The Impact Zone is the nickname for any one of three

sound stage A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...

s at

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

derived from '' Impact!'', a weekly television series produced by the

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

promotion Impact Wrestling (formerly Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling). Between 2004 and March 2013, Impact Wrestling produced and broadcast programming from Soundstage 21. As part of the agreement with Universal, the promotion was not allowed to charge general admission to events held at the Impact Zone, with the exception of VIP packages. From March 2013, until November 21, the promotion left Universal Studios and began to tour nationally. Upon their return to Universal Studios, Impact began using Soundstage 19, which is smaller and holds fewer people than Soundstage 21. Impact would continue to produce programming from Universal Studios until April 2018, when they began touring once again. Since 2021, the site has served as the main studio for tapings of ''

AEW Dark AEW or aew may refer to: * Airborne early warning, airborne radar system for detecting aircraft * Aerosvit Airlines, an airline based in Kyiv, Ukraine (ICAO airline designator: AEW) * AEW Capital Management, a property investment management company ...

'', one of the weekly online streaming programs for

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

(AEW).

History

Initial usage

In 1996,

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW) began taping their syndicated wrestling shows, ''

WCW Pro ''WCW Pro'' is an American televised wrestling show that was presented by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Along with ''WCW WorldWide'', it was part of the WCW Disney tapings. The rights to ''WCW Pro'' now belong to WWE and 161 episodes of M ...

'' and ''

WCW Worldwide ''WCW WorldWide'' was an American syndicated television show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from October 8, 1975, to March 31, 2001. At the time of its cancellation, ''WorldWide'' was the longest-running, uni ...

'', from Soundstage 21, which they called the "WCW Arena". WCW continued to tape the shows and occasional episodes of ''

WCW Saturday Night ''WCW Saturday Night'' is an American weekly Saturday night television show on TBS that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Launched in 1971 initially by Georgia Championship Wrestling, the program existed through various incarn ...

'' until 1998, when ''Pro'' was canceled and matches for ''Worldwide'' were taped before ''

WCW Thunder ''WCW Thunder'', or simply ''Thunder'', is an American professional wrestling show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001. The popularity of WCW in 1996 and 1997 allo ...

''. On November 12 and 13, 2001, the

Xcitement Wrestling Federation The X Wrestling Federation (XWF) (later referred to as the Xcitement Wrestling Federation) was an American professional wrestling promotion that operated from 2001 to 2002. The previous number two and three American promotions, World Champio ...

(XWF) would tape several matches from Soundstage 21.

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) / Impact Wrestling

In May 2004, TNA announced that they would be starting their first nationally broadcast television show, ''

TNA Impact ''Impact!'' (stylized as ''IMPACT!''), also known as ''IMPACT! on AXS TV'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)) th ...

'' on Fox SportsNet which would be taped at

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

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. In August 2006 at

Hard Justice Hardcore Justice, originally known as Hard Justice, is an annual professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind use ...

, 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, TNA announced that they would be taping ''Impact Wrestling'' from different venues around the United States, with the first live show on March 14, 2013, from the

Sears Centre Arena The Now Arena (originally known as the Sears Centre, Sears Centre Arena and stylized as NOW Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a northwest suburb from Chicago, near land which formerly contained the Poplar Creek Musi ...

near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The final episodes from the Impact Zone were filmed on February 28, 2013, and March 7, 2013. TNA returned to Universal Studios on November 21, 2013. After the April 2018 tapings, Impact would resume touring other venues and countries. Bleachers used in the Impact Zone went onto sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

in August.

All Elite Wrestling (AEW)

On August 27, 2021,

(AEW) announced that one of their weekly web series, ''

'', would be taped at its own set within

at Soundstage 21. The first set of tapings for ''Dark'' began on September 11, 2021.

Statistics

List of stages

List of live pay-per-view events held in the Impact Zone

Notes

:1.The numbers represent the approximate maximum capacities and do not reflect the actual attendance at the events.

References

External links

Impactwrestling.com - the official website of Impact Wrestling
- Results from professional wrestling cards promoted at the Impact Zone from 2004–present {{Impact Wrestling Indoor arenas in Florida Entertainment venues in Florida Impact Wrestling Universal Parks & Resorts attractions Universal Studios Florida 1990 establishments in Florida