10 Reasons For Increased Injuries To WWE Superstars

7. Longer Matches

In addition to today's talents trying to think up more innovative and flashier moves, the wrestling matches of today are, on average, longer than they were during the 80s and early 90s. This, again, puts the talents at risk of getting more seriously hurt during a match that goes 12 minutes instead of 6. Some fans may laugh at the notion of today's matches being longer when the majority of WWE televised matches, especially on RAW, run for no longer than 4 minutes, but it's not the free-TV matches that are the problem. When you add up the live events (house shows), PPV specials, and the televised matches (which yes, do have some longer running matches that air for multiple segments), it's much longer than in the era of the squash match. WWE television tapings used to consist of one-sided squash match after squash match, each lasting no longer than 3 minutes, for the better part of four hours. The house shows may have featured more competitive matches, but not every superstar was motivated to "tear the house down" and worked a much slower pace back then. It was more a case of a 'grab a chinlock, brother'. PPVs were also kept to a minimum with only 4-5 events a year instead of the current count of 13, and even more matches falling under the "Special Event" umbrella with the growth of the WWE Network. The point is longer matches equal greater chance of injury. Along with the flashier moves and increased importance placed on workrate, the increased match length definitely plays a role.