WWE's Battleground 2014 lasted for 2 hours 50 minutes and 52 seconds (2h 50m 52s). 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 20s: WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening
- 1m 51s: Video hyping Battleground 2014
- 0m 50s: Opening pyro as Cole welcomes us to Battleground 2014
- 3m 24s: Pre-match for The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 4m45s: Fall #1: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 0m 29s: Waiting period between falls
- 2m 57s: Fall #2: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 0m 25s: Waiting period between falls
- 10m 14s: Fall #3: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 1m 49s: Post-match for The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (replays, celebration)
- 0m 31s: Commercial for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- 0m 13s: Post-match for The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (commentators discuss match)
- 0m 25s: Commentators discuss Ambrose vs Rollins
- 3m 28s: Video package for Ambrose vs Rollins
- 2m 44s: Ambrose attacks Rollins during a backstage promo
- 0m 56s: Commentators discuss Ambrose being thrown out of the building
- 3m 07s: Pre-match for AJ vs Paige
- 7m 13s: AJ vs Paige
- 1m 11s: Post-match for AJ vs Paige
- 1m 08s: Commercial for SummerSlam 2014
- 0m 35s: Commentators hype SummerSlam 2014 as well as tonight's main event
- 0m 25s: Raw recap of Orton attacking Kane
- 1m 58s: Backstage segment with Kane and Orton
- 2m 15s: Expert panel analysis with Renee, Riley, Booker T, and Christian
- 7m 45s: Pre-match for Rusev vs Swagger
- 9m 55s: Rusev vs Swagger
- 3m 19s: Post-match for Rusev vs Swagger
- 0m 46s: Commercial for Takis Fuego
- 1m 45s: Pre-taped promo from the Dust Brothers
- 3m 02s: Pre-match for Rollins vs Ambrose
- 0m 00s: Ambrose vs Rollins
- 5m 53s: Post-match for Ambrose vs Rollins
- 8m 07s: Pre-match for Jericho vs Wyatt (with a 3m 00s video package)
- 15m 01s: Jericho vs Wyatt
- 1m 25s: Post-match for Jericho vs Wyatt
- 2m 23s: Ambrose ambushes Rollins in a parking lot
- 0m 31s: Commercial for Road To Paloma
- 1m 01s: Commercial for Saturday Night's Main Event on WWE Network
- 6m 55s: Pre-match for Battleground Battle Royal
- 14m 12s: Battleground Battle Royal
- 2m 01s: Post-match for Battleground Battle Royal
- 0m 48s: Commentators hype WWE Network
- 1m 09s: Commercial for SummerSlam 2014
- 0m 25s: Commercial for tomorrow's Raw featuring Flo Rida
- 0m 18s: Cole talks about Tampa
- 0m 16s: Plug for PPV theme song
- 10m 12s: Pre-match for Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns (with a 3m 01s video package)
- 18m 15s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
- 2m 15s: Post-match for Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
Match Times
The 7 matches combined for a bell-to-bell time of 1h 22m 32s. This means that 48.3% of the show was devoted to in-ring action. This is the lowest amount of match time for any WWE PPV since the start of 2013.
Excluding the Ambrose/Rollins match, the average match time for the remaining 6 matches at Battleground 2014 was 13m 45s. Here is the sorted list of match times for Battleground 2014. This also includes where each match currently ranks on the list of WWE's Longest PPV Match Times for 2014.
- 18m 15s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns (17th longest out of 48 total matches)
- 17m 56s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (18th)
- 15m 01s: Jericho vs Wyatt (19th)
- 14m 12s: Battleground Battle Royal (20th)
- 9m 55s: Rusev vs Swagger (26th)
- 7m 13s: AJ vs Paige (33rd)
- 0m 00s: Ambrose vs Rollins (48th)
Here are the survival times of the 19 men who competed in the Battleground Battle Royal match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship.
- 14m 12s: The Miz
- 14m 12s: Dolph Ziggler
- 14m 05s: Sheamus
- 11m 03s: Bo Dallas
- 10m 30s: Heath Slater
- 10m 08s: Cesaro
- 9m 59s: Kofi Kingston
- 8m 44s: Big E
- 8m 06s: Alberto Del Rio
- 6m 15s: Titus O'Neil
- 4m 52s: Ryback
- 3m 38s: Diego
- 3m 21s: Damien Sandow
- 2m 52s: Curtis Axel
- 2m 46s: R-Truth
- 1m 33s: Sin Cara
- 1m 07s: The Great Khali
- 0m 45s: Zack Ryder
- 0m 41s: Xavier Woods
The pacing of Battleground 2014 was clearly off from the typical WWE PPV, and this was strongly related to the decision to essentially scrap the Ambrose match and replace it with 3 separate segments scattered throughout the show. As a result, the total match time was spread thin over the first two hours of the card.
To get an idea of how much Battleground 2014 lagged behind other PPV's when it comes to match time, here is the sorted list of total match times for all 17 of WWE's 3-hour PPV's since the start of 2013:
- 1h 44m 50s: Royal Rumble 2013
- 1h 39m 57s: Money In The Bank 2013
- 1h 39m 39s: Royal Rumble 2014
- 1h 38m 54s: TLC 2013
- 1h 38m 31s: Battleground 2013
- 1h 38m 27s: Payback 2013
- 1h 38m 08s: Elimination Chamber 2014
- 1h 36m 35s: Extreme Rules 2013
- 1h 35m 43s: Elimination Chamber 2013
- 1h 34m 56s: Payback 2014
- 1h 33m 12s: Extreme Rules 2014
- 1h 32m 30s: Survivor Series 2013
- 1h 32m 21s: Money In The Bank 2014
- 1h 31m 23s: SummerSlam 2013
- 1h 31m 14s: Night Of Champions 2013
- 1h 30m 52s: Hell In A Cell 2013
- 1h 22m 32s: Battleground 2014
This list shows that WWE has been extremely consistent at including between 90 and 100 minutes of match time on just about every recent 3-hour PPV, but Battleground 2014 fell well short of that mark due to the cancellation of the Ambrose/Rollins match.
The three Ambrose/Rollins segments at Battleground 2014 took up a total time of 18m 51s. So the Ambrose/Rollins storyline wasn't ignored on this card; WWE deliberately chose to showcase it across three different brawls rather than an actual match. And plenty of that 18m 51s time was taken up with replays and commentator stalling.
This lack of match time from the ending bell of Rowan's match until the starting bell of Jericho's match was quite evident and really slowed down the pace of the show. 1h 08m 30s lapsed between those two points, and it only included 17m 08s of total match time. The fact that AJ and Paige's match greatly disappointed certainly did not help the situation.
Battleground 2014 also joined Night Of Champions 2013 as the only two PPVs in this time span that did not include a match of at least 20 minutes in duration.
The stipulation of the tag team championship match forced me to make a decision on how to deal with the waiting time between falls. I decided to exclude those very brief waiting periods from the match time. This wasn't a straightforward decision to make as there was no bell to signify the start of fall two or fall three. However the referee did make some pretty clear hand signals to start each fall, and so I used those hand signals as the boundaries for timing each fall.
If you prefer to include those waiting times as part of the match, the match time would increase from 17m 56s to 18m 50s. This is a noteworthy difference because it would give this match the distinction of being the longest match of the night.
Kane has accumulated match time in the main event of 4 out of the 7 WWE PPV's this year. He also had a significant run-in during the main event of Elimination Chamber 2014, so Kane has certainly had a healthy share of the main event spotlight this year. Randy Orton is the only performer that has wrestled in more PPV main events than Kane in 2014.
Kane's presence in all of these main events is largely a result of WWE running several multi-man matches as main events this year. Yet somehow Kane versus Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules 2014 stands alone as the only one-on-one PPV main event of the year. How is that possible?
This was the first PPV of the year where Jericho and Diego accumulated match time. I don't include pre-show data; therefore Diego's pre-show match at WrestleMania 30 didn't make the cut.
The Miz won a 14m 12s Battle Royal even though he was only in the ring for about 1m 05s of that time. Which begs the question, why aren't 10-counts issued for combatants who are outside of the ring in battle royal match types?
Alberto Del Rio was screwed over by the referee in the Battle Royal. His fall to the floor came shortly after he rolled under the bottom rope and stood up on the apron. Therefore he never went over the top rope prior to his elimination.
The match between AJ and Paige was the longest one-on-one divas match on PPV since AJ versus Kaitlyn at Payback 2013.
Pre-match Segments
The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 42m 32s, which is 24.9% of the show. This is the highest percentage of the year in this category.
Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 7 matches:
- 10m 12s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
- 8m 07s: Jericho vs Wyatt
- 7m 45s: Rusev vs Swagger (with a 0m 56s recap of Raw detente, 2m 45s Lana promo, and 0m 22s brawl)
- 6m 55s: Battleground Battle Royal (with a 1m 01s Barrett promo)
- 3m 24s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 3m 07s: AJ vs Paige
- 3m 02s: Ambrose vs Rollins (with a 0m 46s Rollins promo)
Battleground 2014 also included 33 separate pre-match superstar entrances. These 33 entrances took up a total time of 23m 38s. Here is the sorted list of these 33 entrance times:
- 1m 55s: Chris Jericho (with a 0m 15s plug for WWE Slam City)
- 1m 54s: Seth Rollins (with a 0m 56s replay of Ambrose's backstage attack)
- 1m 33s: Bray Wyatt
- 1m 32s: Paige (with a 0m 50s Raw recap of Paige defeating AJ for the championship)
- 1m 32s: AJ Lee (with a 0m 43s Raw recap of AJ defeating Paige for the championship)
- 1m 30s: Erick Rowan and Luke Harper (with a 0m 36s Raw recap)
- 1m 29s: John Cena
- 1m 23s: Rusev with Lana (with a 0m 12s plug for Takis Fuego)
- 1m 19s: Randy Orton
- 1m 13s: Jack Swagger with Colter
- 1m 12s: Roman Reigns
- 1m 08s: The Usos
- 0m 51s: Kane
- 0m 26s: Sheamus
- 0m 20s: Bad News Barrett, Bo Dallas
- 0m 18s: Heath Slater
- 0m 17s: Ryback, Dolph Ziggler
- 0m 16s: Sin Cara, The Miz
- 0m 15s: Big E, Damien Sandow
- 0m 14s: Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Curtis Axel
- 0m 13s: Diego, The Great Khali, Xavier Woods
- 0m 12s: Alberto Del Rio, Zack Ryder
- 0m 11s: Titus O'Neil, R-Truth
My timing boundaries for entrances are generally the points when a superstar's entrance music starts and stops playing. Therefore the list above shows that each of the Battle Royal participants had their entrance music playing between 11 to 26 seconds. There is certainly no way that The Great Khali would make it into the ring in just 0m 13s.
Early in the show there was a dedicated video package that explained the story of the feud between Ambrose and Rollins. These dramatic video packages are common and always air right before the entrances to a high profile match. As a result, these videos are almost always classified as part of the pre-match segment. It looked like that would be the case here again with Ambrose and Rollins, but Ambrose was ejected from the building shortly after this video aired and his match was postponed. Therefore I put this video package into the "Miscellaneous" category rather than the pre-match segment for Ambrose versus Rollins.
Rollins did make an entrance to the ring later in the show. He cut a promo and ordered the ring announcer to declare him as the winner by forfeit. This in-ring portion was counted as the pre-match segment for his match even though the match never really took place.
Post-match Segments
The post-match segments combined for a total time of 19m 00s, which is 11.1% of the show.
Here is the sorted list of total post-match segment time for all 7 matches:
- 5m 53s: Ambrose vs Rollins
- 3m 19s: Rusev vs Swagger
- 2m 56s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper
- 2m 15s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
- 2m 01s: Battleground Battle Royal
- 1m 25s: Jericho vs Wyatt
- 1m 11s: AJ vs Paige
The post-match segment time for the Ambrose/Rollins match started when Justin Roberts began to announce Rollins as the winner of the match.
The waiting time between falls in Harper's match was thrown into this category. I basically counted it as "post-fall" segment time.
Miscellaneous Segments
That leaves about 26m 48s (15.7%) of the show for everything else. This is the 5th highest percentage in this category out of all 19 WWE PPV's since the start of 2013.
This includes the video package hyping Ambrose versus Rollins, Ambrose attacking Rollins backstage early in the show, Ambrose attacking Rollins later in the parking lot, Orton talking backstage with Kane, a pre-taped promo from the Dust Brothers, a plug for the PPV theme song, a commercial for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a commercial for Road To Paloma, commercials for SummerSlam 2014, a commercial for Saturday Night's Main Event, hype for WWE Network, a commercial for tomorrow's Raw, a commercial for Takis Fuego, an expert panel analysis segment, and so forth.
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.
- 30m 42s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns (18.0% of the show)
- 24m 33s: Jericho vs Wyatt (14.4%)
- 24m 16s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (14.2%)
- 23m 08s: Battleground Battle Royal (13.5%)
- 20m 59s: Rusev vs Swagger (12.3%)
- 11m 31s: AJ vs Paige (6.7%)
- 8m 55s: Ambrose vs Rollins (5.2%)
As noted above, there was actually 18m 51s of total show time devoted to the Ambrose/Rollins feud, however this list ignores any of their segments that I threw into the "Miscellaneous" category.
The listed time here for The Usos does include the waiting time between falls. However the total show time for that match falls well short of the main event due to the main event having nearly 7 extra minutes of pre-match segment time.
The combined pre-match and post-match segment time of Rusev's match was greater than the actual match 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 Usos vs Rowan/Harper, AJ vs Paige, and Lana promo
Match - 41.9% - 25m 09s
Pre-match - 22.2% - 13m 18s
Post-match - 6.9% - 4m 07s
Miscellaneous - 29.1% - 17m 26s
Hour Two -Includes Rusev vs Swagger, Ambrose forfeiting to Rollins, and Jericho vs Wyatt
Match - 41.6% - 24m 56s
Pre-match - 30.0% - 18m 01s
Post-match - 17.7% - 10m 37s
Miscellaneous - 10.7% - 6m 26s
Hour Three (actually 50m 52s) - Includes Battle Royal, Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
Match - 63.8% - 32m 27s
Pre-match - 22.1% - 11m 13s
Post-match - 8.4% - 4m 16s
Miscellaneous - 5.8% - 2m 56s
The hourly breakdown clearly shows a lack of match time during the first two hours of the show. This is even more startling when you consider that one of the longest matches of the night opened the show.
Final Results for Battleground 2014
Match - 48.3% - 1h 22m 32s
Pre-match - 24.9% - 42m 32s
Post-match - 11.1% - 19m 00s
Miscellaneous - 15.7% - 26m 48s