WWE SummerSlam 2015: 4-Hour Format Calls for Return of Iron Man Match

After days of rumors running rampant, WWE officially confirmed this past Monday that this year's SummerSlam pay-per-view will be four hours long, making it the only event other than WrestleMania to share that length in the company's illustrious history.

With this being the first installment since 2008 to be held outside of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, WWE has made SummerSlam a major priority this year.

That's been apparent with all the festivities scheduled for that weekend in Brooklyn, along with the decision to bring back Undertaker far sooner than expected.

However, that extra hour shouldn't be put to waste—and we're not just talking about giving more time to Undertaker's breathtaking entrance. Rather, it should be used for something special.

From giving midcarders the chance to compete on the card to allowing some of the marquee matches to go longer, there are countless ways this can be done. There are enough feuds going on right now that, using the pre-show as well, WWE should be able to fit them all in and avoid leaving any of the notable names out.

If WWE truly intends on delivering the most epic extravaganza of all time, it should bring back the Iron Man match.

Since 2009, WWE has watered down many of its most popular match concepts by giving them their own annual event (ex. TLC, Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber, etc). As a result, they no longer feel like monumental happenings when they're announced, because more often than not, viewers are aware in advance.

The sole stipulation that WWE has yet to ruin is the Iron Man match. Introduced in 1996, fewer than 10 of its kind have been contested, with the last one held at 2009's Bragging Rights event. Normally reserved for huge feuds, the Iron Man match sees two rivals battle it out for 60 minutes, and whoever has the most amount of wins by the time the clock runs out wins the match.

For whatever reason, WWE has been hesitant to bring it out of retirement in recent years, but SummerSlam is the perfect place for it to return.

While it's already been confirmed that Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker will be taking place in the main event of the show, there's no reason why WWE can't hold an Iron Man match beforehand.

WrestleMania typically has more star power on the card and needs the extra hour, but since this is SummerSlam, this is a rare opportunity to burn one of the four hours with an overdue Iron Man match.

The question then turns to who the participants would be, as the stipulation shouldn't be brought back simply for the sake of being brought back. With that said, John Cena and Seth Rollins would be the ideal candidates.

As mentioned last week, it's still too soon for Cena to re-enter the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture. Cena vs. Rollins is a match we've already seen on countless occasions and does not feel worthy of SummerSlam.

Nevertheless, there's no denying that Cena and Rollins have better chemistry than a majority of the current roster and always deliver exceptional matches.

Look no further than their encounter this past week on Raw, which was nothing short of stellar.

Thus, if there were any two competitors who could go the distance and work an entertaining hour-long match, it's those two. In fact, Cena proved all the naysayers wrong in 2009 when he had a better-than-expected Iron Man match with Randy Orton in which he emerged victorious.

Besides, how else are Cena and Rollins going to top their last matchup together?

They basically gave away a potential headlining championship match for SummerSlam with that bout, so it's only logical to follow it up with a rarely used gimmick match that would add to the card in a significant way.

They've already competed in Lumberjack, Tables and steel cage matches against each other, but now it's time for them to take their ruthless rivalry to the next level in the form of an Iron Man match at SummerSlam.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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