Originally opening to the public in 1996 as the Marine Midland Arena, The HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York is the permanent home of the Buffalo Sabres NHL franchise and the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team. On Friday, SmackDown Superstars will take over the City of Light and blow the roof off the 18,690 seat arena. 

In July of 1999 WWE lit up the arena during the Fully Loaded pay-per-view. In a gruesome First Blood Match, Steven Austin defeated Undertaker to retain the WWE Championship. WWE's next pay-per-view at the arena was the 2005 Great American Bash where JBL squared off against Batista. JBL was able to retain the World Heavyweight Championship gold after winning by disqualification. In the addition to the pay-per-views, both SmackDown and Raw have emanated from the HSBC Arena.

As New York's second largest city, Buffalo lies just at the eastern end of Lake Eerie. In 2001, USA Today named Buffalo the nations "friendliest city". Tune in to SmackDown on Friday at 8/7 CT on CW for a look inside the arena and all the incredible WWE action!

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