WWE SummerSlam 2019 match times stats breakdown

WWE’s SummerSlam 2019 lasted for 3 hours 30 minutes and 5 seconds (3h 30m 05s). 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 nine matches combined for a total time of 1h 36m 16s. This means that 45.8% of the show was devoted to bell-to-bell action. This is the 88th highest percentage in this category out of the 92 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 SummerSlam 2019. This also includes where each match time ranks out of all 696 matches in my data set.

• 16m 37s: Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair (203rd longest out of 696 matches)
• 16m 23s: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton (210th)
• 13m 19s: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins (302nd)
• 12m 55s: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet (320th)
• 12m 23s: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya (338th)
• 10m 02s: Bayley vs. Ember Moon (450th)
• 9m 21s: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (487th)
• 3m 29s: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor (658th)
• 1m 47s: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler (674th)

The fact that Charlotte’s match was the longest of the night yet only ranks 203rd longest in my data set seemed like something worth digging into deeper. It turns out that out of all 92 PPV events in my data set, only three events have a shorter “longest match of the night.”

With that in mind, here is the sorted list of every longest match of the night that failed to reach 18 minutes (pre-show matches are excluded):

• 16m 01s: Rollins vs. Cena, Night of Champions 2015
• 16m 17s: Reigns vs. Orton, SummerSlam 2014
• 16m 20s: Jericho vs. Orton, Night of Champions 2014
• 16m 37s: Stratus vs. Flair, SummerSlam 2019
• 16m 48s: Ambrose vs. Reigns vs. Lesnar, Fastlane 2016
• 17m 14s: Reigns vs. Strowman, Fastlane 2017
• 17m 33s: Orton vs. Bryan, Night of Champions 2013
• 17m 34s: Usos, Ryback, Lucha Dragons vs New Day, Barrett, Sheamus, Survivor Series 2015

To give you an idea of what the typical time range is for the longest match of the night, here is a quick breakdown for all 92 events going back to the start of 2013:

• 16 to 17 minutes: 5 events
• 17 to 18 minutes: 3 events
• 18 to 19 minutes: 4 events
• 19 to 20 minutes: 4 events
• 20 to 21 minutes: 3 events
• 21 to 22 minutes: 7 events
• 22 to 23 minutes: 6 events
• 23 to 24 minutes: 6 events
• 24 to 25 minutes: 9 events
• 25 to 26 minutes: 6 events
• 26 to 27 minutes: 5 events
• 27 to 28 minutes: 4 events
• 28 minutes or greater: 30 events

The median longest match of the night is 24m 54s.

Pre-match Segments

The pre-match segments combined for a total time of 1h 03m 23s, which is 30.2% of the show. This is the 8th highest percentage in this category out of the 92 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of pre-match segment time for all nine matches. For some context, keep in mind that the median pre-match segment time in my data set is 6m 07s and the average time is 6m 28s.

• 9m 21s: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
• 8m 32s: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
• 8m 26s: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
• 8m 21s: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet
• 8m 16s: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
• 7m 53s: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
• 6m 26s: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
• 3m 23s: Bayley vs. Ember Moon
• 2m 45s: Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair

Seven matches received the special treatment of a dedicated video package right before superstar entrances. These seven video packages combined to take up 20m 18s of the pre-match segment time. Here is the sorted list of the times for those video packages.

• 3m 51s: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
• 3m 28s: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
• 3m 04s: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
• 2m 52s: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet
• 2m 43s: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
• 2m 24s: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
• 1m 56s: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya

I haven’t looked into how many of these video packages appear on the typical PPV, but I think it’s safe to assume that seven such packages (totaling 20+ minutes) ranks among the most ever. The only two matches that did not receive one of these video packages was Bayley vs. Moon and Stratus vs. Flair.

Post-match Segments

The post-match segments combined for a total time of 25m 33s, which is 12.2% of the show. This is the 12th highest percentage in this category out of the 92 events in my data set.

Here is the sorted list of the post-match segment time for all nine 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 28s.

• 5m 37s: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
• 3m 43s: Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair
• 3m 40s: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
• 3m 21s: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
• 2m 19s: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet
• 2m 12s: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
• 1m 53s: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
• 1m 38s: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
• 1m 10s: Bayley vs. Ember Moon

Miscellaneous Segments

That leaves about 11.8% (24m 53s) of the show for everything else. This is the 42nd highest percentage in this category out of the 92 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. SummerSlam 2019 included nine different blocks of miscellaneous segments. Here is how long each block lasted, in chronological order:

• Block 1: 4m 19s (Then Now Forever; Opening video & pyro)
• Block 2: 2m 13s (Stratus interview)
• Block 3: 3m 09s (Ad for Clash of Champions; New Day with Maverick)
• Block 4: 2m 57s (Street Profits & Flair; Ads for Mayans & Cricket Wireless)
• Block 5: 0m 54s (Ad for WWE Shop; filler commentary)
• Block 6: 6m 07s (Ad for WWE Network; Recap of Reigns’ story)
• Block 7: 1m 37s (Bret Hart with Rollins; Ad for WWE 2K20)
• Block 8: 1m 45s (Ads for Mayans, Good Boys, WWE Shop)
• Block 9: 1m 52s (Ad for WWE 24; Hype for Clash of Champions)

Summary

The overall run time for SummerSlam 2019 was 3h 30m 05s, and this ranks 29th longest out of all 92 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 696 entries in my data set.

• 29m 05s: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton (173rd longest out of 696 entries)
• 25m 31s: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins (228th)
• 23m 35s: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet (270th)
• 23m 05s: Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair (284th)
• 20m 27s: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya (349th)
• 19m 49s: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (369th)
• 15m 17s: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler (513th)
• 14m 35s: Bayley vs. Ember Moon (538th)
• 13m 48s: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor (557th)

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 61.6%.

(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.)

• 72.0%: Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair
• 68.8%: Bayley vs. Ember Moon
• 60.6%: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
• 56.3%: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
• 54.8%: AJ Styles vs. Ricochet
• 52.2%: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
• 47.2%: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
• 25.2%: Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
• 11.7%: Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler

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Final Results for SummerSlam 2019

Match - 45.8% - 1h 36m 16s

Pre-match - 30.2% - 1h 03m 23s

Post-match - 12.2% - 25m 33s

Miscellaneous - 11.8% - 24m 53s