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Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Tribute to the Troops 2008
Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Camp Victory, Bagdad, Iraq
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Its the holiday special that has been going for I believe 8 years now? This is one of the more recent ones and since tonight the 2010 edition debuts its as good a time as any to put this on I suppose. There are only two matches, both being six man tags, but thats not the point here. Expect A LOT of video packages about the time spent in Iraq tonight which is always pretty cool. Lets get to it.
We open with various clips of the USO entertaining the troops which is rather true. At least we get to see the always sexy Marilyn Monroe. This is about giving a slice of Americana to the troops. Didnt Dusty Rhodes used to dish that out?
George W. Bush gives a message to the audience to begin about how awesome the military is. A clip of this was played at a lot of house shows and live events I went to and he was booed out of the freaking building. He was certainly polarizing to say the least. This is airing to the arena for lack of a better term and its cool to see the troops standing at attention.
Cole and Lawler are of course in Connecticut calling this. Also note Ill be grading these FAR lighter than I would most shows as thats not what these matches are about.
Jeff Hardy/CM Punk/R-Truth vs. John Bradshaw Layfield/John Morrison/The Miz
Hardy won the world title between the taping of this show and the airing of it so hes acknowledged as world champion here even though he doesnt have the belt. The troops are WAY into R-Truth. Lillian is in a hot little white number today which looks awesome on her. Who in their right mind would believe Miz was two years away from being world champion and a totally believable one at that? Miz and Morrison are tag champions here.
JBL comes out in a Hummer, complete with a driver. He has a Kevlar vest and a helmet with his cowboy hat on top of the helmet. Thats totally awesome. Apparently he was responsible for making this happen which is rather cool if its true. Truth vs. Morrison starts us off. JBL jumps him and Hardy gets rid of him as the faces rule the ring. They hit stereo suicide dives to the floor as we take a break.
Back with Miz getting two on Punk. We see Miz and Morrison double teaming Punk to get the advantage during the break. Hot tag to Hardy since everything is hot over there. Slingshot dropkick to the current WWE Champion gets two. Fans are WAY behind the Antichrist of Professional Wrestling for a Whisper in the Wind which gets two.
Twist of Fate is blocked by a Punch From Hell by JBL as he didnt reach his arm far enough over. Everything breaks down again and its JBL vs. Hardy. Apparently JBL leaves milk and croissants for Santa at Christmas. Clothesline From Hell misses which sets up the Twist of Fate and Swanton to give Jeff the pin.
Rating: C+. Again these ratings are REALLY loose here as these matches are more exhibitions than competitive matches. I cant imagine a heel winning anything tonight which is how it should be. Jeff would lose the title at the Rumble anyway so its not like this really would mean much for him. Fun little fast paced match though which usually work well to get a crowd excited.
We get our first of many clips of troops interacting with wrestlers which is mainly just a way to get in a bunch of sound bytes. Who thought it was a good idea to let Jeff Hardy drive a major piece of equipment? This one runs a little under five minutes.
Lillian says its time for Santa to visit and everyone here has been very good. So good that they need 2 Santas, both of whom are from Brooklyn. Really? This is what they picked over say Mickie and Eve in Santa outfits? The crowd is into them to say the least. Ah here we go: they have helpers. Five of them in this case: Alicia, Maria, Mickie, Kelly and Eve. That works a bit better. Mickie in pink with a massive gun works for some reason. Cool segment and about as obvious as it could have been.
Music video with the troops as the backdrop.
Now we get a sadder thing with talking about troops that have died and how the wars have effected everything. Cool stuff again.
Big Show/Randy Orton/Chris Jericho vs. Batista/John Cena/Rey Mysterio
Not bad for a main event. Show is a heel here but you can tell hes happy to be here. BIG pop for Jericho, also a heel. More or less no reaction for Orton. This is before his orange phase. After a break Batista gets a solid reaction but nothing compared to Jericho. Hes in the camo pants. He gets a big chant after his song ends. Second biggest pop so far for Rey and his flag pants. Cena gets a mixed reaction but its clearly more chhering. Hes World Champion here.
Batista vs. Orton to start. Orton gets out of the Bomb very early and off to Jericho. Mad heat on him. Boss Man Slam by Batista gets him out of trouble. How has no one but Abyss stolen that as a finisher since Boss Man left in 93? Off to Rey but Show pulls him out of the air on a 619 attempt and we take a break. More shots of the troops as we go to commercial.
Back with Jericho stomping on Rey. Cole and Lawler say this is bigger than Wrestlemania. Thats not as much of a stretch as you might think when you consider how far they go to set this up. Rey tries to speed things up but runs into a giant. Jerishow gets into a fight and theres a chokeslam for Jericho. Orton gets drilled too and Show leaves.
The smirk on his face is priceless. Orton vs. Cena now as Cena is in white sneakers for some reason. They look rather odd but maybe its a military thing like his jersey was (#4 for the fourth infantry). Five Knuckle Shuffle hits but Jericho breaks up the FU. RKO is blocked and Orton and Jericho rams heads, right into position for a 1238. FU to Orton and Batista Bomb to Jericho end this.
Rating: C+. Same thing as the first match for the most part as this was really more just a fun little romp rather than a competitive match. Theres not a thing wrong with that so its not like it matters here. This was about giving the troops something to smile about and that was a success so you cant call this anything but good.
Bush says a bit more and more wrestlers interacting with troops set to generic rock music ends us.
Overall Rating: B. Thats a pretty nominal grade to say the least. This was about doing something for the military and there really isnt much of a way to say if that was done well or not. HUGE credit to the WWE people that went over there as this was indeed huge. Consider their flight and the costs to go all the way around the world to do this and it really is pretty remarkable. The wrestling isnt the point here and because of that, its not really a factor in the grade. Good show, but the rating isnt something that is important if that makes sense.
Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Camp Victory, Bagdad, Iraq
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Its the holiday special that has been going for I believe 8 years now? This is one of the more recent ones and since tonight the 2010 edition debuts its as good a time as any to put this on I suppose. There are only two matches, both being six man tags, but thats not the point here. Expect A LOT of video packages about the time spent in Iraq tonight which is always pretty cool. Lets get to it.
We open with various clips of the USO entertaining the troops which is rather true. At least we get to see the always sexy Marilyn Monroe. This is about giving a slice of Americana to the troops. Didnt Dusty Rhodes used to dish that out?
George W. Bush gives a message to the audience to begin about how awesome the military is. A clip of this was played at a lot of house shows and live events I went to and he was booed out of the freaking building. He was certainly polarizing to say the least. This is airing to the arena for lack of a better term and its cool to see the troops standing at attention.
Cole and Lawler are of course in Connecticut calling this. Also note Ill be grading these FAR lighter than I would most shows as thats not what these matches are about.
Jeff Hardy/CM Punk/R-Truth vs. John Bradshaw Layfield/John Morrison/The Miz
Hardy won the world title between the taping of this show and the airing of it so hes acknowledged as world champion here even though he doesnt have the belt. The troops are WAY into R-Truth. Lillian is in a hot little white number today which looks awesome on her. Who in their right mind would believe Miz was two years away from being world champion and a totally believable one at that? Miz and Morrison are tag champions here.
JBL comes out in a Hummer, complete with a driver. He has a Kevlar vest and a helmet with his cowboy hat on top of the helmet. Thats totally awesome. Apparently he was responsible for making this happen which is rather cool if its true. Truth vs. Morrison starts us off. JBL jumps him and Hardy gets rid of him as the faces rule the ring. They hit stereo suicide dives to the floor as we take a break.
Back with Miz getting two on Punk. We see Miz and Morrison double teaming Punk to get the advantage during the break. Hot tag to Hardy since everything is hot over there. Slingshot dropkick to the current WWE Champion gets two. Fans are WAY behind the Antichrist of Professional Wrestling for a Whisper in the Wind which gets two.
Twist of Fate is blocked by a Punch From Hell by JBL as he didnt reach his arm far enough over. Everything breaks down again and its JBL vs. Hardy. Apparently JBL leaves milk and croissants for Santa at Christmas. Clothesline From Hell misses which sets up the Twist of Fate and Swanton to give Jeff the pin.
Rating: C+. Again these ratings are REALLY loose here as these matches are more exhibitions than competitive matches. I cant imagine a heel winning anything tonight which is how it should be. Jeff would lose the title at the Rumble anyway so its not like this really would mean much for him. Fun little fast paced match though which usually work well to get a crowd excited.
We get our first of many clips of troops interacting with wrestlers which is mainly just a way to get in a bunch of sound bytes. Who thought it was a good idea to let Jeff Hardy drive a major piece of equipment? This one runs a little under five minutes.
Lillian says its time for Santa to visit and everyone here has been very good. So good that they need 2 Santas, both of whom are from Brooklyn. Really? This is what they picked over say Mickie and Eve in Santa outfits? The crowd is into them to say the least. Ah here we go: they have helpers. Five of them in this case: Alicia, Maria, Mickie, Kelly and Eve. That works a bit better. Mickie in pink with a massive gun works for some reason. Cool segment and about as obvious as it could have been.
Music video with the troops as the backdrop.
Now we get a sadder thing with talking about troops that have died and how the wars have effected everything. Cool stuff again.
Big Show/Randy Orton/Chris Jericho vs. Batista/John Cena/Rey Mysterio
Not bad for a main event. Show is a heel here but you can tell hes happy to be here. BIG pop for Jericho, also a heel. More or less no reaction for Orton. This is before his orange phase. After a break Batista gets a solid reaction but nothing compared to Jericho. Hes in the camo pants. He gets a big chant after his song ends. Second biggest pop so far for Rey and his flag pants. Cena gets a mixed reaction but its clearly more chhering. Hes World Champion here.
Batista vs. Orton to start. Orton gets out of the Bomb very early and off to Jericho. Mad heat on him. Boss Man Slam by Batista gets him out of trouble. How has no one but Abyss stolen that as a finisher since Boss Man left in 93? Off to Rey but Show pulls him out of the air on a 619 attempt and we take a break. More shots of the troops as we go to commercial.
Back with Jericho stomping on Rey. Cole and Lawler say this is bigger than Wrestlemania. Thats not as much of a stretch as you might think when you consider how far they go to set this up. Rey tries to speed things up but runs into a giant. Jerishow gets into a fight and theres a chokeslam for Jericho. Orton gets drilled too and Show leaves.
The smirk on his face is priceless. Orton vs. Cena now as Cena is in white sneakers for some reason. They look rather odd but maybe its a military thing like his jersey was (#4 for the fourth infantry). Five Knuckle Shuffle hits but Jericho breaks up the FU. RKO is blocked and Orton and Jericho rams heads, right into position for a 1238. FU to Orton and Batista Bomb to Jericho end this.
Rating: C+. Same thing as the first match for the most part as this was really more just a fun little romp rather than a competitive match. Theres not a thing wrong with that so its not like it matters here. This was about giving the troops something to smile about and that was a success so you cant call this anything but good.
Bush says a bit more and more wrestlers interacting with troops set to generic rock music ends us.
Overall Rating: B. Thats a pretty nominal grade to say the least. This was about doing something for the military and there really isnt much of a way to say if that was done well or not. HUGE credit to the WWE people that went over there as this was indeed huge. Consider their flight and the costs to go all the way around the world to do this and it really is pretty remarkable. The wrestling isnt the point here and because of that, its not really a factor in the grade. Good show, but the rating isnt something that is important if that makes sense.