Revisitng the post 9-11 Smackdown

Photos courtesy of wwe.com


The evening was Sept. 13, 2001, two days after the horrific events of Sept. 11 where acts of terrorism claimed the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children and laid waste to New York City's World Trade Center.

On this evening, WWE Smackdown was broadcasting live at the then "Compaq Center" in Houston, Texas as it had understandably been postponed from its original Tuesday night taping, which happened to be 9/11 that week.

This was the first major and televised event since the cowardly attacks and a sold-out arena of 20,000 fans were in attendance paying respect to all those who had tragically lost their lives on 9/11 as this was not a night intended to just entertain or further the "Alliance" storyline but rather, to help start the healing process.

The ring set-up had been altered as the usual blue ring ropes that had become Smackdown's trademark were replaced with the old school red, white and blue ropes and would stay that way for two weeks with an image of the American Flag being proudly displayed on the mini-trons on the Smackdown stage.

As Smackdown came on the air that Thursday night at 8 p.m. on the then UPN network, WWE Owner Vince McMahon stood in the middle of the ring and stated the following:

"Tonight, the spirit of America lives here in Houston Texas...Our nation's leaders have encouraged us to return to living our lives the we we normally do, to continue to live our lives the American way. They've encouraged us to practice and to exercise our Constitutional rights. And as such, tonight I believe is the first public assembly of its size since the tragedy of Tuesday. This public assembly is sending a message to terrorism, make no mistake. The message is that we will not live our lives in fear. The citizens of the United States are NOT afraid, for we are proud group of American's....The WWE wants to thank each and everyone in the Compaq Center, watching on television and thank you for the honor and privilege of performing before you tonight."

Shortly after that speech, every member of the WWE talent roster, officiating crew and backstage staff walked out onto the ramp way, most with mini-American Flags and filled the Smackdown stage (pictured below) as Lilian Garcia sang a beautiful rendition of the American National Anthem with incredible heartfelt emotion that sent chills down everyone's spine and gave them goosebumps.



Throughout the two-hour telecast, various WWE Superstars and employees gave their thoughts about the tragedy and passed on their condolences to those who had lost loved ones. Those who spoke included Edge, Ricky Santana, Terri Runnels, The Rock, Chris Jericho, Michael Hayes, Shawn Stasiak, Lita, Kanyon, Tazz, Torrie Wilson, The Hurricane, Bubba Ray Dudley, Debra, Hugh Morrus, Ivory, Bradshaw, Kurt Angle, Lance Storm, D'Von Dudley, Stacy Keibler, Booker T, Stephanie McMahon, Garcia, Faarooq, William Regal, Albert and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

As special as that night was, it didn't stop all the media outlets from bashing the company and McMahon for having the show, asking where their compassion and decency was and wanting to know if all Vince cared about was making money in the face of tragedy.

To those media outlets, the same ones who never report on or cover the WWE's annual show in Iraq for the soldiers, I say step-off and stop drinking the hate-orade. They were all mad because McMahon had the guts to be step up and have his company be the first form of entertainment to step up to the plate and help people heal by entertaining them the best they could for two hours before having to go back to the reality of the real world.

What was truly hippo-critical of the media was that if Major League Baseball or the National Football League had decided to have their games that weekend, rather than canceling them, they would have been praised by all the media for doing the right thing for Americans and would have had more butt-kissing than a cheap porno movie and they know its true.

I for one was glad that McMahon had the show as it was a special evening and for those two hours, I was able to put out of mind the horrific images of people plunging to their deaths, people crying in the streets and planes crashing into the Twin Towers I had seen over the last 48 hours and thanks to this show, myself, along with millions of other viewers, hopefully discovered a source of strength, support and hope.

Before I conclude this entry, I would like to share with you what several of the Superstars had to say that night:

"...I was actually contemplating whether or not doing this show was the right thing to do. But...our job is to bring smiles to the faces of all your families. And if we can do that, then we've done our jobs. This can't be forgotten. It shouldn't be forgotten. It never will be forgotten. But if we can do that, then this show was the right thing to do."
-EDGE-

"...If there's one thing that we've learned from this, it's that we never know what's going to happen tomorrow, in the next five minutes, in the next 10 minutes. And Maybe, above all else, maybe tonight hug your loved one a little bit harder, or give him or her an extra kiss. Be a little nicer to a stranger on the street...a little more gentile...Our fate and destiny lies in their hands now."
-CHRIS JERICHO-

"...We're running this show tonight because we're going to show you that you cannot break-you cannot even bend the fiber, the backbone of the United States of America...There are going to be some critics that wonder why we run this show. I want to make this perfectly clear: GO TO HELL. We're doing this show because we love America. This is all we have to give for you tonight, is this evening."
-JBL-

"I'd like to pay respects to all the firemen, and all those who went out of their way to help their fellow man-not just their fellow American, but their fellow human. Because the people that did this, in my opinion...they're less than human. And the people that help and try to fight against it, they prove to the world that we're more than than."
-GREGORY HELMS-

"...We have to mourn the losses of the people that we knew, but we have to get the gears rollin' again. That's what we're here to do tonight. What happened this past Tuesday was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life, and I hope that I never, ever see anything like this again-except to the people who did this...They deserve a payback, and they deserve exactly what they have coming."
-STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN-