WWE's Fastlane 2016 lasted for 2 hours 48 minutes and 41 seconds (2h 48m 41s). 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.
Start | End | Description | Duration |
0m 00s | 0m 21s | WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening | 0m 21s |
0m 21s | 2m 10s | Video hyping Fastlane 2016 | 1m 49s |
2m 10s | 2m 53s | Opening pyro; Cole welcomes you | 0m 43s |
2m 53s | 7m 07s | Pre-match for Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi | 4m 14s |
7m 07s | 16m 56s | Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi | 9m 49s |
16m 56s | 17m 46s | Post-match for Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi | 0m 50s |
17m 46s | 18m 22s | Commercial for WrestleMania 32 | 0m 36s |
18m 22s | 18m 38s | Cole talks about the venue in Cleveland | 0m 16s |
18m 38s | 18m 53s | Celebrity sightings: Machine Gun Kelly | 0m 15s |
18m 53s | 20m 34s | Filler commentary; Raw recap: Ambrose loses IC belt | 1m 41s |
20m 34s | 23m 24s | Pre-match for Owens vs Ziggler | 2m 50s |
23m 24s | 38m 35s | Owens vs Ziggler | 15m 11s |
38m 35s | 40m 24s | Post-match for Owens vs Ziggler | 1m 49s |
40m 24s | 40m 55s | Commercial for Tapout | 0m 31s |
40m 55s | 41m 42s | Commercial for The Edge and Christian Show | 0m 47s |
41m 42s | 50m 24s | Pre-match for Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show | 8m 42s |
50m 24s | 1h 01m 00s | Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show | 10m 36s |
1h 01m 00s | 1h 02m 25s | Post-match for Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show | 1m 25s |
1h 02m 25s | 1h 02m 56s | Commercial for Vincent J. McMahon award on Raw | 0m 31s |
1h 02m 56s | 1h 03m 41s | Commercial for the new WWE.com | 0m 45s |
1h 03m 41s | 1h 06m 00s | Backstage segment with Ambrose and Reigns | 2m 19s |
1h 06m 00s | 1h 06m 14s | Plug for PPV theme song | 0m 14s |
1h 06m 14s | 1h 06m 29s | Filler commentary | 0m 15s |
1h 06m 29s | 1h 12m 19s | Pre-match for Charlotte vs Brie | 5m 50s |
1h 12m 19s | 1h 24m 46s | Charlotte vs Brie | 12m 27s |
1h 24m 46s | 1h 26m 21s | Post-match for Charlotte vs Brie | 1m 35s |
1h 26m 21s | 1h 27m 30s | Commercial and hype for WrestleMania 32 | 1m 09s |
1h 27m 30s | 1h 34m 32s | Pre-match for Jericho vs Styles | 7m 02s |
1h 34m 32s | 1h 50m 57s | Jericho vs Styles | 16m 25s |
1h 50m 57s | 1h 53m 36s | Post-match for Jericho vs Styles | 2m 59s |
1h 53m 56s | 1h 54m 49s | Kickoff panel | 0m 53s |
1h 54m 49s | 1h 55m 59s | Coverage of Kalisto's pre-show victory | 1m 10s |
1h 55m 59s | 1h 56m 50s | Coverage of New Day's Smackdown promo | 0m 51s |
1h 56m 50s | 2h 09m 32s | Cutting Edge Peep Show with New Day | 12m 42s |
2h 09m 32s | 2h 10m 56s | Commercial for upcoming content on WWE Network | 1m 24s |
2h 10m 56s | 2h 13m 30s | Pre-match for Truth vs Axel | 2m 34s |
2h 13m 30s | 2h 15m 47s | Truth vs Axel | 2m 17s |
2h 15m 47s | 2h 17m 00s | Post-match for Truth vs Axel | 1m 13s |
2h 17m 00s | 2h 17m 41s | Commercial for WWE Network | 0m 41s |
2h 17m 41s | 2h 18m 34s | Commercial for Vincent J. McMahon award on Raw | 0m 53s |
2h 18m 34s | 2h 27m 50s | Pre-match for Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose | 9m 16s |
2h 27m 50s | 2h 44m 38s | Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose | 16m 48s |
2h 44m 38s | 2h 48m 41s | Post-match for Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose | 4m 03s |
Match Times
The 7 matches combined for a total time of 1h 23m 33s. This means that 49.5% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action. This is the 36th highest percentage in this category out of the 39 WWE events in my data set, which begins with Royal Rumble 2013. Out of the 35 three-hour events in my data set, the total match time of 1h 23m 33s ranks 33rd highest.
Here is the sorted list of match times for Fastlane 2016. This also includes where each match time ranks out of all 276 matches in my data set.
- 16m 48s: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose (74th longest out of 276 matches)
- 16m 25s: Jericho vs Styles (77th)
- 15m 11s: Owens vs Ziggler (89th)
- 12m 27s: Charlotte vs Brie (131st)
- 10m 36s: Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show (162nd)
- 9m 49s: Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi (171st)
- 2m 17s: Truth vs Axel (269th)
Fastlane 2016 is the 6th event in my data set that did not eclipse 50 percent match time. Keep in mind that I do not take pre-show match time data into consideration.
The other 5 events in that group are Night of Champions 2014 (rounds up to 50.0%), WrestleMania 29 (49.7%), Battleground 2014 (48.3%), Fastlane 2015 (47.0%), and WrestleMania 31 (41.2%).
Even though the main event was the longest match of the night, it was only the 31st longest out of 39 main event matches in my data set. Brock Lesnar has now wrestled in 6 of the 10 shortest main event matches.
Curtis Axel's filler match with R-Truth is the 8th shortest match in my data set.
Out of the 7 matches that are shorter, 2 are forfeits and 2 are Money In the Bank cash-ins. The remaining 3 matches are Lesnar squashing Big Show, Nikki beating AJ for the Divas Championship in 35 seconds at Survivor Series 2014, and a 0m 32s no-contest between Bo Dallas and Kofi Kingston that was interrupted by Kane.
A total time of 36m 53s lapsed between the closing bell of Jericho's match and the opening bell of Lesnar's match.
Charlotte versus Brie is now the 3rd longest out of 28 Divas Championship matches in my data set.
Fastlane 2016 is the only PPV event in my data set with 3 matches ending by submission.
In what might be an under-appreciated sign of progress for the Divas division, this was the first time since at least 2013 that WWE started the main card of a PPV with a divas match.
The last instance that I can find of women competing in a PPV opener was at No Mercy 2005, where Christy Hemme joined Heidenreich and Animal against the team of Nitro, Mercury, and Melina in a 6-person tag team match.
The only PPV I was able to find that began with a match of all-female participants was Insurrextion 2003, a UK-exclusive event that started with Trish Stratus versus Jazz.
While it was great to see the Divas get a chance to start the show, it's also worth noting that their match time only ranked 33rd longest out of 39 opening matches in my data set.
The second match on the card is usually one of the shorter matches of the night. However in this case Ziggler and Owens received 15m 11s, which is the 2nd most time out of 39 matches in this slot on other PPVs in my data set. The only longer "second match of the night" was Reigns versus Wyatt at Hell in a Cell 2015.
Ziggler's match was 5m 22s longer than the opening divas tag team match. Out of the 39 events in my data set, there are only 6 instances when the opening match was shorter than the second match.
Out of those 6 events, Fastlane 2016 had the second biggest difference in match time between those two matches. The biggest gap once again belongs to Reigns versus Wyatt at Hell in a Cell 2015, which soundly trounced the opening match time of Cena versus Del Rio by a whopping 15m 18s.
Fastlane 2016 also included this quirky timing behavior: match time decreased throughout each hour of the show. Hour one had a match time of 34m 36s, hour two had a match time of 29m 52s, and the final hour of the show included 19m 05s of match time.
The only other events in my data set that exhibit this same characteristic are Survivor Series 2013 and Night of Champions 2014. It's not surprising to see that all of these shows had relatively short main event matches as well as overall show times under 2h 50m 00s.
Pre-match Segments
The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 40m 28s, which is 24.0% of the show. This is the 13th highest percentage in this category out of the 39 events in my data set. Out of the 35 three-hour events in my data set, the total pre-match segment time of 40m 28s also ranks 13th 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 52s and the average time is 5m 41s.
- 9m 16s: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose
- 8m 42s: Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show
- 7m 02s: Jericho vs Styles
- 5m 50s: Charlotte vs Brie
- 4m 14s: Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi
- 2m 50s: Owens vs Ziggler
- 2m 34s: Truth vs Axel
Four matches received the special treatment of a dedicated video package right before superstar entrances. The videos hyping Ryback's match (2m 14s), Charlotte's match (2m 26s), Jericho's match (2m 20s), and Lesnar's match (2m 50s) combined to take up 9m 50s of the pre-match segment time.
The separate introductions of the three commentary teams during the entrances of the opening match combined to take up about 0m 36s.
The entrances for the opening match were also used to cram in a 0m 09s look at a tweet from Sasha, a 0m 47s Smackdown recap video, as well as a 0m 42s Facebook promo video from Naomi and Tamina.
KO's entrance included a 0m 14s glance at one of his tweets.
There was a 0m 51s backstage promo from Ryback's team right before his match that I classified as a pre-match segment.
Ryback's entrance included a 0m 13s plug for Hulu.
Brie's entrance included a 0m 14s look at one of her tweets.
There was a 1m 28s backstage Jericho promo right before his match that I classified as a pre-match segment.
AJ's entrance included a 0m 06 plug for Tapout.
The Socials Outcasts cut a promo lasting 1m 00s on their way to the ring.
Heyman's ring introduction for Brock Lesnar lasted 0m 34s.
It always bugs me when the pre-match segment time and the respective match time are nearly the same. In this case it seems like an inefficient choice to spend 8m 42s on the pre-match segment for Ryback's match when the match only lasted 10m 36s. Did this fight really require both a dedicated video package as well as a backstage promo from Ryback's team of titans?
The pre-match segment time (2m 34s) for Axel versus Truth was longer than the actual match time (2m 17s)!
Post-match Segments
The post-match segments combined for a total time of 13m 54s, which is 8.2% of the show. This is the 30th highest percentage in this category out of the 39 events in my data set. Out of the 35 three-hour events in my data set, the total post-match segment time of 11m 45s ranks 27th 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 1m 59s and the average time is 2m 30s.
- 4m 03s: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose
- 2m 59s: Jericho vs Styles
- 1m 49s: Owens vs Ziggler
- 1m 35s: Charlotte vs Brie
- 1m 25s: Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show
- 1m 13s: Truth vs Axel
- 0m 50s: Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi
The post-match segment for Sasha's match was the only one that did not include any replays from the match. Even the filler waste of time that was Axel versus Truth got a replay of the finish during its post-match segment.
As a result, the post-match segment for Sasha's match ended up tied for the 12 shortest post-match segment out of 276 total post-match segments in my data set.
The post-match segments for Jericho's match and Lesnar's match are the only ones that rank above the median and average post-match segment times.
Miscellaneous Segments
That leaves about 18.2% (30m 46s) of the show for everything else. This is the 5th highest percentage in this category out of the 39 events in my data set. Out of the 35 three-hour events in my data set, the total miscellaneous segment time of 30m 46s ranks 4th highest.
Most of these miscellaneous segments are crammed into the time after one post-match segment ends and the next pre-match segment begins. Fastlane 2016 included 7 different blocks of miscellaneous segments. Here is how long each block lasted.
- Block 1: 2m 53s (Opening hype video, opening pyro)
- Block 2: 2m 48s (Commercial for WrestleMania 32, Raw recap)
- Block 3: 1m 18s (Commercials for Tapout and The Edge and Christian Show)
- Block 4: 4m 04s (hype for Raw and WWE.com, backstage with Ambreigns)
- Block 5: 1m 09s (Commercial and hype for WrestleMania 32)
- Block 6: 17m 00s (Kickoff panel, Cutting Edge, hype for WWE Network)
- Block 7: 1m 34s (Commercial for WWE Network, hype for Raw)
The primary reason that the main card of Fastlane 2016 was lacking in overall match time is because they essentially moved Kalisto's match to the pre-show in order to have enough time for the Cutting Edge Peep Show.
The Cutting Edge Peep Show took up 12m 42s of the miscellaneous segment time on the show. There was also a 0m 51s Smackdown recap that was used to set up Edge's segment. So overall about 13m 33s of the show was dedicated to Edge, Christian, New Day, and League of Nations.
The remaining miscellaneous segments combined to last 17m 13s, which is a pretty low number compared to the typical results.
The list above shows that there were three instances where WWE included less than 2 minutes of miscellaneous segments in between the post-match segment of one match and the pre-match segment of the next match.
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 276 entries in my data set.
- 30m 07s: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose (65th longest out of 276 entries)
- 26m 26s: Jericho vs Styles (85th)
- 20m 43s: Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show (123rd)
- 19m 52s: Charlotte vs Brie (130th)
- 19m 50s: Owens vs Ziggler (131st)
- 14m 53s: Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi (187th)
- 6m 04s: Truth vs Axel (272nd)
The lengthy pre-match segments ended up pushing Ryback's match and Charlotte's match ahead of Ziggler's match. The end result is that all three matches were given a similar total show time, falling within one minute of each other.
Curtis Axel's match was a complete waste of 6 minutes and is the 5th shortest total time in my data set for all three of these components. 2 of the 4 shorter entries in my data set came from the Survivor Series 2014 card, and the other 2 were Money In The Bank cash-ins.
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 62.9%.
(Here's an example calculation: an entry with a match time of 6m 00s, pre-match time of 3m 00s, and a post-match time of 1m 00s has a score of 60.0%, because the match time of 6m 00s is 60% of the total sum of 10m 00s for all three components.)
- 76.6%: Owens vs Ziggler
- 66.0%: Sasha and Becky vs Tamina and Naomi
- 62.7%: Charlotte vs Brie
- 62.1%: Jericho vs Styles
- 55.8%: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose
- 51.2%: Wyatts vs Ryback, Kane, and Big Show
- 37.6%: Truth vs Axel
The percentage for Truth's match ranks as the 11th lowest in my data set out of 276 total entries.
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The decision to throw a lengthy Cutting Edge Peep Show onto the card in lieu of another match ended up hurting the overall match time for the Fastlane 2016 card. There was also slightly more pre-match segment time than normal, and the show ended a little earlier than usual.
The Cutting Edge comedy segment was curiously followed up with a filler match that was hard to care about. A total time of 36m 53s lapsed between the closing bell of Jericho's match and the opening bell of Lesnar's match, and so this really hurt the pacing of the show. It seems pretty clear that WWE should not have run the Cutting Edge segment and the filler match as back-to-back segments in between the two most anticipated matches of the night.
Final Results for Fastlane 2016
Match - 49.5% - 1h 23m 33s
Pre-match - 24.0% - 40m 28s
Post-match - 8.2% - 13m 54s
Miscellaneous - 18.2% - 30m 46s