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By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

I'm writing this two-paragraph intro after I wrote the rest of this blog below. This was a tough blog to write because of the sensitivity required after a tragedy the magnitude of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The wounds are still fresh. The memories are still vivid. This was our generation's Kennedy Assassination. Everyone knows where they were when they found out about the news.

This blog below is looking back at WWE's handling of the tragedy, the context of the show, a brief look at how they've profited from patriotism since the beginning of the Hulk Hogan Era that has to be taken into account, and a few side-notes on the opening segment from the Sept. 13, 2001 Smackdown...

Eight years ago, WWE (then-WWF) was scheduled for a Smackdown TV taping in Houston that was canceled due to the terrorist attacks in New York City. The show was pushed back to a live Thursday broadcast from Houston with WWE chairman Vince McMahon making it clear that it was the first public gathering "of its size" since the attacks.

It was classic McMahon. Bold, brash, and patriotic. WWE airs a video package saluting U.S. soldiers before the start of every Monday Night Raw on Memorial Day. They've also taken wrestlers overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan for seven years to film the "Tribute to the Troops" show.

WWE going live with Smackdown two days after the 9/11 attacks was a questionable decision at the time. There was so much uncertainty on whether the East Coast had only experienced the first wave of attacks and whether other major cities would be targeted. But, it was accepted under the idea of being a show of unity to the rest of the world.

McMahon's public message at the beginning of the Sept. 13 Smackdown was not to live in fear. He took his opportunity on a national stage to present a famous speech about patriotism in a wrestling organization that was built on the Hulk Hogan vs. anti-American heel formula. It was classic McMahon. Bold, brash, and patriotic.

McMahon even waited four years before his next major Hogan vs. anti-American program. He built up the Middle Eastern duo of Hassan & Daivari, then fed them to babyface Hulk Hogan in 2005 at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles.

Today, WWE's Universe website posted a video of the opening segment from that 9/13/01 Smackdown featuring McMahon's speech, The Rock leading the wrestlers and crew out on stage, and various crowd signs and banners.

Most people remember Lilian Garcia, who lives in New York City, delivering a goose-bump inducing rendition of the National Anthem as wrestlers looked around as if they were in a daze. The wrestlers had been stuck in Houston since Tuesday after a Raw taping in San Antonio that Monday before the attacks. They were away from family and friends with uncertainty lingering in the air.

One of the intriguing aspects of watching a "gathering of the WWE roster" from eight years ago is how many faces are the same and how many are different. There was also a crowd shot I hadn't noticed before of local marketing genius Mattress Mack in the audience.

(Mack became famous nationally on the Conan O'Brien show when O'Brien had a segment on the Houston market airing his Late Night show at 2:00 a.m. and Mattress Mack commercials regularly aired during the late-night timeslot. Mack recently capitalized on July 4 patriotism by re-opening his famous furniture store on the U.S. holiday after it was nearly burned to the ground by an arsonist. No surprise he was standing on the floor of the then-Compaq Center for WWE's post-9/11 Smackdown show.)

Back on point, I re-read Torch editor Wade Keller's coverage of the Smackdown show from Torch Newsletter #671. Keller opened by pointing out that WWE went against the trend of MLB and NFL canceling games that week. McMahon was not going to have any of it, which he reinforced in his speech about not living in the fear.

The same anti-Stan Kroenke fire-in-his-belly that led to WWE shifting the Memorial Day 2009 Raw to Los Angeles instead of canceling it or re-scheduling it in Denver was present then just as it is now. It was classic McMahon. Bold, brash, and patriotic.



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