RAW from Iraq
Another year they give us the Christmas Show from Iraq. It was good, as always, and I’m actually now completely convinced that they’re doing these episodes for the right reasons. They showed a lot of servicemen messages, and the crew was in some danger when a mortar went off near where they’d been touring, but that part was emotionally honest and I’m hoping that they keep this up.

The opener was my man John Cena taking on Edge in a good match. These two have really come to the point where they’re Flair-Dusty or Hogan-Piper. They can have a great match every time out because they know exactly how every move should be done and what ways to do things to get the right reaction from the crowd. Cena is at his best with Edge and Edge, who could have a good match with just about anyone, is probably peaking with Cena.

This was a really fun match, and though the Iraq shows aren’t much about the in-ring, this was really entertaining. Great section where Cena went for the FU, but Edge escaped and hit the Implant DDT and went for the Electric Chair, but Cena got out of that. Good stuff that ended with the FU and a Cena win.

In a match that made me very happy, CM Punk pinned Shelton Benjamin. Now, I wish it were a lot longer and that Punk had used the Vise, but it was a good short match. Some short matches can be great (Liger-Ultimo Dragon from the J-Cup comes to mind) and this was one that had a lot going for it. I think Punk’s a big star waiting to happen. Shelton got pinned with a roll-up after missing the Stinger Splash. Good stuff.

So what's he using for a dumbbell in his left hand?

The Undertaker beat Johnny Nitro. Now, let’s not quibble about Johnny Nitro getting pinned when he could easily have been replaced by someone who’s not getting a good heel reaction, but this was OK. Now, Undertaker certainly didn’t have to come to Iraq, and in fact he wasn’t expected to go at first, but I’m glad he did because even without the effects for his opening, he’s a solid performer and a beloved one. I gotta give another shout-out to Cynan, who is recovering still and whose fave wrestler is UT. This wasn’t that much of a match. UT got his offense, Nitro came back following a Melina distraction, and then UT came back and won. It was highly appreciated and UT was the most over star with the soldiers.

Bob Holly and Bobby Lashley had a fun little match. These guys could have a really nice feud if given the right amount of time in ECW. I like Lashley and I think that working with Holly, who’s really talented and knows how to make guys look good while he’s beating the ever-lovin’ pulp out of them.

Lashley just threw everything out there hitting a Press Slam right out of the gate. Holly came back, but Lashley did too including hitting that sweet back breaker that starts out as a Torture Rack. Holly almost got the Alabama Slam, but Lashley got out. He pinned Holly with a Running Powerslam. Good little match.

Umaga beat Jeff Hardy. Jeff works well with bigger wrestlers, but this was only OK. Umaga got attacked early by Jeff’s unstoppable attack until he managed to stop it by ramming him into the post. Some question the push Umaga’s gotten recently, but he’s just about the only guy they’ve really tried to build right. They’ve taken months to do what they did with Victoria in less than a month. Jeff did his dives and hit a Twist of Fate, but when he went for the Swanton, Umaga got the knees up and that allowed him to take over and hit the Samoan Spike for the win.

This one's for the troops.

Carlito, who is a heel-acting face, beat Randy Orton. This really should be an important finish, but since it happened on the special show, it won’t matter. If they package him right, Carlito is the future of the WWE. (Randy Orton is thought to be the future, but he blows every chance he gets.) This wasn’t a bad match at all, and Carlito won with a handful of tights. I liked the match.

JBL and the Divas came out. They were all really over and JBL gets to act like a face on these shows. In fact, I’m told that he’s one of the most popular visitors to Iraq; he’s been on six different visits and it was one of his ideas for the company. He dressed as Santa.

Chris Masters came out and said he didn’t believe in Santa and then challenged a serviceman to the Masterlock Challenge. He chose a small dude, but when he put it on, JBL kicked Masters in the back. They then announced that the guy was the first to win The Masterlock Challenge. I liked the angle.

A good show and one that I want to see again next year.

WWE Presents: The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA
Wow. The WWE does these DVDs so well but when I heard that the WWE was doing a DVD set on my favorite old school federation, I was a little worried.

I shouldn’t have been.

While there’s still the idea that the WWWF (at the time) was the big league, there’s no question that this DVD set gives the AWA its fair due. They talked with the important people; they had great interviews and easily the best interviewers they’ve used so far because they managed to coax much better answers than they usually do. They didn’t even use Steve Lombardi! This was a great set.

The big documentary told the story in about two hours through match footage (including some very good training footage of Verne training eventual burn-out former Olympic gold medalist Chris Taylor from Wide World of Sports) and a lot of interviews.

It would be easier to know what Garcia thinks if he understood the function of individual conjunctions.

They missed a few folks they should have gotten (like Sgt. Slaughter and Rick Martel) but they did get Nick Bockwinkel, Verne and Greg Gagne, Jumping Jim Brunzell, Hulk, Hennan, Okerlund, and Michael Hayes. They could also have interviewed Paul Ellering and Animal and maybe Stan Hansen, but they let the folks they got tell a full story.

The best parts were the highlights from the years before I started watching. There were moments with Bockwinkel, Crusher and more than I had never seen and I thought were fantastic. Ray Stevens wasn’t covered as much as I’d have liked, nor was Pat Patterson, but then, such a small percentage of their days were spent in the AWA.

Some of the stuff they talked about was obviously to make Vince happy, like folks saying that the WWWF was the pinnacle, but there were no flat-out lies that I could find. Even when Eric Bischoff came on to talk about the last days, it all seemed very honest.

True, they exaggerated the crowds at times, but mostly they were honest. Especially Baron Von Raschke and Nick Bockwinkel. They were both so good with the Baron being slightly goofy and Nick being so damn classy. It’s easy to see how he managed to be a star for so long based on that promo ability alone.

The other features are damn good, too. The match choices aren’t the ones I’d have chosen, but they were solid. The two most important matches were Verne Gagne vs. Bockwinkel in the 1981 retirement match and the Lawler vs. Von Erich match from 1988. They should have included the 60 minute draw between Curt Hennig and Nick and not the SuperClash match, and they should have given us the Rage in a Cage match where Curt nearly gets him finger cut off. They should have had some Sgt. Slaughter matches and at least one Ray Stevens match. The matches are all good and fun to watch, but it’s not quite as much as I had hoped for.

So the extras are good, but the documentary is really where it’s at, which is quite the reverse of a lot of the WWE’s latest releases.

That’s all for this week. I’m out of town starting…NOW!