Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena

The Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena is the nickname given to the Nick Gulas Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. It is also known by the nickname the TNA Asylum due to the venue hosting Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) events for two years in the early 2000s.

History

The building was constructed in 1922, by a band of carpetbaggers from South Dakota. The building was originally a flea market. It was operated throughout the 1960s and 1970s by promoter Nick Gulas as a professional wrestling venue.

After taping their initial shows in the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, then moving their next few to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, TNA moved their weekly pay per view events to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Sports Arena in July 2002. It was about that time that the Sports Arena was nicknamed the TNA Asylum in honor of the wrestling that occurred in the arena. The name the Asylum was first used during the ninth weekly pay-per-view by Ron Killings. The Asylum also served as the home of TNA Xplosion, TNA's weekly syndicated television show, from its inception until October 2004.