Original Airdate: Monday, December 25th, 2006
Camp Victory
Baghdad, Iraq
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John Cena vs. Edge
It looks like we're going with a big match to kick things off here on Christmas. There are many bad things that the WWE does, this is not one of them. We get some good action to start, as you would expect from these two. The crowd is also just so into this and who can blame them. They zoom out and the ring is in front of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. Edge is dominating and when Cena tries to make a comeback, Edge hits a spinning heel kick. Edge puts on the Camel Clutch and JR and Jerry Lawler refer to Iron Sheik, which gives me a good opportunity to say rest in peace to a true legend of a personality. What an entertainer Sheik was and he will be missed. Cena battles out of it and makes his comeback. He hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and then catches Edge up for the FU. Edge battles out and hits a DDT. Edge goes up top, but Cena goes there to try to hit a FU on the ropes. Edge battles out and hits an electric chair. Edge misses with the Spear and Cena hits the FU and picks up the pinfall victory. These guys have another good match with a different type of circumstances here.
Match Rating: **3/4
We get a montage of soldiers and then the WWE Superstars with them. Then CM Punk wishes us a happy holidays and Shelton Benjamin does the same, then asks the producers if that was good enough. They're facing off next.
CM Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin
After Punk gets the best of him, Shelton attempts to leave and Punk goes after him and throws him back in the ring. Shelton is able to throw Punk into the ring post shoulder first. After some shoulder work, Punk hits a dropkick and some forearms. He hits the high knee/bulldog combo and gets a 2 count. Punk goes up top, but Shelton leaps up and hits a superplex from the top. Punk kicks out at 2 and Shelton argues with the ref about it. Shelton misses the splash in the corner and Punk rolls him up for the victory. This was a pretty standard TV match.
Match Rating: *3/4
Johnny Nitro vs. Undertaker
We get a rare Raw appearance here for Undertaker. I'm not really sure why they picked Nitro for this spot when there are other guys not really getting a push that can get squashed. Yes, I know this aired on Christmas and it basically doesn't count. Taker throws him around a little bit and goes for the Last Ride. Nitro is able to escape and then snaps his neck on the top rope. That offense lasts all of about 30 seconds before Taker levels him with a clothesline. Taker hits Snake Eyes, a chokeslam and the Tombstone for the win. Your usual Taker squash mixed in with some Nitro bumping.
Match Rating: 3/4*
They show Lilian Garcia singing the national anthem earlier today.
They show footage of an attack that happened when they were setting up the ring. 14 soldiers were wounded from the attack.
Bobby Lashley vs. Hardcore Holly
We're getting a lot of ECW flavor here tonight. JR and Lawler's announcing tonight reminds me as if we are listening to a video game tonight. Lashley hits a delayed vertical suplex. The action spills outside and Holly throws Lashley into the steps. Holly gets in his little bit of offense before Lashley suplexes him to make his comeback. Lashley wraps this one up with a running powerslam.
Match Rating: 3/4*
We get a couple more videos of the troops. I'm not trying to shortchange the videos because they are actually pretty well done. They show the full range of emotion that goes along with visiting our brave troops.
Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy
Just going off the top of my head, I believe my favorite match of Umaga's to date was against Hardy on Raw. Umaga blocks a sunset flip, but misses with the splash and Hardy hits him with a dropkick. Hardy hits a baseball dropkick and attempts a dive, but is caught and driven into the ring post. Umaga goes up top, but misses with the splash. Hardy hits Whisper In The Wind and gets a 2 count. Hardy blocks the Samoan Spike and hits the Twist Of Fate. He now goes for the Swanton, but Umaga gets his knees up. He hits the butt to the face in the corner and follows it up with the Samoan Spike for the win. These two just have good chemistry.
Match Rating: **1/4
Art Myers, the director of entertainment, presents a troop with the 2.6 millionth letter sent to the troops.
Randy Orton vs. Carlito
Remember that classic feud these two had in September? Orton hits a spinning side suplex. I'm not sure I've ever seen him use that before. Carlito comes back and hits a knee lift and a clothesline. He hits his springboard reverse elbow and gets a 2 count. Both guys go for their finishers, but are able to counter it. Orton turns it into a pin attempt, but gets caught by the referee for putting his feet on the ropes. He argues with the referee and Carlito rolls him up, holds the trunks and gets the win.
Match Rating: 3/4*
The Divas are shown with Santa Claus.
They show all of the work that went into building the makeshift arena.
Santa Claus makes his way out to the ring. He brings out Torrie Wilson, Maria and Kristal. They go around handing out gifts to the troops. Out comes Chris Masters to ruin the mood. He tells Santa that he hates Christmas. He is going to test out how tough the troops are, but first he's going to do a Master Lock Challenge on Santa. He slaps it on and Santa is down for the count. He then calls in a troop and it's a guy who is about a foot shorter than he is. He slaps on the hold and in comes Santa from behind. It's everyone's favorite babyface, JBL. He comes in and kicks him from behind and he breaks the hold, so the troop wins the challenge. He hits the Clothesline From Hell on Masters and celebrates with the diva. Ummmm...okay?
We get one last highlight video of the trip before we end it.
Up until the kind of bizarre finish, this was actually more entertaining than I expected. The highlight packages were all pretty interesting and the matches themselves were mostly better than a lot of the matches we normally get. This is truly one of the cooler things that WWE did and for a show on Christmas, this was a decent episode.
Overall Rating: 60%
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