The WWE Tribute to the Troops event appears to have quietly come to an end after nearly two decades of honoring U.S. military personnel.
Originally created to bring WWE superstars to troops stationed overseas, the annual special debuted in the Middle East, with events held in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, the format shifted, with WWE hosting the event on military bases across the United States. After 17 consecutive years, the event was discontinued from television in 2019, though WWE still organized house shows at Marine Corps bases that year. The event returned in 2020, taped at SmackDown events and aired later, but its presence gradually diminished.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed the event’s absence in 2024, signaling its potential conclusion.
“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.”
While no official announcement has been made, the absence of Tribute to the Troops aligns with WWE’s shifting priorities under new leadership. Whether the event will ever return remains uncertain.
