25 Strangest Places In Which Pro-Wrestling Has Taken Place: Part 1 (25-16)

#19 A military compound

Beginning in 2003 from Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, WWE has run the annual Tribute To The Troops show as an olive branch to soldiers stationed overseas during the War on Terror.

While it's true that the show's footage of wrestlers interacting with soldiers and their families and friends is meant to evoke empathy and patriotism, the visual of an outdoor televised WWE show happening in the middle of a desert is still pretty bizarre.

The ringside area is surrounded by barricades that look like they were made for ducking enemy gunfire rather than holding back a crowd. The security for this event must have been stringent too as the United States had just captured dictator Saddam Hussein less than two weeks earlier and fighting was still happening all over Iraq.

The first edition of this show also lacked the shiny production values that would be used in later years and had the feel of a small, gritty house show or indy event. Weird.