Impact Zone

The Impact Zone,[1] also known as the Impact Wrestling Zone,[1] is the professional wrestling nickname for any one of three sound stages at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. Its nickname was derived from Impact!, a weekly television series produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling) which broadcast from this venue. Between 2004 and March 2013, TNA taped their broadcasts from Soundstage 21. As part of the agreement with Universal, TNA was not allowed to charge general admission to events held at the Impact Zone, with the exception of VIP packages. This meant the company sometimes looked for alternative venues to host their large pay-per-view events. After March 2013, TNA left Universal Studios and began to tour nationally.[2] TNA returned to Universal Studios on November 21, 2013, using Soundstage 19, which is smaller and holds fewer people than Soundstage 21.[3] Until April 2018, the company continued to tape most of its programming at Universal Studios, with occasional tapings at other venues, switching between Soundstages 19, 20, and 21. Since April 2018, Impact has not returned to Universal Studios, instead choosing to tape from venues in the U.S, Canada, and Mexico where they are able to charge for admission.

For the generic topic, see ground zero.
Soundstage 21
Impact Zone[1]
The Impact Zone in May 2007
LocationUniversal Studios Florida
OwnerUniversal Parks & Resorts
OperatorUniversal Parks & Resorts
Capacity1,400
Opened1990
Tenants
Nickelodeon Guts
World Championship Wrestling
RollerJam
Xcitement Wrestling Federation
Impact Wrestling
Soundstage 19
Impact Zone
Soundstage 19 in November 2013
LocationUniversal Studios Florida
OwnerUniversal Parks & Resorts
OperatorUniversal Parks & Resorts
Capacity1,100
Opened1990
Tenants
Impact Wrestling
Soundstage 20
Impact Zone
LocationUniversal Studios Florida
OwnerUniversal Parks & Resorts
OperatorUniversal Parks & Resorts
Capacity1,100
Opened1990
Tenants
Impact Wrestling

History

Initial usage

Soundstage 21 was originally known as the Extreme Arena and was used for the game shows Nickelodeon Guts and Global Guts from 1992 to 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. (They had previously been taped at Disney-MGM Studios.) WCW continued to tape the shows and occasional episodes of WCW Saturday Night until 1998 when Pro was canceled and matches for Worldwide were taped before WCW Thunder.[4] In 1999 the roller derby show RollerJam was filmed from the building. The show was canceled in 2001 and another wrestling company called the XWF began taping their shows there.[5]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling

Home venue of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004–2013)

In May 2004, TNA announced that they would be starting their first nationally broadcast television show, TNA Impact on Fox SportsNet which would be taped at 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, Tennessee.

From June 2004 to March 2013, TNA 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.

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 sound stage was evacuated for approximately 20 minutes while the Orlando Fire Department inspected the resultant damage and the building in general. Afterwards, the audience was allowed back in and the show resumed with only one match canceled.

On January 31, 2013, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling announced that they would be taping their weekly show, Impact Wrestling from different venues around the United States, with the first live show on March 14, 2013, from the Sears Centre Arena near Chicago. The final two episodes of Impact Wrestling filmed at this location were on February 28, 2013, and March 7, 2013.[6] After this, TNA cleared out the venue and ended their contract with Universal Studios.

TNA's return to Orlando (2013–2018)

TNA returned to Universal Studios on November 21, 2013. A smaller version of the road set debuted that night along with new lighting structures and new seats in the smaller venue that is 16,500 square feet.[7] From 2014 to 2016, the company taped its programming in Soundstage 20, which is the same capacity as Soundstage 19. However, in January 2017, the company taped TV from Soundstage 19 again, during which tapings the TNA name was dropped for good. In March 2017, the company returned to Soundstage 21, the original Impact Zone, for the first time in four years. For the April tapings, the company once again used Soundstage 20. Soundstage 19 was used for the July and August tapings. The company was originally scheduled to hold their flagship Bound for Glory pay-per-view along with multi-day tapings there in November, but they instead moved the event with the following tapings to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The company returned to Orlando in January as they held their first tapings of 2018 at Soundstage 19. The Impact Zone also hosted the first live Impact PPV of 2018, Redemption. After the April tapings, Impact began touring other venues and countries, leaving the return to the Impact Zone uncertain. Bleachers used in the Impact Zone went onto sale on eBay in August.[8]

Statistics

List of stages
Stage Size Capacity Usage
Soundstage 19 16,500 sq. ft. 1100 November 2013 – December 2013
January 2017
July 2017 – April 2018
Soundstage 20 16,500 sq. ft. 1100 March 2014 – October 2016
April 2017
Soundstage 21 22,000 sq. ft. 1400 June 2004 – March 2013
March 2017

List of live pay-per-view events held in the Impact Zone
Date Event Stage Notes
2004
November 7, 2004 Victory Road Soundstage 21 The first monthly three-hour pay-per-view event produced by the company.
December 5, 2004 Turning Point Soundstage 21
2005
January 16, 2005 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
February 13, 2005 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 13, 2005 Destination X Soundstage 21
April 24, 2005 Lockdown Soundstage 21
May 15, 2005 Hard Justice Soundstage 21
June 19, 2005 Slammiversary Soundstage 21
July 17, 2005 No Surrender Soundstage 21
August 14, 2005 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
September 11, 2005 Unbreakable Soundstage 21
October 23, 2005 Bound for Glory Soundstage 21
November 13, 2005 Genesis Soundstage 21
December 11, 2005 Turning Point Soundstage 21
2006
January 15, 2006 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
February 12, 2006 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 12, 2006 Destination X Soundstage 21
April 23, 2006 Lockdown Soundstage 21
May 14, 2006 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
June 18, 2006 Slammiversary Soundstage 21
July 16, 2006 Victory Road Soundstage 21
August 13, 2006 Hard Justice Soundstage 21 A pyrotechnic malfunction during the opening match led to the temporary evacuation of the building and one match being canceled.
September 24, 2006 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 19, 2006 Genesis Soundstage 21
December 10, 2006 Turning Point Soundstage 21
2007
January 14, 2007 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
February 11, 2007 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 11, 2007 Destination X Soundstage 21
May 13, 2007 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
July 15, 2007 Victory Road Soundstage 21
August 12, 2007 Hard Justice Soundstage 21
September 9, 2007 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 11, 2007 Genesis Soundstage 21
December 2, 2007 Turning Point Soundstage 21
2008
January 6, 2008 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
May 11, 2008 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
November 9, 2008 Turning Point Soundstage 21
December 7, 2008 Final Resolution Soundstage 21 The company changed its PPV schedule; there were two Final Resolution events held that year.
2009
February 8, 2009 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 15, 2009 Destination X Soundstage 21
May 24, 2009 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
July 19, 2009 Victory Road Soundstage 21
August 16, 2009 Hard Justice Soundstage 21
September 20, 2009 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 15, 2009 Turning Point Soundstage 21
December 20, 2009 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
2010
January 17, 2010 Genesis Soundstage 21 The show featured the return of a standard four-sided ring.
February 14, 2010 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 21, 2010 Destination X Soundstage 21
May 16, 2010 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
June 13, 2010 Slammiversary Soundstage 21
July 11, 2010 Victory Road Soundstage 21
August 8, 2010 Hardcore Justice Soundstage 21
September 5, 2010 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 7, 2010 Turning Point Soundstage 21
December 5, 2010 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
2011
January 9, 2011 Genesis Soundstage 21
February 13, 2011 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 13, 2011 Victory Road Soundstage 21
May 15, 2011 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
June 12, 2011 Slammiversary Soundstage 21
July 10, 2011 Destination X Soundstage 21 The show featured a one-night return of the six-sided ring that the company was not using at the time.
August 7, 2011 Hardcore Justice Soundstage 21
September 11, 2011 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 13, 2011 Turning Point Soundstage 21
December 11, 2011 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
2012
January 8, 2012 Genesis Soundstage 21
February 12, 2012 Against All Odds Soundstage 21
March 18, 2012 Victory Road Soundstage 21
May 13, 2012 Sacrifice Soundstage 21
July 8, 2012 Destination X Soundstage 21
August 12, 2012 Hardcore Justice Soundstage 21
September 9, 2012 No Surrender Soundstage 21
November 11, 2012 Turning Point Soundstage 21
December 9, 2012 Final Resolution Soundstage 21
2013
January 13, 2013 Genesis Soundstage 21 The final live pay-per-view event held in the original Impact Zone before the company began touring.
2014
April 27, 2014 Sacrifice Soundstage 20
2015
June 28, 2015 Slammiversary Soundstage 20
2016
June 12, 2016 Slammiversary Soundstage 20
October 2, 2016 Bound for Glory Soundstage 20
2017
January 6, 2017 One Night Only: Live! Soundstage 19
July 2, 2017 Slammiversary XV Soundstage 19
2018
April 22, 2018 Redemption Soundstage 19

Until 2017, Impact Zone used to host the majority of taped One Night Only events as well, since these shows were usually taped along with Impact Wrestling episodes.

Pay-per-view statistics

(as of September 11, 2018)

Category Events held Events held in the Impact Zone Percentage
Soundstage 19 Soundstage 20 Soundstage 21 Overall Soundstage 19 Soundstage 20 Soundstage 21 Overall
Live (excluding all One Night Only events) 114 2 4 76 82 2,4% / 1,8% 4,9% / 3,5% 92,7% / 66,6% 71,9%
One Night Only (including those broadcast live) 49 3 21 9 33 9,1% / 6,1% 63,6% / 42,8% 27,3% / 18,4% 67,3%

Notes
1.^ The numbers represent the approximate maximum capacities and do not reflect the actual attendance at the events.
2.^ The first number shows the percentage out of the shows held in the Impact Zone while the second number shows the percentage out of all shows.
3.^ This number shows the combined percentage of shows held in the Impact Zone
4.^ The number includes shows that were already taped but have not been aired yet (One Night Only: GFW Amped Anthology shows are excluded, since they are not considered original Impact content)
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References
  1. "Footage, Photos, & Complete Recap From Thursday's IMPACT WRESTLING". Impactwrestling.com. February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  2. Johnson, Mike (February 8, 2013). "End of a TNA era next month and more TNA news". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  3. Johnson, Mike (October 18, 2013). "TNA IMPACT WRESTLING TAPING UPDATE: PROMOTION RETURNING TO OLD HOME?". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  4. "Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling". Thehistoryofwwe.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  5. "Buff Bagwell's Bio Page". Therealbuff.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  6. "Road show for TNA Impact Wrestling". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. February 1, 2013. Archived from the original on February 28, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  7. "November 21: Orlando, FL (IMPACT LIVE)". November 1, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  8. wewwewwew (August 6, 2018). "Bleachers For Sale Custom Built for Impact Wrestling by GT Grandstands". eBay. Retrieved August 6, 2018.

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