A HUGE APARTMENT complex now stands on the very site that Randy Orton enjoyed his first Royal Rumble success on.
Fans of WWE are counting the minutes for the road to Wrestlemania to officially get underway this weekend.
That landmark moment will occur when the 37th annual Royal Rumble takes place on Saturday at Florida’s Tropicana Field.
The event has all the ingredients to be an absolute thriller with some of sport entertainment’s biggest names preparing to take part.
It was ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan who won the first-ever over-the-rope Rumble match in 1988.
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The second edition took place twelve months later at Houston Texas’s The Summit - a venue that has now been transformed into a superchurch - where powerhouse Big John Studd emerged triumphant.
A host of legends such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, who has a record three wins, have all enjoyed Rumble glory since then over the years.
And future Hall of Famer Orton is one of the eight people tied with two victories in the showpiece.
His first one came in 2009 as he booked his spot in the main event of WrestleMania.
The Viper is still going strong in the ring now at the age of 43 and will be part of a Fatal four-way match for Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Saturday.
However, as he aims for more Rumble glory, the arena that his first memorable moment took place in 15 years ago is no more.
The 2009 spectacle was held in the famous Joe Louis Arena in Downtown Detroit.
It was named after legendary heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, who grew up nearby, and had cost US$57 million to complete once it opened its doors in 1979.
As well as wrestling, it was also home to National Hockey League side Detroit Red Wings.
But the Red Wings played their final game there in April 2017, moving on to play at the Little Caesars Arena, before the arena closed for good in July that year.
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The Joe Louis Arena had once had the honour of being Michigan's largest indoor arena for concerts and hosted a list of iconic musicians and featured in the movie Straight Outta Compton.
But the last concert to take place there was Summer Jamz 20 just days before its closure.
The arena was owned by the council and it stood empty for almost two years before demolition began at the start of 2019.
That work was completed by mid-2020 and now a 25-story residential tower called ‘The Residences at Water Square’ has been constructed on the ground where Orton once stood tall as the Rumble winner.
