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. however these were eventually cancelled. The following year, in 2017 the Raw brand returned to New Zealand for one show in
Christchurch. WWE announced the Raw brand would return for a live event at
Auckland's
Spark Arena on August 8, 2020. This show was later postponed three times supposedly due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. It was firstly postponed to July 31, 2021, secondly postponed to August 4, 2022, and lastly postponed with no new date given. The event was eventually cancelled on May 5, 2023, over 3 years since its original announcement. ==Events in New Zealand==