WWE Royal Rumble 2018 match times stats breakdown

WWE’s Royal Rumble 2018 lasted for 4 hours 13 minutes and 6 seconds (4h 13m 06s). 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.

Match Times

The 6 matches combined for a total time of 2h 57m 56s. This means that 70.3% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action. This is the highest percentage in this category out of the 69 WWE pay-per-view (PPV) events in my data set, which begins with Royal Rumble 2013.

Here is the sorted list of match times for Royal Rumble 2018. This also includes where each match time ranks out of all 492 matches in my data set.

• 65m 29s: Men’s Royal Rumble match (1st out of 492 matches)
• 59m 00s: Women’s Royal Rumble match (5th)
• 15m 51s: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (161st)
• 13m 50s: The Usos vs. Benjamin & Gable (207th)
• 12m 47s: Rollins & Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (233rd)
• 10m 59s: Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane (291st)

I did not stop the clock at all after the first fall of the Usos’ match was finished. Sometimes there is a clear waiting period between the two falls but it wasn’t clear to me if that was the case in their match.

After the first fall ended, Gable and Benjamin aggressively beat up the Usos, culminating with a powerful attack outside the ring. When they returned inside the ring, the referee backed Gable off and did use a hand gesture that seemed to me like a signal to start the second fall, even though no bell rang. It wasn’t clear to me what was going on so I just kept the clock going rather than separating those attacks as part of a waiting period.

The first fall lasted 12m 10s. The referee made his hand gesture towards the timekeeper about 1m 26s later, and then roughly 0m 14s after that the match was over.

As far as the battle royals go, you can find a full breakdown of the timing for the women’s Royal Rumble match here, and the men’s Royal Rumble match here.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 41m 21s, which is 16.3% of the show. This is the 68th highest percentage in this category out of the 69 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all 6 matches. For some context, keep in mind that the median pre-match segment time in my data set is 5m 35s and the average time is 6m 14s.

• 10m 50s: Men’s Royal Rumble match
• 9m 10s: Women’s Royal Rumble match
• 8m 23s: Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane
• 5m 18s: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
• 4m 34s: Rollins & Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
• 3m 06s: The Usos vs. Benjamin & Gable

Three matches received the special treatment of a dedicated video package right before superstar entrances. The videos hyping the men’s Rumble (4m 43s), the women’s Rumble (2m 48s), and Lesnar’s match (3m 25s) combined to take up 10m 56s of the pre-match segment time.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 14m 49s, which is 5.9% of the show. This is the 68th highest percentage in this category out of the 69 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all 6 matches. For some context, keep in mind that the median post-match segment time in my data set is 1m 57s and the average time is 2m 26s.

• 5m 41s: Women’s Royal Rumble match
• 3m 31s: Men’s Royal Rumble match
• 1m 47s: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
• 1m 34s: The Usos vs. Benjamin & Gable
• 1m 30s: Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane
• 0m 46s: Rollins & Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 7.5% (19m 00s) of the show for everything else. This is the 68th highest percentage in this category out of the 69 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. Royal Rumble 2018 included 6 different blocks of miscellaneous segments. Here is how long each block lasted, in chronological order:

• Block 1: 4m 17s (Then Now Forever; Opening video)
• Block 2: 2m 10s (Ads for Rocket League & WWE 24; Backstage with Shane/KO/Zayn)
• Block 3: 1m 42s (Hype for WWE 24; Plug for theme song)
• Block 4: 5m 49s (Ads for WWE Shop & Cricket Wireless; Backstage w/ authority; KFC Rumble)
• Block 5: 0m 49s (Ad for upcoming pay-per-views)
• Block 6: 4m 13s (Ad for WWE 24; Hype for Andre the Giant documentary & Elimination Chamber)

Summary

The overall run time for Royal Rumble 2018 was 4h 13m 06s, and this ranks 3rd highest out of all 69 events in my data set.

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 492 entries in my data set.

• 79m 50s: Men’s Royal Rumble match (longest out of 492 entries)
• 73m 51s: Women’s Royal Rumble match (3rd)
• 22m 56s: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (200th)
• 20m 52s: Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane (238th)
• 18m 30s: The Usos vs. Benjamin & Gable (281st)
• 18m 07s: Rollins & Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (291st)

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.)

• 82.0%: Men’s Royal Rumble match
• 79.9%: Women’s Royal Rumble match
• 74.8%: The Usos vs. Benjamin & Gable
• 70.6%: Rollins & Jordan vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
• 69.1%: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
• 52.6%: Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane

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Final Results for Royal Rumble 2018

Match - 70.3% - 2h 57m 56s

Pre-match - 16.3% - 41m 21s

Post-match - 5.9% - 14m 49s

Miscellaneous - 7.5% - 19m 00s