Some sporting venues have etched themselves into the minds of fans who made memories there.
For Brits there’s arguably no greater sporting venue than Wembley Stadium, the iconic London landmark whose Twin Towers hosted the 1966 World Cup Final among countless landmark events.
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In the 1980s, Live Aid from a jammed Wembley was beamed around the world and Queen tore the house down with one of the finest live concerts in music history.
FA Cup Finals saw footballing giants enter immortality year after year, while WWE’s SummerSlam in 1992 hosted a boom in wrestling’s UK popularity.
Wembley’s iconic towers made way to something more modern, of course – the Wembley arch now dominates the London skyline, Stevenage Borough tasting the first competitive sporting glory there thanks to their last-gasp FA Trophy win over Kidderminster Harriers in 2007.
Since, England Internationals, Cup finals, wrestling megashows and NFL classics have all played out at the ‘new’ Wembley as the venue’s future as a sporting icon remains firmly established.
Sadly, not all venues revered by sports fans can enjoy such a long-lasting future – a prime example being one iconic venue from US sporting history, the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
The Detroit venue, named after the heavyweight boxing legend, was home to NHL outfit Detroit Red Wings and, completed in 1979 at a cost of $57 million, it was the second oldest venue used by the league behind New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Nicknamed ‘The Joe’, the arena became something of an NHL icon and a fortress for the Red Wings. It hosted six Stanley Cup playoff games and four Red Wings Stanley Cup victories between 1997 and 2008.
From figure-skating to basketball and live music, The Joe was a hot-bed of entertaining, welcoming major acts including Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC and The Foo Fighters over the years, not to mention multiple high-profile wrestling events.
In 1991, Hulk Hogan lost the WWE Championship to The Undertaker at Joe Louis Arena, an event now marred in controversy given a claim by Taker that Hogan manipulated backstage politics by feigning injury at the show.
Stone Cold Steve Austin’s iconic Zamboni stunt ranks high in wrestling folklore at the site, while another Survivor Series held there saw The Big Show win the WWE Championship in 1999.
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Also under the same roof was John Cena’s 2002 pay-per-view debut, The Rock meeting Undertaker and Kurt Angle in the main event of the same show.
Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble at The Joe in 2009 in the event’s first and only showing there, its final wresting event providing a piece of history eight years later in the form of the venue’s last ticketed event.
While no television or pay-per-view cameras were in place, a WWE live event featuring Cena, Brock Lesnar, Orton and Charlotte Flair wowed wrestling fans for the final time.
The venue stood dormant for almost two years, its interior falling into disrepair before demolition finally began in 2019.
In the interim, chilling YouTube footage showed the sorry state of the once iconic palace of sporting memories, the inside gutted of furniture and its walls stripped.
Perhaps the saddest sight of all was that of thousands of seats from the arena’s interior lay broken and strewn across the inside bowl where 20,000 had once cheered their favourites on to victory.
One last WWE show at The Joe
WWE Live: 29 July 2017 – The final ever ticketed event at Joe Louis Arena
- WWE United States title match: AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens
- Sin Cara and Tye Dillinger def. Aiden English and Erick Rowan
- Luke Harper def. Erick Rowan
- Baron Corbin def. Sami Zayn
- Triple threat tag-team match: The New Day def. Breezango and The Usos
- Universal title match: Brock Lesnar def. Samoa Joe
- Six-person tag match: Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Naomi def. Carmella, Natalya and Tamina
- Tag team match: Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura def. Dolph Ziggler and Zinder Mahal
- Street fight: John Cena def. Rusev
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While fans can still pack into Wembley, surrounded by the echoes of sporting triumphs of years gone by on the same site, the same joy at what was The Joe is reserved for those spending a pretty penny to rent apartments there.
Seven years after Cena and co bid farewell and The Joe Louis Arena shut its doors forever, a 25-story residential tower opened in its place.
Boasting valet parking, an indoor swimming pool, full fitness centre, and a rooftop lounge for residents, the 496-apartment Residences at Water Square welcomed residents, monthly rent for one of its one-bed units setting them back an eye-watering $4,000 per month at least.
The Red Wings went on to take up occupancy at Little Caesars Arena in 2017, the $862.9 million venue also hosting the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
Memories of its predecessor will live long, though, with WWE icon Chris Jericho – who wrestled Cena there in 2002 — detailing: “It was always a great crowd, great fan base, great arena.
“Any time one of the old, classic places gets torn down it’s a little bit sad…[but] [I] have lots of memories here… Goodbye, Joe Louis, thanks for all you did.