Matt Hardy Reveals 9/11 Attack Memories Back In The Locker Room, Says ‘Everyone was looking Blanked, Except Vince McMahon’
Today marks 22 years since one of the most memorable terrorist attacks of all time. September 11 is remembered by Americans and the entire world for the massacre of the Twin Towers in New York. That same week, a new episode of SmackDown was recorded, a show that finally aired live on television two days later. Most WWE talents did not know if the event was going to be held that week.
Matt Hardy was one of them. The former tag team champion spoke about this matter as the centrepiece of the latest edition of his podcast “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy”. Where he detailed some interesting moments that occurred that day in the WWE locker room. Matt admitted that he was scared and that he just wanted to go back to his house, but Vince McMahon encouraged his workers not to give up and continue as normal.
“I remember we were waiting and thinking, ‘What’s going to happen?’ Because we had SmackDown in Houston, Texas,” Hardy stated. “That happened at 9 or 10 o’clock, which is when the planes hit the buildings, right? First thing in the morning. Our call time is noon, 1 o’clock. We were like, ‘ What’s going to happen to the program?’ We were trying to figure it out, and then the company sent an email and several text messages. And they said, ‘We’re not sure what we’re going to do; everyone’s on hold. Everyone’s on hold. We’ll have an answer.’ for this afternoon'”.
“So we didn’t know if the show was going on. And then obviously everything shut down, so the show couldn’t happen. I remember me and Jeff Hardy just wanted to go home. I just wanted to get home and “To be with my father, to be with my family, because we didn’t know anything. And everyone was the same. Shane Helms too. Nobody knew what was happening or what was going to happen… Everyone wanted to go home.”
“Vince is a human being who is not afraid. He was not afraid of those things. There were a lot of worried people and thought that we might be a new target since we were the first public meeting. I felt that way. It was very strange “I was very worried that day, but Vince had his mind made up. He was like, ‘No one’s stopping me, no one’s stopping World Wrestling Entertainment, and we’re going to do the show, damn it.'”
Despite Matt Hardy’s statements, not everyone liked WWE’s decision. In 2021, Rob Van Dam remembered that day in an interview and thought it was not a good idea. “I think WWE was eager to get to work. I remember thinking it was a horrible idea. Those terrorists wanted to hit America in its heart, What better way than a stadium full of people living on television watching wrestling professionally free, What is the most American thing there is? I think we were not at all safe performing in front of all those people.
The SmackDown show continued. The main event that night was a fight between Kurt Angle and Rhyno. After the live broadcast, The Rock defeated Steve Austin by disqualification in the dark match. Vince McMahon was the last to appear to give a speech to everyone present, encouraging American society not to be afraid, to continue fighting for their rights and to continue with their lives normally.
