On December 24th, 2012, WWE aired a very special Christmas-themed episode of Monday Night RAW and while The Wrestling Life is taking a break for the holidays, I thought I'd bring you a special review of the incredibly strange show that aired on that night. After all, the holidays are a time of remembrance and reflection, so let's see what this show was all about!
The show all centers around a show-long storyline wherein Alberto Del Rio struck Santa Claus (played very well by Mick Foley on this night) with his car. Booker T informs the locker room that Santa might not make it, but his final act was to book Alberto Del Rio against John Cena (who is hamming it up so much during this segment that you cannot help, but laugh) in a MIRACLE ON 34th STREET FIGHT in the main event! However there's several undercard matches and several skits as well. An AWESOME "Jingle Bells" parody from the entire roster, Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee have several segments gloating about how they had joined forces to help Dolph beat Cena in a ladder match at that year's TLC (something I have virtually no memory of, for the record). Matt Striker and his stupid face bring us updates throughout the night on Santa's condition. Sheamus defeats the Big Show in a (LUMBER)JACK FROST MATCH! The Great Khali sang a Christmas carol in broken English, ZACK RYDER WRESTLED DAVID OTUNGA, andTeam Hell No exchange Christmas gifts. Plus, C.M. Punk and Paul Heyman came out to tell us that Ryback had ruined Christmas (and Paul's Hanukkah) by injuring Punk a few weeks prior!
It was a strange show with a hilariously wacky main event. There were steel chairs and other weapons wrapped up like Christmas presents. Alberto Del Rio unwraps a teddy bear and chooses to throw it at Cena, which Cena counters by HITTING DEL RIO WITH A CHRISTMAS TREE and then rolling a bowling ball down the ramp into Del Rio's groin. Finally, when Ricard Rodriguez and Del Rio overwhelm Cena and all hope seems lost, SANTA RETURNS! He dispatches Ricardo and (with the aid of a Christmas stocking) gives Del Rio a Mandible Claw! Cena hits an Attitude Adjustment and pins Alberto Del Rio! Christmas has been saved and all is right in the world for a moment. This show was AWESOME!
At the time, this show got very negative reviews and I can understand why. Alberto Del Rio had just started a babyface run and was suddenly a comedy heel? Big Show, the world champion, lost clean and nobody cared? A show-long story revolving around SANTA? At the time, it might've been silly and a bit annoying, but with the benefit of HOLIDAY HINDSIGHT, it becomes a wacky, fun show, filled with some random matches, segments, a really entertaining main event, and more! If you have some time to kill this holiday season and you'd like to laugh at something wrestling-related, I highly recommend this show. You can find it on the WWE network in its entirety! Thank you for reading! The Wrestling Life is taking a few weeks off for the holidays, but we'll be back in January! God bless you all and have a wonderful holiday season!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liam Renner is a contributor to The Wrestling Life, heard weekly on The Elite Podcast Network
The show all centers around a show-long storyline wherein Alberto Del Rio struck Santa Claus (played very well by Mick Foley on this night) with his car. Booker T informs the locker room that Santa might not make it, but his final act was to book Alberto Del Rio against John Cena (who is hamming it up so much during this segment that you cannot help, but laugh) in a MIRACLE ON 34th STREET FIGHT in the main event! However there's several undercard matches and several skits as well. An AWESOME "Jingle Bells" parody from the entire roster, Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee have several segments gloating about how they had joined forces to help Dolph beat Cena in a ladder match at that year's TLC (something I have virtually no memory of, for the record). Matt Striker and his stupid face bring us updates throughout the night on Santa's condition. Sheamus defeats the Big Show in a (LUMBER)JACK FROST MATCH! The Great Khali sang a Christmas carol in broken English, ZACK RYDER WRESTLED DAVID OTUNGA, andTeam Hell No exchange Christmas gifts. Plus, C.M. Punk and Paul Heyman came out to tell us that Ryback had ruined Christmas (and Paul's Hanukkah) by injuring Punk a few weeks prior!
It was a strange show with a hilariously wacky main event. There were steel chairs and other weapons wrapped up like Christmas presents. Alberto Del Rio unwraps a teddy bear and chooses to throw it at Cena, which Cena counters by HITTING DEL RIO WITH A CHRISTMAS TREE and then rolling a bowling ball down the ramp into Del Rio's groin. Finally, when Ricard Rodriguez and Del Rio overwhelm Cena and all hope seems lost, SANTA RETURNS! He dispatches Ricardo and (with the aid of a Christmas stocking) gives Del Rio a Mandible Claw! Cena hits an Attitude Adjustment and pins Alberto Del Rio! Christmas has been saved and all is right in the world for a moment. This show was AWESOME!
At the time, this show got very negative reviews and I can understand why. Alberto Del Rio had just started a babyface run and was suddenly a comedy heel? Big Show, the world champion, lost clean and nobody cared? A show-long story revolving around SANTA? At the time, it might've been silly and a bit annoying, but with the benefit of HOLIDAY HINDSIGHT, it becomes a wacky, fun show, filled with some random matches, segments, a really entertaining main event, and more! If you have some time to kill this holiday season and you'd like to laugh at something wrestling-related, I highly recommend this show. You can find it on the WWE network in its entirety! Thank you for reading! The Wrestling Life is taking a few weeks off for the holidays, but we'll be back in January! God bless you all and have a wonderful holiday season!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liam Renner is a contributor to The Wrestling Life, heard weekly on The Elite Podcast Network
RSS Feed
