WWE ThunderDome Leaving Tropicana Field on 4/2, WWE to Tape Go-Home Raw and SmackDown

WWE’s last date at the Tropicana Field in Orlando will be on Friday, April 2 because of the start of the MLB season.

Spectrum Sports’ Jon Alba first reported that April 2 is the final date for WWE’s ThunderDome residency in the stadium, and the date has also been confirmed by Dave Meltzer.

The Major League Baseball season is set to begin on April 1 and the Tampa Bay Rays, who play their home games in Tropicana Field, will play their first game in the stadium on Friday, April 9.

As a result, WWE will be pre-taping the April 5 Raw and April 9 SmackDown, which are the go-home episodes before WrestleMania, according to Post Wrestling. Jon Alba says that April 2 is a “hard out” date. It’s not clear when WWE will tape the shows, but they would have to be by April 2 at the latest.

WWE has previously said that they don’t expect to go back to touring different arenas weekly with fans until at least the second half of the year, so they’re expected to move the ThunderDome to another arena for a few months. According to Dave Meltzer, WWE has had talks with the Yuengling Center in Tampa, FL about a residency. The arena is used for the South Florida Bulls college basketball teams and seats over 10,000, so would be large enough for the ThunderDome.

WWE moved the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field on December 11. Before that, they were in the Amway Center in Orlando from August 21.