| WWE in New Zealand | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Promotion(s) | WWE |
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown |
| First event | WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour |
WWE (formerly World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment), an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States owned by the McMahon family, has been promoting events in New Zealand since 2006.
WWE held their first live event tour in New Zealand on March 4, 2006, at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. This was the WWE Smackdown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour, which featured a main event triple threat match between Kurt Angle, Undertaker and Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship. This event drew 23,875 people.
The following two years, WWE returned to New Zealand for a pair of SmackDown and ECW co-branded shows. In 2009 and 2011 the Raw brand did a one night show in Auckland, with SmackDown doing a show in 2010. The WWE then took a long break between shows in New Zealand and did not return until 2016. At the 2016 show, WWE announced NXT would be doing a show as part of their Oceania tour. Two NXT Live shows were scheduled for December 5 and 6, 2016 at The Trusts Arena in Auckland and the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington. [1] [2] however these were eventually cancelled. [3] The following year, in 2017 the Raw brand returned to New Zealand for one show in Christchurch. [4]
WWE announced the Raw brand would once again return for a live event at Auckland's Spark Arena on August 8, 2020. This show was later postponed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, firstly to July 31, 2021, secondly to August 4, 2022, and finally to another date to be announced. [5]
| Date | Name | Brand | Venue | City | Main event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 4, 2006 | WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour | SmackDown | Westpac Stadium | Wellington | Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship |
| February 23, 2007 | WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 23 Tour | SmackDown & ECW | Westpac Centre | Christchurch | Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy for the World Heavyweight Championship [6] |
| February 24, 2007 | Western Springs Stadium | Auckland | |||
| June 11, 2008 | WWE Smackdown ECW Tour | SmackDown & ECW | Vector Arena | Auckland | Edge vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship [7] |
| June 12, 2008 | Westpac Centre | Christchurch | Matt Hardy, Batista & The Undertaker vs. Edge, Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry [8] | ||
| July 3, 2009 | WWE Raw Live Tour | Raw | Vector Arena | Auckland | Randy Orton & Big Show vs. John Cena & Triple H [9] |
| August 5, 2010 | WWE SmackDown Live 2010 | SmackDown | Vector Arena | Auckland | Kane vs. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship [10] |
| July 6, 2011 | WWE World Tour | Raw | Vector Arena | Auckland | John Cena vs. R-Truth for the WWE Championship [11] |
| August 10, 2016 | WWE Live: New Zealand | Unbranded | Vector Arena | Auckland | Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins [12] |
| September 13, 2017 | WWE Live: New Zealand | Raw | Horncastle Arena | Christchurch | Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in a Street Fight [13] |
| WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuring Batista | |
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment |
| Brand(s) | SmackDown! |
| Date | March 4, 2006 |
| City | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Venue | Westpac Stadium |
| Attendance | 23,875 [14] |
The WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour was the first WWE event held in New Zealand and took place at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, on March 4, 2006. The event was recorded by WWE and aired exclusively on WWE 24/7 in the United States. Michael Cole and Tazz recorded the commentary from WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
The event was attended by 23,875. [14] WWE talent and management were impressed with the reactions and excitement by the audience, and also the large size of the stadium. “Holy Cow, this is a coliseum, not an arena,” was one of the WWE wrestler's remarks when entering inside New Zealand's second-largest stadium. [15]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | Gregory Helms defeated Jamie Noble and Kid Kash [16] | Triple Threat match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship | N/A |
| 2D | Funaki defeated Sylvain | Singles match | N/A |
| 3D | MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) (c) defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick | Tag Team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship | N/A |
| 4 | Road Warrior Animal defeated Matt Hardy | Singles match | 5:30 |
| 5 | Bobby Lashley defeated Finlay | Singles match | 8:31 |
| 6 | The Boogeyman defeated Orlando Jordan | Singles match | 3:50 |
| 7 | Chris Benoit (c) defeated Booker T by submission | Singles match for the WWE United States Championship | 11:06 |
| 8 | Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton | Singles match | 13:34 |
| 9 | The Undertaker defeated Kurt Angle (c) and Mark Henry by disqualification | Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship | 14:32 |
| |||
The WWE and Sky have had an agreement to carry WWE programming in New Zealand since the late 1990s. [17]
In August 2014, WWE Network launched in New Zealand. [18]
| Programming | Notes |
|---|---|
| WWE pay-per-views | Broadcast live on WWE Network. [19] |
| WWE Raw | Broadcast live on Sky 5. A one-hour version is also broadcast on Prime. [20] |
| WWE NXT | A one-hour version is broadcast on both Sky 5 and Prime. [21] |
| WWE SmackDown | Broadcast live on Sky 5. A one-hour version is also broadcast on Prime. [20] |
Survivor Series is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November, it is the second longest-running PPV event in history, behind WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. In addition to PPV, the event has aired on the livestreaming services WWE Network since 2014 and Peacock since 2021. It is also considered one of the company's biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, referred to as the Big Four.
The WWE Draft, alternatively called the WWE Superstar Shake-up from 2017 to 2019, is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw and SmackDown brands. WWE's former ECW brand also took part (2006–2009) during the first brand split until that brand was disbanded in early 2010. With the second brand split in 2016, wrestlers from NXT (2016–present) are also eligible to be drafted to Raw and SmackDown.
Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.
WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States owned by the McMahon family, has been promoting events in Australia since 1985 when they were the World Wrestling Federation.
The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.
Christchurch Arena is an indoor arena in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the suburb of Addington. It has gone through a series of name changes, the most recent of which prior to its current name having been Horncastle Arena.
Theodore James "TJ" Wilson is a Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Tyson Kidd. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works as a producer.
Austin Watson is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Xavier Woods. Watson also makes public appearances outside of wrestling under the name Austin Creed.
Brian Myers is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is the current Impact Digital Media Champion in his first reign. He is best known for his tenures in WWE from 2006–2014, where he was a member of the stable La Familia and 2016–2020 under the ring name Curt Hawkins, where his gimmick was of a Losing streak, parodying Goldberg's undefeated streak of 173–0.
Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza is a Mexican professional wrestler who is currently signed to Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Andrade El Idolo. He is also known for his appearances in Mexico for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as La Sombra, and for his appearances with the United States-based promotion WWE as Andrade "Cien" Almas.
Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 20th century. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognized by the National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller began running events under the Dominion Wrestling Union banner ten years later.
The NZPWI Invitational was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event hosted by the website New Zealand Pro Wrestling Informer (NZPWI). The event was the first interpromotional show ever held in New Zealand and featured wrestlers from the country's three major promotions Impact Pro Wrestling, Kiwi Pro Wrestling, New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling, and Peter Ball's Major Impact Wrestling from Australia now called Impact Pro Wrestling Australia. Held annually in 2006 and 2007, it was primarily a single-elimination tournament and included a 20-man battle royal semi-main event. The battle royal would end via pin or submission between the last two entrants, the winner of which would receive an entry for next year's invitational.
Trinity Fatu is an American professional wrestler and dancer. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Naomi.
Joseph Ruud is an American professional wrestler, Ruud signed a contract with WWE in 2011. He was sent to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), before debuting on the NXT brand in 2012 as a member of The Wyatt Family alongside Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. He went on to become a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion and a two-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion. Ruud was released from WWE in April 2020, and started performing for AEW in 2022.
Tom Budgen is a Dutch professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Malakai Black. He is also known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Aleister Black from 2017 to 2021.
Sarah Rowe is an American professional wrestler best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Sarah Logan. From 2017 to 2020, she was a member of the stable The Riott Squad with Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott.
Bianca Blair Crawford is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bianca Belair, and is the current Raw Women's Champion in her first reign.
SmackDown is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to SmackDown primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, Friday Night SmackDown, also referred to simply as SmackDown. It is one of WWE's two main brands, along with Raw, collectively referred to as WWE's main roster. The brand was discontinued for a period between August 2011 and July 2016.
NXT announcement: NXT is heading to Australia and New Zealand. It’s this December. And it’s a long tour from December 5-15.
The wait is finally over, after a sell-out show in 2016 that saw 10,000+ WWE fans pack into Spark Arena, WWE returns for one electrifying night on Saturday 31 July 2021.
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