Subscription watch lists for event handling

The present invention provides a method, system and computer program product for watch list oriented processing of events in a multi-object event data processing system. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for watch list oriented processing of events in a multi-object event data processing system, can include pre-processing a set of subscriptions against a pool of objects monitored for events in the data processing system to produce a watch list of objects. The method further can include receiving events in the data processing system corresponding to different ones of the objects in the pool of objects. The method yet further can include comparing the received events to the watch list to determine which events pertain to objects referenced in the watch list.