10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2002

10. Year’s First Episode Had 25 Mins Of Wrestling

Read most TV recaps nowadays and you'll see some kind of discourse about the number of in-ring minutes the company dedicates to matches. Most include lines such as: 'It's been 34 minutes since the last match', for example. This isn't a new thing at all - fans have been scrutinising just how much wrestling they're getting from WWE since the 1980s when "sports entertainment" became the new fangled descriptor.

If you’ve ever wondered how many minutes of wrestling they put on per 2 hour show in 2002, then the 3 January SmackDown is a good measuring stick. No match on that card went longer than 5 minutes plus change, including The Rock vs. Booker T and a tag bout pitting Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle vs. Edge and Rob Van Dam. Hell, even The Undertaker vs. Big Show in a Hardcore Title showdown went just a few ticks over 5 mins.

There was approx 25 minutes of actual wrestling in the entire broadcast, which doesn't sound like a lot when stacked next to the 120 runtime. This continued until a little later in the year when a certain group of superstars came along to show just how good the in-ring product could be if it was given a chance.

WWE hadn't quite struck a balancing act between soap opera storylines and pure wrestling at the turn of the year. Perhaps Vince McMahon didn't think anybody tuning into the weeklies really cared much about the matches. They did, but a wealth of star power helped carry things and maintain interest week to week.

A wee bit more wrasslin' wouldn't have gone a miss when binging the first half of the year though.