Over the course of its 25+ year history, WWE SmackDown has been broadcast from over 100 unique arenas spanning over 100 cities and eleven countries: the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and France. It’s no wonder why each week then, that people ask the simple question: where is WWE SmackDown tonight? The answer this week is Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, which according to wrestlingdata.com has hosted 54 wrestling/UFC events including four episodes of SmackDown. This Friday’s edition, which is set to feature special guest Jelly Roll, will be WWE’s 43rd event from the venue.
Where is WWE SmackDown Tonight?: Get to Know the Bridgestone Arena
Read More: What Time is WWE SmackDown on Tonight? (7/11/25)
Bridgestone Arena Fast Facts:
- formerly known as the Nashville Arena, Gaylord Entertainment Center, and Sommet Center
- home to the Nashville Predators of the NHL and Nashville Stampede of the PBR Team Series
- built in 1996, the Bridgestone Arena hosted its first WWE event in 2000
- home of the CMAs (Country Music Association Awards) since 2006 and regular home of the CMT (Country Music Television) Awards
- hosted the inaugural Music City Rodeo in 2025 which included performances by Reba McEntire, Jelly Roll, and Tim McGraw
- in its near 30-year existence, the Bridgestone Arena has hosted a variety of sports events and tournaments including:
- 2003 and 2023 NHL Entry Draft
- 2016 NH:L All-Star Game
- 1997 US Figure Skating Championships and 2004 US Gymnastics National Championships
- 2014 NCAA Women’s Final Four
- six UFC events
WWE Wrestling at the Bridgestone Arena
Credit: WWE
On February 22, 2000, WWE made its debut at the Bridgestone Arena for a SmackDown taping, continuing a rich history of staging shows in Nashville, Tennessee. The first card featured some of WWE’s top wrestlers of the 2000s era including D-Generation X, the Godfather, Edge, Christian, the Hardy Boys, Bubba Ray Dudley, and a main event of the Big Show and Kurt Angle vs The Rock and Chris Jericho.
WWE would return to Bridgestone Arena 14 more times before the end of the 2000s, including in 2002 for Judgment Day, a show that saw William Regal defend his European Championship against D’Lo Brown and Trish Stratus defend her Women’s Championship against Stacy Keibler. Rikishi and Rico defeated Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo to claim the World Tag Team Championship and the Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWE Undisputed Championship. Also on the card were bouts of Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam, Brock Lesnar vs the Hardys, Steve Austin vs Big Show and Ric Flair, Triple H vs Chris Jericho in Hell in a Cell, and Edge vs Kurt Angle in a hair vs hair match that Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave a card high of 4.5 stars.
Between 2002’s Judgment Day and 2014’s Night of Champions, which was the next PPV held at Bridgestone Arena, WWE held 18 Raw/SmackDown/Main Event, or live events, including 2013’s Raw Country. This special episode of Raw included a live performance from Florida Georgia Line and the Intercontinental Championship changing hands in a match where a pre-New Day Big E defeated Curtis Axel. Also in action were Randy Orton, Big Show, the Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Cesaro), 3MB’s Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, AJ Lee, Xavier Woods, R-Truth, and a main event showdown of Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, the Usos, Goldust and Cody Rhodes vs The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns) and the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan). John Cena defended his world title against Alberto del Rio in a dark match.
One year later, WWE was back at Bridgestone Arena for November’s Night of Champions in a card that saw three title changes (Goldust and Stardust defeated the Usos to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the Intercontinental Championship, and AJ Lee defeated Nikki Bella and Paige to win the Divas Championship. Also on the card was a United States title match between Sheamus (C) and Cesaro, and a World Heavyweight Championship match between Brock Lesnar (C) and John Cena. Non-title matches pitted Rusev against Mark Henry and Randy Orton against Chris Jericho. 2014’s NOC was the first event of its name to be broadcast live on WWE Network. It also marked the last PPV that saw Justin Roberts as ring announcer as he was released later that year, eventually heading to AEW.
AEW and ROH Enter the Arena
Photo Credit: AEW
In 2023, the Bridgestone Arena hosted its first non-WWE event as it welcomed in Tony Khan’s AEW and Ring of Honor for a TV taping.
The ROH card, which taped matches for Honor Club, featured Claudio Castagnoli, Ryan Nemeth, Dark Order, Emi Sakura, Dalton Castle, Matt Sydal, Blake Christian, and Marina Shafir among others. The main event was a NJPW World Television Championship match contested between Zack Sabre Jr. (C) and Christopher Daniels.
Dynamite aired live from the arena while additional matches were taped for Rampage. The card included Orange Cassidy retaining his International Championship against Wheeler YUTA, Jeff Jarrett defeating Jeff Hardy in a Texas Chainsaw Death Match, Aussie Open defeating Brother Zay and Ethan Page for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, and a #1 contender’s match for the AEW Women’s Championship that was won by Britt Baker over The Bunny. Also on the card were Darby Allin, Nick Wayne, Gates of Agony, The Elite, Rey Fenix, Hikaru Shida, Sammy Guevara, Ruby Soho, and Toni Storm among others.
AEW returned to the venue one year later for Blood and Guts and a card that saw Chris Jericho retain the FTW World Heavyweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki, Britt Baker vs Hikaru Shida, PAC vs Boulder, and Mariah May vs Kaitland Alexis. The main event was the titular Blood and Cuts match which saw Swerve Strickland, Max Caster, Mark Briscoe, Anthony Bowens, and Darby Allin defeated Adam Page, Jack Perry, Kazuchika Okada, and the Young Bucks in a near 50-minute spectacular. Royal Rampage was taped immediately after the live special and featured Darby Allin winning the titular 20-man battle royal match to earn a #1 contendership for the world title, along with Kris Statlander, Leila Gray, Lance Archer, Kyle Fletcher, Private Party, and others in action.
It would come as no surprise that after AEW ran Bridgestone Arena twice in under 12 months that WWE would return to re-establish its historical hold over the Nashville locale. WWE ran the arena in October 2024 for SmackDown and with its upcoming return on Friday, July 11, will have held three events at Bridgestone Arena in the span of nine months. WWE tends to spread its cities out a little more than that so it seems very unlikely this three-date span followed so closely by AEW running three shows/tapings, is a mere coincidence.
WWE SmackDown Card (7/11/25)
Photo Credit: WWE
As SmackDown heads back to the Bridgestone Arena, WWE is pulling out all the stops for tonight’s show. The tag team titles are on the line as the Wyatt Sicks battle the defending champion Street Profits and Ron Killings takes on Aleister Black. Perhaps the most exciting part of the show however will be Jelly Roll’s return to the arena following his rodeo performance a few months ago. Jelly Roll, who was last seen chokeslamming Austin Theory at last year’s SummerSlam is a noted WWE fan and it’s being speculated that his appearance as special guest could lead to something more. He’s reportedly been training to make his in ring debut at this year’s SummerSlam.
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