Greatest Royal Rumble Match Time and Statistics

By Cain A. Knight May 11, 2018, 8:00pm EDT

The Greatest Royal Rumble match lasted 77 minutes and 19 seconds (77m 19s). This match took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and saw Daniel Bryan set the record for longest survival time in a Royal Rumble match. However, it was Braun Strowman who outlasted 49 other men to claim the Greatest Royal Rumble Trophy and Championship.

This text graphic provides time stamps for each superstar’s arrival and exit from the match, as well as showing who the longest lasting superstars were as the match progressed.

For comparison's sake, here are other versions of this graphic for Royal Rumble matches from 1988, 1992, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2013.

Survival Times

My definition of the Survival Time for a superstar is the time that lapses between the point when a superstar steps foot into the ring and the time that the superstar's feet hit the floor to signal elimination. This does not include the time it takes for a superstar to make his way from the entrance ramp down to the actual ring (or under the ring, in the case of Titus O’Neil).

The average superstar survival time for the Greatest Royal Rumble match was 9m 01s and the median survival time was 6m 35s.

Here is the full list of survival times for all 50 superstars:

76m 06s: Daniel Bryan
34m 05s: Elias
22m 16s: Braun Strowman
21m 43s: Dolph Ziggler
20m 24s: Rey Mysterio
17m 45s: Bobby Roode
16m 35s: Kofi Kingston
16m 22s: Rhyno
14m 39s: Bobby Lashley
14m 00s: Big E
11m 44s: Scott Dawson
10m 58s: Randy Orton
10m 43s: Kevin Owens
10m 09s: Tucker Knight
10m 04s: Goldust
9m 57s: Xavier Woods
9m 17s: Luke Gallows
8m 52s: Mojo Rawley
8m 17s: Chad Gable
8m 08s: Shane McMahon
8m 00s: Kurt Angle
7m 38s: Heath Slater
7m 23s: Big Cass
7m 13s: Tony Nese
7m 09s: Baron Corbin
6m 00s: Roderick Strong
5m 54s: Babatunde
5m 11s: Primo
4m 43s: Titus O’Neil
4m 26s: Karl Anderson
4m 24s: Shelton Benjamin
3m 42s: Fandango
3m 29s: Mark Henry
3m 26s: Apollo Crews
3m 19s: Chris Jericho
2m 25s: Konnor
2m 02s: Dan Matha
1m 59s: Curtis Axel
1m 48s: Drew Gulak
1m 34s: Bo Dallas
1m 27s: Dash Wilder
1m 18s: Sin Cara
1m 00s: Hornswoggle
0m 51s: Viktor
0m 47s: Hiroki Sumi
0m 34s: Great Khali
0m 30s: Tye Dillinger
0m 21s: Curt Hawkins
0m 16s: Tyler Breeze
0m 03s: Mike Kanellis

Many of these times strongly agree with their counterparts on the official list of survival times from WWE’s web site. The only cases that WWE lists more than 5 seconds apart from mine are Roderick Strong (6m 00s vs. 3m 59s) and Daniel Bryan (76m 06s vs. 76m 16s).

During the actual rumble match, Michael Cole stated that Bryan’s survival time was 76m 05s, which falls within one second of my listed time, so I’m just going to assume the listed time of 76m 16s on WWE’s web site is a typo. As for Roderick Strong, I have no idea how to explain the discrepancy. I stand by my calculated survival time of 6m 00s for him.

That’s not to say my times are perfect. Every listed time should be viewed with a margin of error of about 3 seconds or so.

The bell to end the match did not ring until about 1 second after Big Cass was eliminated. I counted this extra second as part of Strowman’s survival time.

15 of the 50 superstars did not even last 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

If Daniel Bryan was magically erased from the record books, the average survival time in this match would drop from 9m 01s to 7m 39s.

One name that stands out to me for high survival times is Rhyno, who finished 8th out of 50 names. Tucker Knight and Goldust also stand out for being two of just 15 superstars who managed to survive for at least 10 minutes.

Entrance Times

Here are the entrance times for each superstar involved. This is the amount of time that passed between an entrance buzzer going off and when the superstar finally stepped foot into the actual ring. The first two entrants (Bryan, Ziggler) are excluded because their entrances took place prior to the start of the match.

1m 18s: Elias
0m 56s: Great Khali
0m 52s: Chris Jericho
0m 49s: Mark Henry
0m 46s: Curt Hawkins
0m 44s: Braun Strowman
0m 40s: Hiroki Sumi
0m 36s: Kanellis, Big E
0m 35s: Bobby Roode
0m 33s: Shane McMahon
0m 30s: Hornswoggle, Big Cass
0m 29s: Baron Corbin
0m 28s: Axel, Mysterio
0m 27s: Randy Orton
0m 25s: Bobby Lashley
0m 22s: Goldust, Slater
0m 20s: Babatunde, Titus, Matha
0m 19s: Sin Cara, Angle, Gulak, Gallows, Breeze, Rhyno, Owens, Benjamin
0m 18s: Tye Dillinger
0m 16s: Nese, Konnor, Gable, Anderson, Knight
0m 15s: Kingston, Fandango
0m 14s: Woods, Primo, Apollo, Strong
0m 13s: Dawson, Mojo
0m 11s: Bo Dallas
0m 10s: Dash Wilder
0m 09s: Viktor

These numbers add up to about 19m 58s of entrance time out of the entire 77m 19s match. That means that for about 25.8% of the match, at least one superstar was in the midst of his entrance.

This percentage is very high, and I think is one of the reasons why the waiting periods seemed to fly by. The average superstar took roughly 25 seconds to enter the ring, which is close to one-third of the alotted time for each waiting period.

Follow the Buzzers

WWE stated that there would be 90-second waiting intervals between each entrant in the Greatest Royal Rumble match. How well did WWE stick to that claim? Here are the waiting times between all 48 buzzers, in chronological order:

1m 31s: Buzzer 1 - Sin Cara
1m 51s: Buzzer 2 - Curtis Axel
1m 20s: Buzzer 3 - Mark Henry
1m 27s: Buzzer 4 - Mike Kanellis
1m 19s: Buzzer 5 - Hiroki Sumi
1m 50s: Buzzer 6 - Viktor
1m 18s: Buzzer 7 - Kofi Kingston
1m 15s: Buzzer 8 - Tony Nese
1m 09s: Buzzer 9 - Dash Wilder
1m 13s: Buzzer 10 - Hornswoggle
1m 48s: Buzzer 11 - Primo
1m 14s: Buzzer 12 - Xavier Woods
2m 22s: Buzzer 13 - Bo Dallas
1m 10s: Buzzer 14 - Kurt Angle
1m 36s: Buzzer 15 - Scott Dawson
1m 09s: Buzzer 16 - Goldust
1m 12s: Buzzer 17 - Konnor
1m 19s: Buzzer 18 - Elias
1m 47s: Buzzer 19 - Luke Gallows
1m 33s: Buzzer 20 - Rhyno
1m 08s: Buzzer 21 - Drew Gulak
1m 14s: Buzzer 22 - Tucker Knight
1m 11s: Buzzer 23 - Bobby Roode
1m 38s: Buzzer 24 - Fandango
1m 06s: Buzzer 25 - Chad Gable
1m 03s: Buzzer 26 - Rey Mysterio
1m 30s: Buzzer 27 - Mojo Rawley
1m 17s: Buzzer 28 - Tyler Breeze
1m 28s: Buzzer 29 - Big E
1m 34s: Buzzer 30 - Karl Anderson
1m 13s: Buzzer 31 - Apollo Crews
1m 21s: Buzzer 32 - Roderick Strong
1m 15s: Buzzer 33 - Randy Orton
1m 26s: Buzzer 34 - Heath Slater
1m 13s: Buzzer 35 - Babatunde
1m 04s: Buzzer 36 - Baron Corbin
1m 37s: Buzzer 37 - Titus O’Neil
1m 16s: Buzzer 38 - Dan Matha
1m 22s: Buzzer 39 - Braun Strowman
1m 47s: Buzzer 40 - Tye Dillinger
2m 04s: Buzzer 41 - Curt Hawkins
1m 58s: Buzzer 42 - Bobby Lashley
2m 09s: Buzzer 43 - Great Khali
2m 07s: Buzzer 44 - Kevin Owens
1m 18s: Buzzer 45 - Shane McMahon
2m 10s: Buzzer 46 - Shelton Benjamin
1m 33s: Buzzer 47 - Big Cass
1m 44s: Buzzer 48 - Chris Jericho

Only eight of the 48 waiting periods fell within five seconds of the 90-second goal.

The average waiting period was 1m 29s and the median time was between 1m 21s and 1m 22s. This was a match where the average waiting period happened to fall in the right range, but very few individual waiting periods actually landed in that neighborhood.

14 of the waiting periods lasted 74 seconds or less, which means they fell closer to 60 seconds than 90 seconds.

The waiting periods preceding Buzzers 7 through 10 (this included the entries of Viktor, Kingston, Nese, Wilder) each lasted between 1m 09s and 1m 18s.

Only one of the waiting periods that preceded Buzzers 21 through 26 (this included the entries of Rhyno, Gulak, Knight, Roode, Fandango, and Gable) landed above the range of 1m 03s to 1m 14s. Bobby Roode was the only entry into the match during that span who was given extra time to work with (1m 38s) before the next entry arrived.

The waiting period that captured Babatunde’s entry into the match only lasted 1m 04s.

Five different waiting periods lasted 2m 00s or longer. Six additional waiting periods lasted longer than 1m 45s, which means they were closer to two minutes than 90 seconds.

The waiting periods that included the entrances of Sumi (1m 50s), Hornswoggle (1m 48s), Angle (1m 36s), and Elias (1m 47s) lasted longer than most, presumably so there would be enough time for these guys to get their spots in (or in the case of Elias, his extra slow walk down to the ring while talking to the audience).

The longest waiting period of the night lasted 2m 22s, which began when Xavier Woods made his entrance. They did the Kofi escape spot, and the New Day then danced with Tony Nese.

The other waiting periods in excess of two minutes all occurred during entrant numbers in the 40’s.

This included a 2m 04s waiting period where Braun had to clear the ring before Curt Hawkins made his appearance. The following waiting period, where Braun chased Hawkins down and tossed him out, lasted 1m 58s. This was immediately followed by a 2m 09s period where Lashley joined the match and took out Elias, and also saw Bryan lay in some corner dropkicks to both Lashley and Strowman. That was followed up with the Great Khali and his near minute-long walk to the ring, so that period lasted 2m 07s.

A little bit later Shane McMahon joined the match. That waiting period lasted 2m 10s, and it featured Shane’s putrid offense as well as Kevin Owens being victimized by double team Yes Kicks.

In a perfectly timed match, the final buzzer (signaling Jericho’s entrance) would have gone off 72m 00s after the start of the match. In reality, this buzzer went off at 71m 09s. So all the madness essentially evened out thanks to some extra long waiting periods at the end of the match, starting with Buzzer 40.

Overall, WWE did a terrible job with sticking to the 90-second rule. However, one might argue that it makes sense to shorten time for the lower card guys while extending it for the bigger stars, so WWE handled it well.

Ring Crowdedness

I also wanted to take a look at how the ring filled up with superstars as the match progressed. If you add up each wrestler’s survival time, it results in a total survival time of 7h 30m 56s. Given that the match lasted a total of 77m 19s, that comes out to an average of 5.8 competitors in the ring at any given second. That makes this the 16th most crowded Royal Rumble match ever out of all 33 matches, and right in line with the typical crowdedness of an average Royal Rumble match.

When I talk about how many superstars were “in the ring,” I’m counting all active superstars in the match, whether they are literally inside the ring or not. It does not, however, count a superstar’s time outside the ring prior to initially stepping foot into the ring. So Curt Hawkins did not receive any credit for running away from Braun Strowman on the entrance ramp.

Here is a more accurate way to understand how many men were active at any given time. This chart shows the total time that the ring was filled with an exact number of discrete superstars at once.

Greatest Royal Rumble Ring Crowdedness

Active Wrestlers	Total Time	% of Match Time	Cumulative %
Active Wrestlers	Total Time	% of Match Time	Cumulative %
1	0m 01s	0.0	0.0
2	4m 44s	6.1	6.1
3	13m 16s	17.2	23.3
4	7m 12s	9.3	32.6
5	9m 14s	11.9	44.6
6	10m 07s	13.1	57.6
7	11m 36s	15.0	72.6
8	9m 54s	12.8	85.4
9	7m 06s	9.2	94.6
10	3m 58s	5.1	99.8
11	0m 11s	0.2	100.0

For the first 12m 07s of the match, the average ring crowdedness was 2.8 active superstars at any given second. Bryan, Ziggler, and Henry dominated this early section while other competitors like Kanellis, Axel, Sin Cara, and Sumi didn’t survive for long.

The ring had 4 superstars at the timestamp 12m 07s, gradually rose up to 7 men in the ring, and then dropped back down to 4 men at the timestamp 22m 36s after Kurt Angle joined the match and quickly tossed out three competitors. During this time, the average ring crowdedness was 5.1 active superstars at any given second.

The ring was then filled with at least 5 superstars from the timestamps 22m 36s through 57m 42s.

Peak crowdedness for the match occurred between the timestamps 35m 56s through 55m 14s, which saw an average of 8.7 active superstars at any given second. The ring only dipped under 8 men for 0m 44s of that duration. The maximum crowdedness of 11 men in the ring was achieved when Braun Strowman entered the ring at 55m 03s.

Not surprisingly, Braun’s entry into the match quickly emptied the ring. There were only 4 men remaining at the time stamp 57m 46s, so the ring dropped from 11 men to 4 men in less than 3 minutes. Tye Dillinger was the only new entry into the match in that short time span, but he was quickly tossed out as one of Braun’s victims.

The ring crowdedness kept alternating between 3 and 4 men between the timestamps 57m 42s and 66m 15s. This portion was dominated by Bryan, Strowman, Elias, and Lashley, with brief appearances from Curt Hawkins and the Great Khali.

The final 5 entrants into the match all entered without any eliminations taking place in between, and so the ring was filled back up with 8 men once Chris Jericho entered the ring at the timestamp 72m 01s.

The 8m 48s time span between Khali’s elimination (63m 47s) and Benjamin’s elimination (72m 35s) was the longest stretch in the match without any eliminations. The only other 5+ minute stretch without any eliminations occurred earlier between the exits of Ziggler (21m 43s) and Konnor (27m 25s).

End of the Match

When Jericho entered the ring, the match essentially turned into an 8-man Battle Royal to the finish between Bryan, Strowman, Lashley, Owens, Shane, Benjamin, Big Cass, and Jericho.

This final segment of the Greatest Royal Rumble match lasted 5m 18s, and at that point Braun Strowman emerged as the winner.

That's all you need to know about the timing of the Greatest Royal Rumble match. Which numbers do you find to be the most interesting?

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