WWE's Payback lasted for 2 hours 50 minutes and 47 seconds (2h 50m 47s). 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" includes video packages, entrances, ring introductions, and any verbal promos that occur right before a match officially begins. The "post-match" includes any celebrations, replays, angles, attacks, or promos that occur right after a match is finished.
Some matches have multiple "pre-match" or "post-match" entries because, for example, an unrelated video was inserted between a post-match celebration and a post-match promo. In these cases I will offer a slightly more detailed explanation of the segment.
- 0m 20s: WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening
- 2m 40s: Video hyping Payback
- 0m 38s: Cole welcomes us to Payback
- 3m 16s: Pre-match for Barrett vs Miz vs Axel
- 10m 36s: Barrett vs Miz vs Axel
- 1m 57s: Post-match for Barrett vs Miz vs Axel (in-ring celebration)
- 1m 04s: Video promoting Mark Henry's return
- 1m 44s: Post-match for Barrett vs Miz vs Axel (backstage with Vince and Triple H)
- 0m 11s: Cole talks about Chicago
- 3m 02s: Pre-match for Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee
- 9m 56s: Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee
- 4m 19s: Post-match for Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee
- 0m 31s: Commercial for Money In The Bank
- 1m 35s: Expert panel analysis
- 1m 30s: Video for the Wyatt Family
- 2m 36s: Pre-match for Ambrose vs Kane
- 9m 34s: Ambrose vs Kane
- 1m 22s: Post-match for Ambrose vs Kane
- 1m 11s: Video promoting RVD's return
- 0m 50s: Recap of Sandow vs Sheamus from the PPV pre-show
- 4m 27s: Pre-match for Ziggler vs ADR
- 13m 50s: Ziggler vs ADR
- 3m 03s: Post-match for Ziggler vs ADR (celebration, replays)
- 0m 33s: Video - Don't Try This At Home
- 0m 13s: Cole talks about Chicago
- 0m 42s: Expert panel analysis
- 2m 06s: Post-match for Ziggler vs ADR (ADR promo)
- 6m 57s: Pre-match for Punk vs Jericho
- 21m 21s: Punk vs Jericho
- 2m 14s: Post-match for Punk vs Jericho (celebration, replays)
- 0m 17s: Plug for the Payback theme song
- 0m 20s: Pre-match for Shield vs Bryan/Orton (hype from Cole)
- 0m 39s: Post-match for Punk vs Jericho (end of celebration)
- 2m 25s: Pre-match for Shield vs Bryan/Orton (entrances)
- 12m 10s: Shield vs Bryan/Orton
- 1m 21s: Post-match for Shield vs Bryan/Orton
- 0m 45s: Commercial for fatherhood.gov, Cole offers a Happy Father's Day to us
- 10m 13s: Pre-match for Cena vs Ryback
- 7m 32s: Cena vs Ryback (Lumberjack)
- 1m 10s: Time between falls (with multiple replays)
- 7m 25s: Cena vs Ryback (Tables)
- 2m 28s: Time between falls (Ryback puts Cena through table)
- 6m 03s: Cena vs Ryback (Ambulance)
- 3m 41s: Post-match for Cena vs Ryback
The Three Stages Of Hell match can be timed in multiple ways. I decided to only count the bell-to-bell times for each of the three falls, which adds up to a total match time of 21m 00s. However, if you prefer to include the time between the falls as well, the match would end up being 24m 38s.
The seven matches combined for a total of bell-to-bell time of 98m 27s. That is equal to 57.6% of the total show time that was devoted to wrestling matches.
The pre-match pieces combined for a total time of 33m 16s, which is 19.5% of the total show time. This includes the lengthy video package hyping the Cena vs Ryback match. In total, the pre-match segment for Cena vs Ryback clocked in at 10m 13s, which was longer than the Divas title match and the US title match.
The post-match pieces combined for a total time of 22m 26s, which is 13.1% of the total show time. This includes the backstage segment with Triple H and Vince McMahon confronting Curtis Axel. This does not include the time between falls in the Cena vs Ryback match.
That leaves about 9.7% of the show remaining for other miscellaneous things. This includes commercials, videos hyping wrestler returns, filler commentary between matches, expert panel analysis, and so forth.
These calculated percentages for Payback (57.6%, 19.5%, 13.1%, 9.7%) are pretty close to those respective percentages from Extreme Rules (55.4%, 22.1%, 13.4%, 9.1%).
Keep in mind that these percentages can change quickly based on my subjective opinion of segment boundaries. For example in my official numbers for Payback, the time between falls in the main event was lumped into the "Miscellaneous" category. However if you prefer to count that time as part of the match, the percentages would change to: 59.8%, 19.5%, 13.1%, 7.6%. In this case it would appear that Payback had less filler than Extreme Rules. Similarly, I think it can be argued that the backstage segment featuring Vince and Triple H with Axel could be classified as part of 'Miscellaneous" rather than part of the "Post-match" segment for Axel's match.
Compounding this issue is the fact that this PPV event featured some blurrier distinctions between pre-match and post-match segments than the previous events that I have timed. For example, the commentators were hyping up the tag title match (with a related graphic being used) in the middle of Punk's celebration. This made it tricky to clearly define the boundary of those specific segments.
The average match time at Payback was 14m 04s. Two of the seven matches eclipsed this mark. Here is a listing of the 7 matches, sorted by match time:
- 21m 21s: Punk vs Jericho
- 21m 00s: Cena vs Ryback
- 13m 50s: Ziggler vs ADR
- 12m 10s: Shield vs Bryan/Orton
- 10m 36s: Barrett vs Miz vs Axel
- 9m 56s: Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee
- 9m 34s: Ambrose vs Kane
This is the second PPV in a row where Dean Ambrose ended up with the shortest match time. It should be noted however that his match time of 9m 34s rarely ever ranks as the shortest match for a WWE PPV. Prior to Payback, the last time a WWE PPV featured a card where every match lasted at least 9m 30s was at Judgment Day 2009.
As far as I can tell, Payback included the longest all-Divas PPV match (Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee) since Survivor Series 2009 (Team Mickie vs Team Michelle). Kaitlyn versus AJ Lee also appears to be the longest one-on-one Divas PPV match since Unforgiven 2006 (Lita vs Trish).