Tribute to the Troops Review - December 19, 2012

John Cena hits a flurry of offense on U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro.

Solid match with Randy Orton and Sheamus defeating World Heavyweight Champion Big Show and Dolph Ziggler. It was well wrestled and the restart from SmackDown General Manager Booker T was nicely done. Sure, Show might've looked a bit weak in defeat, but it took two finishers to finally take him down for the three count. Also, this show wasn't about furthering feuds anyway, so the ending result of this bout came as no surprise.

Brief match between Alberto Del Rio and Ryback. Del Rio's pre-match promo with Ricardo Rodriguez got a chuckle out of this viewer, but the match was over before it even got started. I don't see why they needed to protect Del Rio here by having him lose via disqualification, but Ryback was still able to hit his finisher on them both regardless.

Extremely entertaining Miz TV segment guest starring the Muppets. Being the major Muppet mark that I am, I might've found this more humorous than most would, but it was still very fun. I got a kick out of Kermit's line asking Miz if he was a good guy, essentially breaking the proverbial fourth wall in the process. Damien Sandow's interruption only enhanced this promo as well as his enjoyable verbal exchange with Miz and the Muppets. This was the highlight of the show for me and I always love it when the Muppets appear on WWE programming.

Good match with The Miz defeating Damien Sandow. Given the fact this was the first-ever meeting between the two, it provided viewers a nice preview of what they're capable of inside the ring. They developed solid chemistry and both were able to hit their signature spots before Miz scored the roll-up victory. I highlight anticipate seeing more from Sandow and Miz in the future.

Decent six-man tag team match with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No and R-Truth defeating 3MB. I'm not much of a fan of 3MB, so they were a majority of the reason why I didn't care about this bout, but it served its purpose in delivering a fun finish and some quality comedy from Team Hell No.

Great match between John Cena and United States Champion Antonio Cesaro. Both of their roles on this show were fitting since Cena has been the face of this annual event for years while Cesaro has trashed Americans for weeks now. The match wasn't all that long, but Cesaro looked strong in defeat after scoring some offense early on. This is another feud I would love to see occur at some point down the line.

Overall, an enjoyable show that featured some quality action and touching video packages celebrating the event's tenth anniversary. Obviously, the matches weren't the focal point of the show, but they did a superb job of giving the live crowd entertained and happy with all the faces going over. I personally skipped through the concerts, but it made for some fine filler for those in attendance. It never ceases to amaze me how WWE goes above and beyond for saluting our troops each year and doing so in such a respectful and classy manner.

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