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Courtesy of WWE

SMACKDOWN 12/8/23
TRIBUTE TO THE TROOPS

-Jeffrey T. Fountain, Contributor 

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL), WWE HOF, the man who came up with the idea for Tribute to the Troops 21 years ago, joined Kevin Patrick and Michael Cole on the announce team for this very special edition of Friday Night Smackdown. 

Two time 2024 Grammy nominated artists, The War and Treaty, opened Smackdown with a soulful rendition of God Bless America. 

 

Match 1 (Round 1 of the United States Championship Contender Tournament) 

Santos Escobar vs. Dragon Lee 

The first match of the United States Championship #1 Contender tournament was a rematch from Survivor Series. Santos got the win at Survivor Series, and this time Dirty Dom Mysterio was ringside, scouting Dragon Lee, his competitor for the NXT North American Championship. WWE knows they have a guaranteed solid match whenever they put these two together. This was an excellent match bell-to-bell, and it could've gone either way, but in the end Santos Escobar put Dragon Lee away with a Phantom Driver. After the match, Dom Mysterio stood over Dragon Lee with the NXT North American Championship to play some mind games before their match up at NXT Deadline. 

Winner: Santos Escobar 

Backstage Segment 

Nick Aldis is sitting in his office when Randy Orton comes in to pay his fine for the RKO he delivered to him during last week's Smackdown. They are discussing his tag team match with L.A. Knight vs. The Bloodline. Randy tells Nick that he doesn't know L.A. Knight, so how is he supposed to trust him? Nick tells Randy, "You want the Bloodline, he wants the Bloodline, and I want to see this match."

As Randy turns to walk out of the GM’s office, Nick looks down and realizes the check is for $100,000 and the fine was $50,000. Randy responds, "Oh, that's for next time." Classic Viper response as he walks out. 

 

Back in the ring, we get an appearance from The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes. "What do you want to talk about?" he asks. Cody gives a heart-felt "Thank you" to the service men and women, and then WWE plays a touching tribute video to Salute to the Troops narrated by John Cena. “USA! USA! USA!” chants break out in the Amica Mutual Pavilion. We also got a performance from the Ft. Myer, Va. Drill Team at the end of the segment. 

Brad Nessler, of CBS Sports, joins the announce team for the next match of the night and to discuss the Army/Navy game. Brad has called the Army/Navy game for the last seven years with Gary Danielson. 

 

Match 2 (Round 1 of the United States Championship Contender Tournament) 

Bobby Lashley vs. Karrion Kross 

This match was hard hitting and everything you want to see in a heavyweight match-up. These two behemoths threw everything at each other until Bobby hit an earth-shattering spear on Karrion for the win. Bobby Lashley advances on in the tournament. 

Winner: Bobby Lashley 

 

Backstage Segment 

We see Asuka warming up with Damage Ctrl when Bailey walks up to apologize about last week. Bailey said she was trying to help Kairi, since Damage Ctrl was sent to the back by the referee, and that instead of going to the ring tonight she will stay in the back. Dakota Kai agrees with her, but says the rest of Damage Ctrl is going out to support Asuka since it is against Charlotte.

 

Back in the ring, Pepsi Phil makes his way to the ring wearing a "Hell Froze Over" shirt while the entire pavilion center chants “CM Punk!” Punk has a live mic and he is discussing where he might end up signing, and who he can tag with while back in WWE. He even takes a shot at AEW while talking about Kevin Owens. He says he'll be making a decision on Monday in Cleveland, the town where he walked out of WWE almost 10 years ago. 

 

Backstage Segment 

CM Punk is walking backstage when he walks by the Bloodline locker room. He hesitates; maybe he wants to knock and talk to his old friend, Paul Heyman? As he walks away from the Bloodline door, he runs into Kevin Owens and asks him, "Have you seen Nick Aldis' locker room?" Kevin smiled and shook his head no and kept on walking. 

 

Match 3 

Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka 

Prior to the match, Michin and Zelina join Bianca Belair and Shotzi to neutralize Damage Ctrl, and guarantee this match will be 1 on 1. Charlotte and Asuka in the ring will always be a hard-hitting competition, and tonight these two threw everything at each other. As Charlotte looked to be winning the match with the "Figure 8", Bailey comes through the crowd and sweeps Charlotte's arm out from under her while the referee is checking on Asuka. This interference allows Asuka to get the roll-up victory over Charlotte. Bailey has possibly redeemed herself in the eyes of Damage Ctrl. 

Winner: Asuka

Backstage Segment 

CM Punk is in Nick Aldis' office. Nick gives him a contract to look over and tells Punk to call him anytime. Nick leaves and Cody Rhodes walks-in and says it's interesting that in order for Punk to finish his story he needs to win the Royal Rumble. Cody welcomes him back and shakes his hand before walking off. 

 

Meanwhile, Randy Orton is warming up backstage when L.A. Knight walks up, followed shortly by CM Punk. Punk tells them good luck and walks off and Randy asks L.A., "You ready for tonight?" and L.A. simply answers, "Yeah". 

 

Main Event 

The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa/Jimmy Uso) vs. Randy Orton/L.A. Knight 

The team of L.A. and Randy works well. These two charismatic superstars, along with The Bloodline, gave us one hell of a main event that looked like it could go either way. The Bloodline used as many heel tactics as they could to try to steal the win. Right when it looked like they were going to put away Randy Orton, L.A. makes the save to allow Randy to recover. L.A. Knight went for a BFT, but it was intercepted by the recovered Randy Orton and turned into a RKO for the hard earned victory. 

Winner: Randy Orton/L.A. Knight 

 

Takeaways 

1. Santos Escobar and Bobby Lashley move on in the U.S. Championship Tournament. 

2. The tension within Damage Ctrl and Bayley continues. 

3. CM Punk will choose what brand he signs with on Monday.

4. Nick Aldis has a pre-paid RKO waiting in his future.

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