WWE on-screen personality Paul Heyman recently discussed the post-9/11 episode of WWE SmackDown that aired back in 2001.

The company were the first to run a live event experience since the terror attacks in New York City, and a new documentary has been released on WWE Network and Peacock marking the 20 year anniversary of the episode.

Heyman was with the company as part of the Alliance storyline that saw ECW and WCW face WWE to determine who would be the superior brand in sports entertainment.

Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Heyman would reflect on how difficult it was appearing on the show that night. Heyman is from New York, and he discussed how he felt during the broadcast.

“I didn’t know how to convey that on the air, and I didn’t know if it was my place to do so, but as a New Yorker, I felt obligated to identify myself—not only from the perspective of New York as a locale in which I reside but also that deep down, the person you see talking at the moment is culturally, physically, spiritually a New Yorker at heart."

The former owner of ECW would also talk about how he couldn't recall much of what happened on the actual show itself.

“I hardly remember anything about that night, other than the memory of Lilian Garcia singing. I don’t even remember what she sang, whether it was ‘God Bless, America,’ ‘America, The Beautiful,’ or the national anthem—I just remember she sang. When she was singing, she did it flawlessly. Her voice carried the emotion of the moment to such a degree that it moved me and woke me up. It also made me a complete emotional wreck.”

In the second episode of the revamped Turnbuckle Talk podcast, Louis Dangoor and special guest Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful talk about the biggest news in professional wrestling, including Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole's AEW debuts, the health of Triple H, Kevin Owens potentially leaving WWE and more.

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