The women's Money in the Bank ladder match was one of the shortest in history

Many wrestling fans have spent this week passionately debating the controversial ending to the first ever women’s Money in the bank ladder match, as well as WWE’s decision to strip the briefcase from Carmella and book a rematch for next week on SmackDown.

There has been so much focus on James Ellsworth’s role in the ending to that match that the actual time of the match hasn’t received significant attention. It’s time for that to change. When James Ellsworth dropped the briefcase into Carmella’s hands and the bell rang to end the match, I couldn’t believe the match was over because it simply didn’t seem to run long enough at that point.

So I decided to see how the numbers reflect this concern, if at all. Here is a list of the match times for all 19 Money in the Bank ladder matches in WWE history. The 2017 matches are in bold:

• 29m 50s: Money in the Bank 2017 (Corbin wins)
• 26m 38s: Money in the Bank 2013 (Orton wins)
• 26m 18s: Money in the Bank 2010 (Kane wins)
• 24m 27s: Money in the Bank 2011 (Bryan wins)
• 23m 15s: Money in the Bank 2014 (Rollins wins)
• 21m 38s: Money in the Bank 2016 (Ambrose wins)
• 20m 33s: Money In The Bank 2015 (Sheamus wins)
• 20m 27s: Money in the Bank 2010 (Miz wins)
• 20m 04s: Money in the Bank 2012 (Cena wins)
• 19m 10s: WrestleMania 23 (Kennedy wins)
• 18m 30s: Money in the Bank 2012 (Ziggler wins)
• 16m 24s: Money in the Bank 2013 (Sandow wins)
• 15m 52s: Money in the Bank 2011 (ADR wins)
• 15m 17s: WrestleMania 21 (Edge wins)
• 14m 24s: WrestleMania 25 (Punk wins)
• 13m 55s: WrestleMania 24 (Punk wins)
• 13m 44s: WrestleMania 26 (Swagger wins)
• 13m 18s: Money in the Bank 2017 (Carmella wins)
• 12m 22s: WrestleMania 22 (RVD wins)

The Money in the Bank 2017 pay-per-view (PPV) included both the longest and shortest such matches in the history of the titular PPV that debuted in 2010, with RVD’s victory at WrestleMania 22 taking over the last place slot once you branch out and include all the original WrestleMania matches on the list as well.

It’s not surprising that the WrestleMania iterations of the match almost all appear in the bottom portion of the list, because WrestleMania shows are generally packed with content and there is a time crunch that shaves off minutes from mid-card matches like this one.

But that time crunch is not an issue for the standalone Money in the Bank PPVs, where this ladder match concept is given extra time and is always among the most important matches of the night. When that context is considered, the lack of time given to the women on this PPV compared to the previous Money in the Bank ladder matches really stands out, especially when the men’s match on the same PPV received the most time in the history of this gimmick.

Every other Money in the Bank ladder match in the history of the titular PPV lasted at least 15m 52s, which is at least two and a half minutes longer than the women’s match.

The average time for all 19 matches on this list is 19m 16s; the women’s match falls roughly 6 minutes short of that mark.

The average time for all 13 non-WrestleMania matches on this list is 21m 20s; the women’s match falls roughly 8 minutes short of that mark.

Do you think this is a big deal, Cagesiders? Should WWE give next week’s rematch more time in the spotlight?