The “Time Until First Match” metric proved to be utterly useless. There didn’t seem to be as much correlation between how much time until the first match aired and how much time I spent watching the programming.

Seems like there is a certain percentage of the programming devoted to the actual wrestling, and the rest is “storyline” or promotion of either the next PPV or the replays of the previous one. Whether they put the interviews, etc., at the top of the hour or in the middle of the program, I’m still going to skip through them. I still tracked it, though.

Below is a summary of the last 12 months of viewership data, ending on July 3rd 2009.

Note: I’m using Google Docs for this. Some the images don’t look so good scaled down. Click on any chart to see a larger, clearer image.

WWE Monday Night Raw

Raw Time Until First Match

Raw Minimum Time Until First Match: 3 minutes

Raw Maximum Time Until First Match: 28 minutes

Over the last year, the least amount of time on Raw between the start of the program and the first match was 3 minutes. As you can see from the chart, there were only 5 of the last 52 weeks that had a time of 5 minutes or below.

Over the same period, the most time before airing the first match on Raw was 28 minutes. There were two episodes that had that “honor”.

Despite the longest maximum time, there were only 8 episodes that had times of 15 minutes or more.

ECW

ECW Time Until First Match

ECW Minimum Time Until First Match: 2 minutes

ECW Maximum Time Until First Match: 20 minutes

Over the last year, the least amount of time on ECW between the start of the program and the first match was 2 minutes. As you can see from the chart, about half of the episodes of the last 52 weeks that had a time of 5 minutes or below.

Over the same period, the most time before airing the first match on ECW was 20 minutes. Eight episodes had a start time of 15 minutes or more.

Keep in mind that ECW is the only one hour program in the group, so even though the numbers are smaller than Raw, it’s a larger percentage of the total program.

TNA Wrestling

TNA Time Until First Match

TNA Minimum Time Until First Match: 0 minutes

TNA Maximum Time Until First Match: 25 minutes

The 3/12/09 episode of TNA Wrestling actually had a time of zero minutes until the first match. When the program started, there was already a fight taking place. Over the last year, 15 of the last 52 weeks had a time of 5 minutes or below.

Over the same period, the most time before airing the first match on TNA was 25 minutes. 22 episodes over the last year had start times of 15 minutes or more.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown

Smackdown Time Until First Match

Smackdown Minimum Time Until First Match: 0 minutes

Smackdown Maximum Time Until First Match: 24 minutes

Like with TNA, the 12/12/08 episode of Smackdown had a time of zero minutes until the first match. When the program started, there was already a fight taking place. Over the last year, 9 of the last 52 weeks had a time of 5 minutes or below.

Over the same period, the most time before airing the first match on Smackdown was 24 minutes. 24 episodes over the last year had start times of 15 minutes or more.

There aren’t really any winners here, so I’ll let the data speak for itself. I understand that you have to sell your PPV and sell the replays, but why can’t they fit a match into the first 15 minutes of a wrestling program?