We start the festivities with Vickie and Teddy in the back spreading some holiday cheer as Vickie attempts to have some sort of holiday cooking show. Eventually Hornswoggle shows up to ruin their “fun†and send us to the first match of the night.
John Morrison & Finlay & Matt Hardy & R-Truth vs. CM Punk & Luke Gallows & Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre: The faces all make their entrance together in R-Truth’s usual sing-along parade while the heels enter as a unit behind CM Punk with minimal crowd participation. Ziggler and Finlay start the match and Fit is quickly in control after a hard shoulder block, slam and splash. In a nice follow-up spot, Finlay mocks letting Dolph reach out for a tag before bring him back with a short-armed clothesline before tagging in R-Truth. After some dancing and a roll-up attempt by Truth, Ziggler is able to recover enough to tag in CM Punk who cannot keep the slight advantage as Matt Hardy is tagged in and starts throwing hands like there is no tomorrow. Matt abuses Punk in the corner before hitting him with a clothesline/bulldog combo for our first long two count of the contest. Hardy goes for his second rope elbow, but Punk nails him on the way down and lays into him with kicks after he hits the mat.
After a commercial break, we return to action with Hardy locked in a bearhug by Luke Gallows. Drew McIntyre is soon tagged in and he gets to stomping on Matt before leveling him with a short-armed clothesline that garners a nearfall. Ziggler then rejoins the action and hits his perfect necksnap before locking in a chinlock with body scissors. Drew reenters the fray and connects with a slam but Hardy reverses his follow-up attempt and is finally able to make the hot tag to John Morrison as McIntyre tags in Punk. Morrison comes in wild and isn’t really able to connect with much on Punk before he tags McIntyre back in. However John is quickly all over Drew with punches before he even climbs into the ting and in the skirmish Ziggler is tagged in. But Dolph fares no better against Morrison and is soon on his back after eating a running knee. McIntyre comes in to break up the pin attempt and the match quickly falls apart. Finlay hits his Rolling Thunder on Drew, Punk hits him with the GTS, Truth nails Punk with a kick, Hardy hits the Side Effect on Ziggler and Gallows clears the remaining mess with a double clothesline on Truth and Hardy. But as Gallows turns Morrison hits him with a springboard kick and then hits Ziggler with Starship Pain to get the pinfall victory for his team.
Chris Jericho makes his way to the ring to spread some holiday cheer in the form of complaining about the current conspiracy against him. While he is not pleased with his recent treatment on Raw, it hurts him even more to be disrespected on Smackdown, which he feels he has been by the Hart Dynasty getting a title shot tonight and not him. The HD comes out to offer a response and after a bit of back and forth between them, DX then appears via the “Titan Tron†to join the fun. Shawn acts spaced out, Trips acts like Trips and they both make fun of Jericho, Big Show and the Hart kids. Jericho gets in the faces of the HD and tells them they need to make an impact and he eats their springboard Hart Attack as a result.
Backstage, Mickie is visited by Michelle McCool and Layla who want to give her a Christmas present. The gift is a Jenny Craig gift certificate which they and Matt Striker think is hilarious. We then go to a video recap of Batista/Taker at TLC and Batista/Mysterio last week, and that means it is a safe bet that Batista will interfere in tonight’s main event. Next Josh Matthews interviews Mysterio about his match tonight and Rey sort of compares his chances of beating Taker being a Christmas miracle.
The Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio: According to the announce crew, this is the first time these two have ever faced each other in singles competition, I can neither confirm nor deny that fact. We get the extended special championship pre-match introductions which is something they should do more often. Rey tries to run around to start but Taker quickly slaps him down and then casually tosses him out of the ring. Taker goes for his leg drop on the apron but Rey dodges and then leaps onto him from the apron but is caught. Mysterio wiggles out of his grasp and sends him face first into the ring post before returning to the ring to set up a suicide dive to the outside that connects and has both men reeling as the show breaks for commercials.
When we return to action, both men are back in the ring and Mysterio is trying to chop down the Taker tree with low kicks. These attacks don’t fare very well but he is able to dump Taker back outside of the ring and after a baseball slide connects he attempts a flying senton but gets caught. Taker slams him into the ringside barricade and eventually picks him back up and slams him into the ring steps before returning him to the ring. Once back in the ring Taker starts to work on the arm including a nice press hold spot but it is not enough for the submission or pinfall. Taker goes for the Last Ride but Rey slips out and hits a springboard shoulder block then a springboard legdrop but it only enough for a two count. Mysterio tries to return to the low kicks but they have little effect and Taker goes for the chokeslam. Rey slips out and tries for a slingshot crossbody, but Taker hits him with the big boot in mid-flight and then a chokeslam. Batista rushes the ring (ending the match in a DQ) and exchanges punches with the Undertaker before flooring him with a spinebuster. Dave goes for the Batista Bomb, but Taker backdrops his way out of it. Rey then hits the 619 on Taker but can’t drop the dime as Taker catches him. Batista then spears Taker and Rey hits the 619 and a senton on Batista before taking his leave. So I am guessing we’ll get a triple threat between these guys at the Rumble?
After Todd makes fun of Striker’s Crosby-esque sweater we get a Santa Truth flavored video package for the WWE’s recent Tribute to the Troops special. Then as an extra special “treat†Cryme Tyme beat up and rob a complaining Santa Claus in the back which leads us to…
Cryme Tyme vs. Bryce Andrews & Pat Buck: On their way to the ring, Cryme Tyme hands out the presents they lifted from Santa to the crowd. JTG starts with the guy we’ll call Bryce and has little trouble tossing him around before both men tag out of the match. Shad quickly lays waste to the guy we’ll assume is Pat with a high back body drop and a nasty spinebuster. After his partner eats an elbow drop, Bryce tries to return to the action but gets press slammed back out of the ring for this transgression. Shad then tags JTG and they combine for their forgotten finisher the G9 that is more than enough for the pinfall victory.
We return to Vickie’s holiday special. Teddy and Vickie talk about pie and tease hitting each other in the face with dueling dishes. Hornswoggle returns and of course hits each of them in the face with the pies before dunking himself in the eggnog.
Mickie James & Maria vs. Layla & Beth Phoenix: Michelle McCool joins the commentary team to give us a lovely barrage of fat jokes at Mickie’s expense during the entire match. Maria starts the match against Layla who is still making fun of James as the bell rings and as a result loses the early advantage. Layla turns the tide with a spin kick and after getting a two count she tags in Beth. After Phoenix roughs up Maria for a bit, Layla tags herself in and briefly continues to hold the advantage for her team. But Maria dodges a leg drop and makes the hot tag to Mickie James (who is almost in tears it seems) who comes in and pounds away on Layla. After a brief exchange with Beth on the apron, Mickie dodges a kick from Layla and hits one of her own for the pinfall. After the match, Mickie goes after McCool but is stopped by Phoenix who tosses her into the announce table so Michelle can insult her some more.
The Hart Dynasty vs. D-Generation X: Unfortunately before the match we are “treated†to a replay of DX’s midget adventures from Raw this week, which I could have done without ever seeing again. Both sets of tag-titles are on the line as Shawn Michaels and Tyson Kidd start the action by trading hiptosses and kick up reversals before HBK slingshots Kidd into his corner and Triple H’s waiting fist. Hunter tags in and hits his impressive delayed vertical suplex on Kidd before covering him for a quick near fall. HHH leaves his feet to send Tyson hard into the corner turnbuckles but is up quickly to follow by sending him not as rudely into the adjacent corner. Triple H’s follow up charge is met with a foot to the face and Kidd climbs the ropes to attack only to be met with a kick to the gut on the way down. HHH goes for the Pedigree but Kidd delays it long enough for Smith to interfere with a clothesline to break the hold. Smith then tags into the match and starts to wail on Trips in the corner as we get a commercial break.
As we return to the show, the HD is still in control of Triple H with Kidd choking him in the corner as Smith distracts the ref with HBK. DH then hits his version of that delayed vertical suplex on the Game and the result is a long two count. The Dynasty tries to work on Triple H in the corner but as Kidd tags in he eats a clothesline that buys HHH the time to make the tag to Michaels. HBK hits his flying forearm and nips up before laying into Kidd with a series of chops. Shawn slams him down and climbs the turnbuckle but is distracted by Smith and misses the elbow drop off the top. Tyson hits a springboard blockbuster and gets a nearfall from it before tagging Smith back in who launches Shawn into the corner for his patented flip over and out of the ring. Smith slides out of the ring to continue his attack by slamming HBK into the ring apron. As DH climbs back in the ring, he distracts the ref and Natalya is able to get a shot in on Michaels as he tries to make it back inside. Kidd tags back in and the HD combines for a legdrop/dropkick combo that gets them another nearfall on HBK. After Kidd gets another long count on Michaels with a spin kick, Smith tags back into the match and hits his DVS on Shawn for yet another nearfall. HBK tries to fight back but gets caught with a belly to back suplex and barely kicks out of the subsequent pin attempt before three. Kidd tags back in and after some tandem offense, gets another two plus count on Michaels. Shawn and Tyson do a double KO spot and HBK starts the slow crawl to his corner. Kidd tries a springboard attack to stop him but gets caught with a inverted atomic drop and Michaels is finally able to make the tag to Triple H. Smith also tags into the match but he is met with a flurry of right hands and quickly floored with a high knee. Trips hits DH with another knee to the face and punches Kidd off the apron before returning to Smith with a spinebuster that gets a long two count. Tyson returns to the ring but gets a spinebuster of his own before Triple H looks to hit Smith with the Pedigree. But DH is able to break his grip and lifts him up as he and Kidd connect for their springboard variation of the Hart Attack! Smith covers but Shawn Michaels breaks the pin attempt up just before the ref can slap three. Kidd then clotheslines HBK out of the ring but misses when he tries to follow him out with a slingshot crossbody. Hunter slips out of a slam attempt by Smith and sends him directly into the DX corner where Shawn nails him with Sweet Chin Music from the apron. Triple H then follows up with the Pedigree and DX is able to retain the tag-team championships via pinfall in a very solid match.
