WWE leader, Smackdown! Opening, and we are LIVE from Camp Speicher, Tikrit, Iraq.
  

Vince then brings out Lillian Garcia (Whom Cole informs us was an army brat stationed in Spain for 8 years) clad in a Santa two-piece. Vince then yells “Atten-HUT! I’ve always wanted to do that,” and hands the mic to Lillian to sing the National Anthem. Lillian sings a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and to the roaring approval of the crowd, we go to commercials.

Back, and we see the story of the trip to Iraq. The Flight, the suiting up, the nervous looks from some of the guys (Heidenreich looks just like a guy I knew in the Marines in his gear.) 82d Airborne gives the WWE a rousing welcome (“Hoo-AH!”) and we are off to the ring.

Rene Dupree is out to take on Booker T. Rene enters to a big “USA” Chant, and Booker is massively over.

Bell rings. Lockup, Rene forced to the corner, break, Rene says something and gets loudly booed. Lockup again, chain wrestling, and Booker wins it with a pair of hiptosses. Booker controlling with the beatdown, but Rene scrambles out of the way of an axekick and when Booker chases, Rene gets a low-blow mulekick. Rene with the kicks to the head, and taunts with the Gay, Gay dance of French Manliness. Rene covers but only gets 2. Headlock slapped on, but Booker powers out, gets the face surge, and puts Rene down with a spinebuster. Booker gives us a spineroonie, kick to the gut, Axekick, cover, 1-2-3 and Booker wins it. Booker is smiling ear to ear as the crowd cheers.

Spc. … Umm, I’m not going to try spelling that, but she says that just as she’s going home, her husband is getting called up and going to spend a year in Iraq. Bad karma, yes, but it’s a part of the sacrifices that you make in the service. She can’t wait to see him when she gets home and promises to give him the biggest hug ever.

Back, and Recon Platoon wishes us merry Christmas.

Video package of the WWE superstars chatting up some of the soldiers. Eddie Guererro says that he’s proud of the soldiers, and if we back out now, what will their sacrifices have been for?

Mick Foley got to see a lot of the countryside from helicopter, J”B”L finally got a crowd to chant his name, Kurt Angle cracked on Big Shows weight (“This helicopter can carry a payload of about 60,000 pounds.” “So about 4 Big Shows?”), and a lot of the good is shown (Iraqis working with soldiers, schools being rebuilt, good will all around.) A nice feel-good package.

Back, and the commanding officer of the forces presents the WWE Superstars a special commemorative medal denoting all the different units under this particular task force.

Out to the ring, and here comes Santa Claus! He gets on the mic, and his voice sounds familiar, I can’t quite place it. Turns out Santa decided to make a special trip to Iraq to give gifts to all the good little soldiers, but Santa has a big task ahead of him, so he decides to bring out some special helpers: the WWE Diva’s! Dawn-Marie, Torrie Wilson, and Miss Jackie make their way to the ring, and with the help of Lillian, they go down to pass out T-Shirts and distribute hugs to the lucky guys on the front row. Santa calls the girls back into the ring, and hands out some of the skimpiest lingerie I’ve seen in recent memory to Torrie, Miss Jackie, and Lillian. When he gets to Dawn Marie, tho, She gets a half drunk bottle of Gatorade (Santa was thirsty.) Dawn pitches a fit, so she gets taken down by Miss Jackie and the catfight is on. Meanwhile, in the ring, Torrie senses something’s amiss and pulls the wig off to reveal that Santa is actually Mick Foley! Torrie and Lillian tousle Mick’s hair, “Wreck” plays, and after a greeting from the 50^th finance battalion and seeing a soldier re-enlist, we’re off to commercials.

Back, and Sgt. Havvard loves her kids and her mom.

“Hei! Den! Heidenreich!” Heidenreich is out to take on the Undertaker. How are they going to put out the sun for Undertakers entrance? Oh wait, not even going to bother. Undertaker comes out simply in his pants and shirt, leaving the jacket and hat in the back. They are able to do a little smoke effect while he does his eye roll.

Bell rings, and ‘Taker is full speed ahead kicking and punching Heidenreich down. Cross corner whip, Heidenreich gets an elbow up, but runs right into a big boot. Old School, Heidenreich down in the corner, ‘Taker sizing him up, inverted DDT. Heidenreich bails to catch his breath. ‘Taker reaches for him, Heidenreich pulls ‘Takers legs out from under him and hits a flurry of rights. Back in the ring, and Heidenreich goes for a cover, but can’t keep him down. ‘Taker out of the ring and Heidenreich chasing. ‘Taker gets the better of him, and sets him up for the guillotine leg drop. Back in the ring, ‘Taker goes for a jumping DDT, Heidenreich reverses into a spinebuster. Both men down. Count goes to 7. Punch exchange, ‘Taker gets the better of it, and Heidenreich goes down. Crowd chants for the Tombstone, and ‘Taker looks to oblige. Goozle, but Heidenreich gets out and bails. He looks to try escaping through the crowd, but the soldiers won’t let him. Finally, the bell rings, and Undertaker is declared the winner by count out. Cole and Tazz promise that this isn’t over. Oh joy, and I didn’t get you guys anything for Christmas.

Another recap package featuring the superstars mingling with the troops.  I know I’m not giving very detailed descriptions of these, but it’s not something that can be conveyed with mere words. Just to see the superstars give the soldiers big smiles on their faces (and vice versa), it does this former Marine’s heart good. I’m not in support of the war by any means, but I do support our troops (I was one, and my Brother just retired), believe that we are doing some good over there, and just like Eddie said, I hope they all get home safe.

Back, and Hardcore Holly is out to take on Kenzo Suzuki. No Hiroko to be seen, and Kenzo responds to the boo’s by throwing his shoe at a random guy in the crowd.

Lockup, hiptoss on Hardcore, Kenzo tossed into the corner, and they back and forth with the offense. Kenzo with a headlock, Hardcore powers up and floors Kenzo with a couple clotheslines. Hardcore up top, flying clothesline. Cover only gets 2. Hardcore up, Kenzo picked up, Alabama Slam! Cover, 1-2-3, and Hardcore gets the win.

Back from commercials, and we see the transformation of Camp Speicher into a WWE Arena.

Back to the ring, and John “Bradshaw” Layfield is out with an armed escort, a Humvee with the bull horns on it, and wearing a firesuit with a flak jacket and title belt around it and Cowboy hat on top (Cole erroneously refers to it as a bio-hazard suit.) J”B”L says that he admits that he is fairly nervous. He says that his conditions since getting here have been atrocious. The food has been atrocious (“It doesn’t exactly have an ‘exit strategy’ if you know what I mean”), He can’t find a place that serves Hennessey scotch, and asks the soldiers to chant his name, but quietly, so that the enemy won’t hear. He says thank you, but I’m going back to New York where it’s safeandseeyouwhenyoustartanotherwarBYE! He’s stopped by…

“Weeeeelllllll!” The Big Show is out and shaking his head. He tells J”B”L that he looks like a big tinfoil covered piece of chicken crap. He reminds J”B”L that the WWE is here to honor the soldiers, not J”B”L, and goes on to call him a Deserter. And do you know what they do to deserters? J”B”L puts his visor down, but Big Show takes the helmet off. J”B”L tries to beg off, but Big Show manhandles him and throws him out of the ring. Big show dons J”B”L’s hat and much cheering ensues.

Back from commercials, and another video package, this one featuring the superstars visiting the forward operating bases.

Back, and after one more video package of the troops thanking WWE for coming over again this year, Kurt Angle and Luther Reigns are out.  Kurt is shocked that the troops would boo him and reminds us that he doesn’t suck, that he’s a gold medallist. He doesn’t get any further before Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guererro are out to interrupt. Eddie is driving the Humvee, and Rey has the 619 cam.  Both men are wearing flaks and helmets and having a great old time. They doff the combat gear and we’re off.

Kurt and Rey start, and Kurt mat wrestles Rey down. Rey punches his way out of a wristlock and gets a couple second of flippy floppy before Kurt stops him. Tag to Luther who slows it down with some power stuff. Tag back to Kurt, who gets a suplex in, taunts Eddie, and hits another. Tag to Luther, backbreaker on Rey, now with the stretch. Luther throwing Rey into the corner, whipped across, but Rey gets the boots up. Luther tries to fight back, but Rey gets a tornado DDT to put both men down. Slow crawl, double tag, and Eddie is a house afire! Clotheslines and dropkicks for Kurt, dropkick for Luther, and 3 Amigo’s for Kurt, but Kurt twists out and applies the ankle lock. Eddie turns over and throws Kurt into the ropes. Calling Rey in and as he goes for the 6-1-9, Luther in and leveling Rey with a clothesline. He blind tags Kurt and goes to work on Eddie. Eddie gets Luther down into the ropes, Rey hits a 6-1-9, and Eddie up for the frogsplash. Cover, but Kurt in to break it up. Kurt looks to do more damage, but Rey pulls the ropes down and he takes a tumble. Tag to Rey, Rey drops the dime, cover, and it’s a clean sweep for the faces. Eddie and Rey celebrate as we are thrown to a video package set to “Higher” of the whole experience, and Vince closes us out by telling us that the best weapon we have is the fighting spirit of the men and women. Fade out, WWE logo, and we’re outta here.

Not a show for storylines, so no analysis. Just want to say that this is a good thing that the WWE did, and I hope they don’t have to go back next year.

See ya next week!