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WWE Wrestlers peek inside Pope

  • Published
  • By Lisa Moore
  • 440th Airlift Wing
Pope Field, N.C. --  The World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE, was in full force on Fort Bragg this past weekend for the 2011 Tribute to the Troops.

Tribute to the Troops is an annual event held by WWE together with Armed Forces Entertainment that honors the men and women of the United States armed forces.  During the month of December, and near the Christmas holiday WWE wrestlers and employees travel to different countries and interact with members of the military for at least three days. The program, which began in 2003, initially was put together to reach out to servicemembers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year's event was the second to be held stateside. The first was at Fort Hood, Texas last year.

Five different vans, each carrying a different group of wrestlers, made their way around the installation. It was van number three that made its way to Pope Field. The wrestlers inside got a firsthand look at what the Air Force does and how both active duty and Reserve Airmen work together at Fort Bragg on Pope Field to support world missions and the Joint and Total Force Partnership mission specific to Fort Bragg.

Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Christian and WWE Diva Rosa Mendes toured the Combat Control School, the Aeromedical Evacuation Formal Training Unit, and interacted with different unit flight crews and maintainers at a C-130 aircraft on the Pope Field flightline.

"This tour has been great," said Mendes. "It was really fulfilling to give back to those who sacrifice so much for us. We appreciate being able see what (the servicemembers) do and being able to talk to them."

After the Pope Field tours, the group which consisted of wrestlers, cameramen and staff, visited the Pope Field Kitty Hawk dining facility. The group ate lunch at the dining hall and was pleasantly surprised.

"I know what I have heard about military food," one of the group members said. "But, the food is great here."

Mendes echoed the same sentiment.

"The best part was being able to have lunch with the (service members) and interact with them," she said. "We laughed with them, took pictures and had such a great time. The dining hall food was delicious and they had everything you could think, of except for sushi. The chicken noodle soup was amazing!"

Kitty Hawk Dining Facility Manager Mr. John Shoulars appreciated the compliments.

"We take pride in our food," he said. "Everything is made from scratch by a great staff that cares."

Following lunch and the meet and greet session, the group joined other WWE wrestlers on the installation and headed out to spend more time saluting troops. Other locations visited were the Fort Bragg jump towers, a parachute packing facility, fitness centers and motorpools. The wrestlers helped pass out Christmas trees to Airmen and Soldiers at the "Trees for Troops" event, Kelly-Kelly signed complimentary copies of one of the magazines that has her picture on the cover, and the Superstars presented the "be a STAR" anti-bullying campaign.

Wrestlers John Cena and Dolph Ziggler along with wrestling Divas Alicia Fox and Beth Phoenix presented the program to a packed house at the Tolson Youth Activities Center. The program --which stands for 'Show Tolerance And Respect' was developed in conjunction with the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN) and other organizations.

It is a multi-platform, global anti-bullying alliance with a mission to promote positive methods of social interaction and to encourage people to treat others as equals and with respect "because everyone is a star in their own right."

The weekend also contained a mega autograph signing session at the Fort Bragg Sports USA club and culminated with a wrestling show complete with entertainment, fireworks and lights.

This year's show featured recording artists Nickelback and Mary J. Blige, co-host of the television show Extra Maria Menounos, comedian George Wallace and Miss USA 2011, Alyssa Campanella made an appearance. The wrestling matches involved Superstars and Divas from both Raw and SmackDown. There was an eight Diva tag team match, a six man tag team match, Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger vs. Zack Ryder and Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre to name a few.

The event was performed and taped December 11, 2011 at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina in front of Fort Bragg service members and their families. The program aired as a two-hour special on the USA Network on December 13 and will air again as a one-hour special on NBC on Saturday, December 17 (9-10 p.m. ET / 8-9 p.m. CT).