WWE Battleground 2016 match times stats breakdown

WWE's Battleground 2016 lasted for 3 hours 15 minutes and 49 seconds (3h 15m 49s). 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 22s	Then, Now, Forever	0m 22s
0m 22s	2m 43s	Video hyping Battleground 2016	2m 21s
2m 43s	3m 34s	Opening pyro; Cole welcomes you	0m 51s
3m 34s	9m 00s	Pre-match for Charlotte, Dana vs Sasha, Bayley	5m 26s
9m 00s	16m 25s	Charlotte, Dana vs Sasha, Bayley	7m 25s
16m 25s	18m 14s	Post-match for Charlotte, Dana vs Sasha, Bayley	1m 49s
18m 14s	18m 50s	Commercial for Ride Along	0m 36s
18m 50s	19m 07s	Filler commentary	0m 17s
19m 07s	27m 07s	Pre-match for New Day vs Wyatt Family	8m 00s
27m 07s	35m 56s	New Day vs Wyatt Family	8m 49s
35m 56s	37m 22s	Post-match for New Day vs Wyatt Family	1m 26s
37m 22s	37m 54s	Commercial for SummerSlam 2016	0m 32s
37m 54s	38m 47s	Filler commentary; Roman tweet	0m 53s
38m 47s	42m 04s	Pre-match for Rusev vs Zack Ryder	3m 17s
42m 04s	49m 05s	Rusev vs Zack Ryder	7m 01s
49m 05s	51m 30s	Post-match for Rusev vs Zack Ryder	2m 25s
51m 30s	52m 11s	Commercial for Swerved	0m 41s
52m 11s	52m 36s	Commercial for Cruiserweight Classic	0m 25s
52m 36s	54m 45s	Backstage with Seth, Steph, Foley	2m 09s
54m 45s	55m 06s	Filler commentary	0m 21s
55m 06s	1h 00m 04s	Pre-match for Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens	4m 58s
1h 00m 04s	1h 18m 26s	Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens	18m 22s
1h 18m 26s	1h 20m 14s	Post-match for Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens	1m 48s
1h 20m 14s	1h 22m 04s	Kickoff panel discussion	1m 50s
1h 22m 04s	1h 22m 34s	Video recap of pre-show match	0m 30s
1h 22m 34s	1h 24m 58s	Pre-match for Becky Lynch vs Natalya	2m 24s
1h 24m 58s	1h 33m 56s	Becky Lynch vs Natalya	8m 58s
1h 33m 56s	1h 34m 43s	Post-match for Becky Lynch vs Natalya	0m 47s
1h 34m 43s	1h 36m 48s	Backstage with Dean, Shane, Bryan	2m 05s
1h 36m 48s	1h 37m 19s	Commercial for SummerSlam 2016	0m 31s
1h 37m 19s	1h 40m 48s	Pre-match for The Miz vs Darren Young	3m 29s
1h 40m 48s	1h 49m 28s	The Miz vs Darren Young	8m 40s
1h 49m 28s	1h 50m 53s	Post-match for The Miz vs Darren Young	1m 25s
1h 50m 53s	1h 51m 41s	Commercial for WWE 2K17	0m 48s
1h 51m 41s	1h 52m 00s	Filler commentary	0m 19s
1h 52m 00s	2h 05m 54s	Pre-match for Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club	13m 54s
2h 05m 54s	2h 20m 26s	Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club	14m 32s
2h 20m 26s	2h 21m 58s	Post-match for Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club	1m 32s
2h 21m 58s	2h 23m 19s	Commercial for WWE Network	1m 21s
2h 23m 19s	2h 23m 37s	Filler commentary	0m 18s
2h 23m 37s	2h 41m 15s	Highlight Reel with Randy Orton	17m 38s
2h 41m 15s	2h 54m 45s	Pre-match for Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns	13m 30s
2h 54m 45s	3h 12m 49s	Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns	18m 04s
3h 12m 49s	3h 15m 49s	Post-match for Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns	3m 00s

Match Times

The 8 matches combined for a total time of 1h 31m 51s. This means that 46.9% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action. This is the 43rd highest percentage in this category out of the 44 WWE events in my data set, which begins with Royal Rumble 2013.

Here is the sorted list of match times for Battleground 2016. This also includes where each match time ranks out of all 315 matches in my data set.

• 18m 22s: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens (73rd longest out of 315 matches)
• 18m 04s: Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns (77th)
• 14m 32s: Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club (112th)
• 8m 58s: Becky Lynch vs Natalya (211th)
• 8m 49s: New Day vs Wyatt Family (216th)
• 8m 40s: The Miz vs Darren Young (219th)
• 7m 25s: Charlotte and Dana vs Sasha and Bayley (249th)
• 7m 01s: Rusev vs Zack Ryder (260th)

Battleground 2016 had the 2nd lowest percentage of match time out of any event in my data set; WrestleMania 31 is still on a level that no other event can touch.

Charlotte and Dana's tag matches at Money in the Bank 2016 and Battleground 2016 are the two shortest women's matches on PPV in the last 12 months.

There are 36 John Cena matches in my data set, and only 2 of them lasted less than 14 minutes.  John Cena is pretty much always given enough time to have a great match, unlike the bottom 5 matches on the above list.

This was the first PPV of 2016 where Chris Jericho did not accumulate match time.

Sasha Banks wrestled on the main card of a PPV for the first time since WrestleMania 32, which is something that Big Show and Kane are still waiting to do.

Bayley now has more total match time on the main card of a PPV in 2016 than Jack Swagger.

Clocking in at 18m 22s, Owens versus Zayn is the 8th shortest "longest match of the PPV" out of the 44 events in my data set.  Here are the 10 shortest matches on that list:

• 16m 01s: Rollins vs Cena (Night of Champions 2015)
• 16m 17s: Orton vs Reigns (SummerSlam 2014)
• 16m 20s: Jericho vs Orton (Night of Champions 2014)
• 16m 48s: Lesnar vs Reigns vs Ambrose (Fastlane 2016)
• 17m 33s: Orton vs Bryan (Night of Champions 2013)
• 17m 34s: Luchas, Usos, Ryback vs New Day, Sheamus, Barrett (Survivor Series 2015)
• 18m 15s: Cena vs Kane vs Orton vs Reigns (Battleground 2014)
• 18m 22s: Zayn versus Owens (Battleground 2016)
• 18m 36s: Sting vs Triple H (WrestleMania 31)
• 19m 25s: Rollins vs Cena (SummerSlam 2015)

7 of the 10 events on the above list are named Battleground, SummerSlam, or Night of Champions.  In fact every single Night of Champions card in my data set made the list.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 54m 58s, which is 28.1% of the show. This is the 2nd highest percentage in this category out of the 44 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 8 matches. For some context, keep in mind that the median pre-match segment time in my data set is 5m 03s and the average time is 5m 49s.

• 13m 54s: Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club
• 13m 30s: Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns
• 8m 00s: New Day vs Wyatt Family
• 5m 26s: Charlotte and Dana vs Sasha and Bayley
• 4m 58s: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
• 3m 29s: The Miz vs Darren Young
• 3m 17s: Rusev vs Zack Ryder
• 2m 24s: Becky Lynch vs Natalya

Four matches received the special treatment of a dedicated video package right before superstar entrances. The videos hyping New Day's match (3m 06s), Zayn's match (2m 44s), Cena's match (3m 01s), and Ambrose's match (3m 52s) combined to take up 12m 43s of the pre-match segment time.

This list shows that two separate matches had pre-match segments that lasted longer than 13 minutes, which is also longer than 5 of the 8 separate match times.  Both of these pre-match segments finished in the top 15 longest out of 315 total pre-match segments in my data set.

The Enzo and Cass promo took up 6m 28s of their pre-match segment.  That's longer than each of the 5 shortest pre-match segments on the above list.

The pre-match segment for the main event included seven separate entrances (4 authority figures and 3 wrestlers).  These seven entrances combined to take up 6m 44s of the pre-match segment.

The pre-match segment for New Day's match came within 0m 49s of the actual match time.  New Day's promo lasted 1m 45s.

Charlotte and Dana attacked their opponents before the bell rang to start the match.  This pre-match brawl lasted roughly 0m 50s, and this did not count as part of their match time.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 14m 12s, which is 7.3% of the show. This is the 39th highest percentage in this category out of the 44 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all 8 matches. For some context, keep in mind that the median post-match segment time in my data set is 2m 00s and the average time is 2m 30s.

• 3m 00s: Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns
• 2m 25s: Rusev vs Zack Ryder
• 1m 49s: Charlotte and Dana vs Sasha and Bayley
• 1m 48s: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
• 1m 32s: Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club
• 1m 26s: New Day vs Wyatt Family
• 1m 25s: The Miz vs Darren Young
• 0m 47s: Becky Lynch vs Natalya

No post-match replays were shown for Becky's match and Young's match.

The post-match segment for Becky and Natalya ranks as the 10th shortest in my data set out of 315 total post-match segments.

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 17.8% (34m 48s) of the show for everything else. This is the 7th highest percentage in this category out of the 44 events in my data set.

Most of these miscellaneous segments are crammed into the time after one post-match segment ends and before the next pre-match segment begins. Battleground 2016 included 8 different blocks of miscellaneous segments. Here is how long each block lasted, in chronological order:

• Block 1: 3m 34s (Then Now Forever; opening hype video and pyro)
• Block 2: 0m 53s (Ad for Ride Along; filler commentary)
• Block 3: 1m 25s (Ad for SummerSlam 2016; Roman tweet)
• Block 4: 3m 36s (Ads for Swerved and CWC; Backstage with Seth)
• Block 5: 2m 20s (Kickoff panel; Pre-show recap)
• Block 6: 2m 36s (Backstage with Ambrose; Ad for SummerSlam 2016)
• Block 7: 1m 07s (Ad for WWE 2K17; filler commentary)
• Block 8: 19m 17s (Ad for WWE Network; Highlight Reel)

The main reason Battleground 2016 finished with only 46.9% match time is because the Highlight Reel segment took up a large amount of time that could have been spread around to the other matches, or allocated to a brand new match.

That segment lasted 17m 38s and can be broken down into these 7 components, in chronological order:

• 1m 21s:  Jericho entrance
  
• 1m 22s:  Jericho talks
  
• 1m 29s:  Orton entrance
  
• 5m 53s:  Jericho and Orton talk
  
• 0m 54s:  Brock Lesnar video
  
• 5m 22s:  Jericho and Orton talk
  
• 1m 17s:  Orton's music plays to end the segment

That comes out to 4m 07s of entrance music, 12m 37s of talking, and a 0m 54s hype video on Brock Lesnar.

Approximately 34m 19s lapsed between the closing bell of Cena's match and the opening bell of Ambrose's 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 315 entries in my data set.

• 34m 34s: Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns (44th longest out of 315 entries)
• 29m 58s: Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club (76th)
• 25m 08s: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens (103rd)
• 18m 15s: New Day vs Wyatt Family (167th)
• 14m 40s: Charlotte and Dana vs Sasha and Bayley (217th)
• 13m 34s: The Miz vs Darren Young (233rd)
• 12m 43s: Rusev vs Zack Ryder (245th)
• 12m 09s: Becky Lynch vs Natalya (254th)

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.)

• 73.8%: Becky Lynch vs Natalya
• 73.1%: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
• 63.9%: The Miz vs Darren Young
• 55.2%: Rusev vs Zack Ryder
• 52.3%: Ambrose vs Rollins vs Reigns
• 50.6%: Charlotte and Dana vs Sasha and Bayley
• 48.5%: Cena, Enzo, Cass vs The Club
• 48.3%: New Day vs Wyatt Family

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Battleground 2016 finished with one of the lowest percentages of match time out of all 44 events in my data set due to two extremely long pre-match segments and one lengthy in-ring talking segment.  This was also the second straight PPV that lasted longer than 3 hours.  My guess is that this trend will end once brand-only PPV events begin in September.

Final Results for Battleground 2016

Match - 46.9% - 1h 31m 51s

Pre-match - 28.1% - 54m 58s

Post-match - 7.3% - 14m 12s

Miscellaneous - 17.8% - 34m 48s