Timing Issues With WrestleMania 31 Revealed

At WrestleMania 31 on March 29 at Levi’s Stadium, Roman Reigns challenged Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.

PWInsider.com first reported that the match was originally set to go 35 minutes with entrances. Even with Seth Rollins’ cash in to win the title, the total time wasn’t more than 17 minutes.

The longest bout on the card, Sting vs. Triple H, clocked in at 18 minutes and 34 seconds.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that the segment involving The Rock, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and UFC fighter Ronda Rousey went 24 minutes longer than it was supposed to.

Officials were reportedly going to make up for it by taking time away from The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt match.

With all of the skepticism involving the main event and how the WWE Universe would react to both Reigns and Lesnar, WWE decided to cut that match short instead to make life easier for both competitors.

Editor’s Note

It’s amazing how many timing issues there were with a relatively light card (remember, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was moved to the Pre-Show). It did feel that the Rousey segment went a tad overboard, but considering the media attention it received, I’m sure WWE wasn’t complaining afterwards.

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