Royal Ramble: A WWE Christmas
With the Great American Bash, St. Valentine's Massacre and New Year's Revolution, the WWE has never celebrated holidays in the traditional way. The same can be said for Christmas. WWE Christmas celebrations are full of ups and downs, but every year Vince McMahon always manages to spread some kind of holiday spirit.
Kane's Return
Forget about the red and green holiday colors, the 2011 Christmas season is all about the red and black. Of course I'm referring to Kane's masked return on WWE Raw.
Fans were treated to an early and surprising return where instead of taking out an unnecessary talent like Santino Morello or setting JR on fire again, Kane attacked John Cena and revealed his new mask to the WWE Universe. It was a great way to end Raw and better than a Royal Rumble return that could have been bogged down by other moments.
The Superstar Santa Claus
When December rolls around you know that the WWE will be rubbing the dust off the ol' red suit and dressing up a Superstar in Santa garb. This year Mick Foley provided the honors during the Smackdown Live special and in past years we've seen wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin, JBL, and John Cena wear the suit.
There's nothing better than Santa delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to an unsuspecting wrestler.
Armageddon 2005
Speaking of WWE Santas, Vito dressed as one for the Armageddon 2005 pay per view. A mere seven days before Christmas, this pay per view had no holiday spirit to it. Vito and his elf Nunzio were treated with the "perfect Christmas gift," a mouth full of earthworms curiosity of the underrated Boogeyman.
If that wasn't enough to get you excited for Christmas, the pay per view featured the live apparent suicide of former WWE referee Tim White. Have fun explaining that segment to the kids as you sit around the Christmas tree. Two odd segments during an otherwise great pay per view.
Christmas Wrestling Movies
Christmas, wrestling and film-making do not belong in the same sentence. Hulk Hogan's Santa with Muscles and Goldberg's Santa's Slay are not only two of the worst Christmas movies, but some of the worst cinematic creations ever made. Maybe The Marine 3: Merry Mission in Moscow will help make up for the lack of proper WWE Christmas movies.
Tribute to the Troops
The Tribute to the Troops special has no storylines, Michael Cole rapping or is the most memorable event of the year, but it does provide a lot of fun and good wrestling matches. The simplified outdoor arena is a great change from the typical flashy production and hopefully they return to this setting in the future.
Christmas Morning
After skipping by the socks, stocking full of candy and other useless presents, nothing was better as a child than opening a WWE-themed present. When I was younger, it started with the Habsro figures, transformed to the Jakks collection and now consists of WWE apparel, DVDs, WWE video games and if I'm lucky, WWE event tickets.
I cannot remember a Christmas without a WWE gift, including this year when I'll receive the CM Punk Ice Cream t-shirt. Merry Christmas!