WWE Niagara Falls was a wrestling-related retail establishment that was part of the Falls Avenue Entertainment Complex, which is located in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and owned by World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 (WWE). It was the world's first WWE retail and attraction site.

History

The facility opened on August 1, 2002 as part of the Clifton Hill strip in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

. It is partly owned by Canadian Niagara Hotels and World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 (WWE). It was designed by Forrec of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Fans began arriving to the grand opening the day before. Several wrestlers arrived for the opening to sign autograph

Autograph

An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...

s for fans, including Trish Stratus

Trish Stratus

Patricia Anne Stratigias , better known by her ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and television personality currently signed with WWE. She is also a former fitness model....

, Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit

Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...

, and Val Venis

Sean Morley

Sean Allen Morley is a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name Val Venis, during his time with World Wrestling Federation, later known as World Wrestling Entertainment...

. Other wrestlers who have made appearances for autographs as well.
The building features a gift shop with WWE memorabilia

Souvenir

A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...

 and exhibitions on display

Display case

A display case is a cabinet with one or often more transparent glass sides and/or top, used to display objects for viewing, for example in an exhibition, museum, house, in retail, or a restaurant. Often labels are included with the displayed objects, providing information...

, selling

Selling

Selling is offering to exchange something of value for something else. The something of value being offered may be tangible or intangible. The something else, usually money, is most often seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale.Another person or...

 everything from action figures and t-shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

s to book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s, DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

s, and autographs. WWE Niagara Falls also features video games and pay-per-views playing to entertain the visitors.

Rides

It also featured a drop tower attraction called The Pile Driver spanning 220 feet (67.1 m). The attraction was named after a professional wrestling move known as the piledriver

Piledriver (professional wrestling)

A piledriver is a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs his opponent, turns him upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat. The most common piledrivers are the basic belly-to-back, or Texas piledriver, and the...

. This particular attraction was open from mid-May to mid-November due to seasonal demand and climate reasons.

Closure

On March 31, 2011, WWE Niagara Falls was scheduled to close down and cease operations. The store now stands as a tourist shop selling various bits and pieces. It should be noted that inside there is still a section of wrestling merchandise inside on the bottom floor and the WWE title belt still stands over the entrance for visitors to enter. The pictures of the superstars that used to stand over the store are now as advertisement panels for Clifton Hill.