According to F4Wonline, WWE are currently in talks to shift their award-winning ThunderDome set-up from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida.
Though World Wrestling Entertainment have yet to confirm that talks are in place with the venue which once staged the 1995 Royal Rumble, it has been known for some time that the company’s tenure inside the forty-thousand plus seat Tropicana Field is coming to an end prior to WrestleMania 37 thanks to the onset of the Major League Baseball season.
The building’s resident team, The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, are scheduled to play their opening match of the season against New York Yankees at the stadium on April 9. This means that the final RAW from the gargantuan venue could possibly be slated for April 5, giving staff time to ready the stadium for the first game.
F4Wonline, the website run by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, states that WWE officials have been in unofficial talks with the former South Florida Sun Dome – which houses a capacity crowd of around 10,411 – because the venue currently has zero COVID-19 protocols in place.
Moving to such a restriction-free zone would allow WWE to admit fans back to weekly television tapings without the need to seek permission from their temporary landlords or, in some cases a committee that can take weeks or even months to reach a decision.
At present the newly renamed Yuengling Centre is home to three different sports teams: South Florida Bulls Men’s Basketball Team, South Florida Bulls Women’s Basketball Team and the South Florida Bulls Women’s Volleyball Team. Currently, none of the trio are currently in action thanks to the pandemic.
Away from the 1995 Royal Rumble which saw Shawn Michaels slither his way into the main event of WrestleMania XI, the building did have a long history with the company having previously staged Saturday Night’s Main Event in both 1985 and 1988.
Inside the Ropes will keep you up to date with all the latest news on where WWE decide to set-up home next.