In 2006, WWE made its way to Camp Victory in Baghdad for its yearly Tribute to the Troops event.
The flight included wrestlers such as The Undertaker, JBL, Bobby Lashley, CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin, and many others. During a recent episode of his Six Feet Under podcast, Undertaker shared his memories of the two grappling contests that occurred during the flight.
“We’re drinking, everyone is carrying on. Somehow or another, the discussion comes up. I don’t know if Vince instigated this one or not. Bradshaw was on this flight too. The topic comes up as we’re on the way over. CM Punk, he fashioned himself as a jiu-jitsu practitioner. Someone broached the question, ‘You did jiu-jitsu. How long do you think you could last with one of these two wrestlers?’ It was Bobby Lashley, who wrestled for the Army, and Shelton Benjamin, who wrestled at Minnesota. Two high-level amateur wrestlers. To Phil’s credit, he said, ‘I’ll tap them out.’ That was about all it took. Now, the pot begins to really get stirred. Shelton, at this time, he didn’t drink at all. I remember Vince pouring a styrofoam cup full of wine, and Shelton just gulps it down. I honestly can’t remember who went first. There is not a lot of room. It’s tight, but there’s enough room. I want to say the first match lasted about 47 seconds. The other one was sub-40, where they had taken them down and pinned him. He didn’t back down, but my goodness, it was like blood in the water and two great white sharks circling. They could not wait. They didn’t disappoint. That was another fine case of Vince McMahon shit disturbing,” said Undertaker.