NXT TakeOver: Dallas match times stats breakdown

NXT TakeOver: Dallas lasted for 2 hours 15 minutes and 31 seconds (2h 15m 31s).  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 20s	WWE's "Then, Now, Forever" opening	0m 20s
0m 20s	2m 22s	Video hyping NXT TakeOver: Dallas	2m 02s
2m 22s	2m 55s	Welcome to NXT TakeOver: Dallas	0m 33s
2m 55s	5m 27s	Pre-match for Revival vs American Alpha	2m 32s
5m 27s	20m 40s	Revival vs American Alpha	15m 13s
20m 40s	22m 57s	Post-match for Revival vs American Alpha	2m 17s
22m 57s	23m 19s	Filler commentary	0m 22s
23m 19s	23m 50s	Commercial for upcoming NXT events	0m 31s
23m 50s	24m 05s	Commentators talk about Dallas	0m 15s
24m 05s	24m 42s	Footage of Bayley and Asuka	0m 37s
24m 42s	29m 18s	Pre-match for Aries vs Corbin	4m 36s
29m 18s	40m 03s	Aries vs Corbin	10m 45s
40m 03s	41m 35s	Post-match for Aries vs Corbin	1m 32s
41m 35s	42m 25s	Commercial for WrestleMania 32	0m 50s
42m 25s	42m 43s	Plug for official theme song	0m 18s
42m 43s	43m 15s	Commentators discuss Balor and Joe	0m 32s
43m 15s	50m 22s	Pre-match for Zayn vs Nakamura	7m 07s
50m 22s	1h 10m 30s	Zayn vs Nakamura	20m 08s
1h 10m 30s	1h 15m 34s	Post-match for Zayn vs Nakamura	5m 04s
1h 15m 34s	1h 16m 29s	Commercial for WWE HOF ceremony	0m 55s
1h 16m 29s	1h 16m 49s	Plug for Digiorno	0m 20s
1h 16m 49s	1h 17m 01s	Backstage glance at Samoa Joe	0m 12s
1h 17m 01s	1h 17m 18s	Plug for official theme song	0m 17s
1h 17m 18s	1h 26m 08s	Pre-match for Bayley vs Asuka	8m 50s
1h 26m 08s	1h 41m 30s	Bayley vs Asuka	15m 22s
1h 41m 30s	1h 45m 47s	Post-match for Bayley vs Asuka	4m 17s
1h 45m 47s	1h 46m 18s	Commercial for WrestleMania 32	0m 31s
1h 46m 18s	1h 46m 36s	Plug for official theme song	0m 18s
1h 46m 36s	1h 56m 01s	Pre-match for Balor vs Joe	9m 25s
1h 56m 01s	2h 12m 23s	Balor vs Joe	16m 22s
2h 12m 23s	2h 15m 31s	Post-match for Balor vs Joe	3m 08s

Match Times

The 5 matches combined for a total time of 1h 17m 50s.  This means that 57.4% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action.

Here is the sorted list of match times for NXT TakeOver: Dallas:

• 20m 08s: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• 16m 22s: Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe
• 15m 22s: Bayley vs Asuka
• 15m 13s: The Revival vs American Alpha
• 10m 45s: Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 32m 30s, which is 24.0% of the show.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 5 matches:

• 9m 25s: Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe
• 8m 50s: Bayley vs Asuka
• 7m 07s: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• 4m 36s: Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin
• 2m 32s: The Revival vs American Alpha

The pre-match segment for the tag team championship match was the only one that lacked a dedicated video package to hype up the match.

The dedicated video packages for Corbin's match (1m 31s), Zayn's match (2m 16s), Asuka's match (3m 01s), and Balor's match (2m 16s) combined to take up 9m 04s of the overall pre-match segment time for this event.

For those who are curious, Balor's entrance lasted roughly 3m 05s; Nakamura's entrance lasted 1m 52s.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 16m 18s, which is 12.0% of the show.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all 5 matches:

• 5m 04s: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• 4m 17s: Bayley vs Asuka
• 3m 08s: Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe
• 2m 17s: The Revival vs American Alpha
• 1m 32s: Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 6.6% (8m 53s) of the show for everything else.

Most of these miscellaneous segments are crammed into the time after one post-match segment ends and before the next pre-match segment begins.  NXT TakeOver: Dallas included 5 different blocks of miscellaneous segments.  Here is how long each block lasted, in chronological order:

• Block 1: 2m 55s (Opening hype video; welcome to NXT TakeOver: Dallas)
• Block 2: 1m 45s (Ad for NXT events; filler commentary; hype for Bayley/Asuka)
  
• Block 3: 1m 40s (Ad for WrestleMania 32; plug for theme song; hype for Balor/Joe)
  
• Block 4: 1m 44s (Ad for WWE HOF ceremony; plugs for Digiorno and theme song)
  
• Block 5: 0m 49s (Ad for WrestleMania 32; plug for theme song)

This list shows that once the first match of the night was finished, there was never a waiting period of more than 1m 45s between the ending of a post-match segment and the beginning of the next pre-match segment.

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:

• 32m 19s: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• 28m 55s: Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe
• 28m 29s: Bayley vs Asuka
• 20m 02s: The Revival vs American Alpha
• 16m 53s: Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin

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.

(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.)

• 76.0%: The Revival vs American Alpha
• 63.7%: Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin
• 62.3%: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• 56.6%: Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe
• 53.9%: Bayley vs Asuka

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I have collected timing data on 40 WWE Pay-Per-View (PPV) events over the last 3+ years, and the timing component percentages for those shows collectively are: 22.7% pre-match segment time, 53.9% match time, 10.0% post-match segment time, and 13.4% miscellaneous segment time.

The main differences between the corresponding percentages for NXT TakeOver: Dallas are a noticeable decrease in Miscellaneous segment time, with minor increases in the other three categories.

Last month's WWE Roadblock special event also had a similarly low percentage of miscellaneous segments.

None of the 40 WWE PPV events in my data set have a miscellaneous segment percentage as low as either WWE Roadblock or NXT TakeOver: Dallas.  Only one of those 40 events scored less than 8.0% in that category; 32 of those 40 events scored 10.0% or higher in that category.

10 of the 40 events in my data set eclipsed a match time percentage of 57.0%, but only 6 of those PPVs were not Royal Rumble events (which always have a high match time due to the nature of the lengthy Royal Rumble match).  In that sense, NXT TakeOver: Dallas did manage to dedicate a higher percentage of its time to matches than would be expected on the typical WWE PPV event.  However the difference was not extreme enough to draw any strong conclusions beyond that.

Final Results for NXT TakeOver: Dallas

Match - 57.4% - 1h 17m 50s

Pre-match - 24.0% - 32m 30s

Post-match - 12.0% - 16m 18s

Miscellaneous - 6.6% - 8m 53s