WWE TLC 2014: Match Times

WWE's TLC 2014 lasted for 2 hours 51 minutes and 58 seconds (2h 51m 58s). 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.

• 0m 21s: WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening
• 2m 00s: Video hyping TLC 2014
• 1m 08s: Opening pyro as Cole welcomes us to TLC 2014
• 3m 48s: Pre-match for Harper vs Ziggler
• 16m 42s: Harper vs Ziggler
• 2m 52s: Post-match for Harper vs Ziggler
• 0m 16s: Commercial for WWE Super Strikers
• 0m 51s: Commercial for Tribute To The Troops featuring Florida Georgia Line
• 3m 18s: Pre-match for Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos
• 7m 16s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos
• 1m 19s: Post-match for Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos
• 2m 41s: Backstage Seth Rollins promo
• 0m 15s: Cole talks about Cleveland
• 2m 49s: Pre-match for Big Show vs Rowan
• 11m 14s: Big Show vs Rowan
• 1m 38s: Post-match for Big Show vs Rowan
• 0m 31s: Commercial for Total Divas
• 0m 15s: Filler commentary
• 0m 19s: Plug for PPV theme song
• 8m 13s: Pre-match for Cena vs Rollins (with a 3m 36s video package)
  
• 18m 14s: Cena vs Rollins Part 1
• 2m 07s: Post-match for Cena vs Rollins Part 1 (referees cannot determine a winner)
  
• 3m 13s: Cena vs Rollins Part 2
• 2m 08s: Post-match for Cena vs Rollins Part 2
• 0m 31s: Commercial for Royal Rumble 2015
• 0m 24s: Filler commentary
• 0m 52s: Commentators hype Royal Rumble 2015 and Cena vs Lesnar
• 0m 52s: Video recap of pre-show match
• 1m 37s: Expert panel analysis with Renee, Riley, and Booker T
• 3m 26s: Pre-match for Nikki vs AJ (starting with a 1m 00s backstage Bella Twins promo)
• 7m 39s: Nikki vs AJ
• 1m 03s: Post-match for Nikki vs AJ
• 1m 15s: Backstage Roman Reigns promo
• 0m 54s: Commercial for WWE Shop
• 2m 03s: Pre-match for Kane vs Ryback
• 9m 51s: Kane vs Ryback
• 0m 46s: Post-match for Kane vs Ryback
• 0m 16s: Commercial for WWE Super Strikers
• 0m 31s: Commercial for WWE Week on USA Network
• 2m 26s: Pre-match for Rusev vs Swagger
• 4m 51s: Rusev vs Swagger
• 1m 22s: Post-match for Rusev vs Swagger
• 0m 54s: Commercial for Cena vs Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2015
• 0m 34s: Commentator hype for Royal Rumble 2015
• 7m 03s: Pre-match for Ambrose vs Wyatt (with a 3m 45s video package)
• 27m 04s: Ambrose vs Wyatt
• 2m 16s: Post-match for Ambrose vs Wyatt

Match Times

The 8 matches combined for a total time of 1h 46m 04s. This means that 61.7% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action, which is the highest percentage of 2014.

The average match time at TLC 2014 was 13m 16s.  The median match time was 10m 33s.

Here is the sorted list of match times for TLC 2014.  This also includes where each match ranks on the list of WWE's Longest PPV Match Times for 2014.

• 27m 04s: Ambrose vs Wyatt (5th longest out of 86 total matches)
  
• 21m 27s: Cena vs Rollins (17th)
  
• 16m 42s: Harper vs Ziggler (23rd)
  
• 11m 14s: Big Show vs Rowan (43rd)
  
• 9m 51s: Kane vs Ryback (48th)
  
• 7m 39s: Nikki vs AJ (60th)
  
• 7m 16s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos (63rd)
• 4m 51s: Rusev vs Swagger (74th)
  

The overall match time of 1h 46m 04s is the largest amount of match time out of any 3-hour WWE PPV since the start of 2013.  Royal Rumble 2013 is the only one of these shows that even surpassed 1h 40m 00s of match time.  This is a pretty stunning result to see TLC 2014 blow the field away by such a high margin in match time.

However it is also the only PPV in 2014 that failed to include a 4-star (or greater) match, as judged by Dave Meltzer.  Furthermore, 5 of the 8 matches on this card were scored at two stars or lower.  Battleground 2013 is the only other PPV since the start of 2013 to include 5 matches that scored no greater than 2 stars.

Dolph Ziggler's stock is still on the rise.  His match time of 16m 42s ranks as the most match time he has received on PPV in a one-on-one match since his main event match with John Cena at TLC 2012.  Even Dolph's WHC matches on PPV against Alberto Del Rio in 2013 never surpassed 15 minutes in length.

Big Show's match lasted for 11m 14s, which is actually a tiny bit longer than Big Show's main event championship match against Randy Orton at Survivor Series 2013.

There was no bell ring to signify the start of Ambrose versus Wyatt.  I started the clock right around the time when Ambrose decided to toss a ladder at Wyatt's head, right after Wyatt's entrance concluded.

There was also no bell to officially re-start Cena's match with Rollins.  The referee made the appropriate hand gesture but the bell never rang, so I started the clock at the referee's hand gesture.

I did not count the waiting period where the referees were arguing about the winner as part of their match time.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 33m 06s, which is 19.2% of the show.  This is one of the areas that was shortened to allow for greater match time.  Royal Rumble 2014 is the only PPV of the year that scored lower in both the pre-match time and the pre-match percentage.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 8 matches:

• 8m 13s: Cena vs Rollins
  
• 7m 03s: Ambrose vs Wyatt
  
• 3m 48s: Harper vs Ziggler
• 3m 26s: Nikki vs AJ
• 3m 18s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos
• 2m 49s: Big Show and Rowan (with a 0m 32s look at the Anatomy Of The Stairs)
  
• 2m 26s: Rusev vs Swagger (with a 0m 04s Lana promo)
  
• 2m 03s: Kane vs Ryback

The median pre-match segment time in 2014 (out of 86 total matches) was 4m 34s.  The list above shows that 6 of the 8 matches at TLC 2014 fell below this mark.

The pre-match segment for Kane versus Ryback ranked as the 5th shortest time on the overall list for 2014.

TLC 2014 included 17 separate pre-match superstar entrances.  These 17 entrances took up a total time of 19m 27s.  Here is the sorted list of these 17 entrance times:

• 1m 56s: Miz and Mizdow (with a 0m 41s video recap of the Naomi/Miz backstage pre-show segment)
  
• 1m 31s: John Cena
• 1m 28s: Rusev with Lana (with a 0m 19s plug for tomorrow's Raw featuring Jericho)
• 1m 24s: Bray Wyatt
• 1m 23s: Nikki with Brie (with a 0m 34s video recap of Nikki's win at Survivor Series 2014)
  
• 1m 21s: Rollins with J & J Security
• 1m 15s: Dolph Ziggler (with a 0m 17s intro of Cole's announce team)
  
• 1m 13s: The Usos
• 1m 06s: Luke Harper (with a 0m 09s intro of the Spanish announce team)
  
• 1m 03s: Ryback
• 1m 02s: Big Show
• 0m 57s: Erick Rowan (with a 0m 19s plug for Hulu)
  
• 0m 53s: Dean Ambrose
• 0m 50s: AJ (with a 0m 11s plug for WWE Super Strikers)
  
• 0m 47s: Kane
• 0m 45s: Jack Swagger
• 0m 33s: Paul Heyman

Two other superstars made their way to the ring during matches.  It took Big Show about 0m 17s to get to the ring during the Tables match, and shortly after that Roman Reigns made a 0m 27s entrance through the crowd.  When those times are combined with the 17 pre-match entrances listed above, it results in about 20m 11s of the show being spent on superstar entrances and run-ins.

I mostly use the beginning and end of entrance music as my timing boundaries for superstar entrances.  However Paul Heyman has no entrance music, so I mostly judged the beginning and end of his entrance on how long he was featured on camera while making his way to the ring.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 15m 31s, which is 9.0% of the show.  This is a little below average for the typical WWE PPV in 2014.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all 8 matches:

• 4m 15s: Cena vs Rollins
• 2m 52s: Harper vs Ziggler
• 2m 16s: Ambrose vs Wyatt
• 1m 38s: Big Show vs Rowan
• 1m 22s: Rusev vs Swagger
• 1m 19s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos
• 1m 03s: Nikki vs AJ
• 0m 46s: Kane vs Ryback

The post-match segments for the bottom three entries on the list did not include any replays of the match finish.

The post-match segment for Kane versus Ryback was the 2nd shortest of the year out of 86 total PPV matches.  Is this possibly a sign that Ryback's strong push from last month is already facing an irreversible decline?

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 17m 17s (10.1%) of the show for everything else.  This is the second shortest amount of miscellaneous segment time on PPV this year, trailing only Night of Champions 2014.

This includes commercials for WWE Super Strikers, Total Divas, WWE Shop, Royal Rumble 2015, WWE Week, and Tribute To The Troops.  This also includes filler commentary, hype for Cena versus Lesnar, expert panel analysis, and a video recap of the pre-show match between The New Day and the Dust Brothers.  The backstage promos from Rollins and Reigns also fell into this category.

After Cena's match was finished, approximately 2m 51s of the remaining show time was spent hyping the upcoming Royal Rumble 2015 event, and that doesn't include Roman's promo where he declared himself an entrant for the match.

Summary

Here is a listing of how much total show time was allocated for each match when you add up all 3 components: pre-match time, match time, and post-match time.

• 36m 23s: Ambrose vs Wyatt (21.2% of total show time)
  
• 33m 55s: Cena vs Rollins (19.7%)
  
• 23m 22s: Ziggler vs Harper (13.6%)
  
• 15m 41s: Big Show vs Rowan (9.1%)
  
• 12m 40s: Kane vs Ryback (7.4%)
  
• 12m 08s: Nikki vs AJ (7.1%)
  
• 11m 53s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos (6.9%)
  
• 8m 39s: Rusev vs Swagger (5.0%)

There is a clear gap between the top three matches on the card and everything else.  These three matches accounted for 54.5% of the total show.

Even though just about everything on this show outside of those top three matches seemed like unimportant filler, I wonder how strongly the negative reception of this show is directly tied to the booking of Cena versus Rollins.  For the most part it is tough to complain about a show that delivers three quality matches, but Cena's match is the one that was ruined for a lot of people due to the amount of interference.

Just speaking for me personally, the double whammy of running Rowan versus Big Show and then an overbooked mess of Cena versus Rollins was just too much to bear, and it hurt everything that came after it on the show as a result, including the main event.

This list makes me wonder why Rusev's match even made it on to the PPV.  Only six PPV matches this year clocked in with a total show time shorter than this one.  This includes AJ versus Cameron, Bo Dallas versus Kofi Kingston, Summer Rae vs Layla, The Shield vs New Age Outlaws and Kane, AJ vs Nikki Bella, and Slater Gator versus Adam Rose and The Bunny.

And here is a look at how the combined pre-match and post-match segment time for a given match compared to the actual match time.  The list will be sorted by highest percentage of match time:

• 77.8%: Kane vs Ryback (9m 51s match, 2m 49s pre + post)
  
• 74.4%: Ambrose vs Wyatt (27m 04s match, 9m 19s pre + post)
• 71.6%: Big Show vs Rowan (11m 14s match, 4m 27s pre + post)
  
• 71.5%: Harper vs Ziggler (16m 42s match, 6m 40s pre + post)
  
• 63.2%: Cena vs Rollins (21m 27s match, 12m 28s pre + post)
  
• 63.0%: Nikki vs AJ (7m 39s match, 4m 29s pre + post)
  
• 61.2%: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos (7m 16s match, 4m 37s pre + post)
  
• 56.1%: Rusev vs Swagger (4m 51s match, 3m 48s pre + post)

These percentages are pretty high compared to typical WWE PPV matches.  The average result out of 86 total PPV matches in 2014 was 61.9%, and the median result was 62.9%.  Almost all of the matches at TLC 2014 cleared these average and median marks.  This is a direct result of having so much more match time on this show compared to the typical PPV.

Considering that the pre-match and post-match segment times for Kane versus Ryback both ranked among the shortest of the year, it's unfortunate that the match time did not follow suit.  I guess Vince McMahon was just giving the WWE Universe what he thought they wanted: ten minutes of Kane fighting Ryback with chairs.

The format of this show sounds pretty good on paper - increasing match time at the expense of pre-match segment time and miscellaneous segment time.

Hourly Results

Here is an hourly breakdown showing how the pre-match, match, post-match, and miscellaneous segment times were scattered across each hour of the show.

Hour One - Includes Harper vs Ziggler, Miz and Mizdow vs Usos, and Big Show vs Rowan

• Match - 58.7% - 35m 12s
• Pre-match - 17.3% - 10m 22s
• Post-match - 9.7% - 5m 49s
• Miscellaneous - 14.4% - 8m 37s

Hour Two - Includes Cena vs Rollins, Nikki vs AJ, and start of Kane vs Ryback

• Match - 58.4% - 35m 02s
• Pre-match - 22.1% - 13m 15s
• Post-match - 8.8% - 5m 18s
• Miscellaneous - 10.7% - 6m 25s

Hour Three (actually 51m 58s) - Includes end of Kane vs Ryback, Rusev vs Swagger, and Ambrose vs Wyatt

• Match - 69.0% - 35m 50s
• Pre-match - 18.2% - 9m 29s
• Post-match - 8.5% - 4m 24s
• Miscellaneous - 4.3% - 2m 15s

WWE delivered about 35 minutes of bell-to-bell match time in every single hour of the show.  Overall it seems like a well balanced show in terms of spacing out these four categories throughout the night.

Final Results for TLC 2014

Match - 61.7% - 1h 46m 04s

Pre-match - 19.2% - 33m 06s

Post-match - 9.0% - 15m 31s

Miscellaneous - 10.1% - 17m 17s