2300 Arena is a multipurpose

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used primarily for professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, and concert events. Originally known as Viking Hall, the venue has since been named Alhambra Arena, The Arena and Asylum Arena. It was previously known unofficially as ECW Arena when it was home to Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1993 to 2001, and later XPW Arena when it was home to Xtreme Pro Wrestling from 2002 to 2003. The venue has hosted major professional wrestling broadcasts including ECW Barely Legal (1997), DGUSA Enter the Dragon (2009–2010),

ROH Final Battle Final Battle is a professional wrestling event, held annually by the Ring of Honor Professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The event was initially held in 2002, and is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year. The Final Battle 2009, ...

(2015) and

ROH Death Before Dishonor Death Before Dishonor is a professional wrestling event, held annually by the Ring of Honor promotion. The event was initially held in 2003, and is traditionally one of ROH's biggest signature events in the calendar year. The 2010 edition of the sh ...

(2021). ESPN2 named it their Venue of the Year (2006) after it hosted a series of outstanding

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...

bouts on '' Wednesday Night Fights'', most notably Larry Mosley and Miguel Figueroa's 12-round majority draw for the vacant NABO Welterweight Championship. Recognized as the birthplace of American hardcore wrestling, the venue has been home to the Hardcore Hall of Fame since 2002.

History

Planning and construction

The facility was originally a freight warehouse in South Philadelphia that was built in 1974. Rail tracks next to the building allowed trains to drop off freight for storage and then continue on to their destinations. The tracks were eventually paved over to become an extension of West Ritner Street, allowing West Ritner Street to intersect with South Swanson Street. Elias Stein and Leon Silverman of the law firm Stein & Silverman Family Partnership, Inc. purchased the warehouse in 1986. The southern part of the facility was given the name Viking Hall when the South Philadelphia Viking Club, a local chapter of mummers, began utilizing it. They used the building for storage and to rehearse for the annual Mummers Parade. The Viking Club also staged midnight bingo games at the venue to raise funds for their organization. The northern part of the building was occupied by retail space, most notably a Forman Mills clothing store.

Opening and reception

The southern part of the building gained worldwide recognition when it served as ECW Arena, home of professional wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from May 1993 until the promotion's closure in April 2001. Sharing the same portion of the building with the South Philadelphia Viking Club, ECW often referred to the venue on-air as "The World's Most Famous Bingo Hall". ECW

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

John Finnegan reminisced about the building's arrangement in a July 2006 interview: Paul Heyman commented in April 1998 as to whether ECW would run another pay-per-view event from the venue after the success of ECW Barely Legal: ECW never ran another pay-per-view from the venue. The promotion gradually moved its shows away from Philadelphia, running only 6 events at the venue in 2000.

Alterations

Following the closure of Extreme Championship Wrestling in April 2001, several Philadelphia based professional wrestling promotions began running shows at the venue. Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) ran shows at the building and referred to it as CZW Arena. Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW) ran shows at the building and referred to it as 3PW Arena.

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

(ROH) opted to run their shows at nearby Murphy Recreation Center, citing the need to establish their own legacy separate from ECW. Controversy arose when Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) signed an exclusive lease with the venue in December 2002 and renamed the building XPW Arena, preventing other promotions from utilizing it. Forced to relocate, CZW moved their shows to a new CZW Arena in Southwest Philadelphia, while 3PW moved their shows to Electric Factory. In January 2003, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission banned barbed wire and light tubes from professional wrestling matches in response to violent XPW and CZW events at the venue.

The building's ownership evicted XPW from the venue in February 2003 after the promotion failed to make lease payments. CZW resumed running shows at the venue in March 2003, with 3PW returning in November 2003. The building's name was officially changed to New Alhambra Sports & Entertainment Center in 2004, and was later shortened to New Alhambra Arena in 2006 and Alhambra Arena in 2008. The name was suggested by

J. Russell Peltz J Russell Peltz (born December 9, 1946) is an American boxing promoter. A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame, Peltz has promoted fights at the Arena, Spectrum, The Blue Horizon, several Atlantic Cit ...

, who began co-promoting

cards at the venue with Joe Hand, Sr. in May 2004. It paid homage to the original Alhambra Movie Theater in South Philadelphia that hosted boxing in the 1950s and 1960s. New Jack was banned from the venue following an incident during a Pro Wrestling Xplosion show in September 2006 . He famously ordered Sprite at the venue's concession stand and was instead given 7 Up, prompting him to verbally harass the stand attendant and assault a member of the ring crew.

and Joe Hand, Sr. announced in January 2009 that after a five-year partnership, they would stop promoting boxing cards at the venue and move their shows to The Blue Horizon. The venue was then renamed to The Arena by general manager Roger Artigiani. J. Russell Peltz and Joe Hand, Sr. later returned to promoting boxing cards at the venue after The Blue Horizon closed in June 2010. 2300 Arena Exterior

Roger Artigiani announced in October 2010 that mixed martial arts group Asylum Fight League had purchased the naming rights to the venue and renamed it Asylum Arena. Arena Operating, LLC (headed by Joanna Pang of the Trocadero Theatre) signed an exclusive lease with the venue in February 2012 with plans to renovate and convert it to a concert hall. The building's ownership evicted Arena Operating, LLC in April 2013 after Joanna Pang failed to complete her proposed renovations. The venue reopened as 2300 Arena in December 2013. The name referenced its newly constructed entranceway at 2300 South Swanson Street, replacing the old entrance at 7 West Ritner Street.

Notable events

Professional wrestling

An NWA World Title Tournament at the venue in August 1994 ended with Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and declaring himself

ECW World Heavyweight Champion The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW ...

, effectively launching ECW as a national promotion. ECW broadcast Barely Legal, their first live

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

event from the venue in April 1997. The event was headlined by Terry Funk defeating

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

to become ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Immediately following the broadcast, the building lost power. The final ECW show at the venue was Holiday Hell in December 2000, headlined by Steve Corino retaining his ECW World Heavyweight Championship against Justin Credible and

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

. In June 2005, an unofficial ECW reunion show called Hardcore Homecoming: An Extreme Reunion drew a sell-out crowd and set a record

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

for the venue with $135,000 in ticket sales. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission lifted their January 2003 ban on

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

for the main event between Sabu, Shane Douglas and Terry Funk.

(ROH) debuted at the venue in March 2006 with Arena Warfare, a show featuring inter-promotional matches between the stars of ROH and Combat Zone Wrestling. The event was headlined by Samoa Joe defeating

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same d ...

and

Christopher Daniels Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best kno ...

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

debuted at the venue in June 2006 with Hardcore War, a joint show with United Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event was headlined by

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

, the

NWA World Tag Team Champions The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

, facing Team 3D and The James Gang in a non-title match. The ECW brand of WWE ran a

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

at the venue in June 2006, with tickets for the event selling out in under four minutes. Rob Van Dam successfully defended his WWE Championship in the main event against Kurt Angle. Scenes from '' The Wrestler'' were shot at the venue during the Combat Zone Wrestling show 9 F'N Years in February 2008, with professional wrestler Necro Butcher having a prominent on-screen role in the film. In February 2009, the venue began hosting regular television tapings for the

series '' Ring of Honor Wrestling''. The first taping drew a sell-out crowd and was headlined by Bryan Danielson defeating Austin Aries. Dragon Gate USA filmed their first

event, '' Enter The Dragon'' at the venue in July 2009. The card was headlined by Open the Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi defeating Shingo Takagi in a non-title match. Eddie Kingston

In September 2009, independent wrestler Matt Riot died following a Combat Zone Wrestling training session at the venue where he collapsed from a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) concluded Invasion Tour 2011, their first ever tour of the United States, with an event at the venue in May 2011. The card was headlined by Togi Makabe defeating Rhino, and the undercard featured MVP defeating Toru Yano to become the inaugural IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Chikara broadcast ''

High Noon ''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of ...

'', their first live internet pay-per-view event from the venue in November 2011. Eddie Kingston defeated Mike Quackenbush in the main event to become the inaugural

Chikara Grand Champion The Chikara Grand Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Chikara promotion. The first champion was crowned on November 13, 2011, at the High Noon pay-per-view, when Eddie Kingston defeated Mike Quackenbush at the conc ...

. Prior to the renovations beginning, Evolve presented on live internet pay-per-view what was billed as the venue's final professional wrestling event, ''A Tribute to the Arena'', on January 14, 2012. New Jack appeared at this event, ending his September 2006 ban from the venue. The venue hosted the premiere screening of the unofficial ECW documentary ''Barbed Wire City'' in April 2013. Jay Lethal Feb 27, 2016

Extreme Rising promoted the first professional wrestling card at the newly renamed 2300 Arena in December 2013.

and New Japan Pro Wrestling jointly presented War of the Worlds '15 at the venue over two consecutive nights in May 2015.

broadcast Final Battle 2015 on live pay-per-view from the venue in December 2015, headlined by Jay Lethal retaining his

ROH World Championship The ROH World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by Ring of Honor (ROH). It is considered the most prestigious title in the promotion. The current champion is Claudio Castagnoli, who is in his second ...

against AJ Styles.

Evolve 131 Evolve 131, also known as Evolve's 10th Anniversary Celebration, was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by the American promotion Evolve in partnership with WWE. The event aired on the WWE Network, making it the first Evolve sh ...

aired live on WWE Network from the venue in July 2019. Adam Cole successfully retained his NXT Championship in the main event against Akira Tozawa. The VICE series '' Dark Side of the Ring: Confidential'' was filmed at the venue in December 2020.

broadcast

Death Before Dishonor XVIII Death Before Dishonor XVIII was a professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by Ring of Honor (ROH). It was the eighteenth event in the Death Before Dishonor chronology. It took place on September 12, 2021. The show was originally supposed to ...

on live pay-per-view from the venue in September 2021, headlined by Bandido retaining his

against Brody King, Demonic Flamita and EC3 in a Four-Way Elimination match.

Professional boxing

The final event prior to the venue closing was a Peltz Boxing Promotions card on January 21, 2012 that aired live on NBC Sports Network as the debut episode of '' Fight Night''.

Mixed martial arts

Matrix Fights drew a sell-out crowd at the venue for their first mixed martial arts event in February 2010, featuring Cole Konrad on the undercard.

Concerts

The band

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...

headlined a concert at the venue on Valentine's Day in February 2008.

Other

Super Bowl LII Ring - NFL Draft Experience 2021

Elvis Depressedly released an album named after the venue called ''New Alhambra'' in May 2015. The Republican National Committee used the venue for its ''RNC at the DNC'' event in July 2016 to counter the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

at Wells Fargo Center. Philly Fashion Week began hosting the runway portion of its biannual event at the venue in September 2016. The Philadelphia Eagles received their

Super Bowl rings The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itse ...

following their victory at Super Bowl LII during a private ceremony at the venue in June 2018.

Promotional history

Concerts

These musicians have held headlining concerts at 2300 Arena.

Mixed martial arts

These mixed martial arts promotions have held events at 2300 Arena.

Professional boxing

These professional boxing promotions have held events at 2300 Arena.

Professional wrestling

These

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

s have held events at 2300 Arena.

Training

These

and professional wrestling schools have held training sessions at 2300 Arena.

Tournament history

Amateur boxing

These

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

tournaments have been held at 2300 Arena.

Professional wrestling

These professional wrestling tournaments have been held at 2300 Arena.

Records

This is a list of records set by both individuals and groups in various categories at 2300 Arena.

Amateur boxing

*Most tournament wins: 4, Jesse Hart

Concerts

*Most events: 3, Sapremia *First event:

Peelander-Z Peelander-Z is a Japanese-American punk rock band formed in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas. They bill themselves as a "Japanese Action Comic Punk band hailing from the Z area of Planet Peelander". While the founding members of Peelander-Z were ...

, August 26, 2006 *Longest event: 2 days, Hostile City Death Fest, July 4, 2009 and July 5, 2009

Mixed martial arts

*Most matches: 3, Nah-Shon Burrell *Most events: 21, Cage Fury Fighting Championships *Highest attendance: 1,300, Matt Makowski vs. LeVon Maynard, February 27, 2010 *First match: Daniel Matalla defeated Michael Colisto, October 17, 2009 *Longest match: 5 rounds, Jason Norwood vs. Jeremiah Wells, August 17, 2018 *Shortest match: 0:15, Brylan Van Artsdalen vs. Shane Hutchinson, June 11, 2010

Professional boxing

*Most matches: 12, Mike Jones *Most events: 32, Peltz Boxing Promotions *Highest attendance: 1,433, Christian Carto vs. Victor Ruiz, February 8, 2019 *First match: Earl Clark defeated Kevin Swain, September 24, 1993 *Longest match: 12 rounds, Derek Ennis vs. Gabriel Rosado, July 30, 2010; Enrique Ornelas vs. Bronco McKart, August 10, 2007;

Rogers Mtagwa Rogers Mtagwa (born March 22, 1979) is a Tanzanian former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2014. He challenged three times for a world title; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2009, the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in 2010, ...

vs. Aldo Valtierra, July 20, 2007;

Demetrius Hopkins Demetrius Hopkins (born October 10, 1980 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an American boxer who fought in the light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat s ...

vs. Mario Ramos, March 3, 2006; Larry Mosley vs. Miguel Figueroa, March 3, 2006 *Shortest match: 0:22, Derrick Webster vs. Obodai Sai, November 25, 2014

Professional wrestling

*Most matches: 149, Ruckus *Most events: 136, Combat Zone Wrestling *Highest attendance: 1,850, Mike Awesome vs. Spike Dudley, January 15, 2000 *First match: Road Warrior Hawk defeated Don E. Allen and

The Samoan Warrior Lloyd Anoa'i (born May 7, 1971) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names Tahitian Savage, Fred Williams, and Lloyd ...

, May 14, 1993 *Longest match: 1:04:00, Claudio Castagnoli, Eddie Kingston, Gran Akuma, Mike Quackenbush and The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Worker Ant) vs. Atsushi Ohashi, Daisuke Sekimoto, Jaki Numazawa, Katsumasa Inoue, Ryuji Ito, Shinya Ishikawa and Yuji Okabayashi, October 19, 2008 *Shortest match: 0:09,

vs. Chad Austin, March 4, 1994; Tommy Dreamer and Johnny Gunn vs. Johnny Hotbody and Tony Stetson, November 13, 1993 *Most tournament wins: 4, Claudio Castagnoli

Awards

*1994 - Best Weekly Television Show by '' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' - '' ECW Hardcore TV'' *1995 - Best Weekly Television Show by '' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' - '' ECW Hardcore TV'' *1996 - Best Weekly Television Show by '' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' - '' ECW Hardcore TV'' *2006 - Venue of the Year by ESPN2 boxing program '' Wednesday Night Fights'' *2007 - Best of Philly: Sports Venue by the magazine '' Philadelphia'' *2008 - Best of Philly: Guys' Night Out by the magazine '' Philadelphia'' *2009 - Best Major Show by '' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' - DGUSA Enter the Dragon, July 25, 2009 *2010 - Best Weekly Television Show by '' Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' - '' Ring of Honor Wrestling'' *2010 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Derek Ennis vs. Gabriel Rosado, July 30, 2010 *2011 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Juan Rodriguez, Jr. vs. Greg Hackett, July 29, 2011 *2012 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Bryant Jennings vs. Maurice Byarm, January 21, 2012 *2015 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Amir Mansour vs. Joey Dawejko, May 8, 2015 *2016 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Dashon Johnson vs. Jesse Hart, March 18, 2016 *2017 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Kermit Cintrón vs. Tyrone Brunson, June 24, 2017 *2018 - Briscoe Award - Philly Fight of the Year - Brandon Robinson vs. Kalvin Henderson, December 7, 2018

Hardcore Hall of Fame

Banners commemorating the careers of professional wrestlers and wrestling personalities who contributed to the history of 2300 Arena are permanently on display at the venue.

Inductees

Ceremony dates

References

External links

Official website

2300 Arena
on

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

2300 Arena
on Internet Wrestling Database
2300 Arena
on WrestlingData.com {{Portal bar, Philadelphia 1993 establishments in Pennsylvania Boxing venues in Philadelphia Extreme Championship Wrestling Indoor arenas in Pennsylvania Mixed martial arts venues in the United States Music venues completed in 1993 Music venues in Philadelphia Professional wrestling in Philadelphia South Philadelphia Sports venues completed in 1993 Sports venues in Philadelphia Wrestling venues in Pennsylvania