Top 5 PPVs Held At The Baltimore Arena.

 

The Civic Center, The Baltimore Arena, 1st Mariner Arena, Royal Farms Arena, and now The CFG Arena. The building located at 201 W. Baltimore Street in downtown Baltimore, has been an historic venue for the world of wrestling in it's 60 plus year history. It may get overlooked compared to other venues like MSG, The Omni, Sportatorium, ECW Arena, or the Greensboro Coliseum when discussing historic wrestling venues, but it is no slouch itself. 

Superstar Billy Graham defeated Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF championship at the arena. Bruno also tag teamed with Hulk Hogan, during the height of Hulkamania for what would be his last wrestling match ever in 1987. Ron Simmons won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the arena, becoming the first Black world champion in professional wrestling. Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon faced off against one another at No Mercy 2003 in the arena, 

These moments and more are highlighted in a  book based on the historic moments at the arena titled Battleground Baltimore: How One Arena Changed Wrestling History. Check it out if this is the first you've heard of the book.

When the calendar turned to June, I started thinking about WCW's Great American Bash, which give or take a few years was almost exclusively held at the arena. Great American Bash '98 was the first live wrestling event I attended by the way. That led me down a rabbit hole of event's and more specifically pay-per-view events held at the arena. With that here are the top 5 pay-per-view events held at my hometown of  Baltimore famed arena. Which for simplicity I will call the Baltimore Arena throughout the article.

5. No Way Out 2006

                                              

The final pay-per-view before Wrestlemania 22, this pay-per-view just may have been one of WWE's better produced events that year. Held on February 19th, 2006 the event raised the temperature on what was probably a very frigid winter night in Baltimore. The card only 7 televised matches, with a 8th dark match so the event runs at a pretty quick pace but never feels rushed.

It included exciting matches such as the opening cruiserweight match featuring cruiserweight champion Shane Helms attempting to fend off the likes of Psychosis, Kid Kash, Funaki, Brian Kendrick and Paul London, Super Crazy, Scotty 2 Hotty and Nunzio. Bobby Lashley and JBL had a hard hitting as expected match between the two. Batista made an unscheduled appearance while recovering from injury. MNM faced off against Matt Hardy and Tatanka, then came the stellar back to back matches.

Chris Benoit vs Booker T. for the WWE US Championship. Randy Orton vs Rey Mysterio to determine the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Both matches went well over 15 minutes, and then the main event Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship going damn near 30 minutes. That match truly is a wrestling clinic and one of Taker's better matches as Angle made everyone he wrestled better. 

4. Great American Bash '96

This pay-per-view occurred on June 16th, 1996 and  is known for two things, the wild falls count anywhere brawl between Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan that included the fight going into the men's bathroom. Which well security probably prepped the area, it's clearly several unsuspecting fans that were not aware the brawl was coming their way. That helped sell that realism and anything can happen mentality wrestling was trying to convey at the time.

The other was a major touchpoint in the developing takeover storyline that saw the outsiders Kevin Nash and Scott Hall attack Eric Bischoff and put him through a table. Outside of those two legendary moments, the overall event was pretty good. There was the show stealer of a match between Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio, The Steiners managed to get a very quality match out of Scott Norton and Ice Train that was a real hoss fight. Sting and Steven Regal put on a good match expected of two veterans. Kevin Greene put on a very impressive debut performance, which is why he is one of the best celebrity crossover wrestlers ever. 

This truly is an enjoyable event made even more memorable by the red hot takeover segment that culminate the following month at Bash At The Beach. As well as the falls count anywhere match. 

3. Full Gear 2019

This was AEW's 2nd pay-per-view and the inaugural Full Gear in it's debut year, November 9th, 2019. The event was preceded by a Starrcast event Friday and Saturday which bought several non-local fans to the area and helped the buzz of Full Gear. The atmosphere was off the charts for this event with a alternative product finally being presented that could truly compete with WWE. Since AEW was still getting their feet wet, the most memorable moments were MJF turning on Cody after throwing in the towel during Cody's match against Chris Jericho, costing him an opportunity at future world championship opportunities. And the lights out match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega which was so violent, AEW was actually fined 10k by the Maryland State Athletic Commission. 

Other highlights included The Proud and Powerful vs Young Bucks, Adam Page vs Pac, and SCU vs Private Party vs Lucha Brothers. The atmosphere made the event honestly, and before covid hit I really hoped AEW would make Full Gear in Baltimore an annual thing. Maybe they will change course and bring it back here soon? 

2. TLC 2011

Held December 18, 2011 TLC: Tables Ladders And Chairs was one of the better WWE pay-per-views that year. This is when CM Punk was red hot in the WWE following his pipe bomb promo and summer run and the wave was riding high heading into the last pay-per-view of the year. The show started off exciting when Zack Ryder another super popular wrestler at the time who got himself "over" defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the WWE United States Championship. Ryder's win set the tone for the show as the crowd erupted when he won the title and his post match celebration with his dad made it all the better. 

The other big moment of the night was after Big Show defeated Mark Henry for the WWE Worlds Heavyweight Championship, Daniel Bryan took advantage of a weakened Show and cashed in his money in the bank opportunity to defeat Big Show and win the championship for the first time. Which I feel like the place erupted even louder than when Zack Ryder won. Other good matches on the card were Cody Rhodes vs Booker T. for the Intercontinental championship. Randy Orton against Wade Barrett (shame he was never a world champion), and the main event of CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio and The Miz in a TLC match.

I was there live and man it was a electrifying night. If you watch the event now you can feel the energy through the TV, 

1.Great American Bash '90

Held on July 7th, 1990 at the Baltimore Arena, this is the WCW event that seemed like the changing of the guard ,when the franchise player Sting defeated Ric Flair to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

The rest of the 12 match card was serviceable featuring matches like The Steiner Brothers vs The Fabulous Freebirds. Lex Luger defeating Mean Mark Callous with Paul Heyman by his side, if Mark Callous rings a bell. He later became legendary The Undertaker in the WWF November of that year. Doom and The Rock n Roll Express put on a very good match. Pitting the power of Doom against the faster pace of The Rock n Roll Express 

The other big moment that occurred that night was the WCW debut of one Big Van Vader. Vader was intimidating and made quick work of his opponent Tom Zenk that night. Preparing the audience of what to expect from the Mastodon in WCW.

Then the main event, Sting defeating Ric Flair clocking in at just over 16 minutes was a whole experience. It capped off a rough night for the Horsemen as Sid Vicious, Barry Windham, and Arn Anderson lost earlier in the night to Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, and El Gigante (Giant Gonzalez). The faces of the organization celebrating with Sting, with the Steiner Brothers hoisting him on their shoulders. The pyro, the soaking in of the moment from Sting with the roar of the crowd. It was simply a magical moment.

Between Sting's historic win and Vader's debut knowing how much he would dominate WCW in the coming years. Make's this pay-per-view number 1 on the top 5 held at the Baltimore Arena.