WWE Night of Champions 2014: Match Times

WWE's Night of Champions 2014 lasted for 2 hours 46 minutes and 46 seconds (2h 46m 46s). 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 12s: Video hyping Night of Champions 2014
• 0m 52s: Opening pyro as Cole welcomes us to Night of Champions 2014
• 4m 13s: Pre-match for Usos vs Gold and Stardust
• 12m 47s: Usos vs Gold and Stardust
• 2m 07s: Post-match for Usos vs Gold and Stardust
• 1m 08s: Backstage promo with Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler
• 3m 00s: Pre-match for Sheamus vs Cesaro
• 13m 06s: Sheamus vs Cesaro
• 2m 42s: Post-match for Sheamus vs Cesaro
• 0m 50s: Commercial for WWE 2K15
• 1m 52s: Backstage segment with Big Show and Mark Henry
• 5m 11s: Pre-match for Ziggler vs Miz
• 9m 23s: Ziggler vs Miz
• 2m 16s: Post-match for Ziggler vs Miz
• 4m 37s: Pre-match for Rollins vs Reigns
• 0m 32s: Rollins vs Reigns
• 7m 55s: Post-match for Rollins vs Reigns (with the return of Ambrose)
  
• 0m 31s: Commercial for Diet Dew
• 1m 54s: Expert panel analysis with Renee, Booker T, Riley, and Big Show
• 5m 29s: Pre-match for Henry vs Rusev
• 8m 22s: Henry vs Rusev
• 2m 26s: Post-match for Henry vs Rusev
• 0m 34s: Commentators hype Hell In A Cell 2014
• 0m 55s: Video recap of Lesnar's interview with Cole
• 4m 19s: Pre-match for Jericho vs Orton
• 16m 20s: Jericho vs Orton
• 1m 56s: Post-match for Jericho vs Orton
• 7m 13s: Pre-match for Paige vs AJ vs Nikki (with a 2m 06s video package)
  
• 8m 42s: Paige vs AJ vs Nikki
• 1m 42s: Post-match for Paige vs AJ vs Nikki
• 0m 20s: Checking in at Tootsie's in Nashville
• 11m 25s: Pre-match for Lesnar vs Cena (with a 3m 46s video package)
  
• 14m 10s: Lesnar vs Cena
• 5m 24s: Post-match for Lesnar vs Cena (Rollins tries to cash in)
  

Match Times

The 8 matches combined for a bell-to-bell time of 1h 23m 22s. This means that 50.0% of the show was devoted to in-ring action.

This is the second lowest amount of match time for any WWE PPV that I have tracked since the start of 2013.  In fact, the last three WWE PPVs (Battleground 2014, SummerSlam 2014, Night of Champions 2014) are the three entries at the very bottom of that list.  These are the only three events that failed to include at least 90 minutes of bell-to-bell match time.

The average match time at Night of Champions 2014 was 10m 25s.  If you exclude the very brief Rollins versus Reigns match from consideration, the average time of the remaining 7 matches was 11m 50s.

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

• 16m 20s: Jericho vs Orton  (19th longest out of 64 total matches)
  
• 14m 10s: Lesnar vs Cena (24th)
  
• 13m 06s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (27th)
  
• 12m 47s: Usos vs Gold and Stardust (29th)
  
• 9m 23s: Ziggler vs Miz (37th)
  
• 8m 42s: Paige vs AJ vs Nikki (39th)
  
• 8m 22s: Henry vs Rusev (41st)
  
• 0m 32s: Rollins vs Reigns (tied for 62nd)
  

While I have the rounded percentage of match time for this PPV at 50.0%, it should be noted that the actual result was one second below 50.0%.  I calculated 5002 seconds of match time and 10006 seconds of total show time.

Night of Champions 2014 joined SummerSlam 2014 as the only PPV events since the start of 2013 that did not include a match of at least 17 minutes in bell-to-bell match time.

However it did join WrestleMania 29 and Payback 2013 as the only events to include 7 matches that went at least 8m 00s in length.

This was the second consecutive PPV where three championship changes took place.

Paige and Rusev have accumulated match time on the main card of 6 consecutive PPVs.  Only Cena and Orton have longer streaks in tact.

John Cena's streak of 10 consecutive PPV matches lasting at least 16m 00s was snapped.  Randy Orton barely held on to his own streak, yet The Viper now has 10 such PPV matches in a row.

Furthermore, with Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt absent from the event, that leaves John Cena and Randy Orton as the only two performers to accumulate match time on the main card of every single PPV this year.  It's like I'm writing this article in 2009.

Everyone who wrestled on this show also wrestled on at least one earlier PPV in 2014.  This is the first PPV of the year where that statement is true.

The Divas match received at least 8m 00s of match time for only the second time in 2014.

This was the 6th consecutive PPV where Big Show did not wrestle.  His last PPV match was the Battle Royal from WrestleMania 30.

The US Championship has only been defended twice on PPV this year, and both matches featured Sheamus defeating Cesaro in singles competition.

Night of Champions 2014 didn't really include any gimmick matches, unless you count the Triple Threat match type as a gimmick.  I can't really find any other PPV since the start of 2013 with so few gimmick matches.

It looks like this is the first time that WWE ended a main event with a winner via disqualification since Bragging Rights 2010 (Orton versus Barrett, with Cena causing a DQ).

On a somewhat related note, Night of Champions 2012 (Punk vs Cena) and Battleground 2013 (Orton vs Bryan) ended their respective main events without a declared winner.  I guess September and October are the probable time of year to have screwy main event finishes.

That's right, it took the referee over 30 seconds to count to 10 as Seth Rollins went on to defeat Roman Reigns by forfeit.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 45m 27s, which is 27.3% 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 8 matches:

• 11m 25s: Lesnar vs Cena (with a 0m 46s recap of Lesnar's dominating stats from SummerSlam 2014 and a 1m 27s expert panel analysis segment)
  
• 7m 13s: Paige vs AJ vs Nikki (with a 1m 27s Brie promo backstage)
  
• 5m 29s: Henry vs Rusev (with Lilian singing for 2m 07s)
  
• 5m 11s: Ziggler vs Miz
• 4m 37s: Rollins vs Reigns (with a 1m 12s video concerning Roman's surgery and a 1m 39s in-ring Rollins promo)
  
• 4m 19s: Jericho vs Orton
• 4m 13s: Usos vs Gold and Stardust (with a 0m 21s look at the history of the tag titles)
  
• 3m 00s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (with a 0m 22s look at the history of the US title)
  

Night of Champions 2014 also included 17 separate pre-match superstar entrances.  These 17 entrances took up a total time of 24m 29s.  Here is the sorted list of these 17 entrance times:

• 2m 30s: Randy Orton (with a 0m 41s Raw recap of Orton's attack on Jericho)
  
• 1m 57s: The Usos (with a 0m 45s Raw recap of Jey's injury and a 0m09s intro of Cole's announce team)
  
• 1m 48s: John Cena (with a 0m 07s plug for Diet Dew)
  
• 1m 44s: Chris Jericho (with a 0m 19s plug for a WrestleMania 31 travel package)
  
• 1m 44s: Florida Georgia Line
• 1m 43s: Dolph Ziggler with R-Ziggler (with a 0m 17s plug for Slam City and a 0m 21s look at the history of the IC title)
  
• 1m 31s: Gold and Stardust (with a 0m 12s introduction of the Spanish announce team)
  
• 1m 29s: Rusev with Lana
• 1m 21s: Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman (with a 0m 11s plug for Hell In A Cell 2014)
  
• 1m 20s: Sheamus (with a 0m 08s plug for Diet Dew)
  
• 1m 19s: The Miz with Damien Mizdow (with a 0m 17s look at Ziggler's insulting tweet)
  
• 1m 19s: Seth Rollins
• 1m 18s: Paige
• 1m 09s: Mark Henry
• 1m 03s: Cesaro (with 0m 34s of on-camera commentator hype for WWE Network)
  
• 0m 38s: Nikki Bella (with 0m 25s of off-camera commentator hype for WWE Network)
  
• 0m 36s: AJ Lee

Dean Ambrose also had an entrance that was not part of any pre-match segments.  Ambrose's entrance lasted for about 0m 34s.  When that time is combined with the 17 pre-match entrance times listed above, it results in 25m 03s of entrance times at Night of  Champions 2014.

It's worth taking a more in-depth look at the pre-match segments for the Divas Championship match:

• 0m 32s: Commentators discuss Paige vs AJ vs Nikki
• 2m 06s: Video package for Paige vs AJ vs Nikki
• 1m 27s: Backstage promo from Brie Bella
• 0m 19s: A brief look at the history of the Divas Championship
• 2m 49s: Entrances and ring introductions for Paige vs AJ vs Nikki

These times add up to 7m 13s, which is the most pre-match segment time allocated for any Divas match that I have tracked since the start of 2013.   To give you an idea of just how unusual this is, here is a list of the 5 longest pre-match segment times for any Divas-exclusive match in that span:

• 7m 13s: Paige vs AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella (Night of Champions 2014)
• 6m 17s: Stephanie McMahon vs Brie Bella (SummerSlam 2014)
• 4m 37s: 7 Total Divas vs 7 Non Total Divas (Survivor Series 2013)
• 3m 49s: AJ Lee vs Natalya (TLC 2013)
• 3m 32s: AJ Lee vs Natalya vs Brie Bella vs Naomi (Night of Champions 2013)

This also marks the second straight PPV where a Divas match received a dedicated video package in its pre-match segment, which rarely ever happens.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 26m 28s, which is 15.9% of the show.  This is by far the highest percentage that I have ever calculated in this category, as no prior PPV ever eclipsed 13.5%.

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

• 7m 55s: Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns (with a 1m 51s Rollins promo and a 4m 49s Ambrose return)
  
• 5m 24s: Brock Lesnar vs John Cena
• 2m 42s: Sheamus vs Cesaro
• 2m 26s: Mark Henry vs Rusev
• 2m 16s: Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz
• 2m 07s: The Usos vs Gold and Stardust
• 1m 56s: Chris Jericho vs Randy Orton
• 1m 42s: Paige vs AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella

This is where the Dean Ambrose return must be addressed.  It wasn't 100% clear to me whether or not Ambrose's brawl with Rollins counted as an actual match or not, as Ambrose was responding to an open challenge from Rollins.  I ultimately concluded that it was not a match, as no bell ever rang to signify the beginning or end of the action.  Furthermore no decision was ever announced by Justin Roberts or Lilian Garcia.

As a consequence of that conclusion, I needed to classify the Ambrose brawl as either a post-match angle (for the Rollins versus Reigns match) or just drop it into the Miscellaneous category.  It seemed to fit very smoothly into the post-match angle category, and so that is the main reason why this event had so much post-match segment time.

The other contributing factor to the large post-match segment time on this card was the thwarted MITB cash-in attempt by Seth Rollins at the conclusion of the main event.

These two post-match segments rank among the top 6 longest of the year out of 64 total PPV matches.

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 11m 29s (6.9%) of the show for everything else.  This is the lowest percentage I have ever calculated in this category, beating the previous record of 8.7% at Elimination Chamber 2013.

This includes a backstage promo with the Zigglers, a commercial for WWE 2K15, Big Show's pep talk to Mark Henry, a commercial for Diet Dew, expert panel analysis, commentators hyping Hell In A Cell 2014, checking in at Tootsie's, a video recap of Lesnar's interview with Cole, and so forth.

One of the reasons why this show had less miscellaneous segment time than normal is that there were several segments (Brie's promo, Reigns injury video, championship history reviews, the second expert panel analysis segment, Lesnar's stats from SummerSlam 2014) that are sometimes placed in odd parts of the show and end up dumped into the Miscellaneous category.  On this particular show, they were just about all placed right before the appropriate match, and so they more naturally fit into the pre-match segment classification.

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 59s: Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (18.6% of total show time)
• 22m 35s: Chris Jericho vs Randy Orton (13.5%)
• 19m 07s: Usos vs Gold and Stardust (11.5%)
• 18m 48s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (11.3%)
• 17m 37s: Paige vs AJ vs Nikki (10.6%)
  
• 16m 50s: Ziggler vs Miz (10.1%)
• 16m 17s: Henry vs Rusev (9.8%)
• 13m 04s: Rollins vs Reigns (7.8%)

This list shows that the undercard matches were mostly treated as equals to each other, with only 6m 18s separating the second longest time from the second shortest time.

The combined pre-match and post-match segment time (16m 49s) of Lesnar's match was greater the the actual match time (14m 10s).  The same thing is true of the Divas Championship match.

Rusev matches often share this trait as well, but he just barely missed out this time.  His match time of 8m 22s was just slightly longer than the combined pre and post-match segment time of 7m 55s.

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 Dust Bros, Sheamus vs Cesaro, and Ziggler vs Miz

• Match - 58.8% - 35m 16s
• Pre-match - 20.7% - 12m 24s
• Post-match - 8.5% - 5m 05s
• Miscellaneous - 12.1% - 7m 15s

Hour Two - Includes Rollins vs Reigns, Henry vs Rusev, Jericho vs Orton

• Match - 42.1% - 25m 14s
• Pre-match - 27.6% - 16m 35s
• Post-match - 23.8% - 14m 17s
• Miscellaneous - 6.5% - 3m 54s

Hour Three (actually 46m 46s) - Includes Paige vs AJ vs Nikki, Lesnar vs Cena

• Match - 48.9% - 22m 52s
• Pre-match - 35.2% - 16m 28s
• Post-match - 15.2% - 7m 06s
• Miscellaneous - 0.7% - 0m 20s

The main thing that stands out here is that Night of Champions 2014 featured much more wrestling in the first hour than the typical WWE PPV.  Here is a sorted list of how much wrestling time was included in the first hour of all 9 PPVs so far in 2014:

• 35m 16s: Night of Champions
• 26m 44s: Elimination Chamber
• 25m 59s: Payback
• 25m 09s: Battleground
• 24m 34s: Money In The Bank
• 24m 15s: WrestleMania 30
• 23m 34s: Royal Rumble
• 23m 22s: Extreme Rules
• 21m 42s: SummerSlam

Similarly, the final hour featured the least amount of wrestling time out of all 9 PPVs so far this year, mostly due to a relatively short main event. In fact, these last two Lesnar versus Cena main events rank among the three shortest main event matches since the start of 2013, only beating out Big Show's main event match with Orton from Survivor Series 2013.

The final hour (46m 46s in total length) also ended earlier than it typically does on WWE PPVs.  This was the 5th shortest PPV out of 21 total PPVs since the start of 2013.  The median length of the final hour for those 21 shows is 51m 48s, and so Night of Champions fell about 5 minutes short of that middle number.

Overall, Night of Champions 2014 concentrated a lot of the wrestling in the first hour of the show while also featuring time-consuming post-match segments and pre-match segments at the expense of match time and miscellaneous segment time.

Final Results for Night of Champions 2014

Match - 50.0% - 1h 23m 22s

Pre-match - 27.3% - 45m 27s

Post-match - 15.9% - 26m 28s

Miscellaneous - 6.9% - 11m 29s