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In recent days, Kanenite, one of the most insightful and well read Cagesiders we have on this blog, has been doing a ton of research on match times throughout the history of WrestleMania. He started with a general overview (here), then broke down all the matches that have clocked in under five minutes (here), then focused on the plight of female wrestlers and how little time they're given (here), before analyzing the longest matches and main events (here).
That's why this is such a timely, happy accident of a post.
The latest Figure Four Weekly has the current match time schedule for WrestleMania 29 this Sun., April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Here's how long each match is reportedly penciled in for as of this writing, as well as other segments set for the pay-per-view (PPV):
- The Rock vs. John Cena: 25-30 min.
- Undertaker vs. CM Punk: 20 min.
- Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar: 20-30 min.
- Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger: 15 min.
- The Shield vs. Big Show & Randy Orton & Sheamus: 15 min.
- Ryback vs. Mark Henry: 12 min.
- Chris Jericho vs. Fandango: 10 min.
- Team Hell No vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston: 12-15 min.
- Tons of Funk & Funkadactyls vs. Rhodes Scholars & Bella Twins: 8 min.
- P. Diddy performance: 8 min.
- Hall of Fame ceremony: 7 min.
- Show open pyro and National Anthem: 7 min.
- All other segments: 10 min.
That doesn't include the Wade Barrett vs. Miz Intercontinental championship match because it's currently scheduled for the pre-show, which starts one hour before the main PPV card.
From the looks of it, the right matches are getting the right amount of time to be great, though 12 minutes seems a bit long for Ryback vs. Henry and 10 minutes seems a bit short for Jericho vs. Fandango.
Hey, at least Diddy's performance is only going to go for eight minutes.
Thoughts on this schedule, which is, of course, subject to change before showtime (and even during it, for that matter)?