submission moves and finishers, Hero got the second fall after using Punk's finisher and now the scores were tied 1-1 at the 68th minute.

After 90 minutes, the match was still tied at 1-1 and went to sudden death and in the 92nd-minute Punk tapped out to Hero's Hangman’s Clutch submission!

#3 16-Man Tag Elimination - Chikara - The Cibernetico Returneth (2005) - 104:26

Another tag elimination makes it to this list, and this one comes from Chikara's The Cibernetico Returneth event in 2005.

This match featured two teams of eight men each and had one future WWE wrestler, Cesaro, who was wrestling under his real name, Claudio Castagnoli, and also featured Chris Hero, once again!

Hero and Castagnoli's 'The Kings Of Wrestling' & 'The Dark Breed' got the eventual win as Gran Akuma pinned Shane Storm in the 104th minute of the match to get the victory!

#2 Antonio Inoki vs Masa Saito - NJPW The Island Deathmatch (1987) - 125:42

Antonio Inoki (Image Courtesy: thestarwiki)

This iconic 'deathmatch' featured legendary Japanese pro wrestler, Antonio Inoki, and Masa Saito, which exceeded two hours, on October 4th, 1987. What makes this an even greater spectacle is that the match was wrestled all over the Ganryujima Island in Japan.

Inoki didn't appear from his tent for the first 30 minutes of the match, but he eventually got the victory after two hours of wrestling, by technical knockout.

The match is not highly regarded for its quality by fans and critics, but Inoki and Saito did make history as it became the longest - and still is - match in Japanese pro-wrestling history!

#1 Chris Hero - SMASH (Canada) Infinity Gauntlet For ALS (2015) - 190:00

Chris Hero makes it to this list for the third time and this time it was for a great cause! Hero took part in Smash Wrestling's fundraiser for ALS research, and wrestled for more than three hours!

For $500 donated, Hero would wrestle for 30 minutes and in the end, he wrestled for 190 minutes and made $3440 for ALS research!

Hero faced off against 17 opponents, including the likes of Rich Swann, Tyler Thomas, and Jason Kincaid. The last match between Swann and Hero ended in a draw as they had run out of time!

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