WrestleMania or AdMania? How much of WWE show was actually wrestling?

LA Knight lands a punch against Logan Paul on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Austin Theory, IShowSpeed and Logan Paul enter the arena during the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

LA Knight enters the ring on the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Usos enters the ring during the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

John Cena enters the ring at the start of the first night to host WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Building wraps for WrestleMania 42 are shown on the exterior of Allegiant Stadium on April 17, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The WWE's flagship event will be held at the venue on April 18th and 19th.

1 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

WrestleMania showcases a mix of high‑profile matchups and crowd‑driven moments across its biggest stages.

See scenes from WrestleMania as competition unfolds and post‑match celebrations follow.

Above, LA Knight celebrates alongside The Usos following their pinfall victory over The Vision and IShowSpeed on Night One of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026.

1 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

WrestleMania showcases a mix of high‑profile matchups and crowd‑driven moments across its biggest stages.

See scenes from WrestleMania as competition unfolds and post‑match celebrations follow.

Above, LA Knight celebrates alongside The Usos following their pinfall victory over The Vision and IShowSpeed on Night One of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026.

2 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

LA Knight lands a punch against Logan Paul on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

3 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

Austin Theory, IShowSpeed and Logan Paul enter the arena during the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

4 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

LA Knight enters the ring on the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

5 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

The Usos enters the ring during the first night of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

6 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

John Cena enters the ring at the start of the first night to host WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 18, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

7 / 7

WrestleMania 42 delivers the biggest WWE moments, wins and emotion

Building wraps for WrestleMania 42 are shown on the exterior of Allegiant Stadium on April 17, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The WWE's flagship event will be held at the venue on April 18th and 19th.

WrestleMania 42 segments

First, we have to establish the segments that were timed, so here is what was kept track of, along with the rules of how it was recorded:

• Intro: The opening video package of each night, started from the moment the show begins.
• Promos: Anytime people came out to talk, mostly John Cena fulfilling his hosting duties.
• Entrances: When stars entered the ring. Time begins when the entrance music starts or ringside announcer introduces the match. This includes certain title matches, when introductions were done when both stars were in the ring. Time stops when the bell rings or if an attack happens. (Note: included in this is the 4 minutes and 22 seconds of the Intercontinental Championship ladder match that had ads air during introductions of JD McDonagh, Rusev and Dragon Lee.)
• Pre-match activity: This is for any fighting that happens after entrances are done and before the bell can ring. This applied to Gunther vs. Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton.
• Matches: The matches were timed from when the bell rings to start and when it rings to conclude them.
• Post-match activity: What happens in the immediate aftermath, like celebrations. An example is when Brock Lesnar left his gloves after losing to Oba Femi. Time ends when the broadcast goes to commercial break.
• Ads: Any advertisement, video package to highlight the next match or when broadcasters spoke in-between matches.

Winners: Who won at WrestleMania 42?

WrestleMania 42 total time

WrestleMania 42 night one and two combined for a total of 7 hours and 28 minutes. This does not include the preshow or post-show.

WrestleMania 42 match times, more

Of all the things that happened during WrestleMania, there was more wrestling than anything else. The 13 matches combined for 2 hours, 47 minutes and 4 seconds. It actually was nearly double the amount of time spent on ads.

Here is a complete breakdown of how time was spent during WrestleMania 42, from most amount of time spent to least:

• Matches: 2 hours, 47 minutes and 4 seconds
• Entrances: 1 hour, 57 minutes and 30 seconds
• Ads: 1 hour, 27 minutes and 52 seconds
• Post-match activity: 43 minutes and 21 seconds
• Promos: 17 minutes and 10 seconds
• Intro: 8 minutes and 25 seconds
• Pre-match activity: 6 minutes and 38 seconds

Roman Reigns and CM Punk fight during their World Heavyweight Championship match during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 19, 2026 in Las Vegas.

Percentage of time spent during WrestleMania 42

Here is the percentage breakdown of what took up the time at WrestleMania 42:

• Matches: 37.29%
• Entrances: 26.23%
• Ads: 19.61%
• Post-match activity: 9.68%
• Promos: 3.83%
• Intro: 1.88%
• Pre-match activity: 1.48%

The data shows that wrestling did make up a majority of the event, and when you put the entrances, matches and post-match activity together, it accounts for 73.20% of what happened.

However, nearly 20% ad time is still enough to frustrate fans, especially when there are considerable gaps between matches. The glass half-empty way of looking at it is that while there was more wrestling than anything else, 62.71% of WrestleMania was not actual match time.

Notable WrestleMania 42 time figures

It felt like matches were short, and that was definitely the case.

Of the 13 matches, only four went over 15 minutes: the two main events, Gunther vs. Seth Rollins and the Intercontinental Championship ladder match. After having nine matches go at least 10 minutes in 2025, only seven reached that mark in 2026.

That figure also highlights how long some entrances took. The longest entrance of the show was Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton (with Pat McAfee) at 18 minutes and 1 second. Only two matches went longer than that: Rhodes and Orton's match itself, and Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk.

Here are some other notable stats from WrestleMania 42:

• Longest match was Reigns vs. Punk at 33 minutes and 56 seconds.
• Shortest match of WrestleMania was Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar at 4 minutes and 46 seconds. Every match's entrance went longer than that, except Seth Rollins vs. Gunther.
• Three matches had longer entrance times than the match itself: The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship fatal four-way match, Liv Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer, and Femi vs. Lesnar.
• The shortest entrance time for a match was Gunther vs. Rollins at 4 minutes and 16 seconds.
• The longest post-match activity was Femi vs. Lesnar at 7 minutes and 39 seconds, fueled by Lesnar's apparent retirement goodbye.
• The shortest total time for a match (entrance, match and post-match activity) was Becky Lynch vs. AJ Lee, as well as Morgan vs. Vaquer. Each had a total time of 15 minutes and 54 seconds.
• Night one had the majority of ad time at 52 minutes and 25 seconds. Night two had 35 minutes and 27 seconds of ads.
• Average match time: 12 minutes and 51 seconds.
• Average match entrance time: 5 minutes and 48 seconds.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How much of WrestleMania 42 was actual wrestling? Full time breakdown