Interesting observation about WM card

[The Legend]

So I was looking at the announced WrestleMania card so far and it has 11 matches so far and certainly a few more are on the way. The interesting piece of note is that of the 11 official matches eight of them are championship matches. The only active title not on the line yet is the SD Tag championship, but with all they've done is a matter of time before Usos vs New Day vs Bludgeon Brothers is added. I can't remember the last time a Mania had all the belts on the line.

Currently, the only non-title bouts on the card are the two battle royals and the Helmsleys vs Angle/Rousey. Undertaker/Cena is sure to be added and possibly Bayley/Sasha. Adding those three matches would top last year's total of 13 matches, with 14. Even with all the time that feels like a lot of matches on the card.

[Hanley!]

So I was looking at the announced WrestleMania card so far and it has 11 matches so far and certainly a few more are on the way. The interesting piece of note is that of the 11 official matches eight of them are championship matches. The only active title not on the line yet is the SD Tag championship, but with all they've done is a matter of time before Usos vs New Day vs Bludgeon Brothers is added. I can't remember the last time a Mania had all the belts on the line.

Currently, the only non-title bouts on the card are the two battle royals and the Helmsleys vs Angle/Rousey. Undertaker/Cena is sure to be added and possibly Bayley/Sasha. Adding those three matches would top last year's total of 13 matches, with 14. Even with all the time that feels like a lot of matches on the card.

The Bryan/Shane vs Owens/Zayn match hasn't been made either, has it? So that would bring it up to 15?

Wrestlemania is getting way too long.

[The Legend]

So I was looking at the announced WrestleMania card so far and it has 11 matches so far and certainly a few more are on the way. The interesting piece of note is that of the 11 official matches eight of them are championship matches. The only active title not on the line yet is the SD Tag championship, but with all they've done is a matter of time before Usos vs New Day vs Bludgeon Brothers is added. I can't remember the last time a Mania had all the belts on the line.

Currently, the only non-title bouts on the card are the two battle royals and the Helmsleys vs Angle/Rousey. Undertaker/Cena is sure to be added and possibly Bayley/Sasha. Adding those three matches would top last year's total of 13 matches, with 14. Even with all the time that feels like a lot of matches on the card.

The Bryan/Shane vs Owens/Zayn match hasn't been made either, has it? So that would bring it up to 15?

Wrestlemania is getting way too long.

You are correct, the count is up to 15, although I'm not sure if Bayley/Sasha will actually get added. They may look at the lineup and decide they have enough or throw them in with Alexa/Nia.

[VaderBomb]

I assume that Sasha and Bayley will be te final two in the battle royal. Still a huge card.

[Everlong]

I don't know how the fans in person do it, I'd be worn out. It's become like a 7 hour event, that's nuts.

[Hanley!]

I'd be worn out from watching it at home on the couch. The people who show up must be exhausted by the end of the show. And that has to impact the response the main event receives, and as a result impact how the main event comes across on television.

My favourite wrestling shows to watch live are the larger shows that the OTT promotion runs in Dublin, 3 or 4 times a year. They have at times stretched to almost five hours, and regardless of the quality of the show, I do tend to find myself flagging towards the end if they run that long.

Seven hours plus is just too long for a wrestling show. They employ too many wrestlers now for them to continue booking everyone on each Wrestlemania card. It's hurting the show.

[Messiah]

Seven hours plus is just too long for a wrestling show. They employ too many wrestlers now for them to continue booking everyone on each Wrestlemania card. It's hurting the show.

This is the problem. There are too many deserving wrestlers on the roster that they feel obligated to put every single person on the card. It should get better once part-timers like Lesnar, Undertaker, Triple H, etc. fade away, but who knows how long that will be.

A possible solution, but something they would never do, would be to split WrestleMania up into 2 days. Both shows can be 3 hours long. One show is headlined by the WWE Championship match and the other show is headlined by the Universal Championship match. You still get your 6 hour show, but it is split up which makes it easier on the fans to watch. It also allows you to put more focus on each title. Plus, it wouldn't surprise me if they managed to generate more revenue this way. That is an extra day of fans spending money at your show.

Biggest flaw would be when to schedule NXT Takeover. I think scheduling it on Friday would be okay. You could promote it as the best wrestling weekend of the year - Takeover on Friday, WrestleMania Part One on Saturday, WrestleMania Part Two on Sunday.

Actually, after typing that out... that sounds like a much better idea than I thought it would.

[KaiserGlider]

After reading all of your post, it sounds like a better idea than I thought it would after reading the first sentence. I don't know if doing a 2-day Wrestlemania split would work, but it's something that could be tried once just to see how it plays out (if the alternative is one 7-8 hour show). Doing all those big shows in one weekend would still burn out people to an extent though. I already don't like it when they book all the big NXT shows the day before a main roster PPV. The NXT show usually ends up being really good and then fans are less hyped about the PPV the next day. So if Wrestlemania takes place over one weekend, the NXT show should be the weekend before that.

They really feel the need to have everyone on the roster be a part of the show. I don't think that was always the case. The current roster is bigger than ever and part timers get involved to bring up the bloat even more, but there's still some matches that can be cut. I like Bobby Roode as much as the next guy, but I'm willing to have him and Orton and the US title sit one out if it's only going to end up hurting the show in the end. I also wouldn't be surprised if one or more of these matches end up being like a minute long.

[The Legend]

Here's the problem with a two-day Mania. It's fantastic for the people attending the show in person (as long as they don't manage to raise ticket prices and make it even more expensive to go to the show), but the vast majority of the audience doesn't watch Mania in person, they watch it at home and more to the point a lot of the people I know watch it in a group with friends. I know there's no way the group I get together with would get together on both days, so we'd be left trying to decide which half of the show we'd be more interested in, which just sucks.

[The Legend]

Something else I'd also note, the number of matches and trying to get everyone on the card isn't as big of a deal when it comes to adding length to the show as another factor. I broke down all the Mania's, looking at them in three categories, 11 Manias a piece: Old school, Attitude Era, and Modern if you will and here's what I found.

When it comes to getting more talent and having more matches on the main Mania card, modern WrestleManias are actually the worst:

Old School Manias average 12 matches on the main card and had about 1.5 hours of wrestling on the show. WM 12-22 averaged 10 matches on the main card with about 2 hours of wrestling. Modern Manias also had about 2 hours of wrestling on the main card, but only 8 matches. Taking Mania 30-33 alone, they have averaged more than 2 hours of wrestling with 8 matches the average on the card.

So what's the difference, truthfully the difference is creative booking and properly stacking a show that rises and falls and entertains in different ways with varied pacing. Early Manias, you knew which matches were most important and which ones stood out the most. Of 12 matches averaged on an early Mania card, only about 3 of them would go over 10 minutes and matches averaged 8 minutes in length, only four of the first 11 Manias had a match that last 20 minutes.

In the middle of Mania history those numbers expanded, half of the matches on Mania cards from 12-22 went over 10 minutes and average match length was 12 minutes. More than one match per card went for longer than 20 minutes.

The past 11 Manias, 6 out of 8 matches go for at least 10 minutes, 2 matches per show go over 20 minutes and matches average 14 minutes in length. Of the past 4, Manias again 6 out of 8 go over 10 minutes and two matches over 20 minutes on average. Average match length is 15 minutes in length.

The problem isn't so much how many matches or how much talent gets used, frankly since buying WCW, WWE has consistently had about 85-95 workers at any time (how many are healthy changes from year to year). The problem is without much creative direction they just tell everyone to go out and showcase all their stuff for 15 minutes. WM 31 was particularly bad with 7 matches on the card and 6 of them last between 12 and 18 minutes.

There's two major problems with this strategy, the first is when everyone does this nothing stands out as special. Everyone is capable of putting on a decent to really good match and that's what we get a bunch of above average matches that blend one into another and the show flatlines because there's no rise or fall. The second problem is that every match averaging 3 minutes longer than they did in the Attitude Era (and growing), adds more than a half hour when you have 10 matches on a card. It's become a WCSF/PCW situation where if you don't rein in anyone the show becomes unbearably long and hard to get through.

Everyone should get a chance to show what they can do and get a chance to put on good matches every once in a while, but not the same show. Know what matches are most important, know which stories are ending and put focus there. For the rest of the show, well placed DQ's, brawls or interferences a few minutes into a match that you back up with good storytelling and why it's happening do a lot of good for a show and can be entertaining in a different way than everyone trying to put on a classic.

[KaiserGlider]

You make a valid point in regards to match times, and I like that you did that research. They do need to reign in the performers, but only in terms of booking. Wrestlemania should be the show where you expect every performer to go out and put in more effort - a little extra something - even if their match is just filler or low on the card. But I always felt that it was inappropriate to have DQ endings at Wrestlemania unless the storyline really calls for it. That's fine for normal PPVs, but at Wrestlemania every match should have a proper "finish".

Some of the match lengths can definitely be trimmed. There were some good examples of this at Wrestlemania 32. Looking at the Wikipedia page's match lengths: The New Day vs League of Nations tag match did not need to be 10 minutes. It could easily have been half that length - a fast-paced fun match that never gets a chance to drag and everyone gets a chance to shine. Triple H vs Reigns did not need to be a half hour long. Neither did Shane McMahon vs Undertaker. This year, there are a couple matches that don't really need to go over 10 minutes. Despite that, you can still have the performers go out there and do the best they can within that time frame. The match won't have enough time to drag, and will still feel like it has a place on a Wrestlemania card.

Booking is really the most important thing, in terms of differentiating the matches and not having the show drag. To take one of the most well-liked Wrestlemanias as an example, take a look at the card for 'Mania 24:

1.) Pre Show: ECW Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership 24 Man Battle Royal
2.) Belfast Brawl: Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
3.) MITB: Carlito vs. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. MVP vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin
4.) Batista vs. Umaga
5.) ECW Title Match: Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Kane
6.) Ric Flair's Career On The Line: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
7.) Lumberjill Match: Ashley & Maria vs. Beth Phoenix & Melina (w/Santino Marella)
8.) WWE Heavyweight Title Triple Threat Match: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H
9.) No Holds Barred Match: Floyd Mayweather vs. The Big Show
10.) World Heavyweight Title MatchEdge (c) vs. The Undertaker

These matches are all completely different. There are six singles matches on the show, and they are totally different from one another. The order of matches is well booked. First of all there's only one match on the pre-show and it's a battle royal. Then to start you have a fun 10-minute brawl between Finlay and JBL, followed by an awesome ladder match that really gets the crowd going. Coming out of that you have a heavyweight match between Umanga and Bootista that wasn't anything special but didn't last long enough to drag either, and it was a good match to book on this show anyway. Chavo vs Kane lasted for like 10 seconds. Then you have the first really big singles match in Michaels vs Flair, a match famous for its emotion and storytelling. After that, the divas come out for a pissbreak match that doesn't last long either. The triple threat for the WWE title is up next, followed by a very well-booked Mayweather vs Big Show brawl. And finally the great Edge/Taker match, which was just a really solid main event with great near falls and storytelling.

At no point does the show really get to drag, and there's plenty of good moments throughout to keep the fans entertained. A couple minutes could have been trimmed off the divas and added to the triple threat match, but overall it's a great example of a well-paced Wrestlemania card.