Louisville, KY (April 24, 2017) – More than 10,000 fans attended a sold out WWE Smackdown Live event at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday, April 18. This was the first time the event has ever been held at the KFC Yum! Center and the first time a live televised professional wrestling event has been in Louisville since 2010.

This was made possible by a recent decision of the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission to change a controversial state regulation. The rule prevented WWE from bringing their popular televised events to any venue in Kentucky and its reversal made this event possible.

Gov. Matt Bevin played an important role in changes to the regulation as he believed they were hindering important business opportunities within the state. 

AEG Facilities’ KFC Yum! Center General Manger Dennis Petrullo did not waste any time securing the live World Wrestling Entertainment event once the restrictions were removed. And that decision paid off for the city.

"Our staff and event organizers could not have been more pleased with the success of our first WWE SmackDown event,” Petrullo said. “We are thankful Gov. Bevin and the Boxing and Wrestling Commission enabled us to bring the event to Louisville. We try to bring the world’s leading entertainment to Louisville and the return of WWE to our venue is a tremendous win for the city.”

Hosting large WWE events does more than fill seats inside the KFC Yum! Center. It nurtures the sport and creates other business opportunities within the region.

“The KFC Yum! Center did an outstanding job hosting WWE,” Chad Miller, Chairman of Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission said. “It is beneficial for the entire community to have such a large professional wrestling event return to Louisville. Hosting these large-scale events allows our smaller, independent promoters to be more involved and reinvigorates the sport.”

Additional WWE events are being planned for the KFC Yum! Center. Visit kfcyumcenter.com for a complete list of upcoming events.