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The Complete List of WWE's 2014 PPV Match Times

Here is a listing of the match times for every single WWE Pay-Per-View match from 2014, as well as individual match times for every single wrestler. Can you guess which superstar finished with the most ring time?

By Cain A. Knight
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

WWE hosted 12 unique pay-per-view (PPV) events in 2014, spanning 86 total matches. These 86 matches combined for a total bell-to-bell time of 19 hours (h) 0 minutes (m) and 30 seconds (s), producing an average match time of 13m 16s.  Here is the complete sorted list of match times (this does not count any pre-show matches):

  1. 55m 09s: Royal Rumble match (Royal Rumble)
  2. 43m 07s: Team Cena vs Team Authority (Survivor Series)
  3. 37m 35s: Elimination Chamber match (Elimination Chamber)
  4. 30m 57s: The Shield vs Evolution (Payback)
  5. 27m 04s: Ambrose vs Wyatt  (TLC)
  6. 26m 30s: 8-Man WWE WHC Ladder Match (Money In The Bank)
  7. 25m 59s: Bryan vs Triple H (WrestleMania 30)
  8. 25m 53s: Cena vs Orton (Hell In A Cell)
  9. 25m 13s: Undertaker vs Lesnar (WrestleMania 30)
  10. 24m 17s: Cena vs Wyatt (Payback)
  11. 23m 21s: Orton vs Batista vs Bryan (WrestleMania 30)
  12. 23m 15s: MITB Contract Ladder Match (Money In The Bank)
  13. 22m 43s: The Shield vs The Wyatt Family (Elimination Chamber)
  14. 22m 29s: Bryan vs Kane (Extreme Rules)
  15. 22m 28s: Cena vs Wyatt (WrestleMania 30)
  16. 21m 32s: Bryan vs Wyatt (Royal Rumble)
  17. 21m 27s: Cena vs Rollins (TLC)
  18. 21m 12s: Cena vs Wyatt (Extreme Rules)
  19. 20m 56s: Orton vs Cena (Royal Rumble)
  20. 19m 53s: Evolution vs The Shield (Extreme Rules)
  21. 18m 15s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns (Battleground)
  22. 17m 56s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (Battleground)
  23. 16m 42s: Harper vs Ziggler (TLC)
  24. 16m 20s: Jericho vs Orton (Night Of Champions)
  25. 16m 17s: Orton vs Reigns (SummerSlam)
  26. 16m 06s: Cena vs Lesnar (SummerSlam)
  27. 15m 24s: Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match (Survivor Series)
  28. 15m 01s: Jericho vs Wyatt (Battleground)
  29. 14m 23s: Divas Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match (Survivor Series)
  30. 14m 12s: Battleground Battle Royal (Battleground)
  31. 14m 10s: Lesnar vs Cena (Night Of Champions)
  32. 14m 00s: Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt (Survivor Series)
  33. 13m 51s: Ambrose vs Rollins (Hell In A Cell)
  34. 13m 25s: Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (WrestleMania 30)
  35. 13m 14s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (Money In The Bank)
  36. 13m 06s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (Night Of Champions)
  37. 12m 57s: Jericho vs Wyatt (SummerSlam)
  38. 12m 47s: Usos vs Gold and Stardust (Night Of Champions)
  39. 12m 34s: RVD vs Swagger vs Cesaro (Extreme Rules)
  40. 11m 50s: Big E vs Swagger (Elimination Chamber)
  41. 11m 38s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (Payback)
  42. 11m 33s: Ziggler vs Cesaro (Hell In A Cell)
  43. 11m 14s: Big Show vs Rowan (TLC)
  44. 11m 07s: Stephanie vs Brie (SummerSlam)
  45. 10m 52s: Rollins vs Ambrose (SummerSlam)
  46. 10m 20s: Gold and Stardust vs The Usos (Hell In A Cell)
  47. 9m 55s: Rusev vs Swagger (Battleground)
  48. 9m 51s: Kane vs Ryback (TLC)
  49. 9m 31s: Barrett vs RVD (Payback)
  50. 9m 23s: Ziggler vs Miz (Night Of Champions)
  51. 8m 55s: Rusev vs Swagger (SummerSlam)
  52. 8m 42s: Paige vs AJ vs Nikki (Night Of Champions)
  53. 8m 35s: New Age Outlaws vs The Usos (Elimination Chamber)
  54. 8m 22s: Henry vs Rusev (Night Of Champions)
  55. 8m 20s: Sheamus vs The Miz (Hell In A Cell)
  56. 7m 55s: Big E vs Barrett (Extreme Rules)
  57. 7m 52s: Big Show vs Rusev (Hell In A Cell)
  58. 7m 51s: Miz vs Ziggler (SummerSlam)
  59. 7m 50s: Rybaxel vs Cody and Goldust (Payback)
  60. 7m 39s: Nikki vs AJ (TLC)
  61. 7m 35s: Rybaxel vs Stardust and Goldust (Money In The Bank)
  62. 7m 19s: Rusev vs Big E (Money In The Bank)
  63. 7m 16s: Miz and Mizdow vs The Usos (TLC)
  64. 7m 13s: AJ vs Paige (Battleground)
  65. 7m 09s: Batista vs Del Rio (Elimination Chamber)
  66. 7m 03s: Paige vs Naomi (Money In The Bank)
  67. 6m 50s: AJ vs Paige (Hell In A Cell)
  68. 6m 48s: Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational (WrestleMania 30)
  69. 6m 33s: Paige vs Alicia (Payback)
  70. 6m 22s: Nikki Bella vs Brie Bella (Hell In A Cell)
  71. 6m 19s: Titus O'Neil vs Darren Young (Elimination Chamber)
  72. 6m 16s: Paige vs Tamina (Extreme Rules)
  73. 4m 56s: AJ vs Paige (SummerSlam)
  74. 4m 51s: Rusev vs Swagger (TLC)
  75. 4m 17s: Paul Revere vs Adam Rose (Money In The Bank)
  76. 3m 57s: AJ vs Cameron (Elimination Chamber)
  77. 3m 38s: Rusev vs Big E (Payback)
  78. 3m 08s: Layla vs Summer Rae (Money In The Bank)
  79. 2m 55s: The Shield vs Kane and the New Age Outlaws (WrestleMania 30)
  80. 2m 53s: Rusev vs Truth and Woods (Extreme Rules)
  81. 2m 36s: Adam Rose and The Bunny vs Slater and The Gator (Survivor Series)
  82. 2m 02s: Lesnar vs Big Show (Royal Rumble)
  83. 0m 35s: AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella (Survivor Series)
  84. 0m 32s: Kingston vs Dallas (Payback)
  85. 0m 32s: Rollins vs Reigns (Night Of Champions)
  86. 0m 00s: Ambrose vs Rollins (Battleground)

The list above shows that roughly 25% of the matches fall between each of the following time ranges:

  • 0m 00s to 7m 06s
  • 7m 06s to 11m 11s
  • 11m 11s to 18m 05s
  • 18m 05s to 55m 09s

The fact that the median time (11m 11s) is nearly two minutes below the average match time of 13m 16s is a direct result of the large amount of time that is allocated for the main event matches.  This was nearly the same result as in 2013, where the average PPV match time was 13m 20s and the median time was 11m 26s.

Cumulative and Average Match Times

Here is the sorted list of total match times for each individual performer, along with their won-loss record.

[For elimination matches, survival time was used as a performer's match time. There were eight of these elimination matches: Royal Rumble match, Elimination Chamber match, Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, RVD vs Cesaro vs Swagger,  Shield vs Evolution, Battleground Battle Royal, and both Survivor Series elimination tag team matches.]

  1. 4h 13m 45s: John Cena (8-4)
  2. 3h 58m 05s: Seth Rollins (8-4)
  3. 3h 33m 10s: Randy Orton (3-7)
  4. 3h 27m 44s: Bray Wyatt (6-4)
  5. 3h 19m 19s: Dean Ambrose (3-8)
  6. 2h 51m 14s: Roman Reigns (4-5)
  7. 2h 26m 04s: Cesaro (2-7)
  8. 2h 23m 33s: Dolph Ziggler (4-5)
  9. 2h 20m 17s: Sheamus (3-5)
  10. 2h 05m 46s: Daniel Bryan (3-2)
  11. 1h 57m 13s: Luke Harper (1-5)
  12. 1h 50m 30s: Kane (0-7)
  13. 1h 34m 10s: Erick Rowan (2-4)
  14. 1h 33m 19s: Jimmy Uso (3-5)
  15. 1h 30m 46s: Batista (2-3)
  16. 1h 29m 54s: Jey Uso (3-5)
  17. 1h 23m 11s: Cody Rhodes (3-4)
  18. 1h 21m 29s: Rusev (8-2)
  19. 1h 18m 59s: The Miz (3-5)
  20. 1h 17m 20s: Jack Swagger (0-7)
  21. 1h 16m 49s: Triple H (0-3)
  22. 1h 13m 52s: Goldust (3-4)
  23. 1h 01m 56s: Paige (4-4)
  24. 1h 00m 45s: Big Show (2-3)
  25. 57m 32s: Kofi Kingston (0-4-1)
  26. 57m 31s: Brock Lesnar (3-1)
  27. 56m 51s: Alberto Del Rio (0-5)
  28. 49m 15s: CM Punk (0-1)
  29. 48m 02s: Big E (1-6)
  30. 46m 40s: AJ Lee (4-4)
  31. 45m 20s: Rob Van Dam (0-3)
  32. 44m 18s: Chris Jericho (1-2)
  33. 42m 08s: Ryback (3-3)
  34. 37m 32s: Damien Sandow (1-5)
  35. 30m 06s: Nikki Bella (3-2)
  36. 28m 14s: Naomi (1-2)
  37. 27m 44s: Alicia Fox (1-2)
  38. 25m 13s: Undertaker (0-1)
  39. 24m 17s: Brie Bella (0-3)
  40. 22m 03s: Summer Rae (0-3)
  41. 21m 11s: Emma (1-1)
  42. 21m 11s: Natalya (1-1)
  43. 19m 28s: Layla (1-2)
  44. 19m 02s: Diego (0-2)
  45. 18m 54s: Titus O'Neil (1-3)
  46. 18m 17s: Curtis Axel (1-2)
  47. 17m 26s: Bad News Barrett (2-0)
  48. 17m 00s: Cameron (1-2)
  49. 16m 51s: Christian (0-1)
  50. 16m 14s: Heath Slater (0-3)
  51. 15m 24s: Fernando (0-1)
  52. 13m 09s: R-Truth (0-4)
  53. 13m 04s: Tamina (0-2)
  54. 12m 26s: Mark Henry (0-3)
  55. 11m 35s: Bo Dallas (0-1-1)
  56. 11m 30s: Road Dogg (1-1)
  57. 11m 30s: Billy Gunn (1-1)
  58. 11m 07s: Stephanie McMahon (1-0)
  59. 11m 05s: Rey Mysterio (0-2)
  60. 9m 29s: Fandango (0-2)
  61. 8m 52s: Darren Young (0-2)
  62. 8m 52s: Sin Cara (0-2)
  63. 8m 22s: Xavier Woods (0-3)
  64. 7m 35s: Tyson Kidd (0-1)
  65. 6m 53s: Adam Rose (2-0)
  66. 6m 48s: Aksana (0-1)
  67. 6m 48s: Eva Marie (0-1)
  68. 6m 48s: Rosa Mendes (0-1)
  69. 5m 36s: David Otunga (0-1)
  70. 5m 23s: Justin Gabriel (0-1)
  71. 4m 41s: Santino Marella (0-1)
  72. 3m 08s: The Great Khali (0-3)
  73. 2m 58s: Jinder Mahal (0-1)
  74. 2m 57s: Drew McIntyre (0-1)
  75. 2m 48s: Zack Ryder (0-2)
  76. 2m 36s: The Bunny (1-0)
  77. 2m 30s: Kevin Nash (0-1)
  78. 1m 27s: El Torito (0-1)
  79. 1m 26s: Brodus Clay (0-1)
  80. 0m 53s: Brad Maddox (0-1)
  81. 0m 18s: John Bradshaw Layfield (0-1)
  82. 0m 17s: Yoshi Tatsu (0-1)

And here is a listing of the number of matches each superstar or diva competed in:

  • 12 matches: Cena, Rollins
  • 11 matches: Ambrose
  • 10 matches: Wyatt, Orton, Rusev
  • 9 matches: Reigns, Cesaro, Ziggler
  • 8 matches: Usos, Sheamus, Miz, AJ, Paige
  • 7 matches: Cody, Goldust, Kane, Swagger, Big E
  • 6 matches: Sandow, Harper, Rowan, Ryback
  • 5 matches: Bryan, Big Show, Kingston, ADR, Batista, Nikki
  • 4 matches: Lesnar, Truth, Titus
  • 3 matches: Khali, Cameron, Triple H, RVD, Jericho, Slater, Henry, Woods, Alicia, Brie, Layla, Naomi, Summer Rae, Axel
  • 2 matches: Fandango, Mysterio, New Age Outlaws, D-Young, Ryder, Sin Cara, Emma, Natalya, Tamina, Barrett, Bo Dallas, Rose, Diego
  • 1 match: Punk, Nash, Torito, JBL, Christian, Undertaker, Yoshi, Maddox, Brodus, McIntyre, Mahal, Santino, Gabriel, Otunga, Kidd, Aksana, Eva Marie, Rosa, Stephanie, Fernando, Bunny

John Cena beat out Seth Rollins for the most PPV match time in 2014.  This is largely because John Cena wrestled in 12 full matches, whereas 2 of Seth's 12 matches were forfeit victories that didn't really accumulate any significant match time.  Seth's match at WrestleMania 30 was also a very quick squash match.

In a strongly related note, John Cena was also the only man to gain match time on all 12 events.  Seth Rollins technically had a match on all twelve events as well, but one of those matches was a 0m 00s forfeit victory over Ambrose, so Rollins didn't gain any match time from that one.

The lists above show that 21 of the 82 wrestlers only accumulated match time on exactly one of the twelve PPV events.  The Royal Rumble match accounted for 4 of these performers (Punk, Nash, El Torito, JBL), The Andre The Giant Battle Royal accounted for 9 of these performers (Yoshi, Maddox, Brodus, McIntyre, Mahal, Santino, Gabriel, Otunga, Kidd), the Divas Invitational accounted for 3 of these performers (Aksana, Eva Marie, Rosa).  The remaining 5 performers from that group are Undertaker, Christian, Stephanie, Fernando, and The Bunny.

There was no wrestler whose only match time of the year came from the Battleground Battle Royal.  All 19 of those wrestlers also gained match time in at least one other PPV match in 2014.

However, there are 18 men whose only PPV match time came in the three Battle Royal matches this year.  The Great Khali wrestled in all three Battle Royal matches and had no other PPV matches in 2014.  Fandango, Mysterio, Ryder, and Sin Cara each wrestled in 2 of the 3 Battle Royal matches and had no other PPV matches in 2014.  And then there are the 13 aforementioned men who only competed in the Royal Rumble match or the Andre The Giant Battle Royal.

Natalya and Emma didn't get any match time outside of the two group divas matches (at WrestleMania 30 and Survivor Series).

Of the wrestlers who competed in at least 2 different matches, the highest winning percentages went to Bad News Barrett (100%), Adam Rose (100%), Rusev (80%), and Lesnar (75%).

One reason why there are so many losing records, even for a top star like Roman Reigns, is because there are a large number of matches with multiple losers.  The Royal Rumble match had 1 winner and 29 losers.  The Andre The Giant Battle Royal had 1 winner and 30 losers.  The ladder matches from Money In The Bank each had one winner and multiple losers.  Top stars like Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose were all among those 29 losers from the Royal Rumble match.  Reigns also came up short in the group main events from Money In The Bank and Battleground.

To illustrate this idea even better, take a look at Sheamus.  His won-loss record was destroyed by these group matches.  He came up on the losing end of group matches at the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania 30, Money In The Bank, and Battleground.  He achieved victory in his three one-on-one matches.  That accounts for his full record of 3-5.

Kane and Jack Swagger each went 0-7.  Did anybody really expect Swagger to have a chance against Rusev at TLC considering his entire year of losses on PPV heading in to that match?

Kane's feat might stand out even more because he wrestled in 5 of the 12 PPV main events.  He also played a key role in the main event of Elimination Chamber even though he was not a competitor in that match.  Kane was a main event level jobber in 2014, if that even makes sense.

Other performers who wrestled in at least three matches without a win include Triple H, Kingston, Del Rio,  RVD, Brie Bella, Summer Rae, Slater, Henry, Woods, and The Great Khali.

Big E fought in 7 different PPV matches yet still ended up with less total match time than CM Punk's survival time of 49m 15s in the Royal Rumble match.  The same thing applies to AJ Lee, who wrestled in 8 different matches.  This can also be said about Ryback and Sandow, who each wrestled in 6 different matches.

Here is the same list of 82 superstars, now sorted by their average match time.  For every superstar who wrestled in more than one match, I will include a sorted array of each of their individual match times so that you can see a rough distribution and where any outliers may pop up.  Those numbers will be rounded to the nearest minute for the sake of readability.  The entry for Triple H can be interpreted as, "Triple H's average match time was 25 minutes and 36 seconds, and his three individual match times were roughly 31 minutes, 26 minutes, and 20 minutes."

  1. 49m 15s: CM Punk
  2. 25m 36s: Triple H [31, 26, 20]
  3. 25m 13s: Undertaker
  4. 25m 09s: Daniel Bryan [32, 26, 23, 22, 22]
  5. 21m 19s: Randy Orton [29, 27, 26, 23, 21, 20, 18, 17, 16, 16]
  6. 21m 09s: John Cena [27, 26, 25, 24, 22, 21, 21, 21, 18, 17, 16, 14]
  7. 20m 46s: Bray Wyatt [27, 27, 24, 23, 22, 22, 21, 15, 14, 13]
  8. 19m 50s: Seth Rollins [49, 43, 31, 23, 23, 21, 20, 14, 11, 3, 1, 0]
  9. 19m 32s: Luke Harper [32, 23, 18, 17, 15, 13]
  10. 19m 02s: Roman Reigns [34, 31, 27, 23, 20, 18, 16, 3, 0]
  11. 18m 09s: Batista [28, 23, 20, 13, 7]
  12. 18m 07s: Dean Ambrose [34, 31, 27, 23, 23, 20, 14, 14, 11, 3, 0]
  13. 17m 32s: Sheamus [28, 27, 26, 14, 13, 12, 12, 8]
  14. 16m 51s: Christian
  15. 16m 14s: Cesaro [30, 27, 17, 13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 10]
  16. 15m 57s: Dolph Ziggler [43, 23, 17, 14, 12, 12, 9, 8, 6]
  17. 15m 47s: Kane [30, 27, 22, 18, 10, 3, 1]
  18. 15m 42s: Erick Rowan [24, 23, 18, 13, 11, 5]
  19. 15m 24s: Fernando
  20. 15m 07s: RVD [23, 13, 10]
  21. 14m 46s: Chris Jericho [16, 15, 13]
  22. 14m 23s: Brock Lesnar [25, 16, 14, 2]
  23. 12m 09s: Big Show [26, 13, 11, 8, 2]
  24. 11m 53s: Cody Rhodes [21, 15, 13, 10, 8, 8, 8]
  25. 11m 40s: Jimmy Uso [18, 15, 13, 13, 10, 9, 8, 7]
  26. 11m 30s: Kofi Kingston [23, 13, 11, 10, 1]
  27. 11m 22s: Alberto Del Rio [27, 12, 8, 7, 3]
  28. 11m 14s: Jey Uso [18, 15, 13, 13, 10, 9, 7, 4]
  29. 11m 07s: Stephanie McMahon
  30. 11m 03s: Jack Swagger [23, 12, 12, 10, 9, 6, 5]
  31. 10m 36s: Emma [14, 7]
  32. 10m 36s: Natalya [14, 7]
  33. 10m 33s: Goldust [15, 13, 12, 10, 8, 8, 8]
  34. 9m 52s: The Miz [15, 14, 12, 9, 8, 8, 7, 5]
  35. 9m 31s: Diego [15, 4]
  36. 9m 25s: Naomi [14, 7, 7]
  37. 9m 15s: Alicia Fox [14, 7, 7]
  38. 8m 43s: Bad News Barrett [10, 8]
  39. 8m 09s: Rusev [21, 10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3]
  40. 8m 06s: Brie Bella [11, 7, 6]
  41. 7m 45s: Paige [14, 9, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 5]
  42. 7m 35s: Tyson Kidd
  43. 7m 21s: Summer Rae [12, 7, 3]
  44. 7m 01s: Ryback [10, 8, 8, 8, 5, 4]
  45. 6m 52s: Big E [12, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3]
  46. 6m 48s: Aksana
  47. 6m 48s: Eva Marie
  48. 6m 48s: Rosa Mendes
  49. 6m 32s: Tamina [7, 6]
  50. 6m 29s: Layla [10, 7, 3]
  51. 6m 15s: Damien Sandow [15, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2]
  52. 6m 06s: Curtis Axel [8, 8, 3]
  53. 6m 01s: Nikki Bella [9, 8, 7, 6, 1]
  54. 5m 50s: AJ Lee [9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 5, 4, 1]
  55. 5m 48s: Bo Dallas [11, 1]
  56. 5m 45s: Road Dogg [9, 3]
  57. 5m 45s: Billy Gunn [9, 3]
  58. 5m 40s: Cameron [7, 6, 4]
  59. 5m 36s: David Otunga
  60. 5m 33s: Rey Mysterio [9, 2]
  61. 5m 25s: Heath Slater [11, 3, 3]
  62. 5m 23s: Justin Gabriel
  63. 4m 45s: Fandango [7, 3]
  64. 4m 44s: Titus O'Neil [6, 6, 4, 3]
  65. 4m 41s: Santino Marella
  66. 4m 26s: Darren Young [6, 3]
  67. 4m 26s: Sin Cara [7, 2]
  68. 4m 09s: Mark Henry [8, 3, 1]
  69. 3m 27s: Adam Rose [4, 3]
  70. 3m 17s: R-Truth [7, 3, 3, 0]
  71. 2m 58s: Jinder Mahal
  72. 2m 57s: Drew McIntyre
  73. 2m 47s: Xavier Woods [5, 3, 1]
  74. 2m 36s: The Bunny
  75. 2m 30s: Kevin Nash
  76. 1m 27s: El Torito
  77. 1m 26s: Brodus Clay
  78. 1m 24s: Zack Ryder [2, 1]
  79. 1m 03s: The Great Khali [2, 1, 0]
  80. 0m 53s: Brad Maddox
  81. 0m 18s: John Bradshaw Layfield
  82. 0m 17s: Yoshi Tatsu

Brock Lesnar has had a much lighter workload in 2014 compared to 2013.  In 2013 his average match time of 23m 09s topped the list of all superstars, but this year his average match time plummeted to 14m 23s.

John Cena's two shortest PPV matches of the year were both against Brock Lesnar.

Mark Henry's match times are pretty stunning.  Aside from his singles match with Rusev, his only other matches involved very quick eliminations in a Battle Royal and a traditional Survivor Series tag team match.

But Mark Henry has nothing on The Great Khali, whose average match time of 1m 03s still might be too long considering his lack of professional wrestling skills.

The top 25 average match times are dominated by white males.

Randy Orton's match with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam was the longest match on that card, yet it was Orton's shortest PPV match of the year.

Dolph Ziggler's survival time at Survivor Series accounts for 30.0% of his total match time for the year.  Here is a list of what this percentage was for all 10 wrestlers in that match:

  • 43.1%: Big Show
  • 30.0%: Dolph Ziggler
  • 26.9%: Luke Harper
  • 26.8%: Kane
  • 25.8%: Rusev
  • 25.8%: Erick Rowan
  • 19.4%: Ryback
  • 18.1%: Seth Rollins
  • 9.9%: John Cena
  • 6.7%: Mark Henry

The entire divas division struggles to get significant time on PPV. 15 matches featured at least one diva, and these matches had an average match time of 6m 46s and a median time of 6m 48s. The remaining 71 male-exclusive matches had an average match time of 14m 38s and a median time of 12m 57s.  And if you discard the 12 main event matches from consideration, the remaining 59 male-exclusive undercard matches had an average time of 12m 02s and a median time of 11m 14s.  These numbers closely mirror last year's results.  The main shred of optimism here for the divas is that in 2013 there were only 11 matches on PPV featuring at least one diva, and that number increased to 15 total matches in 2014.

There were 58 one-on-one matches on PPV in 2014.  Here are the 5 longest one-on-one matches that did not include at least one of Cena, Bryan, Orton, Lesnar, or Wyatt.

  • 16m 42s: Harper vs Ziggler (TLC)
  • 13m 51s: Ambrose vs Rollins (Hell In A Cell)
  • 13m 06s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (Night Of Champions)
  • 11m 50s: Big E vs Swagger (Elimination Chamber)
  • 11m 38s: Sheamus vs Cesaro (Payback)

The Effect of Group Matches

If you add up the cumulative match times for all 82 superstars it equals 67 hours, 55 minutes, and 45 seconds.

The combined survival times for each superstar from the Royal Rumble match take up 5h 59m 53s of the total 67h 55m 45s.  This means that approximately 8.8% of the cumulative superstar match time for the year came from this one match.

Here is the list of how that cumulative superstar match time of 67h 55m 45s was distributed on each PPV. A high number means that group matches had strong prominence on that show.  A low number means that most of the match time came from one-on-one matches.

  • 8h 39m 15s: WrestleMania 30 (12.7% of cumulative superstar match time)
  • 8h 35m 38s: Survivor Series (12.7%)
  • 7h 58m 20s: Money In The Bank (11.7%)
  • 7h 28m 53s: Royal Rumble (11.0%)
  • 6h 09m 06s: Elimination Chamber (9.1%)
  • 5h 37m 51s: Battleground (8.3%)
  • 5h 23m 35s: Payback (7.9%)
  • 4h 35m 15s: Extreme Rules (6.8%)
  • 3h 46m 40s: TLC (5.6%)
  • 3h 22m 42s: Hell In A Cell (5.0%)
  • 3h 20m 28s: Night Of Champions (4.9%)
  • 2h 58m 02s: SummerSlam (4.4%)

Here is the list of the top 15 matches of the year in terms of cumulative superstar match time.  For elimination matches (like the Royal Rumble match, Elimination Chamber match, etc.) this means simply adding up each participating superstar's survival time.  For just about any other match it means multiplying the match time by the number of superstars competing in the match.  For example, in a normal tag team match that goes 15 minutes, the cumulative match time earned by all four superstars would be 60 minutes.

  1. 5h 59m 53s: Royal Rumble match
  2. 4h 13m 03s: Team Cena vs Team Authority
  3. 3h 32m 00s: 8-Man WWE WHC Ladder Match
  4. 3h 09m 10s: Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
  5. 2h 59m 57s: The Shield vs Evolution (Payback)
  6. 2h 19m 58s: Elimination Chamber match
  7. 2h 19m 30s: MITB Contract Ladder Match
  8. 2h 16m 18s: The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
  9. 2h 08m 49s: Battleground Battle Royal
  10. 2h 03m 12s: Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match (Survivor Series)
  11. 1h 59m 18s: The Shield vs Evolution (Extreme Rules)
  12. 1h 39m 49s: Divas Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match
  13. 1h 35m 12s: Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational
  14. 1h 13m 00s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns
  15. 1h 11m 44s: The Usos vs Rowan and Harper (Battleground)

These 15 matches combined for a cumulative superstar match time of 38h 40m 53s, which is 56.9% of the overall cumulative superstar match time for the year (67h 55m 45s). However on an individual basis, these 15 matches took up a total PPV time of 5h 59m 32s, which is 31.5% of the overall PPV match time for the year (19h 00m 30s).

In 2013, the 15 matches with the most cumulative superstar match time added up to 27h 36m 27s, which was 46.4% of the overall cumulative superstar match time for the year (59h 24m 55s).  On an individual basis, those 15 matches took up a total PPV time of 5h 22m 16s, which is 27.5% of the overall PPV match time of the year (19h 33m 43s).

I'll define a "group match" as any match that involves more than 2 superstars.  WWE's reliance on group matches in 2014 resulted in 8h 30m 50s more cumulative match time for the superstars than in 2013 even though 2013 featured 33m 13s more PPV match time than 2014.

The difference between 2013 and 2014 in this regard is evident with a quick look at the main event matches.  2014 featured 7 group matches out of 12 main events, whereas 2013 featured only 1 group match out of 12 main events.

Match Types and Finishes

Here is a quick look at match types and match finishes, with an occasional timing detail thrown in.

The 86 matches broke down into the following match types:

3 Battle Royals (including the Royal Rumble match)

2 Group Ladder matches

1 Elimination Chamber match

17 Team Matches (average time is 14m 08s, median time is 12m 47s)

  • 8 normal Tag Team matches featuring 2 men versus 2 men with no stipulation
  • 3 6-Man Tag Team matches with no added stipulation
  • 1 6-Man No Holds Barred Elimination match
  • 1 Tag Team Two out of Three Falls match
  • 1 Tag Team Fatal 4-Way match
  • 1 8-Diva Tag Team Elimination match
  • 1 10-Man Tag Team Elimination match
  • 1 Handicap match featuring 2 men versus 1 man

63 other matches without teams (average time is 11m 35s, median is 9m 51s, average time without two forfeits is 11m 58s)

  • 32 normal Singles matches featuring 1 man versus 1 man with no stipulation
  • 10 normal Singles matches featuring 1 woman versus 1 woman with no stipulation
  • 2 HIAC matches
  • 1 TLC match
  • 1 Tables match
  • 1 Chairs match
  • 1 Stairs match
  • 1 Steel Cage match
  • 1 Last Man Standing match
  • 1 Lumberjack match
  • 1 Extreme Rules match
  • 1 Ladder match
  • 1 2 out of 3 Falls match
  • 1 Flag match
  • 1 normal Singles match that can only be decided by pin or submission
  • 1 normal Divas match where the loser becomes the winner's personal assistant
  • 1 normal Divas match with Fandango as the special referee
  • 1 Triple Threat match featuring 3 men with no added stipulation
  • 1 Triple Threat Elimination match featuring 3 men
  • 1 Triple Threat match featuring 3 women
  • 1 Fatal 4-Way match featuring 4 men
  • 1 Divas match featuring 14 women

38 of these 86 matches featured a championship hanging in the balance.  Here is the breakdown:

  • 11 Divas Championship matches (average time is 6m 03s, median is 6m 48s)
  • 8 WWE World Heavyweight Championship matches (average is 22m 25s, median is 21m 43s)
  • 8 Intercontinental Championship matches (average is 11m 07s, median is 10m 32s)
  • 7 Tag Team Championship matches (average is 12m 13s, median is 12m 47s)
  • 4 United States Championship matches (average is 9m 29s, median is 9m 59s)

13 of these 38 championship matches included a title changing hands.  The overall tally is 5 times for the Intercontinental Championship, 3 times for the Divas Championship, 3 times for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, 2 times for the Tag Team Championships, and 0 times for the United States Championship.

Here is the breakdown of how the winners of the 86 matches were decided:

  • 56 Pin falls
  • 11 Submissions
  • 4 Disqualifications
  • 3 Over the top rope eliminations
  • 3 Climbing a ladder
  • 2 Pass outs
  • 2 Forfeits
  • 1 Putting opponent through a table
  • 1 Last man standing
  • 1 Escaping a steel cage
  • 1 Count out
  • 1 No contest

Finally, here are your 2014 WWE main event performers.  These are all the guys who wrestled in the final match of a PPV event.  I am going to exclude the Royal Rumble event from consideration, as there were technically 30 men in that main event match and most of them were just mid-card fodder.

  • 6 matches: John Cena
  • 5 matches: Randy Orton
  • 4 matches: Kane
  • 3 matches: Bryan, Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins
  • 2 matches: Cesaro, Sheamus, Lesnar, Batista, Wyatt
  • 1 match: Christian, Del Rio, Henry, Triple H, Ryback, Big Show, Rowan, Ziggler, Rusev, Harper

It was a really strange year in that only 5 of the 12 PPV events were headlined by a one-on-one match.  Those 5 matches included 2 appearances for each of Cena, Lesnar, and Ambrose, and 1 appearance for each of Bryan, Kane, Wyatt, and Rollins.  Randy Orton, Batista, and Roman Reigns did not headline any of these events in a one-on-one match.

So there is the complete listing of each 2014 PPV match along with other details related to timing elements and match type classifications.  What stands out to you the most?  Do you think John Cena will repeat in 2015 as the man with the most ring time on PPV?

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