Half of WWE’s Tape Library Is Stored at This Catskills Mountain Vault in Rosendale

Stamford, Connecticut, is WWE's main facility, home to a significant portion of their video library.

However, the other half, a true treasure trove, lies deep within the Catskill Mountains in Rosendale, New York.

Here, within a decommissioned limestone mine, resides the rest of WWE's vast archive, including 60,000 media assets like tapes, film reels, and other irreplaceable footage. This mine, known as Iron Mountain, is no ordinary storage facility. Once an active iron mine, it's now a secure haven managed by the Boston-based Iron Mountain company, renowned for being one of the most successful document-storage firms in the United States. Imagine walking into a cavernous space with water dripping from the ceiling, surrounded by rows upon rows of wrestling history. The silence is deafening, adding to the mystique and significance of the stored content.

Iron Mountain doesn't just store WWE footage; it also safeguards master recordings from Sony Music Entertainment and thousands of tapes from a certain Major League Baseball team. The facility boasts state-of-the-art fire protection systems, including gas and foam systems designed to protect these invaluable archives from fire damage. This means the original tapes of your favorite WrestleMania matches are safe, even in the event of a nuclear disaster.

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Very few media has ever been allowed in the facility, and most of the info about it comes from this in depth article from the NEW YORKER in 2013

Back in the '70s and '80s, this mine was more than just a storage space. It housed musical instruments, antiques, and celebrity memorabilia. Executives from major companies like Exxon and Shell even built elaborate fallout shelters here, anticipating the worst. Today, while most items stored are paper documents and tapes, the history and ambiance of the place remain unchanged.

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So next time you watch a classic WWE match, remember it’s not just entertainment—it’s a piece of history meticulously preserved in the heart of a Catskill mountain cave.

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