10 Modern WWE PPV Matches Allocated Far Too Much Time
8. Triple H Vs. Sting - WrestleMania 31
Match length: 18:34
Why it was too long: Sting wasn't up to it, basically. The match started brightly enough, with some smooth sequences and even a top-rope cross body splash from the 'Stinger', though the initial crowd reaction may have just been born from the relief that we weren't in for a complete embarrassment.
That is, until the add-ons came in to play. That the NWO came to Sting's aid in an eye-rolling reprisal of the Monday Night Wars was both tiresome and nonsensical - he was their arch nemesis, and Triple H is great friends with Triple H and Scott Hall. This, remember, was a match driven in part by HHH's real-life stranglehold on WWE creative.
The length is understandable, to a point - it would have cast Sting in an even dimmer light, had he been vanquished in under half the time - but no less puzzling. The build, the execution and especially the finish were all poorly conceived. They probably shouldn't have bothered in the first place.
Even more egregiously, it was the longest match on the entire card. Combined with his (absolutely ludicrous) entrance and his long-winded segment with Stephanie McMahon, The Rock and Ronda Rousey, Triple H took up one quarter of WrestleMania's run time.