History
The building was originally known as the Extreme Arena and was used for the game shows Nickelodeon GUTS and Global GUTS from 1992-1995. In 1996 World Championship Wrestling began taping their syndicated wrestling shows WCW Pro and WCW Worldwide from soundstage 21 now dubbed the WCW Arena before then they had been taped at the same Disney-MGM Studios soundstage the company used for its TBS programs. WCW continued to film the shows there (and a few episodes of WCW Saturday Night) until 1998 when Pro was canceled and Worldwide was taped before WCW Thunder. In 1999 the Roller Derby show RollerJam was filmed from the building now called the RolllerJam Arena. They left after their show was canceled in 2001 and another wrestling company called the XWF began taping their shows there.
In May 2004, TNA announced that they would be starting their first nationally airing television show, TNA Impact! on Fox Sports Net. They also announced that they would be airing this show from Universal Studios as part of an agreement reached with the theme park. Accordingly, TNA leased Soundstage 21 for the purposes of putting on wrestling events for an indefinite period of time. TNA also moved several of its main offices down to Orlando from their original home in Nashville.
Since June 2004, TNA has taped its flagship show, Impact! as well as its secondary show Xplosion from the Impact! Zone. They also aired every monthly pay-per-view in company history from that location until October 2006 when Bound for Glory was broadcast from the Compuware Arena in Detroit. They also hosted a special viewing of The Best Damn Sports Show Period that was entitled the Best Damn Wrestling Event Period.
As part of the agreement with Universal Studios, TNA is not allowed to charge entrance to events held at the Impact! Zone. This led TNA to look for alternative venues to host some of their monthly pay-per-view events.
In August 2006 at Hard Justice, a fire sparked in the rafters of the Impact! Zone. The fire was the result of pyrotechnics igniting a burlap sandbag. The soundstage was evacuated for approximately 20 minutes while the Orlando Fire Department inspected the resultant damage and the building in general. Afterward, the audience was allowed back in and the show resumed with only one match canceled.
Read more about this topic: Impact Wrestling Zone
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