History
The idea of honoring and entertaining the American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is credited to wrestler John "Bradshaw" Layfield, who suggested it to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
WWE first held the event in December 2003. Select WWE Superstars (including Layfield and McMahon) held a wrestling show at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq and was aired on Christmas Day as a special episode of WWE SmackDown. The main event of the show saw John Cena defeating The Big Show, with Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out after the match, hitting a Stone Cold Stunner on both men, and finally inviting all the talents and Vince McMahon to the ring to celebrate. For this show and all tribute to the Troops shows until 2011, commentary recorded at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut was used in the shows as the announcers were not present at ringside.
In December 2004, WWE traveled to Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. The wrestling show, dubbed Christmas in Iraq, aired on December 23 as another special SmackDown episode. Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio defeated Kurt Angle and Luther Reigns in the main event.
In 2005, Superstars held the event in Bagram, Afghanistan. The wrestling show taped there on December 9, 2005 was dubbed Tribute to the Troops and was aired on December 19 on WWE Raw. For the main event, Shawn Michaels beat Triple H in a Boot Camp match. In 2006, it was another Raw episode that aired on Christmas Day. The show was taped in Baghdad, Iraq, and had Carlito pin Randy Orton for the win at the main event. A day before the show's taping in Camp Victory, a mortar attack happened near the camp. Michael Cole reported from the scene minutes after the attack, which injured 14 soldiers.
In 2007, they returned to Tikrit, Iraq. D-Generation X members Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated Umaga and Mr. Kennedy in the main event of the wrestling show, which aired on Christmas Eve on WWE Raw.
2008's Tribute to the Troops was not aired on any regular WWE programming. Instead, for the first time, the wrestling show in Camp Liberty, Baghdad, Iraq aired on NBC on December 20 as a one-hour special. In its main event, John Cena, Batista and Rey Mysterio defeated Chris Jericho, The Big Show and Randy Orton in a six-man tag team match.
WWE again travelled to Iraq in 2009, and hosted its seventh Tribute to the Troops. In the main event, John Cena retained his WWE Championship against Chris Jericho. The event aired on December 19, 2009 on NBC.
In 2010, WWE announced that there would not be an overseas Tribute to the Troops. It was later noted that a 2010 Tribute to the Troops would in fact be held and was taped on December 11th, at Fort Hood in Texas, USA. It aired on NBC on Saturday, December 18th, at 9/8 CT for one hour, with a message from former president George W. Bush. WWE also announced on the December 13, 2010 airing of Raw that a 2-hour version of the 2010 Tribute to the Troops would air on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at 8/7 CT on USA Network.
Read more about this topic: WWE Tribute To The Troops
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