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One thing that is evident from Goldberg’s latest run in WWE is that his matches don’t last a long time. Goldberg only uses two moves, and his very brief match times reflect that limited skill set.
His matches at Survivor Series and Fastlane never even reached the two-minute mark, and Goldberg’s survival time in the 2017 Royal Rumble match was only 3 minutes and 23 seconds (3m 23s).
Now he we are with WrestleMania 33 on the horizon, and it seems likely that Goldberg versus Brock Lesnar will headline the card in what will probably be a very quick main event match.
I decided to go back and time all the 32 main events of the previous WrestleMania events to see what Lesnar and Goldberg are up against in order to set the record for the shortest main event in WrestleMania history. Here is the full list, sorted by longest main event to shortest main event.
WrestleMania Main Event Match Times
| WrestleMania | Main Event | Time |
|---|---|---|
| WrestleMania | Main Event | Time |
| 1 | Hogan & Mr. T vs. Piper & Orndorff | 13m 23s |
| 2 | Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy | 10m 16s |
| 3 | Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant | 12m 02s |
| 4 | Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase | 09m 18s |
| 5 | Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan | 17m 54s |
| 6 | Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior | 22m 49s |
| 7 | Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan | 20m 25s |
| 8 | Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice | 12m 28s |
| 9 | Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna | 08m 56s |
| 10 | Yokozuna vs. Bret Hart | 10m 33s |
| 11 | Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow | 11m 44s |
| 12 | Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels | 61m 55s |
| 13 | Sid Justice vs. Undertaker | 21m 21s |
| 14 | Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin | 20m 03s |
| 15 | The Rock vs. Steve Austin | 16m 53s |
| 16 | Triple H vs. Rock vs. Big Show vs. Foley | 36m 26s |
| 17 | The Rock vs. Steve Austin | 28m 07s |
| 18 | Chris Jericho vs. Triple H | 18m 42s |
| 19 | Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar | 21m 08s |
| 20 | Triple H vs. Benoit vs. HBK | 24m 47s |
| 21 | Triple H vs. Batista | 21m 35s |
| 22 | Triple H vs. John Cena | 22m 03s |
| 23 | John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels | 27m 48s |
| 24 | Edge vs. Undertaker | 23m 51s |
| 25 | Triple H vs. Randy Orton | 23m 34s |
| 26 | Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels | 23m 59s |
| 27 | The Miz vs. John Cena | 15m 10s |
| 28 | John Cena vs. The Rock | 30m 33s |
| 29 | The Rock vs. John Cena | 24m 00s |
| 30 | Orton vs. Bryan vs. Batista | 23m 21s |
| 31 | Lesnar vs. Reigns (vs. Rollins) | 16m 44s |
| 32 | Triple H vs. Roman Reigns | 27m 10s |
This table shows that only two main events in WrestleMania history ever fell short of 10 minutes, and one of those instances occurred on a card with an absurd count of 16 total matches due to a tournament.
For some quick and dirty summary stats, these 32 main event matches have an average time of 21m 13s. 8 matches lasted at least 24m 00s, 8 matches lasted between 21m 15s and 23m 59s, 8 matches lasted between 15m 00s and 21m 15s, and 8 matches were shorter than 15m 00s.
This table assumes that Hulk Hogan’s heist of Bret Hart’s WWF Championship at WrestleMania 9 was not the main event of that card. Regardless, WrestleMania 9 currently features the shortest main event match in WrestleMania history, setting a time of 8m 56s for Lesnar and Goldberg to reach.
Considering how Goldberg hasn’t even wrestled for 4 minutes yet in a single match during his return to WWE, lasting for nearly 9 minutes with Lesnar seems like quite a tall order.
What do you think Cagesiders, will Goldberg and Lesnar break this record? Or will WWE choose to end the night with a different match?