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BEYOND THE NUMBERS: THE MATCHES OF 2010, THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT PART II: GOOD MATCHES CAN COME IN SMALL PACKAGES

Each week in my By the Numbers columns, I provide a list of matches on each of the six weekly shows from World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and Ring of Honor and how long those matches are. In addition to the per match average and per hour average for each show, I have provided a list of the matches at each end of the time spectrum. At the low end, I have looked at the matches that are less than eighty-nine seconds and qualify as a ‘One Minute Match’.

There are many types of matches that comprise this list for the year 2010. There are the obvious squash matches to help advance talent that they are trying to push. There are matches that were cut short due to outside interference to advance storylines. Some of the matches in this category were the result of an injury that took place during a match. And there is even a match in this category that I would consider a good match despite its length.

In 2010, of the 1,319 matches that were on television, 109 matches, or 8.26 percent of all matches during the year, qualified as a one minute match. Here is a breakdown of the matches by show they appeared on during the year.

WWE Raw: 46 Matches (42.20 percent of all one minute matches and 14.89 percent of all matches on Raw for the year)
WWE Smackdown: 24 Matches (22.02 percent of all one minute matches and 8.79 percent of all matches on Smackdown for the year)
TNA Impact: 18 Matches (16.51 percent of all one minute matches and 6.45 percent of all matches on Impact for the year)
Ring of Honor: 12 Matches (11.01 percent of all one minute matches and 7.32 percent of all matches on Ring of Honor for the year)
WWE NXT: 5 Matches (4.59 percent of all one minute matches and 4.81 percent of all matches on NXT for the year)
WWE Superstars: 3 Matches (2.75 percent of all one minute matches and 1.74 percent of all matches on Superstars for the year)
WWE ECW: 1 Match (0.92 percent of all one minute matches and 5.56 percent of all matches on ECW for the year)

Wrestlers who appeared in the most One Minute Matches

1. Michelle McCool 9 (WWE)
2. Layla 8 (WWE)
3 (Tie). Big Show 6 (WWE)
3 (Tie). Santino Marella 6 (WWE)
3 (Tie). William Regal 6 (WWE)
6 (Tie). Alicia Fox 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie) Daniel Bryan 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie) Drew McIntyre 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). Eve Torres 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). John Morrison 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). Kelly Kelly 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). Maryse 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). R Truth 5 (WWE)
6 (Tie). Zack Ryder 5 (WWE)

Highest Ranked TNA Wrestlers: Rob Terry and Matt Morgan 4 (tie for 15th)

Highest Ranked Ring of Honor Wrestler: Skullkrusher Rasche Brown 4 (tie for 15th)

One Minute Matches (by Month)
March: 16
January: 12
May: 11
February: 9
October: 9
April: 8
June: 8
September: 8
December: 8
July: 7
November: 7
August: 6

Type of One Minute Matches
Singles: 84
Standard Tag: 19
Handicap: 4
Six Person Tag: 1
Ten Person Tag: 1

Type of One Minute Matches (by gender)
Men: 84
Women: 25

While it is hard to imagine that there could be a ‘One Minute Match of the Year’, I think 2010 saw a match that could be worthy of that honor. It would go to the match on the April 13th episode of NXT between Daniel Bryan and William Regal. If you want to see five minutes of action put into a package of less than ninety seconds, this is the match for you. It might be selfish of me to say it, but I am glad that this match never broke the ninety second barrier because it would fall into the chasm of ‘standard matches’ that are covered in the By the Numbers column.

The following pairs of siblings appeared in One Minute Matches in 2010:
Nikki and Brie Bella
Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Evan Bourne and Mike Sydal

Another pair of relatives appeared in One Minute Matches in 2010:
Chavo Guerrero and Vickie Guerrero

A Husband and Wife pair appeared in One Minute Matches in 2010:
Undertaker and Michelle McCool

A storyline father and son had One Minute Matches in 2010:
Hornswoggle and Fit Finlay

Seventy-five wrestlers who were in One Minute Matches during 2010 were also in Ten Minute Matches during the year.

Christopher Daniels is one of the people who appears on both the Ten Minute Matches and One Minute Matches lists for 2010, but his appearances on the Ten Minute Matches list were for matches in Ring of Honor while his One Minute Match was for a match in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

On the following pages, I will take a more detailed look at the one minute matches for 2010:
Page 2: All Wrestlers in One Minute Matches
Page 3: One Minute Matches on Raw
Page 4: One Minute Matches on Smackdown
Page 5: One Minute Matches on Impact
Page 6: One Minute Matches on Ring of Honor
Page 7: One Minute Matches on NXT, Superstars, and ECW

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