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It's said that all records are meant to be broken. In the world of sports, many seemingly-untouchable records are broken by generational greats and the same applies to sports entertainment/professional wrestling. However, the difference between the two is that in the latter, it can be entirely controlled by the people booking the show.
In the world of WWE, we've seen several records emerge in the years gone by, only for superstars of another generation or those in the same batch breaking them. While records certainly are meant to be broken, the way it was done has led many to question whether Vince McMahon went out of his way to break them.
More often than not, there are circumstances behind the decision. On other occasions, it's simply to prove a point and establish a supporter, among other reasons. Here are ten records that Vince McMahon went out of his way to break.
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#10. Brock Lesnar - Longest World title reign in the modern era
Before 2018, the longest World Championship reign in the modern era belonged to CM Punk, who famously held the WWE Championship for 434 days. While it may not look as impressive on paper when comparing it to Bruno Sammartino's 2,803-day title reign, it all goes down to the difference in eras. Punk rightly pointed out that Sammartino would wrestle only once a month at Madison Square Garden, while he defended the title night in and night out in the hectic modern-day WWE schedule. He argued that his reign meant far more than Sammartino's, something that's subject to debate.
However, CM Punk walked out of WWE in 2014 on bad terms. It lasted for years and Brock Lesnar would be the man to break his record, holding the Universal Championship for 503 days (16 months).
It went so far that Roman Reigns' planned coronation at WrestleMania 34 was delayed, with WWE seemingly intending for Brock Lesnar to cross the 434-day mark as Champion.
#9. Roman Reigns racks up the most WrestleMania main events of the modern era
There are many different answers to the question of when the modern era of WWE truly began. For some, it began when Hulk Hogan lost the WWF Championship to Andre The Giant in 1984. For others, it began after the Attitude Era.
However, WWE.com defines it as 2005 onwards. However, for argument's sake, let's consider the late 1990s as the start of the modern era. At that time, the three most important superstars to the company have been 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena.
Steve Austin has 3 WrestleMania main events to his name (1998, 1999, 2001) and his greatest rival The Rock has 5 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2012, 2013), which is the same as John Cena (2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013). As you can see, both The Rock and Cena have been in 3 consecutive WrestleMania main events.
There are only two men who have had more - Hulk Hogan and Roman Reigns. While Hogan had five consecutive main events between 1989-1993 (with the last one being a 22-second match), no superstar in the modern era has as many consecutive main events as Roman Reigns - who main event four from WrestleMania 31 to WrestleMania 34.
#8. AJ Styles - Longest-reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history
Nobody defines SmackDown post-2010 the way AJ Styles does. He was every bit as important to the brand as Edge was post-2007 and even Eddie Guerrero in 2004. He was the second draft pick for SmackDown when the brand split was reintroduced in 2016 and for nearly three years, he held the fort, being SmackDown's biggest star.
That run included two WWE Championship reigns, the first of which was less than 8 months after his debut with the company. The second reign, however, holds more weight. He crossed a full year as WWE Champion, holding the title for 371-days.
Before Styles, the longest-reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history was JBL, who held the title for 280 days. JBL himself congratulated Styles, admitting that his record was broken by a deserving superstar.
Vince McMahon went out of his way to have Styles hold the title as long as he did, establishing him as the face of SmackDown. In holding the WWE title for a full calendar year, Styles joined an elite list of superstars to do so - Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, John Cena, and CM Punk.
#7. Shayna Baszler - The only superstar to eliminate every competitor inside the Elimination Chamber match
In the 18-year history of the Elimination Chamber match, we've seen several countless classics. We've seen shocking title changes, shocking eliminations, incredible performances, and more. However, there are only a few that stand out in terms of dominant individual performances.
The three superstars who belong to that category are Goldberg (SummerSlam 2003), Braun Strowman (Elimination Chamber 2018), and Shayna Baszler (Elimination Chamber 2020). Goldberg wreaked havoc by eliminating Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Shawn Michaels in quick succession, while Braun Strowman set a record for most eliminations in a single match with 5.
Shayna Baszler equalled that record in 2020, but she took it a step further - she became the only superstar in WWE history to wipe out every other competitor inside the Elimination Chamber. Vince McMahon went out of his way to have her dominant the Chamber match, helping her build her reputation as WWE's biggest "Cage fighter".
With her dominant performance, Shayna Baszler secured a RAW Women's Championship match against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36, where she lost.
#6. Randy Orton - Youngest World Champion in WWE history
At SummerSlam 2002, a young Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock to become the WWE Champion just four months after his main roster debut. In doing so, he became the youngest World Champion in WWE history - being only a month over 25 years old.
He would be an integral part of WWE programming, but the hectic WWE travel schedule burned him out, leading The Beast Incarnate to try his luck in another field. With Lesnar gone, WWE had one top prospect who was virtually guaranteed to become a World Champion - Randy Orton.
While Orton could have won the World Heavyweight Championship, later on, he ended up beating Chris Benoit at SummerSlam 2004 to become the youngest World Champion in WWE history at just 24 years old. It's a record that he still holds to date, and it'll be a long time before anyone comes close to breaking it.
It's hard to deny that the record was broken intentionally - especially since it happened just four months after Lesnar left.
#5. Seth Rollins - Longest time spent in a match on RAW
On the road to WrestleMania 34, only a few WWE superstars were in the hunt for Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship. Among the names were Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, John Cena, Finn Balor, The Miz, and Elias.
Starting a tradition that would follow for the next couple of years, WWE held a gauntlet match on RAW featuring all seven male competitors from the Elimination Chamber match and Seth Rollins was the man who started the match along with Roman Reigns before eliminating him and moving on to John Cena.
He managed to eliminate Cena as well in what was his best performance in years. A fired-up Seth Rollins had the crowd behind him and lasted a whopping 1 hour and 5 minutes before being eliminated by Elias.
In doing so, he set the record for the longest time spent in a single match in RAW's 25+ year history. It was a stroke of genius from Vince McMahon, who had Rollins set a new record - allowing him to regain momentum and saw him win the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 34 and the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35.
#4. Charlotte Flair - most Women's title reigns in WWE history
Just like Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair is a superstar who was always destined for great things. While her lineage may have had a lot to do with her success, it would be unfair to cite it as the sole reason for it. She's done a lot in the last 6-7 years to step out of her father's shadow and she's managed to do what few could have.
Before Flair, the most accomplished woman in WWE history was Trish Stratus, who held the Women's Championship a record seven times. Charlotte Flair, as of this writing, is a 12-time Women's Champion. Among her accomplishments are two NXT Women's Championships, one Divas Championship (of which she was the last Champion in its lineage), Four RAW Women's Championships, and a whopping five SmackDown Women's Championship reigns.
Although WWE doesn't count her first NXT title win as a part of her record, it's an undeniable part of her growing legacy. In March 2019, Flair defeated Asuka to break Stratus' record and in doing so, became an 8-time Women's Champion.
It was clear that WWE and Vince McMahon went out of their way to have Flair become the most accomplished woman in WWE history.
#3. Roman Reigns - Royal Rumble elimination record
Before 2014, the record number of eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match was held by Kane, who wiped out 11 competitors and was the runner-up at Royal Rumble 2001. In 2014, that record was broken a man who was a year away from winning the match himself - Roman Reigns.
Still with The Shield at the time, Reigns would dominate the Royal Rumble 2014 match, breaking Kane's record and eliminating 12 superstars. Like the WWE legend, he was the runner-up in the match, losing out at the end to Batista.
It was done to set up the push that he would begin to receive in the following year. Interestingly enough, fans clamoured for Roman Reigns to win when he had the final showdown with Batista. All of this was only a year before he was booed out of the building for winning the Royal Rumble match. It was the start of what would be one of the biggest pushes in WWE history.
#2. The New Day - Longest Tag Team Championship reign
The New Day have now been together for over five years, making them the longest-tenured faction in WWE history. As of this writing, The New Day are 8-time Tag Team Champions, having won the RAW and SmackDown versions of the title 2 and 6 times respectively.
The most notable reign in their run, however, was between August 2015 and December 2016, where they would break the record and become the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history.
The record was previously held by the legendary Demolition, who held the titles for 478 days. The reason why Vince McMahon went out of his way to have The New Day break the record was that Demolition's Ax and Smash were a part of a joint lawsuit accusing WWE of being responsible for head injuries caused during their tenure with the company.
They would lose that lawsuit and The New Day ended up making WWE history before promptly dropping the titles to Cesaro and Sheamus 4 days after setting the record.
#1. Brock Lesnar - ending The Undertaker's record WrestleMania streak
While this doesn't count as "breaking" a record, it certainly counts as ending one. And this was no ordinary record. This was the greatest record in WrestleMania history and one of the greatest streaks in professional wrestling history.
The Undertaker was 21-0 and the streak had become a part of his iconic legacy. However, in one of his more underwhelming WrestleMania bouts, the living legend would fall for the first time at the grandest stage of them all, getting pinned by Brock Lesnar.
It was one of the most shocking moments in WWE history and will likely remain the most shocking one in WrestleMania history. Many questioned the decision to end the streak, but Vince McMahon justified it as The Undertaker wanting to "give back".
To translate it as straightforward as possible, the reason why the streak was ended was to build Lesnar up as the unbeatable monster that he was - leading to his first WWE Championship reign in over 10 years.
Vince McMahon went out of his way to end the streak to help establish Roman Reigns as the face of WWE. That didn't work out as he would have wanted it to.
