How long will each match be at SummerSlam?

Burnout is the biggest danger on Sunday night. It's an apt one for an event entitled "SummerSlam." WWE has the unfortunate habit of trying to elongate these events beyond what they need to be, by adding filler matches and making other ones unnecessarily long. The result is a tired audience by the time the show ends.

To make SummerSlam an enjoyable event that can compete with an always perfectly-timed NXT TakeOver the night before, it's imperative to give each match an appropriate amount of time. Let the filler matches and ones featuring weaker workers be short while the ones with the more capable workers can fill more time on the card. If you don't, you risk burning fans out long before a main event that's likely to get a hostile reception, to say the least.

Will that happen? WWE doesn't always do the logical thing. With that in mind, we can make some predictions about match length. Note that each match isn't necessarily in order. That will come in another post.

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#1 Raw Tag Team Championship: The B-Team (c) vs. The Revival (~9 minutes)

"Comedy" for the pre-show.

In a normal tag team match, The Revival can be expected to put on a 20-minute clinic, even as badly as they've been damaged on the main roster. However, the self-proclaimed "tag team specialists" are currently facing a team of comedy jobbers that somehow fluked themselves into the titles.

With that gimmick hanging over it, the match will probably be an overbooked mess with attempts at comedy.

9 minutes is about all you need to do a match like that, and with it coming on the pre-show, where video segments, interviews, and chatter among commentators dominate a lot of the situation, even with two hours, this match need not go more than that.

#2 Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega vs. Rusev and Lana (~12 minutes)

We can expect something too long.

Realistically, this match doesn't need to go longer than 8 or so minutes, but it's precisely for that reason that we can expect more time tacked on to it. The story behind this match is the possible breakup of Rusev Day, and the match will have to spend at least a few minutes building up to a crucial angle.

That likely comes in the form of interference by Aiden English which will go wrong. Again, this can come after a few minutes, but I expect WWE will try to pad out the TV time by keeping it longer than that.

After about 10 minutes or so, Aiden English will show up to initiate the end sequence.

#3 Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Drew Gulak (~14 minutes)

Let them go.

This is one of those matches where the company should just let the performers go. Gulak and Alexander are certainly capable of carrying a 20-minute clinic, though it won't go that long. 14 or 15 minutes would be the best realistic option, and it should every bit feel like the main event of the pre-show, even if the cruiserweights don't get the respect they deserve.

#4 Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin (~12 minutes)

It should be kept short, but it won't be.

At some point in the middle of the card, Finn Balor will take on Baron Corbin in the dead spot this match deserves. Dead will truly be dead, because it will go much longer than it needs to as other performers prepare for their match.

Expect a 10-12 minute resthold laden slow down where Baron Corbin eventually gets an unexciting win. While neither man is particularly high on the totem pole right now, Corbin is higher than Balor.

#5 United States Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Jeff Hardy (~10 minutes)

No commercials.

While Jeff Hardy has wrestled longer matches for the US title on SmackDown, there won't be any commercials this time around for easy resthold spots. It'll be live in front of one of the hottest crowds of the year, more demanding of action.

With mounting injuries, a 10-minute match is about the best that can be done in this situation, and would serve as an admirable title defense for Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura can control most of the action while Hardy rests and works to a few high spots.

#6 SmackDown Women's Championship: Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch (~9 minutes)

Doesn't need to go too long.

In another context, this could be a clinic between Charlotte and Becky, but because Carmella is involved, we're guaranteed to see some poor wrestling and booking. With Charlotte and Becky teasing dissent and essentially canceling each other out, Carmella will, unfortunately, probably walk out of Brooklyn with her title intact.

It won't take 10 minutes for a climax to be built up by having Becky and Charlotte cost each other somehow and Carmella capitalizing.

#7 Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens (~8 minutes)

Filler.

This will almost certainly be a match centered on bad comedy. There will be a lot of chasing and a lot of cowardice. Jinder Mahal might interfere.

An overbooked mess is something you should expect. The Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens feud hasn't been much else. The outcome will be much more important than the match itself and the company should keep it short at around 8 minutes. That's far from guaranteed, though.

#8 SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The New Day (~15 minutes)

Give them time!

It might not be the most exciting of matches, story-wise, but both of these teams can go. The New Day taking on the goliaths they couldn't defeat in the winter and trying to find a way to succeed this time should make for some innovative spots.

High-flying, high-power, high-octane offense will be the norm throughout this match. If given the right time, it could amp the crowd up huge, and would serve as an ideal curtain-jerker.

#9 Raw Women's Championship: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Ronda Rousey (~11 minutes)

This will go longer than it needs to.

In truth, this match shouldn't and doesn't need to go longer than 5-6 minutes. Alexa Bliss should cower for a little while and then get demolished by Ronda Rousey.

Unfortunately, as we've already seen with her three matches with Nia Jax, WWE won't be too keen on giving Alexa Bliss the decisive comeuppance she's avoided for nearly two years. We can expect her to take control for some of the match and cause it to drag before Ronda Rousey makes her comeback. How it ends from there is anyone's guess.

#10 Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) (/w Drew McIntyre) vs. Seth Rollins (/w Dean Ambrose (~13 minutes)

No countdown clocks.

It's well that there's no 30-minute stipulation with a countdown clock this time. The match has a better chance of telling a fast-paced action story with just one fall. Dean Ambrose and Drew McIntyre will be crucial pieces that add intrigue to the action, and if the company is smart, they'll give these four guys the time they deserve without overbooking the contest.

If done properly and given the right time, this would be an ideal way to get the crowd to come alive after a dead spot on the card, such as Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin or Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens.

#11 Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (~20 minutes)

Let them fight!

This is the match fans are anticipating the most. It's had one of the best builds on the show, and it's between two guys who can easily have a match of the year candidate if given the right amount of time.

WWE would be smart to give them that time, and with the level of investment with these two over and above the title on SmackDown, we can actually expect them to be given the time they need to tell their story.

Unless actively sabotaged, it's the one can't-miss match on the night.

#12 WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe (~14 minutes)

Round 1.

Since it's a WWE Championship match, we can expect around 14-15 minutes, even if the build to it has been lackluster. With those advertisements for Hell in a Cell, we can also expect that this won't be the last meeting between these two.

A good few minutes of action to build up the next match can be expected. Though it probably won't be the match of the night, it should still be one of the better contests, even with Styles' diminished 2018 CV.

#13 Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (~15 minutes)

Ugh.

Unfortunately, we can't expect that this thing will be kept under 10 minutes, as it was (barely) in Saudi Arabia. Something closer to WrestleMania is the likeliest outcome, and that lasted around 15 minutes.

The crowd will probably be hostile as the summer days are long before this match can get anywhere, and we can only hope that the action itself won't descend into the button-mashing style that it did at WrestleMania and the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Most of all, we can only hope that this is finally the end, but if WWE wants to build to Reigns' biggest moment, it won't come without a long war.