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WWE ThunderDome roof destroyed by Hurricane Milton

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WWE ThunderDome roof destroyed by Hurricane Milton

The pandemic era of pro wrestling forced every operating promotion under the sun to get creative. Major television companies such as WWE, AEW, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling (TNA) and New Japan Pro Wrestling abandoned their typical arenas full of fans for empty venues, sending their talent into the ring to compete in front of empty seats or a select group of his peers. WWE’s strategy began with strictly empty arenas, quiet enough that every step the wrestlers took in the ring was captured by camera audio. Months later, WWE filled the WWE Performance Center with socially distanced prospects in order to create some kind of buzz. It wasn’t until August 2020 that WWE found its “permanent” Pandemic home: the WWE ThunderDome.

WWE SummerSlam 2020 saw the debut of the WWE ThunderDome, a completely virtual wrestling arena filled with fans from around the world who video-called the LED screens surrounding the ring. WWE’s ThunderDome was built within three different Florida-based venues during its 11-month run: Amway Center, Tropicana Field, and Yuengling Center.

Videos from ComicBook.com

Tropicana Field has been hit hard by Hurricane Milton

A former site of WWE’s ThunderDome has been affected by Hurricane Milton.

As shared in videos on social media, Hurricane Milton has ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, home of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays and the former location of WWE’s ThunderDome. WWE released episodes of WWE Monday Night Raw, WWE SmackDownand several premium live events outside Tropicana Field from August 2020 through July 2021.

Hurricane Milton is the latest tropical cyclone to ravage the American Southeast, following in the footsteps of Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Milton is described as a “dangerous Category 3” storm. Florida authorities have urged residents to shelter in place after “extremely dangerous hurricane-force winds” swept through the state. Those winds were sustained at 120 mph at landfall, but decreased in strength as it moved inland.

“I loved it. Because it was different, right? It’s so different,” ex-WWE star Daniel Bryan (AEW’s Bryan Danielson) praised wrestling inside WWE’s ThunderDome. “It wasn’t the idea that I was doing it in front of anyone. It’s the idea that the medium has changed. I compare it to the difference between theater and cinema. What we traditionally do in professional wrestling is more like theater. But what we had to do during the pandemic is cinema.

“I realized that not a lot of people were changing, not a lot of people were realizing that there needed to be this change here, this adaptation change. I thought I was one of the best people to adapt to that. It’s a trade-off. You lose some things, but you gain some things.”

Outside of the virtual events inside WWE’s ThunderDome, Tropicana Field recently gathered nearly 50,000 fans inside its stands. WWE Royal Rumble this past January That event saw Cody Rhodes win his second consecutive Royal Rumble match, giving him a ticket punch to WWE WrestleMania 40. He defeated Roman Reigns to capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at that event, ending Reigns’ record 1,316-day run with the title.

ComicBook sends best wishes to everyone in Florida affected by Hurricane Milton.

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