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This is the first time since 2003 that WWE has not hosted a Tribute to the Troops event, and it may be a while before the next one takes place. On Wrestling Observer Radio, veteran journalist Dave Meltzer noted that the show appears to have been quietly canceled and offered some insight into why.
“I’m done with it. I’m done with it. Obviously, as the year started, I think in the last month people were like, ‘When are you recording? It’s just not being recorded. There’s a lot of other stuff going on. It’s been too much. I won’t do that.”I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but this is the first year they haven’t done anything.”
Bruce Pritchard previously said that John Bradshaw Layfield played a big role in WWE launching Tribute to the Troops, but Meltzer said it was one of Vince McMahon’s ideas. He pointed out that. WWE is now under the ownership of Endeavor as part of TKO Group Holdings, with Nick Carne and Paul Levesque running the ship, so McMahon no longer has a say in the promotion. The previous Tribute to the Troops aired on Fox, which is no longer one of the company’s stations, but it is unclear at this time whether there has been interest from other networks.
As Meltzer mentioned, WWE has been busy lately, which could be a contributing factor to Tribute to the Troops being put on hold. Saturday Night Main Event is back this month and will be held regularly from now on. Additionally, “WWE Raw” is moving to Netflix in January, so company officials are getting a lot of attention at the moment.
