The WWE Tribute to the Troops theme is over for now.
The original idea behind this special was to send wrestlers to American troops stationed in the Middle East and tour different bases where they would meet with soldiers. The event had been held in Iraq and Afghanistan before moving to various bases stationed in the United States in 2010.
The company held this event for 17 straight years until 2019 when WWE decided against airing it on TV. WWE held a house show at Marine Corps Air Station New River and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in 2019. They brought it back in 2020, taping it at SmackDown events and airing it later.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted Tribute to the Troops is done. Meltzer said, “No more. It’s done. The year being up, I think in the last month, people kind of asking, like, ‘When they’re taping it?’ it’s like it just was not being taped. They had too many other things going on. And I don’t know if it’s done for good, but it was, this is the first year that they haven’t done anything with that. I think that [in] 2019 I believe they didn’t do a television show, but they still did events and they still taped stuff, but this year, nothing, you know, and you know, it was a Vince McMahon thing, and it’s not Vince’s company anymore, and you know, it’s not something that you’re going to advertise. ‘We’re not doing this anymore,’ but it quietly went away this year.”
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