2300 Arena

Formerly:

Viking Hall (1986-1993)
ECW Arena (1993-2001)
XPW Arena (2002-2003)
New Alhambra Arena (2004-2009)
The Arena (2009-2010)
Asylum Arena (2010-2012)
2300 Arena (2013-present)

Location: 7 West Ritner Street / Corner of South Swanson St. & West Ritner St.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19148

Opened: May 14th, 1993 (for wrestling events)

Owner: Stein & Silverman (1986-present)

Seating Capacity: 1,400 (1993-2012), 2,300 (2013-present)

2300 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, used as a professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts and concert venue. Originally Viking Hall, the venue has since been named New Alhambra Arena, Asylum Arena and now the 2300 Arena. It was previously home of the renegade wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling, which hosted many of the promotion's events from 1993-2000.

Recognized as the birthplace of American hardcore wrestling, the venue has been home to the Hardcore Hall of Fame since 2002.

History:

CLICK HERE for a listing of events that have taken place at this arena.

Freight Warehouse (1970s-1980s):

The facility was originally a freight warehouse 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.

Photo of Viking Hall in 2001, shortly after ECW's closure.

Viking Hall (1980s-1993):

Elias Stein and Leon Silverman of the law firm Stein & Silverman Family Partnership, Inc. purchased the warehouse in 1986. The warehouse was given the name Viking Hall in the 1980s after it was bought by the South Philadelphia Viking Club, a local chapter of mummers. They used the building for storage and to rehearse for the annual Mummers Parade. Through the mid 1990s, the Viking Club would also stage midnight bingo games at the venue to raise funds for their organization, thus where the building got it's "bingo hall" name. The northern part of the building was occupied by retail space, notably a Forman Mills clothing store.

Original sign from the venue during it's days as the ECW Arena

ECW Arena (1993-2001):

The building gained worldwide recognition when it served as ECW Arena, home of wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1993 until the promotion's demise in 2001.

South Philadelphia fans were prominent in the rise of ECW from a local promotion to a national promotion. A dollar store was located next to the venue on South Swanson Street, allowing ECW fans to buy cookware and bakeware that they would hand to wrestlers during shows to be used as weapons.

ECW broadcast Barely Legal, their first live pay-per-view event from the venue in 1997. Immediately following this broadcast, a blown transistor caused the building to lose power. To this day, Barely Legal remains the only wrestling event to be broadcast live on television from the venue.

XPW Arena (2002-2003):

Following the demise of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001, many wrestling promotions ran shows at the venue - Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) ran shows in the building, Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW) ran shows there as well as Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW). Controversy arose when Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) signed an exclusive lease with the venue in late 2002, renaming the building XPW Arena and preventing other promotions from utilizing the venue. XPW would go out of business in 2003 and the lease was voided. CZW would resume hosting events at the venue beginning in March 2003 and 3PW made it's return to the venue in November 2003.

In January 2003, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission banned the use of barbed wire and fluorescent light tubes from professional wrestling matches in response to violent XPW and CZW matches that took place at the venue.

New Alhambra Arena (2004-2009):

The building's name was officially changed to New Alhambra Sports and 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, who began co-promoting professional boxing cards at the venue with Joe Hand Promotions in 2004. It paid homage to the original Alhambra Movie Theater in South Philadelphia that hosted boxing in the 1950s and 1960s. In March 2005 the venue would become home to Wrestle Factory, the wrestling school for Chikara.

In June 2005, an unofficial ECW reunion show called Hardcore Homecoming drew a sell-out crowd and set a record gate for the venue with $135,000 in ticket sales.

Footage shot at the venue in February 2006 was used in the film Rocky Balboa.

The ECW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment ran a house show at the venue in June 2006, with tickets for the event selling out in under four minutes.

New Jack was banned from the venue following an incident during a Pro Wrestling Xplosion event 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.

Footage shot at the venue in February 2008 during a Combat Zone Wrestling event was used in the film The Wrestler.

The band New York Dolls played a concert at the venue on Valentine's Day in February 2008.

The Arena as it looked in 2009-2010

The Arena (2009-2010):

Joe Hand Promotions announced in January 2009 that after a five-year partnership, it would stop promoting boxing cards at the venue. The venue was then renamed to The Arena by general manager Roger Artigiani.

In February 2009, the venue began hosting regular television tapings for the Ring of Honor series Ring of Honor Wrestling.

Dragon Gate USA filmed their first pay-per-view event, Enter The Dragon, at the venue in July 2009. Enter The Dragon was later voted Best Major Show of 2009 by the readers of Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

In September 2009, independent wrestler Matthew Lowry died following a Combat Zone Wrestling training session at the venue where he collapsed from a brain hemorrhage.

Matrix Fights drew a sell-out crowd with the venue's first major mixed martial arts card in February 2010, featuring Cole Konrad in the main event.

Outside of the arena when it was known as Asylum Arena, circa 2010.

Asylum Arena (2010-2012):

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.

Musician Stan Bush played a concert at the venue in April 2011 as part of Chikara's annual King of Trios weekend.

In May 2011, New Japan Pro Wrestling concluded the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011, their first ever tour of the United States, with an event at the venue.

Chikara broadcast High Noon, their first live internet pay-per-view event from the venue in November 2011.

The photo of the arena after the EVOLVE event on January 14th, 2012. This was the last wrestling event to take place at the venue before major renovations took place.

Arena Operating, LLC (2012-2013):

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.

Prior to the renovations beginning EVOLVE presented what was billed as the venue's final professional wrestling event, A Tribute to the Arena, on January 14th, 2012. The final event prior to the venue closing was a Peltz Boxing Promotions card on January 21st, 2012.

The building's ownership evicted Arena Operating, LLC in April 2013 after Joanna Pang failed to complete her proposed renovations.

2300 Arena hosting a boxing event shortly after the renovations in 2012. The venue almost looks like a totally different place now.

2300 Arena (2013-present):

The venue hosted the premiere screening of the unofficial ECW documentary Barbed Wire City in April 2013.

Extreme Rising promoted the first wrestling card at the newly renamed 2300 Arena in December 2013. The venue's named derives from it's newly constructed entranceway at 2300 South Swanson Street, replacing the old entrance at 7 West Ritner Street.

Notable Events Ran At The Venue:

In August 1994, Eastern Championship Wrestling held a tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The tournament was won by Shane Douglas, who would throw down the belt and proclaim himself the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. This ushered in the era of Extreme as the company was renamed to Extreme Championship Wrestling and they officially cut all ties with the National Wrestling Alliance.
ECW held it's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, on April 13th, 1997, from the venue. The main event saw Terry Funk win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Raven.
ECW held it's final ECW Arena event in December 2000 for Holiday Hell. In the main event, Steve Corino successfully defended his ECW World Heavyweight Championship against The Sandman and Justin Credible.
In June 2005, the unofficial ECW reunion show, Hardcore Homecoming, was held at the arena to a sold out crowd and a record gate of $135,000 in ticket sales. The main event saw Terry Funk, Sabu and Shane Douglas face off in a three way dance. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission lifted it's January 2003 ban on barbed wire to allow the three men to use it in their main event match.
Ring of Honor debuted at the arena with a show called Arena Warfare in March 2006. The show featured inter-promotional matches with Combat Zone Wrestling. The main event saw Samoa Joe defeat Colt Cabana and Christopher Daniels.
TNA Wrestling debuted in the arena in June 2006 with Hardcore War, a joint show with United Wrestling Federation. The event was headlined by America's Most Wanted (NWA World Tag Team Champions) facing Team 3D (formerly The Dudley Boys) and The James Gang in a non-title match.
WWE's ECW brand held a house show in June 2006. Tickets sold out in under four minutes for the event, which was headlined with Rob Van Dam successfully defending the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle.
Scenes from The Wrestler were filmed at the venue during CZW's 9 F'N Years event in February 2008. Necro Butcher had a prominent role in the film.
In February 2009 the venue began hosting regular television tapings for ROH's television show, 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 first pay-per-view, Enter The Dragon, at the venue in July 2009. The event was headlined by Open the Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi defeating Shingo Takagi in a non-title match.
In September 2009, independent wrestler Matt Riot died following a Combat Zone Wrestling training session at the venue.
New Japan Pro Wrestling's Invasion Tour 2011 ended in the venue in May 2011. Headlined by Togi Makabe defeating Rhino, undercard featured MVP defeating Toru Yaro to become the inaugural IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
CHIKARA broadcast High Noon, their first live internet pay-per-view from the venue in November 2011. Eddie Kingston defeated Mike Quackenbush in the main event to become the inaugural CHIKARA Grand Champion.
Prior to renovations, EVOLVE held what was billed as the final professional wrestling event to take place at the venue, A Tribute to the Arena, on January 14th, 2012. New Jack appeared at the 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.
Extreme Rising promoted the first professional wrestling event in the newly renovated 2300 Arena in December 2013.
Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling jointly presented War of the Worlds '15 at the venue over the course of two consecutive days in May 2015.
ROH broadcast Final Battle 2015 on live internet pay-per-view in December 2015. The main event saw Jay Lethal successfully defend the ROH World Championship against AJ Styles.
EVOLVE 131 aired live on the WWE Network from the venue in July 2019. The show was headlined by Adam Cole defending the WWE NXT Championship against Akira Tozawa.
VICE TV series Dark Side of the Ring: Confidential was filmed at the venue in December 2020.
ROH broadcast Death Before Dishonor XVIII live on pay-per-view in September 2021. The event was headlined by Bandido defending the ROH World Championship against Brody King, Demonic Flamita and EC3 in a four-way elimination match.