Match Times: WWE Night Of Champions 2015 Edition

WWE's Night of Champions 2015 lasted for 2 hours 47 minutes and 34 seconds (2h 47m 34s). 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" segments include video packages, entrances, ring introductions, and any verbal promos that occur right before a match officially begins. The "post-match" segments include any celebrations, replays, angles, attacks, or promos that occur right after a match is finished.

• 0m 20s: WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening
• 2m 12s: Video hyping Night of Champions 2015
• 0m 57s: Opening pyro as Cole welcomes you to Night of Champions 2015
• 2m 53s: Pre-match for Ryback vs Owens
• 9m 33s: Ryback vs Owens
• 1m 49s: Post-match for Ryback vs Owens
• 1m 44s: Commercial and commentator hype for Brock Lesnar's Go To Hell Tour
• 4m 43s: Pre-match for Ziggler vs Rusev
• 13m 46s: Ziggler vs Rusev
• 1m 37s: Post-match for Ziggler vs Rusev
• 0m 31s: Commercial for Create A WWE Superstar
• 0m 36s: Backstage glance at Team Bella, Team PCB, and Ric Flair
• 0m 27s: Review of past WWE Tag Team Champions
• 5m 50s: Pre-match for New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 9m 57s: New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 3m 22s: Post-match for New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 0m 58s: Commercial and commentator hype for Breaking Ground
• 0m 36s: Review of past WWE Divas Champions
• 5m 46s: Pre-match for Nikki vs Charlotte
• 12m 41s: Nikki vs Charlotte
• 2m 47s: Post-match for Nikki vs Charlotte
• 0m 31s: Commercial for Mountain Dew featuring Florida Georgia Line
• 1m 10s: Backstage Owens promo
• 1m 46s: Expert Panel with Renee, Booker T, Saxton, and Graves
• 0m 42s: Video recap of the pre-show victory for Cosmic Wasteland
• 0m 24s: Filler commentary
• 1m 03s: Backstage segment with Team PCB and Ric Flair
• 10m 36s: Pre-match for Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho
• 13m 04s: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho
• 3m 03s: Post-match for Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho
• 1m 43s: Commercial for Brock Lesnar's Go To Hell Tour
• 0m 54s: Backstage segment with Rollins, The Authority, and Sheamus
• 0m 21s: Filler commentary
• 0m 48s: Review of past US Champions and WWE World Heavyweight Champions
• 8m 34s: Pre-match for Rollins vs Cena
• 16m 01s: Rollins vs Cena
• 2m 43s: Post-match for Rollins vs Cena
• 1m 39s: Pre-match for Rollins vs Sting
• 14m 56s: Rollins vs Sting
• 4m 31s: Post-match for Rollins vs Sting

Match Times

The 7 matches combined for a total time of 1h 29m 58s. This means that 53.7% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action.  This is the 19th highest percentage in this category out of the 34 WWE events in my data set, which begins with Royal Rumble 2013.  Out of the 30 three-hour events in my data set, the total match time of 1h 29m 58s ranks 25th highest.

Here is the sorted list of match times for Night of Champions 2015.  This also includes where each match time ranks out of all 242 matches in my data set.

• 16m 01s: Rollins vs Cena (74th longest out of 242 matches)
  
• 14m 56s: Rollins vs Sting (81st)
  
• 13m 46s: Ziggler vs Rusev (99th)
  
• 13m 04s: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho (108th)
  
• 12m 41s: Nikki vs Charlotte (113th)
  
• 9m 57s: New Day vs Dudley Boyz (142nd)
  
• 9m 33s: Ryback vs Owens (149th)
  

The median match time for all 242 matches in my data set is 11m 50s.  The opening match of the main card is usually one of the longer matches of the event.  Only 10 of the 34 opening matches in my data set rank below this median line.  That includes Ryback versus Owens.

Ryback versus Owens is the 5th shortest opening match of a PPV in my data set out of 34 total events.  Within that specific set of 34 opening matches, the median match time is 13m 10s and the average match time is 14m 14s.

However it is also worth noting that their match time of 9m 33s is very long for a "shortest match of the night."  The only other such match in my data set that went longer than this one was Kane versus Ambrose from Payback 2013, which was the shortest match of that event with a time of 9m 34s.  The margin between both matches is essentially negligible due to basic human error.

Night of Champions 2015 also included the shortest "longest match of the night" in my data set.  Cena's match time of 16m 01s was the longest of the night, breaking the previous mark of 16m 17s held by Orton versus Reigns from SummerSlam 2014.

These two feats combined show that Night of Champions 2015 exhibited a remarkable amount of parity in its distribution of match times throughout the card.  This is likely related to the fact that the divas matches are now getting more time.  In the past the divas would often be the ones stuck with the shortest match of the night and they wouldn't get much time to tell a story.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 40m 01s, which is 23.9% of the show.  This is the 11th highest percentage in this category out of the 34 events in my data set.  Out of the 30 three-hour events in my data set, the total pre-match segment time of 40m 01s ranks 12th highest.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 7 matches.  For some context, keep in mind that the median pre-match segment time in my data set is 4m 47s and the average time is 5m 39s.

• 10m 36s: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho
• 8m 34s: Rollins vs Cena
• 5m 50s: New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 5m 46s: Nikki vs Charlotte
• 4m 43s: Ziggler vs Rusev
• 2m 53s: Ryback vs Owens
• 1m 39s: Rollins vs Sting

Night of Champions 2015 included 15 separate pre-match superstar entrances.  These 15 entrances took up a total time of 19m 21s.  Here is the sorted list of these 15 entrance times:

• 2m 23s: Chris Jericho
• 1m 50s: Wyatt Family
• 1m 42s: Dudley Boyz (with a 0m 29s look at Dudley tweets)
  
• 1m 27s: John Cena (with a 0m 10s plug for Mountain Dew)
  
• 1m 25s: Kevin Owens (with a 0m 11s intro of Spanish announce team)
  
• 1m 19s: Nikki with Brie and Alicia (with a 0m 12s Nikki tweet)
• 1m 18s: Seth Rollins
• 1m 15s: Sting
• 1m 14s: Ryback (with a 0m 14s intro of Cole's announce team)
  
• 1m 08s: Charlotte with Paige and Becky (with a 0m 12s plug for Hulu)
• 1m 08s: Roman Reigns
• 1m 00s: Rusev with Summer Rae
• 0m 57s: Dolph Ziggler (with a 0m 14s Ziggler tweet)
  
• 0m 39s: New Day
• 0m 36s: Dean Ambrose

Night of Champions 2015 also included two other superstar entrances outside of these 15 pre-match entrances.  When you add on the entrance time for Sheamus (0m 12s) and Kane (0m 36s), it results in a total entrance time for the show of 20m 09s.

In addition to 15 entrances, the pre-match segments also featured 3 extended video packages.  The video packages for Nikki's match (3m 00s), Wyatt's match (2m 44s), and Cena's match (3m 40s) add up to 9m 24s.

So when you combine the 15 pre-match entrances (19m 21s) and the 3 dedicated video packages (9m 24s), that accounts for 28m 45s of the overall pre-match segment time on the show.

New Day's pre-match promo lasted 3m 05s.

The pre-match segment for Rusev versus Ziggler included a 1m 01s Raw recap video, a 0m 41s Smackdown recap video, and a 0m 42s backstage promo with Rusev and Summer Rae.  WWE generally crams these Raw recap videos into the entrance times, but in this case it was all shown before entrances took place.

The 10m 36s pre-match segment for the Wyatt Family tag team match is the 18th longest pre-match segment in my data set out of 242 different pre-match segments.  This included the extended video package, four separate entrances, and the fan interruption shortly before Jericho's entrance.

The extended video package that aired prior to Cena's match hyped up both Cena's match as well as Sting's match, because they essentially shared the same story with Seth Rollins.  I counted that video package as exclusively part of Cena's pre-match segment, because that was the match that immediately followed the video package.  But it could certainly be argued that the time should be split between the two matches.

I started the clock for Sting's pre-match segment when Cena's celebration music ended.  This happened shortly after Cena AA'd Rollins on the outside and tossed him back into the ring.  As a result the pre-match segment for Sting's match mostly just included Sting's entrance.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 19m 52s, which is 11.9% of the show.  This is the 6th highest percentage in this category out of the 34 events in my data set.  Out of the 30 three-hour events in my data set, the total post-match segment time of 19m 52s ranks 7th highest.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all 7 matches.  For some context, keep in mind that the median post-match segment time in my data set is 2m 01s and the average time is 2m 29s.

• 4m 31s: Rollins vs Sting
• 3m 22s: New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 3m 03s: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho
• 2m 47s: Nikki vs Charlotte
• 2m 43s: Rollins vs Cena
• 1m 49s: Ryback vs Owens
• 1m 37s: Ziggler vs Rusev

The tease of Sheamus cashing in as well as Kane's return helped turn the post-match segment for Sting's match into the 27th longest post-match segment in my data set out of 242 entries.

There were four other lengthy post-match segments on the show.  This included the Dudley Boyz putting Xavier Woods through a table, tension between Jericho and Ambrose, Charlotte's lengthy celebration with her father, and Rollins unsuccessfully trying to escape the arena after losing to Cena.

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 10.6% (17m 43s) of the show for everything else.  This is the 27th highest percentage in this category out of the 34 events in my data set.  Out of the 30 three-hour events in my data set, the total miscellaneous segment time of 17m 43s ranks 23rd highest.

3m 27s of the show was spent hyping Brock Lesnar's Go To Hell Tour.  The two commercials that WWE ran for this were slightly different from each other.  The most obvious difference is that the latter commercial included various superstars talking about the danger of Hell In A Cell matches.  The first commercial was a little shorter and did not include this component.

A brief review of notable champions from the past accompanied most of the title defenses on the show.  These championship reviews took up 1m 51s of the show, and the Intercontinental Championship did not receive this treatment.

The 4 separate backstage segments on the show combined to account for 3m 43s of the total show time.

The remaining miscellaneous segments included things like the Expert Panel discussion, filler commentary, a video recap of the pre-show match, and so forth.  There were also commercials for Breaking Ground, Create A WWE Superstar, and Mountain Dew with Florida Georgia Line.

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.  This list also includes where each total time ranks among the 242 entries in my data set.

• 27m 18s: Rollins vs Cena (71st longest out of 242 entries)
  
• 26m 43s: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho (75th)
  
• 21m 14s: Nikki vs Charlotte (100th)
  
• 21m 06s: Rollins vs Sting (103rd)
  
• 20m 06s: Ziggler vs Rusev (112th)
  
• 19m 09s: New Day vs Dudley Boyz (115th)
  
• 14m 15s: Ryback vs Owens (163rd)
  

Now here is a look at the "Match Time Percentage" for each match.  For any given match, this percentage shows how the match time compares to the combined pre-match and post-match segment time.  For some context, it's good to know that the median result here since 2013 is 63%.

• 70.8%: Rollins vs Sting
• 68.5%: Ziggler vs Rusev
• 67.0%: Ryback vs Owens
• 59.7%: Nikki vs Charlotte
• 58.7%: Rollins vs Cena
• 52.0%: New Day vs Dudley Boyz
• 48.9%: Wyatt Family vs Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho

As I discussed earlier, the pre-match segment for Cena versus Rollins also merged the Sting storyline into it via the extended video package that aired prior to the match.  This resulted in raising Sting's percentage and lowering Cena's percentage in this ranking, as that entire pre-match segment time was given to Cena.  If you instead combined those two matches into one large unit, then the overall Match Time Percentage for that unit would be 63.9%.

Jericho's match fell below the 50% threshold here, which almost always seems inexcusable to me.  The entrances and ring introductions for that match alone took up 7m 29s.  When you add a 2m 44s video package on top of that as well Jericho's shoulder check after the match, the match time of 13m 04s actually falls short of the combined pre and post-match segment time of 13m 39s.

Overall, Night of Champions 2015 produced results that are pretty similar to the previous two events (SummerSlam 2015 and Battleground 2015).  The pre-match segment time on all three shows fell between 23.7% and 23.9%.  The percentage of match time for all three shows fell between 53.7% and 55.7%.  Night of Champions 2015 stands out from the others in its extra bit of emphasis on filling several post-match segments with additional content besides the typical celebrations and replays.

Final Results for Night of Champions 2015

Match - 53.7% - 1h 29m 58s

Pre-match - 23.9% - 40m 01s

Post-match - 11.9% - 19m 52s

Miscellaneous - 10.6% - 17m 43s