During April’s Month of the Military Child, WWE stars visiting Nellis Air Force Base during WrestleMania week took part in more than a celebrity stop. At a USO-organized event at the Las Vegas installation on April 15, the group met airmen, attended a mission brief, visited the Thunderbirds, surprised service members with tickets to major WWE events, and joined a Purple Up Day celebration honoring military children.
The visit featured WWE stars Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Taila Tonga, JC Mateo and Michin, according to information the USO shared with Military.com. The organization said the wrestlers came to Nellis to learn more about the base mission, spend time with service members and their families, and take part in events both on base and in the local community ahead of WrestleMania.
One of the most personal moments of the day centered on Senior Airman Marquis Soto, who was named this year’s WrestleMania “Military Spotlight” honoree and surprised with tickets to attend the event at Allegiant Stadium.
In an Instagram post shared by WWE, the group surprised the lifelong fan with WrestleMania tickets. The caption read: “The MFT’s and Michin surprised lifelong WWE fan Airman Soto with #WrestleMania tickets!”
“Congratulations, man. You’re going to WrestleMania,” Tama Tongas tells Soto in the clip.
Another surprise came during lunch with service members at the dining facility, where Airman Ammon Ferber was recognized in front of fellow airmen for his work ethic and upcoming deployment. Ferber, who works at the facility, had recently completed upgrade training and scored 99% on an exam.
“He is a very high achiever,” one person said during the recognition. “So he was still upset that he didn’t get 100.”
Ferber was then brought forward and presented with two tickets to “Monday Night Raw,” giving the base visit a second surprise moment tied to WWE’s biggest week of the year.
Beyond those ticket reveals, the stop at Nellis gave the wrestlers a closer look at daily life on the installation. The USO shared details showing the group sat through a mission brief, met with members of the Air Force Thunderbirds and spent time near the hangar, where they posed for photos around the jets and spoke with personnel.
Photos from the visit show the wrestlers shaking hands, gathering with troops and taking pictures with airmen and USO staff beneath aircraft displays on base. The mood was light, but the schedule went beyond a simple celebrity walk-through.
The base stop was only part of the day.
The WWE stars also visited Coral Academy of Science for a Purple Up Day assembly tied to April’s Month of the Military Child. Purple Up Day is observed each year to recognize military children, whose lives are often shaped by frequent moves, deployments and the strains that come with military service.
That gave the outreach effort a broader focus. Along with spending time with airmen at Nellis, the wrestlers also took part in an event aimed at recognizing military families and children, a group often discussed less publicly than the service members themselves.
The visit fits squarely within the USO’s longtime mission. Founded in 1941, the nonprofit supports service members and military families through entertainment events, outreach programs, care packages and services at more than 250 locations worldwide.
Celebrity appearances have long been part of that formula, but this visit had added visibility with WrestleMania taking over Las Vegas that week. Still, the most memorable parts of the day were less about spectacle than direct contact: an airman being honored for academic excellence before a deployment, another learning he was headed to WrestleMania, and military children getting their own moment of recognition.
For Nellis, the event served as both a morale stop and a community outreach effort. For Soto and Ferber, it also brought surprises they are likely not to forget anytime soon.
