It has been 25 years since the events of 9/11 and many people still remember where they were and who they were with when they saw the attack on the World Trade Center. The United States was in a state of both shock and panic in the days following September 11, 2001, but two days after the events in New York City, WWE put its foot down and held the September 13 episode of “WWE SmackDown” in Houston, Texas, the first public gathering of its size anywhere in the country.
Many WWE superstars cut promos on that night’s show, including WWE Hall of Famer JBL, who opened up about that episode of “SmackDown” on a recent edition of the “Something To Wrestle” podcast. JBL revealed that he was in a hotel room watching 9/11 unfold on the news, and the original date for “SmackDown” was canceled. However, Vince McMahon wanted to do something to band everyone together, and the event went ahead on that Thursday night.
“Vince made it very clear nobody has to be here, nobody has to be a part of the show, you know?” JBL said. “What we’re going to do is we’re going to do something for America.”
JBL explained that everyone in WWE knew they couldn’t literally fight back, but they could put on a show not only to entertain people in such a turbulent time, but to also show the rest of the country how resilient the United States really is.
“From my perspective and from the perspective of everybody I talked to, that was our way of saying ‘We’re behind you America,’ and that’s all it was,” he said. “We want to do something that we believe in. We didn’t know if no one would show up or if the place would be packed, we had no idea.”
An emotional night for everyone involved
For all of the powerful promos cut on that night’s “SmackDown” by the WWE stars, one moment stood out above the rest. The entire roster gathered on the ramp, the sold out audience got to their feet, and ring announcer Lilian Garcia sang a rendition of the United States national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” JBL compared Garcia to Whitney Houston when talking about her singing, stating that he will never forget hearing her sing.
“I’ll remember that to the day I die,” JBL said. “The entire crowd, I mean people were chanting USA, people were crying, people had their flags, it was an unbelievable moment to be a part of. I mean it’s something I’m so, and I hate to say proud because it was a terrible event and a terrible week, but I’m proud that we were able to do something.”
JBL went on to reveal that he personally called the WWE head office asking what he could do to help, and if he was allowed to go to Ground Zero to help the firefighters and first responders in New York City. Vince McMahon liked the idea and arranged it, but stated that the whole company should go with him, which did end up happening as an NBA team was supposed to go instead but were scared off after the potential discovery of anthrax at Ground Zero was discovered. When it was confirmed that there was no anthrax on site, JBL and the rest of the WWE roster played their part in helping out.
“I’m glad of where I was at the time because I got to be a part of that first mass gathering, and I got to go down to Ground Zero and tell those heroes ‘Thank you’ in person,” he said.
Please credit “Something To Wrestle” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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