What Is An Iron Match In Pro Wrestling? Rules?

What is an iron match in pro wrestling?

Iron man matches are matches in professional wrestling that are bound by a specific time frame and usually, the wrestler who gets the most falls within the specified amount of time is the winner, the matches are usually decided via pinfall, submission, or disqualification.

On some rare occasions, the matches go beyond the time limit if the wrestlers are tied for falls scored, then they go into sudden-death overtime.

In sudden-death overtime, the wrestler who gets the fall wins automatically, but both wrestlers have to agree over sudden-death overtime, the downside to this is that sometimes wrestlers might opt against going into sudden death and as such the match ends as a tie.

In some iron man matches there are short breaks or intervals for the wrestlers to catch their breath as they are humans after all, an example of that was in 2009, in an iron man match between John Cena and Randy Orton where they were given 30 seconds of rest after each fall was scored before the match resumed, it might have had to do with the fact that the match was stipulated as an “ANYTHING GOES” match.

Sudden deaths are quite regular in Iron man matches when there are titles to be defended with both wrestlers pushing each other to the limit, sometimes the audience could get a little bored with the match due to its duration, that is why wrestlers usually save attractive transitions and moves for the end of the match.

One of the most memorable Iron man matches in history is the 2009 “Anything goes” match between John Cena and Randy Orton with John Cena emerging victorious after both wrestlers had been in the squared circle for 60 minutes.

Another amazing match was when Kurt Angle faced Brock Lesnar in 2003.

What are the rules of an iron man match?

The rules of an Iron man match are not so different from the traditional match.

There is a specified time frame ranging from between 30 to 60 minutes and there needs to be a winner within the specified timeframe.

The wrestlers have to score falls against each other within that time frame with the wrestler with the highest number of falls winning the match.

Sometimes these matches are heavily contested and end up with both wrestlers being evenly matched for whatever reason, when this happens the match goes into Sudden death where the next fall wins but there is a catch, the next fall has to be requested by either one of the wrestlers and there needs to be an agreement to go into the last fall by the wrestler involved or an authority in the company.

Iron man matches have not been a staple in professional wrestling as of late but it sometimes produces quite spectacular moments.