Tribute to the Troops 2005: Simple and Fun

And one of the better shows of the year.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 19, 2005
Location: Bagram Air Force Base, Bagram, Afghanistan
Commentators: Joey Styles, Jerry Lawler

It’s time for Tribute to the Troops. I had planned to do the rest of these shows, but they are freaking HARD to find. This is the only one I could find a full copy of at the moment so you’re stuck with it. This is one of those shows that doesn’t take itself seriously and there’s nothing wrong with that. The main event tonight is HHH vs. Michaels in a boot camp match, which should be entertaining if nothing else. Let’s get to it.

This is a special episode of Raw, not a regular special if that makes sense. Also as usual with these shows, the ratings are going to be much lighter.

We open with the soldiers running up to meet the WWE guys.

Video on how awesome WWE is for doing this.

Here’s Vince to open the show. He says Santa himself may be here tonight, but he’s not sure what to give some people. Tonight is about the troops who the media back home doesn’t understand and it’s time to tell their stories. Vince brings out Lillian Garcia in a sexy Santa outfit to sing the national anthem.

Video on WWE landing in Germany for a pit stop.

Big Show vs. Carlito

Carlito pounds away as well as he can but jumps into a chokeslam for the pin. This barely lasted a minute.

According to Joey, it’s about 45 degrees in Afghanistan so I can understand them wanting to get out of the ring quickly.

Video on troops detonating landmines.

Here’s Coach to introduce Santa. Santa is in camo and has a beard that covers his face. He talks about how no one cares about the troops and insults their base. Santa complains about there not being any Dom Perignon for his reindeer and says that he’s canceling Christmas, New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco De Mayo, Groundhog’s Day and Oktoberfest! This brings out a Santa in red who says that HE is the real Santa. The Bad Santa says that the only Ho Ho Ho’s around here are the Divas and the red Santa is an imposter. The Red Santa suggests a No Ho Ho Holds Barred match to determine who the real Santa is.

Good Santa vs. Bad Santa

Good Santa loses his hat and is revealed to be Mick Foley (of course). He hits Bad Santa with a sack of toys, revealing JBL in the camo. Foley pulls the pillow from under his shirt and hits JBL in the head with it. JBL thankfully no sells it (Joey: “Mick, IT’S A PILLOW!”) and kicks Mick in the head. The Clothesline misses and it’s Socko for the win. This was great fun.

We see some clips of a press conference with Cena and Trish answering some questions.

Video on MSNBC being in Afghanistan as well.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Snitsky

Gene (Snitsky’s first name for awhile) takes Shelton down to start and rips the buckle pad off. Shelton comes back with some fast shots to the head but splashes the buckle, allowing Snitsky to kick his head off for the pin. Shelton is on a big losing streak here which would result in Mama Benjamin showing up to get him on the right track again.

John Cena vs. Chris Masters

Cena is champion but this is non-title for no apparent reason. Masters runs Cena over with a shoulder block but Cena takes him to the mat with a front chancery. That would be move #19 or so that I can think of Cena using over the years. Masters gets low bridged to the floor for some brawling before we head back in. Chris puts on a front chancery of his own as the fans chant for Cena. There’s the Masterlock but Masters lets go of it instead of letting it get broken. Well to be fair he isn’t famous for his brain. A middle rope fist drop misses Cena and they slug it out. Cena hits his usual stuff and finishes with the FU.

Rating: C. This was fine. Cena is incredibly popular on these trips so having him win a quick match is perfectly fine. There wasn’t supposed to be anything intense here and that’s what the fans got. Masters would be in the Elimination Chamber in a few weeks after this and would actually make it to the final two or three.

Video on troops missing their families.

Here’s Coach to call out Ric Flair. Some banter occurs, and Flair is challenged to defend the Intercontinental Title RIGHT NOW.

Intercontinental Title: Ric Flair vs. Jonathan Coachman

Coach gets in a quick elbow and chokes away with a shirt to start but Flair comes back with chops in the corner. Flair asks the referee for the time and hits Coach low in a classic Naitch move. Figure Four and we’re done.

Video on the troops being heroes.

Music video on the WWE people meeting the troops.

Maria almost walks into a bomb shelter.

Maria/Candace Michelle vs. Trish Stratus/Ashley Massaro

Trish is rocking the camo outfit here which REALLY works on her. Ashley and Maria start things off and what are you really expecting here? Candace wants to fight Trish but runs when Trish comes in. I think Candace and Maria are heels but Maria is too goofy to be evil. Candance gets body surfed by the troops for a bit but it’s time to dance a bit first.

Michelle lays on the ropes but Trish shoves Michelle to the outside and lays on the ropes herself. Trish accidentally headscissors the referee down and it’s time for the boob slapping chops from Stratus. Now the headscissors takes Candace down. Off to Ashley who gets rolled up for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: A. This was about getting hot women in small outfits for the troops. It worked.

The Divas celebrate with the troops post match.

The troops are constantly in danger and some awards they’ve won.

Video on the WWE people meeting the troops again.

HHH vs. Shawn Michaels

Bootcamp match which basically means street fight. Shawn has his camera with him which I always find cool. He’s also in camo which is a nice touch. HHH punches him down to start as we have credits going along the bottom of the screen. Shawn cranks on the arm to slow things down and gets two off a backslide. We hit the third armbar before Shawn gets elbowed back to the floor.

Back from a break with Shawn being backdropped out to the floor. HHH tries a Pedigree on the outside but gets backdropped down instead. Shawn blasts HHH in the face with a sandbag and pounds away even more. HHH comes back with a gas can to the head, giving off a big THUD. They slug it out in the aisle and head back in where HHH is thrown over the corner and right back to the floor.

Shawn hits him in the head with a mop of all things but gets sent face first into the post as a result. Back in and there goes the referee, meaning HHH’s DDT gets no count. Another referee slides in for two, resulting in a shoving match with HHH. The referee has an Army insignia on his arm so HHH blasts him in the face. Shawn takes HHH down but can’t follow up. They slug it out with Shawn taking over with his usual stuff. The Pedigree is countered into a catapult and Chin Music ends this.

Rating: C+. Again, what did you expect here? The idea was to give the fans something fun to end the show and that’s exactly what they did. There could have been more weapons used here but the stuff they had was fine. Shawn winning sends the troops back to their barracks happy and that’s the right idea for something like this.

A final music video ends things.

Overall Rating: C+. This is always hard to grade but this was fine. This isn’t a show that you can grade like a usual one and I wasn’t about to try to. The troops got to see something fun and have a good time and the WWE gets to look good. This was fun like it was supposed to be and that’s about all there is to it. In other words, simple and fun, which is more than you get from a lot of wrestling shows.

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