Falls Count Anywhere

12-20-05, page 3 (Smackdown!) (Armageddon)

Was that a special Christmas Socko?

They chose Afghanistan, which is good since they haven’t been there en masse yet, though I believe that JBL, Stacey Kiebler and Trish Stratus and maybe Michaels have been there on a tour before. The show opened with Vince talking, and saying how much they all appreciated being there. Nice thing.

In an incredibly short match, Carlito got pinned by The Big Show. The Show is another fave on these tours, so it comes as no surprise that he won in less than two minutes.

They did a lot of packages of the guys with the soldiers talking, giving hugs, Candice dancing suggestively for them, and a long package about finding mines. These were great and though it’s obviously to show that the WWE is human, it really felt like the guys on the tour were really impressed with what the soldiers go through. Nice segments.

The nice thing about this episode was the less announcing by our good friend Coach. The King and Styles did really well as a pair when they worked together.

In a nice segment, John Santa Layfield took on Santa Foley in a No Ho-Ho-Holds Barred match. Quickly, Foley got a 2 minute win with Socko. JBL and Foley did a good little set of promos on each other. This was a nice thing to see.

There was a great segment showing Rita Cosby going with the WWE crew on the trip. That was nice to see and they are getting a lot more press for this trip than for any of the other trips. Mick was very smart saying that it was long overdue that the WWE goes to Afghanistan because we shouldn’t be forgetting them.

They had Shelton Benjamin job to Gene Snitsky when he did the Stinger Splash into the exposed turnbuckle. That sucked. They have a plan, and I hope they make the most of it soon.

In the longest match of the night to this point, Cena beat Chris Masters. It’s kinda a waste using Masters in the role of a challenger on a show that doesn’t really count, but then again, all the matches are gonna be short and that’s where Masters is at his best.

Coach ran down Flair, saying that this was his farewell tour and that he should have stayed down. He then challenges Flair to a match for his IC title. Flair gets a win with the Figure Four. Flair was way over.

The guys were having a great time firing the guns and talking to the troops. They seemed so happy to be there. Flair mentioned that a 23 year old soldier woman was in tears because she thought she’d never get to meet Shawn Michaels and he was there. Great touch.

You know, this didn't end all that well in Apocalypse Now...

The Santa’s Helper Diva Match was only so-so, but they had Candice body-surf through the crowd, where the guys got their hands everywhere. Trish looked really hot. Far hotter than any of the others…except for Ashley who made her look like a Sasquatch covered in burnt dog fur. Trish did a nice swinging headscissors on referee Chad Patton. Trish gave Candice some slaps across the boobs. Candice actually got the pin with the Roll-Up on Ashley. Weird.

HHH and HBK gave a great Boot Camp Match. It wasn’t the best match we’ll ever see between these two, but it was good and was easily the best match on the show. They didn’t start brawling until after they came back from the break, and they didn’t do anything really violent, but it was a nice match. They did a nice spot where the Ref had an Army patch on and HHH saluted him before nailing him. Good match that ended with HBK getting the win after the Sweet Chin Music SuperKick.

Like I said, not much about the wrestling, but a good show that showed the guys really care. Good stuff and I hope that they keep doing this.

Remember that voting for the 2005 FanboyPlanet Wrestling Awards (the Christopher J. Garcia Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Wrestling Excellence) is the 28th. Send them to ska666@aol.com. Remember it’s Best Face, Best Heel and FanboyPlanet’s Favorite Wrestler.

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Chris Garcia