It all started with Billy Joel. You throw in a little LeBron James, some Taylor Swift and some other music headliners, add a dash of wrestling, politics and hockey and you have a recipe for success. In this case, success is the 30-year history of Gund Arena, Quicken Loans Arena and Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Yes, it’s had three names, but it’s made one big statement: Cleveland can be the place to be again.

Courtesy of Cleveland Cavaliers

1. November 8, 1994, opening night: A new era dawned for the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a new home and a new look (the “blue streak” uniforms were not universally well received, but are causing some nostalgia these days). The Cavs fell 100-98 to the defending champion Houston Rockets, thanks to a buzzer-beater.

2. March 30, 1995, Mike Tyson returns: Mike Tyson’s rise in the boxing world was as rapid as his decline. After serving three years for rape, Tyson, who had a mansion in Trumbull County, announced his return to Gund Arena.

3. January 4, 1996: Tupac Shakur debuts the songs on the double album All eyes on me during one of his rare stops in Cleveland.

dpa photo alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

4. July 7, 1996, USA Basketball vs. Brazil: The 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team was dubbed the Dream Team for its collection of talent and dominance. The 1996 version sleepwalked through a tune-up game in Detroit, but regrouped for a decisive victory against Brazil, 109-68. The game is more infamous for what happened in the small hours: Charles Barkley got into a fight at The Basement, a bar in the Flats.

5. February 9, 1997, NBA All-Star Game: The NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary with a ceremony honoring the league’s 50 greatest players, and Cleveland celebrated its new home. Ex-Cav Steve Kerr won the 3-point contest and the dunk contest was won by a Los Angeles Lakers rookie who would also become an all-time great: Kobe Bryant. The East defeated the West 132-120, with Glen Rice as MVP.

Thanks to Dan Hughes

6. June 21, 1997, The Rockers go to trial: Cleveland was a charter member of the WNBA and lasted seven seasons.

7. March 26, 2001, Monday Night Raw: The Worldwide Wrestling Federation had a challenger in the World Championship Wrestling – both with Monday night shows, WWF raw And WCW Nitro. A simulcast was shown in Cleveland, and WWF (now WWE) founder Vince McMahon was stunned to discover that his son Shane had purchased WCW.

8. March 13, 2002, St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Warrensville Heights: Before playing for the Cavs, LeBron James could draw crowds in Cleveland. As a junior at SVSM, his Irish played the Tigers in a regional semifinal at the arena. James scored 16 – pedestrian by his standards; Romeo Travis led SVSM with 31 points. The dazzling crowd of 20,562 people is still the largest ever to see an Ohio high school game.

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9. April 18, 2004, Prins: In what turned out to be his final performance in Cleveland, the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performed for over two hours in support of his then-new album, Musicology.

10. October 2, 2004, Vote for Change: Ohio became a stop on a MoveOn-organized tour that brought serious star power to swing states. The arena lineup included Bright Eyes, REM and Bruce Springsteen, with a special appearance by John Fogerty.

11. April 22, 2006, Cavs vs. Wizards: LeBron James lived up to the hype. The Cavs made their first playoff appearance in almost a decade. Facing a more seasoned (but lower ranked) Washington Wizards team, James had a

triple-double – the third player in NBA history to do so in his playoff debut – in a 97-86 Cavs victory.

12. June 2, 2007, NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 6: It seemed like the Cavs always had someone in their way, but in 2007 they finally couldn’t be denied. LeBron James scored 20 points and Daniel Gibson scored 31 points in 29 minutes to earn a 98–82 win and the Cavs’ first appearance in the NBA Finals.

RELATED: Why Did the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers Leave 20 Years Ago? Mostly LeBron James

13. May 22, 2009, NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 2: The Magic had stolen Game 1 of the series and it looked like they were about to do the same again when Hedo Turkoglu hit a go-ahead jumper to give Orlando a 95-93 lead with one second left. But Mo Williams inbounded the ball to James, who hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to send Cavs fans home happy.

Courtesy of Cleveland Cavaliers

14. April 13, 2011: Cavs announcer Joe Tait retires after 39 seasons.

15. April 15, 2011, Rush: The Canadian rock band got an early boost in Cleveland and as a tribute they stopped here at the Time machine tour was recorded and released as CD and DVD. The hook for the tour was playing all the time Moving images album from cover to cover, and the band closed with ‘Working Man’, the song that found heavy rotation in WMMS.

16. August 23, 2014, ArenaBowl XXVII: Like its predecessor in Richfield, the arena was home to indoor football. In 2008, the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League moved to Cleveland. The team hovered around .500, but in 2014 it put it all together, going 17-1 and setting a record for most wins in an AFL season. The arena hosted the championship game, where the Arizona Rattlers defeated the Gladiators 72-32 for their third straight title.

Courtesy of Cleveland Cavaliers

17. October 30, 2014, LeBron comes home: After four years in Miami, LeBron James surprised many by announcing (in a Sports illustrated article and NOT with a live ESPN special) that he was returning to the Cavaliers. His first game back was a 95-90 loss to the Knicks, but the party atmosphere in Downtown was a sign of epic things to come.

18. March 28, 2015, Notre Dame vs. Kentucky: The NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament had previously stopped here, but in 2015 it hosted the regional round. Undefeated Kentucky hammered West Virginia, and Notre Dame defeated Wichita State, setting up a game where the Irish gave the Wildcats everything they had. Andre Harrison hit two free throws with six seconds left for Kentucky’s 68-66 victory.

Sam Kovak / Alamy Stock Photo

19. June 3, 2015: Taylor Swift visits her 1989 tour, which marks her crossover from country to pop.

Courtesy of Cleveland Monsters

20. June 11, 2016, Calder Cup final, match 4: For decades, Cleveland was a hockey hub, and since its opening the arena has hosted a variety of minor league teams. Since 2007, they have been the (first Lake Erie, then Cleveland) Monsters of the American Hockey League. In 2016, the Monsters brought home Cleveland’s first Calder Cup since the Barons did so in 1964, defeating the Hershey Bears in a sweep.

21. June 16, 2016: The Cavs won the NBA Finals title for the first time in franchise history.

Philip Scalia / Alamy Stock photo

22. July 18-21, 2016, Republican National Convention: For the first time in 80 years, Cleveland hosted a political convention. While the previous two were in the Public Auditorium, this one was in the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and the city proved a friendly host to a flurry of activity.

RELATED: How Cleveland Landed the 2016 Republican National Convention

23. December 25, 2016, Cavs vs. Warriors: Christmas has become the holiday of the NBA regular season. The Cavs-Warriors rematch made it happen, with the Cavs winning on a Kyrie Irving shot with 3.4 seconds left.

Bobby Singh / Alamy Stock photo

24. June 10, 2017, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Joe Walsh, himself an icon in Northeast Ohio and beyond, opened the rocker’s 40th anniversary tour in Cleveland, playing many of the hits that made him famous. Sadly, it would prove to be his last tour. A week after it ended in September, Petty died.

25. March 15-17, 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships: The arena has proven itself time and time again as a great venue for high school and college sports, and this was no exception. The tournament set an attendance record with more than 113,000 people coming through the turnstiles to watch wrestling greats like Kyle Snyder and Spencer Lee win titles, with Penn State taking the team title.

26. March 11, 2020, Mid-American Conference Tournament: Another great season of March Madness was planned, starting with the annual MAC tournament at the arena. (The men’s NCAA tournament was scheduled to move to Cleveland the following week.) Women’s games were played in an empty arena in response to concerns about a new strain of coronavirus. The next day, before the first men’s quarterfinal between Akron and Ohio, the entire tournament was canceled, as were the tournaments for the Big Ten, Southeast Conference and American Conference. It wouldn’t be long before the NCAA tournament was canceled as well.

27. October 30, 2021, Rock & Roll Hall Inductions: The first induction into the arena (previous Cleveland ceremonies were in Public Hall) featured the most diverse class in history. Taylor Swift kicked things off with a cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” written by Carole King. LL Cool J and the Go-Gos, both inductees, performed and the evening closed with Paul McCartney and new inductees, the Foo Fighters.

28. February 20, 2022, NBA All-Star Game: For the third time in team history – and the second time in the arena – the Cavs hosted the All-Star Game. The game was hardly a classic (Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 163-160), but the festivities surrounding it had grown into a host of events, including the NBA’s 75th anniversary celebration.

29. January 2, 2023: Donovan Mitchell’s 71 points set the team’s single-game scoring record in a 145-134 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Carolina Kane

30. April 7, 2024, NCAA Women’s National Championship: Women’s basketball reached a turning point before this Final Four. The basketball tournament was filled with stars like LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, and Connecticut continued its dynastic path. But it was South Carolina that defeated Iowa in the first women’s championship game, which received higher ratings than the men’s game.

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