Csonka’s WWE Tribute to The Troops 2017 Review

Csonka’s WWE Tribute to The Troops Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– The Shield defeated Cesaro, Sheamus, & Samoa Joe @ 9:57 via pin [***]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Charlotte defeated Ruby Riott and Carmella @ 10:08 via submission [**½]
– The New Day & The Usos defeated Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Rusev, & Aiden English @ 8:06 via pin [**½]
– Absolution (Paige, Deville, & Rose) defeated Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James @ 10:07 via pin [**¾]
– AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Randy Orton defeated Team Canada (Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, & Jinder Mahal) @ 10:21 via pin [**¾]

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– Lilian Garcia opens the show, singing the national anthem.

– We now get a video history of the WWE Tribute to The Troops shows over the years.

– Michael Cole welcomes us to the show as The Shield makes their way to the ring. JBL and Saxton are on commentary with Cole.

The Shield vs. Cesaro, Sheamus, & Samoa Joe: The troops chant “don’t get sunburn” at Sheamus, it’s very sunny here and of course Sheamus is almost translucent. Ambrose runs wild early on Cesaro, he and Rollins work double teams but Cesaro cuts him off and tags in Sheamus. He and Ambrose trade strikes, Ambrose lays in some chops until Joe tags in and works jabs on Joe. It breaks down, and the Shield clears the ring and stands tall. Post break, and Sheamus is working the heat on Rollins, hitting a knee drop and covering for 2. The action spills to the floor, Ambrose hits a suicide dive, back in and Rollins makes the comeback, tagging in Reigns. He runs wild with clotheslines, working over Cesaro and Joe. Corner clotheslines follow, they trade boots and Reigns hits a Samoan drop for 2. Reigns gets cut off by Joe, it breaks down and everyone is in. Cesaro looks for the neutralizer, but Reigns escapes and hits the superman punch for 2. Sheamus eats the ripcord knee, and dirty deeds, and Reigns pins Cesaro after the spear. The Shield defeated Cesaro, Sheamus, & Samoa Joe @ 9:57 via pin [***] This was a good and fun match, as all six work well together. It was fun and pleased the crowd.

– Post match, the Shield praises the troops and thanks them for all they do.

– We get words of thanks to the troops from the cast of Star Wars, thanking the fans.

– We get a video package of John Cena talking about Tribute to The Troops.

Non-Title Match: Champion Charlotte vs. Ruby Riott vs. Carmella: Morgan, Logan, Tamina, Naomi, and Lana are at ringside. Ruby bails right away, Carmella rolls up Charlotte for 2. Ruby is back in and attacks Charlotte, but Charlotte cuts her off and then Carmella attacks. They double-team Charlotte, but Charlotte fires up and fights back. She looks for the figure eight but Natalya arrives. Post break, Ruby and Carmella are working over Charlotte, butte pairing doesn’t last long as Ruby takes out Carmella and covers Charlotte for 2. Charlotte nettles back, slams Ruby to the mat and heads up top. Ruby stops her, follows her up and Carmella is back and pulls Ruby to the mat and hits a head scissors on Charlotte for 2. Charlotte now suplexes both, cutting them off. She follows with chops, struts and hits a neck breaker on Carmella and an XPLODER on Ruby. Ruby hits the enziguri, but Carmella tosses her and covers Charlotte for 2. Carmella superkicks Ruby to the floor, eats a boot from Charlotte and the figure eight finishes it. Champion Charlotte defeated Ruby Riott and Carmella @ 10:08 via submission [**½] This was a perfectly sold match, a little clunky at times, but solid stuff overall.

– Charlotte gives the post match bayface promo, putting over the troops and especially the strong, independent women in the military.

– Various WWE stars speak about the importance of the show and paying tribute to the military as we see them interacting with the troops.

– The cast of Pitch Perfect 3 send messages of thanks to the troops.

– Luke Bryan & Stephen Colbert send messages of thanks to the troops.

– Machine Gun Kelly & Be Be Rexha perform.

– Will Ferrell, John Lithgow, Mel Gibson, and Mark Wahlberg send messages of thanks to the troops.

– Sgt. Slaughter thanks the troops, but Col. Ziggler arrives as they thank the troops from WWE & KFC. Miz interrupts and says he knows they aren’t real, military, because he’s been a marine three times. Mark Henry breaks this up and Sarge thanks the troops.

– New Day cuts a pre-match promo, putting over the troops.

– English arrives and asks for the troops to stand at attention, as he announces the top gun of Smackdown like, he’s his goose, and they will thrive, because it’s Rusev day!

The New Day & The Usos w/Kofi vs. Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Rusev, & Aiden English: Big E spanks Gable to begin, whips him to the corner and he and an Uso work double teams, covering for 2. Uso takes out Shelton, but Gable hits a rolling kick and tags in Rusev. Rusev posts the Uso and we take a break. Post break, and Rusev is working the heat on an Uso, isolating him on his side of the ring. The heels work quick tags, Shelton hits a spinebuster and then he and Gable work double teams. The Uso makes a comeback, tossing Shelton and we get wholesale changes to Jimmy & English. Jimmy takes control, Shelton back in but eats an enziguri, superkick to Gable and then to Rusev. English jumps into one as well, Jey hits a huge tope to the floor and New Day hits midnight hour to put Shelton away. The New Day & The Usos defeated Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Rusev, & Aiden English @ 8:06 via pin [**½] This served as a solid little preview for Sunday’s tag title match, which features these for teams. The match was short but solid with a fun closing stretch.

– More celebrities send messages of thanks to the troops.

– We get another video of celebrities sending messages of thanks to the troops.

Absolution (Paige, Deville, & Rose) vs. Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James: Rose and Bayley start things off. Rose slaps Bayley, who gets fired up and takes control, slamming Rose to the buckles and covering for 2. James and Deville in, Deville grounds the action and they then trade strikes. James fires away with kicks, but Deville powders to the floor. James follows and they brawl on the floor. Everyone squares off on the floor now. Post break, James is in control and tags in Bayley. Deville quickly rushes her to the corner, but Bayley cuts of Rose with the cutter in the ropes. Deville gets in a cheap shot and Rose hits a great jumping knee and covers for 2. Bayley crawls and gets the hot tag to banks, and works over Paige with knee strikes and covers for 2, It breaks down, Rose & Deville are tossed to the floor and James hits the flapjack on Paige. James hits the seated senton off the top, covering for 2. James then fives off the top and to the floor, but back in, Paige cuts her off and hits ramPaige for the win. Absolution (Paige, Deville, & Rose) defeated Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James @ 10:07 via pin [**¾] Pretty good little match here, Absolution works well as a team, and Rose and Deville are finding their main roster footing already and looked just fine out there. Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James are all very giving to them and are always there to make sure they’re in the right place at the ring time.

– We get a Star Wars tie in as storm Troopers visited the WWE Universe, and we get a special look at the film.

– Machinegun Kelly is back to perform.

– We get another video of celebrities sending messages of thanks to the troops.

AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Randy Orton vs. Team Canada (Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, & Jinder Mahal) w/The Singhs: Orton and Owens to begin, they work some back and forth until Orton hits a snap slam. Orton teases the RKO, but Owens powders to the floor. Post break, and Owens takes control, tagging in Mahal. Orton fires away with rights, and Styles tags in and hits a dropkick. Nakamura tags in, he lays in knee strikes to Mahal and then a knee drop, covering for 2. Good vibrations follow, but the Singhs distract Nakamura, allowing Mahal to make the comeback, hitting a clothesline and covering for 2. Sami tags in but Nakamura hits an enziguri and we get wholesale changes to Owens and Styles. Styles runs wild, hits the face buster and covers for 2. Owens fights off the clash, but Styles gets the calf slicer but Mahal makes the save. Orton dumps him and hits the draping DDT on both Singhs. Owens cuts him off with a superkick, but Styles PELEs Owens and Nakamura and Sami tag in. Nakamura works him over with knees and kicks, and then works the corner knees. Owens makes the save, Styles takes him out, RKO on Mahal, Kinshasa on Sami and that’s that. AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Randy Orton defeated Team Canada (Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, & Jinder Mahal) @ 10:21 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good, and fun little house show style main event, designed to put over the faces and ensure the fans were happy, and it did its job,

– AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Randy Orton stand tall to close the show.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

While they did a fine job of paying tribute to the troops, WWE found a nice balance and put on a solid little wrestling show, and even some light PPV build without hitting you over the head with it and still keeping the purpose of the show clear. I review the Tribute to The Troops show every year, and I do so because I think it’s a nice thing that they do, and because I believe in the message, as I have members of my family serving. I do think in recent years that they lost the point of the show when they transitioned to sterile arena shows. This show felt more like it used to, and was a fine two hours.