WWE's Hell In A Cell 2013 event lasted 2 hours 53 minutes and 14 seconds (2h 53m 14s). Here is a breakdown of the timing for every single second of the show, in chronological order.
The matches are in bold. The "pre-match" segments include video packages, entrances, ring introductions, and any verbal promos that occur right before a match officially begins. The "post-match" segments include any celebrations, replays, angles, attacks, or promos that occur right after a match is finished.
- 0m 20s: WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening
- 2m 25s: Video hyping Hell In A Cell 2013
- 0m 40s: Opening pyro while Cole welcomes us to Hell In A Cell 2013
- 4m 39s: Pre-match for Rhodes Brothers vs Shield vs Usos
- 14m 39s: Rhodes Brothers vs Shield vs Usos
- 1m 21s: Post-match for Rhodes Brothers vs Shield vs Usos
- 0m 18s: HBK and HHH talking backstage
- 0m 45s: Commercial for John Cena's Fast Lane
- 0m 17s: Cole talks about Miami
- 6m 05s: In-ring segment with Miz, Wyatts, and Kane's return
- 0m 31s: Commercial for WWE 2K14
- 4m 17s: Pre-match for Fandango and Summer Rae vs Khali and Natalya (with a 1m 04s Fandango promo)
- 4m 48s: Fandango and Summer Rae vs Khali and Natalya
- 0m 58s: Post-match for Fandango and Summer Rae vs Khali and Natalya
- 1m 39s: Expert Panel Analysis with Matthews, R-Truth, Kaitlyn, and Ziggler
- 2m 24s: Pre-match for Ambrose vs Langston
- 8m 41s: Ambrose vs Langston
- 1m 48s: Post-match for Ambrose vs Langston (Langston attacks Ambrose)
- 8m 37s: Pre-match for Punk vs Heyman and Ryback
- 13m 51s: Punk vs Heyman and Ryback
- 5m 28s: Post-match for Punk vs Heyman and Ryback (Punk attacks Heyman)
- 1m 03s: Commercial for Susan G. Komen Foundation
- 1m 47s: Backstage interview with Daniel Bryan
- 0m 30s: Post-match for Punk vs Heyman and Ryback (commentators talk about Heyman)
- 0m 22s: Plug for PPV theme song
- 0m 43s: Commentators discuss Bryan vs Orton
- 4m 21s: Pre-match for Los Matadores vs Real Americans (with a 1m 21s Zeb promo)
- 5m 53s: Los Matadores vs Real Americans
- 1m 49s: Post-match for Los Matadores vs Real Americans (El Torito attacks Real Americans)
- 8m 44s: Pre-match for Del Rio vs Cena (with a 2m 50s video package)
- 15m 18s: Del Rio vs Cena
- 2m 27s: Post-match for Del Rio vs Cena
- 0m 31s: Commercial for Survivor Series 2013
- 1m 15s: Expert Panel Analysis
- 1m 49s: Pre-match for AJ Lee vs Brie Bella
- 5m 33s: AJ Lee vs Brie Bella
- 1m 15s: Post-match for AJ Lee vs Brie Bella
- 1m 21s: Backstage segment with Prime Time Players, Mr. Backlund, and WWE 2K14
- 0m 17s: HBK and HHH talking backstage
- 0m 16s: Cole talks about Miami
- 9m 41s: Pre-match for Bryan vs Orton (with a 3m 34s video package)
- 22m 09s: Bryan vs Orton
- 1m 39s: Post-match for Bryan vs Orton
The eight matches combined for a total bell-to-bell time of 1h 30m 52s. This means that 52.5% of the show was devoted to in-ring action.
Pre-Match Segments
The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 44m 32s, which is 25.7% of the show. This is the second highest percentage in this category for all WWE PPV's in 2013, trailing only Elimination Chamber 2013.
The pre-match segment for the Rhodes Brothers title defense included interruptions during each team's entrance. Towards the end of the entrance of the Rhodes Brothers, they showed a 0m 52s video recap of Big Show's role in the tag title change from Raw a few weeks ago. There was a 0m 15s introduction of Michael Cole and his commentating team that took place during the entrance of The Usos. There was also a 0m 39s introduction of Rey Mysterio and the Spanish announce team that took place during The Shield's entrance.
The pre-match segment for Los Matadores versus The Real Americans included a 0m 50s video recap of El Torito attacking Zeb from a recent Smackdown episode. It also included a 1m 21s promo from Zeb Colter.
This was the first WWE PPV event of 2013 that included 3 different fights (Punk vs Heyman/Ryback, Del Rio vs Cena, and Bryan vs Orton) with pre-match segments that each had a duration of at least 8 minutes.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the pre-match segment for Punk vs Heyman and Ryback. I am scrutinizing this one in-depth due to Heyman's delayed entrance that did not go as planned.
The pre-match segment for this bout started off with a 2m 10s block where Cole hyped up the match as the cell was being lowered. During this time, they temporarily cut away from the cell being lowered and showed a 1m 07s video recap of Punk's Raw segment where he won the Beat The Clock challenge and chose the stipulation for this match. This was one of the few Punk PPV matches of the year that did not come with its own dedicated video package.
Once the cell was finally lowered, the combined entrances for Punk and Ryback lasted 3m 04s. Heyman's awkward entrance then went on for 1m 39s before he finally started talking on the mic. His promo as he was being raised on top of the cage took up another 1m 35s. Then Punk just stared up at Heyman on the cage for 0m 09s before the bell finally rang to signify the start of the match.
The pre-match segment for Del Rio vs Cena lasted longer than the bell-to-bell time for 4 of the remaining 7 matches on the card. The same thing is true of the pre-match segment for Bryan vs Orton.
The pre-match segment for Bryan versus Orton included a 0m 40s block of time for lowering the Hell In A Cell structure. It also included four separate entrances (HBK, Orton, Bryan, HHH), and so overall it lasted a whopping 9m 41s.
Post-Match Segments
The post-match segments combined for a total time of 17m 15s, which is 10.0% of the show. This post-match segment percentage ranks right in the middle of the pack for 2013 WWE PPV events.
The most notable segment in this group was CM Punk climbing up the Hell In A Cell structure and gaining his revenge on Paul Heyman, as well as the commentators wondering how Heyman's carcass was going to be removed from the top of the cell. Clocking in at 5m 58s in total, this currently ranks as the 6th longest post-match segment time for any WWE PPV match in 2013.
In contrast, the post-match segment for the Fandango mixed tag team match only lasted 0m 58s. This ties it with Team Hell No versus Team Rhodes Scholars (at Royal Rumble 2013) for the 5th shortest post-match segment of all 2013 PPV matches.
WWE quickly ended the show once Randy Orton won the WWE Championship. The post-match segment for the main event match lasted only 1m 39s. This is very similar to what happened at Battleground, as the post-match segment for that show's main event match of Bryan versus Orton only lasted 1m 21s. These are the two shortest post-match segments for all WWE PPV main event matches in 2013. In the case of Battleground, there was the unforeseen power outage which probably had some influence on rushing the very end of the show.
Miscellaneous Segments
That leaves about 20m 35s (11.9%) of the show for other miscellaneous things. This includes multiple segments with HBK and HHH talking backstage (without the viewer being able to hear them), a backstage interview with Daniel Bryan, Mr. Backlund dancing with The Prime Time Players, both Expert Panel Analysis segments, and the plug for the PPV theme song. This also includes commercials for WWE 2K14, Survivor Series 2013, John Cena's Fast Lane, and the Komen Foundation.
The longest such piece was the in-ring segment featuring the Miz calling out The Wyatts as well as Kane's return. With a time of 6m 05s, this segment lasted longer than 3 of the 8 matches on the show.
This show failed to include the customary "Don't Try This At Home" video. There was also no video recap of the kickoff match between Kofi Kingston and Damien Sandow.
Match Times
The average match time at Hell In A Cell 2013 was 11m 22s. Here is the sorted list of match times for Hell In A Cell 2013. This also includes where each match currently ranks on the list of WWE's Longest PPV Match Times for 2013:
- 22m 09s: Bryan vs Orton (10th longest out of 73 PPV matches)
- 15m 18s: Del Rio vs Cena (22nd)
- 14m 39s: Rhodes Brothers vs Shield vs Usos (26th)
- 13m 51s: Punk vs Heyman and Ryback (30th)
- 8m 41s: Ambrose vs Langston (48th)
- 5m 53s: Los Matadores vs Real Americans (66th)
- 5m 33s: AJ Lee vs Brie Bella (68th)
- 4m 48s: Fandango and Summer Rae vs Khali and Natalya (70th)
The times in this list are all eerily similar to the Battleground match times. The matches in each of the eight respective slots for both PPV events all fall within two minutes of each other. Four of the matches fall within one minute of each other. It also suggests that both of these events heavily emphasized the top four matches and rounded out the rest of the card with short matches that were mostly afterthoughts.
CM Punk's rivalry with Axel, Ryback, and Heyman has seen Punk involved in his three shortest PPV matches since last year's HIAC main event against Ryback (11m 22s). His match time has declined on every PPV since SummerSlam 2013.
CM Punk is also the master of the brief Hell In A Cell match. There have been a total of 28 HIAC matches in history, including a dark match in 2011. Based on Wikipedia's listed HIAC match times, CM Punk's 5 career HIAC matches rank 12th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, and 28th on the sorted list of these 28 match times. That means that CM Punk has been a participant in 4 of the 7 shortest HIAC matches in history. His only HIAC match that surpassed 14 minutes in length was his 2011 triple threat HIAC match against Cena and Del Rio.
Hell In A Cell 2013 marked the first PPV of the year where the following wrestlers accumulated match time: Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Summer Rae, Diego, and Fernando. Prior to this show, The Usos did not receive any PPV match time since June of 2012 at No Way Out. The Usos have not won a fall over an opponent on PPV in over three years.
This is the second consecutive PPV where The Great Khali has actually been given match time. In contrast, it is the second consecutive PPV where Dolph Ziggler did not wrestle on the main card.
This is the third straight PPV event where Damien Sandow has gained zero seconds of match time on the main card. And even though the Big Show seems to be the top baby face on the show right now, he hasn't wrestled on the last six PPV events. The last time he had any PPV match time was at Extreme Rules 2013 when he fought Randy Orton.
Paul Heyman technically had 13m 51s of match time on this show even though he did not get physically involved in the match, bringing his total PPV match time for 2013 up to 29m 35s. This is more total match time than superstars such as Undertaker (22m 08s), Langston (21m 44s), Natalya (15m 42s), R-Truth (7m 40s), and the Prime Time Players (7m 27s). If you exclude the Royal Rumble match it is also more match time than Wade Barrett (27m 00s), The Great Khali (11m 55s), and Zack Ryder (0m 00s).
Finally, the Rhodes Brothers tag match was the only PPV match that scored a 4-star rating from Dave Meltzer over the last three WWE PPV events, starting with Night of Champions 2013. Clocking in at 14m 39s, this is by far the shortest PPV match of the year that achieved a score of at least 4 stars. The next shortest match on the 4-star list is Triple H versus Lesnar (20m 10s) at Extreme Rules 2013. It is incredibly difficult to score 4 stars without receiving 20 minutes of match time, so all six wrestlers in that match deserve praise for their efforts.
The match time results for Hell In A Cell 2013 show less in-ring time than Battleground, yet both shows shared a very close allocation of minutes for each match on the card. This is strongly influenced by the fact that 2 of the 8 matches on Hell In A Cell 2013 were rematches from Battleground (Bryan vs Orton, AJ vs Brie), and that 2 of the 8 matches at Hell In A Cell 2013 simply added new wrestlers to pre-existing matches from Battleground (Punk vs Ryback and Heyman, Rhodes Brothers vs Shield vs Usos). With new storylines on the horizon, this is probably going to change on the next PPV event.
Final Results for Hell In A Cell 2013
Matches - 52.5% - 1h 30m 52s
Pre-match - 25.7% - 44m 32s
Post-match - 10.0% - 17m 15s
Miscellaneous - 11.9% - 20m 35s