The regime change WWE experienced last month was seismic, if only because Vince McMahon ruled the company with an iron fist for 40 years. Over the past month, fans and critics alike have noticed a lot of changes to WWE programming, some small and subtle, some a little more drastic. While the returning wrestlers and refocusing of the storyline have gotten a lot of attention, there is one interesting statistic worth noting. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has broken down the real amount fight on Raw and SmackDown since Triple H took over (per Cagematch records) and found a rather telling fact: Raw and Smackdown since Paul Levesque took over WWE creative 4 weeks ago have had more wrestling minutes on them than almost any episode in the previous months. pic.twitter.com/B0MZYoOSWk — Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) August 21, 2022 Note that the numbers are an hourly total for each show. So last week’s Raw had 75 minutes of in-ring action over the course of three hours (25 per hour). The eight streaks under Triple H averaged 22.6 minutes of wrestling per hour, while the previous eight appearances averaged 17.25 minutes. That might not seem like much, but when you’re talking about the alternative, it means less time for 24/7 shenanigans, absurd backstories, or even cutting the show’s opening promos by a few minutes. The increased focus on the in-ring product was evident to most, with longer matches and less silliness (the 24/7 Championship and ridiculous chase scenes are all but gone). Now we have some data to show how within a month, Triple H made measurable changes. Whether these are in reality Good Changes that improve the product are subjective, but they are something tangible. Posted on: August 21, 2022
