Since the holiday season in 2003, the WWE and its performers have held a show for members of United States Military.
The entertainment company have always shown gratitude to the military, and previously have traveled to the troops in the Middle East for their performance. This year, WWE held their show at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Hulk Hogan began the Wednesday night show with a few of his catchphrases, but was then interrupted by The Miz.
Miz claimed the soldiers were inspired by his toughness, especially when he played a marine in the WWE studios’ The Marine franchise. The crowd booed him, while cheering for his stunt double, as John Cena made his way to the ring. They traded barbs until Cena finally threw Miz out of the ring.
Seth Rollins made his way to the ring with Kane, J&J security, Big Show, and Luke Harper. They attacked Cena and Hogan until Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback made the save.
The first commercial break featured Angelina Jolie talking about her upcoming film Unbroken, in which she mentioned that she is inspired by members of the military.
The opening match was a tag match between the Usos and the Dust brothers. There was a good back and forth, but eventually the Usos won the match after both landed diving splashes on their opponents and pinned them for the win.
On a pre-recorded message, the cast of The Voice show their appreciation for the troops and Florida Georgia Line performed their song “Anything Goes.”
The divas’ Santa’s Helper Battle Royal, a match where the cast of divas compete to throw everyone else out of the ring was up next, and was met with cheers from the troops. Naomi was the last diva standing.
Sergeant Slaughter appeared before the commercial break to hype up the next match: a bootcamp match between bitter rivals Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt.
They had a great back and forth with the troops, who were constantly chanting “we want tables.” After a few tries by Ambrose to procure some tables, he finally secured one, but got a modified ura nage, a judo takedown, on it instead. Wyatt covered him for the pin, but Ambrose kicked out at the count of two. Wyatt then proceeded to mock Sergeant Slaughter. Slaughter threw his boot onto the ring and Ambrose used it to put Wyatt onto another table. Dean then took a chair and dove onto Wyatt with it to win the match.
Lana and Rusev came out next and were met with boos from the crowd. Lana taunted the crowd in order to procure boos. Daniel Bryan interrupted, and said that if Rusev doesn’t like the U.S., he should get out. Rusev challenged him to a fight, but soldiers jumped the railing and repelled from the roof to surround the ring. Rusev looked around and decided to retreat.
The main event was up next and involved eight of the 11 men who were in the ring in the first segment. It was team of John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan going against the team of Seth Rollins, Big Show, Kane, and Luke Harper. It was basically a rematch of Survivor Series. There was some good back and forth between the teams, but Cena’s clan emerged victorious.
While it was a fun event, it felt like what happened in the ring will not be affecting any of WWE’s storylines. The babyfaces or good guys came out on top to boost morale, and it was obvious that the troops enjoyed the show.
In the past, the WWE superstars would be outside and wrestle under daylight. It just had a better vibe and they would show the superstars and divas interacting with the members of the military and actually perform solely for them. They conveyed a message that since the troops couldn’t be with their families during the holidays, the WWE could bring something to them.
