Ross noted that the country of 5.1 million is a market “known as a test bed for tech companies.”
The rationale: they are English-speaking, tech-savvy early adopters, affluent and isolated enough where if something doesn’t work, there is little blowback in terms of bad P.R. Major companies like Google, Facebook, Domino’s, Microsoft and others have tested out products and technology there through the years.
As of Wednesday, one independent Netflix popularity tracker showed the event as the fifth most popular TV show on the service there after reaching the top spot earlier this week.
WWE and Netflix announced a five-year, $10 billion deal in January 2024 that will bring Raw to the streaming giant for U.S. viewers and all of WWE’s content for international viewers (in countries that don’t have existing deals in place) starting in January 2025.
Vector Arena was almost sold out, and during the show there was an announcement about an upcoming NXT tour in New Zealand and Australia with dates to be announced soon.
– Apollo Crews defeated Sheamus
Crews won with a roll-up. Fun opener and good reaction for both. Sheamus did some mic work to get the crowd angry.
– Braun Strowman defeated Jey Uso w/ Jimmy Uso
Strong reaction for both Usos. Strowman won with the reverse chokeslam. After the match, the Usos gave Strowman a double superkick to make the crowd happy.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) defeated The Club
Big E didn’t come out with his partners in the beginning because he was still selling the injury he had suffered at the hands of The Club. Average match with The Club initially getting the edge with shady tactics. Big E finally showed up to distract Anderson, then Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise for the pin.
– Finn Balor defeated Chris Jericho
Great match and amazing mic work by Jericho to turn the crowd against him. Strong reaction for Balor. Both guys worked really hard with Jericho locking in the Walls of Jericho and later hitting a Codebreaker.
But Jericho paid too much attention to the crowd, which allowed Balor to get the comeback win after hitting the Coup de Grace. There were a couple of great near falls.
– Rusev w/ Lana defeated Titus O’Neil
This was a squash match with O’Neil only getting minor offense in. Rusev won via submission with the Accolade.
– John Cena defeated AJ Styles
Really great match that included a referee bump, interference from The Club, and Cena finally getting the win with the AA.
There were multiple near falls, both guys had their submissions locked in, and the crowd responded great to both guys. I would say this was better than the match between Jericho and Balor, but not by a big margin.
We had some mandatory Cena sucks chants, but he got a great ovation from the crowd in the end.
– WWE Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte w/ Dana Brooke
Short match that included some comedy spots, interference from Dana Brooke, and good work by both wrestlers. Good house show match with Banks getting a strong reaction. She won with the Banks Statement.
– Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens
Fun match between these two. Watching Owens interact with the crowd is great live. No crazy spots, but it was a good house show match. Zayn won the with Helluva Kick.
– Roman Reigns defeated Seth Rollins
Second strongest reaction of the night for Reigns, though he got some boos as well. Great match between these two with Rollins getting the upper hand then verbally running down the crowd on the mic. That gave Reigns enough time to recover, hit the spear, and pin Rollins.
After the match, Reigns stayed around the ring to a good crowd response and took pictures with fans.
