{"id":108381,"date":"2020-11-20T13:20:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T19:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=108381"},"modified":"2020-11-20T13:20:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T19:20:47","slug":"wwe-announces-thunderdome-is-on-the-move-leaving-amway-center-in-orlando-and-headed-to-st-petersburg-fla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/11\/20\/wwe-announces-thunderdome-is-on-the-move-leaving-amway-center-in-orlando-and-headed-to-st-petersburg-fla\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE announces ThunderDome is on the move, leaving Amway Center in Orlando and headed to St. Petersburg, Fla."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1171999518\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>WWE announced this week they will be moving WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE Friday Night Smackdown from Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. The ThunderDome set will move with it. Tropicana Field is actually indoors, despite being a baseball field in Florida (I know, it gets hot there, but still), so the look of the show might largely be unchanged other than the visual beyond the ThunderDome structure will be deeper and lit differently. Tropicana Field will be available until baseball season starts, to Raw and Smackdown can emanate from there for several months.<\/p>\n<p>WWE gushed about ThunderDome in their press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud to have reimagined the in-arena atmosphere and provide an interactive experience like nothing else in sports and entertainment with the launch of WWE ThunderDome,\u201d said Kevin Dunn, WWE Executive Producer &amp; Chief, Global Television Production. \u201cOur fans\u2019 response and industrywide recognition are both humbling and further validation of the innovative spirit and passion that exist across the entire WWE organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The full press release follows&#8230;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>WWE THUNDERDOME TAKES OVER TROPICANA FIELD<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">STAMFORD, Conn., \u2013 November 19, 2020 \u2013 WWE will bring its world-class viewing experience, WWE ThunderDome, to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay as it begins a new residency starting with Smackdown on Friday, December 11 at 8 PM ET on Fox.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The move to Tampa Bay marks the next iteration for WWE ThunderDome, which launched to critical acclaim in August as part of WWE\u2019s first-ever residency at Amway Center in Orlando. Featuring a state-of-the-art set, video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, cutting-edge graphics and drone cameras, WWE ThunderDome provides an immersive viewing atmosphere and virtually brings thousands of fans into the arena via live video, in conjunction with The Famous Group and its proprietary technology, for every Monday Night Raw, Friday Night Smackdown and WWE pay-per-view event. WWE ThunderDome recently received top honors at this year\u2019s Sportel Awards for Best Virtual Fan Experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cThe Tampa Bay Rays are excited to welcome WWE to Tropicana Field for this residency and shine a spotlight on the Tampa Bay area for WWE fans around the world,\u201d said Matt Silverman, Tampa Bay Rays President. \u201cThe ballpark will be transformed to host the spectacle of WWE ThunderDome, allowing fans to enjoy this wildly popular experience virtually.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1072845118\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cWe are proud to have reimagined the in-arena atmosphere and provide an interactive experience like nothing else in sports and entertainment with the launch of WWE ThunderDome,\u201d said Kevin Dunn, WWE Executive Producer &amp; Chief, Global Television Production. \u201cOur fans\u2019 response and industrywide recognition are both humbling and further validation of the innovative spirit and passion that exist across the entire WWE organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cHollywood celebrities, WWE Legends and millions of fans from around the world have all enjoyed what the world-class WWE ThunderDome has to offer,\u201d said Brian Flinn, WWE Chief Marketing &amp; Communications Officer. \u201cThis new residency will enable us to continue offering an unmatched live spectacle and would not have been possible without the strong support from the Tampa Bay Rays organization. We remain grateful for the hospitality provided by the Amway Center over the past four months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Fans can register for their virtual seat to be part of upcoming WWE shows via www.WWEThunderDome.com or at WWE\u2019s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Raw, Smackdown and pay-per-view programming will be produced at Tropicana Field on closed sets with only essential personnel in attendance. WWE will continue to administer its health and safety protocols for talent, crew and employees in conjunction with each production, including PCR testing for COVID-19, social distancing and wearing masks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3093888800\"><div id=\"pwtor-1549584632\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE announced this week they will be moving WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE Friday Night Smackdown from Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. The ThunderDome set will move <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/11\/20\/wwe-announces-thunderdome-is-on-the-move-leaving-amway-center-in-orlando-and-headed-to-st-petersburg-fla\/\" title=\"WWE announces ThunderDome is on the move, leaving Amway Center in Orlando and headed to St. Petersburg, Fla.\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-20-at-1.17.27-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108383,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108381\/revisions\/108383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}