Savvis Center - St. Louis, MO

St. Louis’ Savvis Center played host to WWE’s No Mercy in 2001. While the arena was called the Kiel Center, it held WWE’s Badd Blood: In Your House in 1997, where Shawn Michaels defeated Undertaker in the first Hell in a Cell match; and Survivor Series in 1998 (where in the first round, the Rock defeated The Big Boss Man in the shortest WWE match ever – four seconds – and later beat Mankind for the WWE Championship).

Recently renamed the Scottrade Center, the arena opened in 1994 and holds 20,000 spectators. The National Hockey League’s Blues play there, and the arena’s ice surface is known as one of the finest in the NHL. The St. Louis University Billikens NCAA Division I basketball team plays at the Scottrade Center, and it’s often used for other NCAA sports championship events, including hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling. The 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held there as well.

The contemporary glass and concrete Scottrade Center is a big concert and entertainment venue as well, hosting approximately 175 events and 2 million guests each year. The Rolling Stones, KISS, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Dixie Chicks and Britney Spears have performed at the Scottrade Center. Pope John Paul II visited the arena during a youth day service in 1999.

Known as the Gateway to the West, St. Louis is Missouri’s largest city and the nation’s 18th largest, with a metro area population of more than 2.7 million people. The historic city on the Mississippi River is known for its great French and German heritage and Victorian past. It was home to the World’s Fair and the first Olympic games in the United States, both in 1904. Recently, many areas of the city have experienced a rehabilitation and its population is on the rise.

The city is home to the corporate headquarters of several companies including Anheuser-Busch Breweries, Scottrade brokerage firm and Energizer Battery Company. Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hardee’s, Emerson Electric and Charter Communications are located nearby the city. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler also have manufacturing plants near St. Louis. City museums and attractions include City Museum, the Eugene Field House, the Missouri History Museum, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. They city’s best-known landmark is the Arch. St. Louis has 105 parks.

Sports teams in the city other than the Blues include Major League Baseball’s nine-time World Series Champion Cardinals, who play in the new Busch Stadium; and the National Football League’s Rams. WWE Superstar Randy Orton hails from St. Louis.

Almost 10 percent of the St. Louis metro region is enrolled in an institution of higher education, as the area is home to many colleges and universities, including Washington University, and St. Louis University, the oldest university west of the Mississippi River

The city is known for ragtime, jazz and blues music, and singer/guitarist Chuck Berry is a St. Louisan. More recently, the city has been recognized for its notable hip-hop artists, including Nelly, Chingy, J-Kwon and Jibbs. St. Louis is also known for its cuisine, including Anheuser-Busch and Schlafly beers, gooey butter cake, toasted ravioli, Vess soda and St. Louis-style barbecue.