Perhaps it's not as common a complaint as it was in the days of old - specifically the last time Triple H ruled over Raw with an iron fist/big gold belt as the head of Evolution and World Heavyweight Champion (WHC), but we've all sat through a ten minute John Cena promo followed by a couple of obese dudes in kangols dancing with a little smart phone tutorial from Michael Cole mixed in and wondered, "Are they gonna have any frakkin' rasslin' on this show?"
This usually happens right before a promo package or "Did You Know?" reminding you that you are not, in fact, watching a pro wrestling show, but rather the world's longest running episodic sports entertainment...something something Be a S.T.A.R.
Well Patrick Michael of Yahoo! Sports decided to dive right into those complaints and use some good old fashioned verifiable science to research the question of what we actually get when we sit down to watch three hours of USA Network on a Monday night. I encourage everyone to click through and read the whole thing, but here are the Cliffs' Notes version:
Commercials 26.6%
No real surprise here. Those bills aren't gonna pay themselves.
Promos 13.6%
This includes in-ring ones, as well as backstage segments and interviews. Of particular interest here was the variance he saw between the amount of talking on fallout and go home shows (there was more of it) and shows that did not immediately follow or lead to a pay-per-view (PPV).
Highlights, Recaps and Replays 5.1%
The big shocker for me...because boy does it feel like you'd get this much of just their replaying the opening segment alone most weeks.
Wrestling 33.4%
This includes backstage and other "extralegal" physicality. But it's the clear winner, percentage-wise, and Michael didn't see a significant change across where the show fell on the event calendar.
Other 21.3%
Here's the stuff that we bitch and/or joke about the most - app plugs, self-congratulatory charity hype, multiple ring entrances. It's great that it's less than the actual grappling, but, cue Ron Simmons, that's a lot of crap.
Again, check out the article, especially if you're interested in the considerable thought that went into methodology.
I'd love to see Patrick Michael or anyone else (cough, Kanenite, cough) tackle a few episodes of Main Event or Smackdown to see if they are similarly constructed or are actually 50% Raw replays like they feel most weeks.
What do you think, Cagesiders? Surprised by what you get in an average Monday night? Or does this pretty much line up with what you thought?