On this day in 2001, WWF aired SmackDown live from the Compaq Center in Houston, two days after the September 11 attacks. The show had been scheduled to tape Tuesday, September 11. It was moved to Thursday and aired live, the first large public gathering in the United States and the first live televised event after the attacks. 12,046 attended. The entire roster, WWF and Alliance, stood together on the stage and in the aisle, with The Rock at the front, while Lillian Garcia sang the national anthem, with the ring roped in red, white and blue. Vince McMahon opened the show from the ring: “Tonight, the spirit of America lives here in Houston, Texas.” Garcia said this week on Busted Open that McMahon asked her to sing the day before, and that she still feels the anxiety of that moment. Throughout the night, matches were broken up by taped comments from the roster. Steve Austin said he couldn’t change the world, but “whoever did this is a coward,” and that going back to work was the rig...