The Armory was built in 1890 for the Tenth Battalion of the New York National Guard, designed by state architect Isaac Perry. Since the earliest years of professional and collegiate basketball, several college and minor league basketball teams have played in the Armory, as there was no other suitable facility for basketball in the Albany area for many years. The Armory also hosts boxing matches. For many years in the 1960s and 1970s the armory hosted the WWF (currently known as the WWE) wrestling association owned by the McMahon family. The Friday night cards were always a sellout.