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WWE was very close to a sellout, if not completely sold out at The Barclays Center in New York City last night.
CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens, as a match, had the most sustained fans interest in terms of reaction live on the entire show. The early start and the nature of the double taping seemed to take the energy out of the NYC crowd for a good portion of the taping, something that did not go unnoticed based on reactions we've heard from readers who watched the Netflix Raw broadcast.
Matthew Rhys, the first and only actor to win in all three Lead Actor categories in Emmys history (perhaps best known for starring in AppleTV's Widow's Bay, which was great) was sitting ringside with his children at the taping. They stayed all the way to the end and his kids were absolutely having a ball.
Since Cruz Montana's 946 reveal took place in NYC, there were a LOT of fans yelling Mike Santana's name way before he revealed his face. There were also a lot of NYC fans who watched him basically grow up in pro wrestling really excited and happy for him live.
I was told actor Kieran Culkin was also in attendance.
The legendary Ringside Charlie Adorno was, well, ringside.
WWE was pushing a lot of lucha masks and Day of the Dead themed merchandise live at the show. The line for the merchandise booth before the show ran at least half the length of the venue. Under Fanatics, they have eliminated the merchandise stand outside the Barclays Center, which led to a much longer wait for fans in attendance.
Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett called both Raw and Smackdown.
Alicia Taylor handled the ring announcing for each broadcast as well.
Stephanie McMahon was backstage.
Ivar vs. Otis and Lola Vice vs. Lyra Valkyria were taped for Main Event.
Between Raw and Smackdown, Trick Williams came out and cut a promo for the live crowd as production was changing over for the latter show.
The next show in the NYC market is the 12/26 Madison Square Garden live event, which will be a Raw live event.
In a first (for me), I witnessed WWE t-shirt bootleggers inside the Barclays Center subway station, trying to sell shirts on the platform as fans arrived for the show. We've all seen people trying to sell shirts outside arenas, but in the subway station down below was pretty unique.
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