TJR Retro: WWE Cyber Sunday 2006 Review (John Cena vs. King Booker vs. Big Show)
The first ever WWE Cyber Sunday PPV was a Raw brand show that replaced Taboo Tuesday. It had the same theme as Taboo Tuesday where fans get to vote on matches, stipulations and other things, but WWE made it a traditional Sunday show. The Tuesday PPV experiment didn’t really work because the 2004 and 2005 Taboo Tuesday shows did poorly (especially 2004) and WWE also brought back ECW on Tuesday nights in 2006, so that was a convenient excuse for WWE to keep it off Tuesdays.
The main event was a triple threat with the WWE Champion John Cena facing World Champion King Booker and ECW Champion Big Show. The fans got to decide what title would be on the line. I think it was a decent idea in theory, but I doubt many people watching this show were expecting a title change.
As I look at the card again now and think back to WWE during this period, the one thing that I was reminded of is that they didn’t have any hot feuds going on. There just wasn’t anything that interesting, so going into Cyber Sunday, it was lacking in terms of interest. I have no memories of this show. It was a day after my 26th birthday, so perhaps that is part of why I have no memories of it!
The show did 228,000 buys on PPV, which was over 50,000 buys more than the disastrous Taboo Tuesday 2004 PPV, but it was less than Taboo Tuesday 2005 by 22,000. The bad news is that it did the lowest number of PPV buys of any WWE PPV in 2006. I’m surprised that they did Cyber Sunday two more years after this considering how badly this kind of show did in 2004 and 2006 especially.
For the last few years, I have been reviewing WWE PPVs starting in 2003 through the mid-2000s. Check out my WWE Retro PPV archive here if you want to read any of the reviews during that period. Let’s get to it.
WWE Cyber Sunday
US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio
November 5, 2006
This event has a rating of TV-14 and “S” for Sexual Content on WWE Network.
The opening video package focused on the idea of the fans getting to vote on different things throughout the show. They also focused on the DX vs. Rated RKO tag team match and the triple threat main event match that WWE hyped up as a “Champions of Champions” match.
The pyro went off in the arena, there was a solid crowd, but research tells me it was not a sell out. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show. Ross said that 14.3 million people have voted for Cyber Sunday and Lawler said that 1.5 million people have voted today. The Spanish announcers were shown.
Umaga made his entrance with Armando Alejandro Estrada with the announcers noting that he was undefeated.
Todd Grisham and the lovely Maria were the hosts of the show. Who will face Umaga? All three guys were faces that were also standing backstage. Here are the results:
Kane (49%)
The Sandman (28%)
Chris Benoit (23%)
Kane made his entrance to a good pop. Kane had an intense staredown with Umaga before the match.
Umaga (w/Armando Alejandro Estrada) vs. Kane
Pre-match notes: Umaga was a heel that was undefeated while Kane was a face. Umaga was a Raw guy while Kane was on Smackdown after losing a “Loser Leaves Raw” match on October 9.
Kane was aggressive early with punches, Umaga no sold being sent into the turnbuckle and connected with a headbutt. Umaga with a side belly to belly suplex followed by a headbutt. Kane came back with punches, but Umaga hit a spinning heel kick as fans chanted “Kane” for the big man. Kane with a boot to the face, Umaga didn’t go down and Umaga hit a flatliner. Umaga with an eye rake followed by a body slam. Umaga went to the middle ropes leading to a headbutt for a two count. Umaga worked over Kane with punches, then Estrada told him to do a running attack and Umaga hit the running hip attack against the turnbuckle. Umaga went for the Samoan Spike, Kane moved and Umaga’s thumb hit the ring post. Kane followed by up forearm shots to the chest. Kane got some offense going with punches, the crowd came alive for Kane’s offense and Kane hit a corner clothesline. Kane with another corner clothesline, but then Umaga came back with a Samoan Drop. Kane sat up, he went for a Chokeslam, Umaga with an eye rake, Umaga missed a corner charge and Kane hit a belly to back suplex. Kane went up top, Estrada tried to distract, Kane knocked him down and Umaga countered a top rope clothesline with a punch to the throat. Umaga with a Samoan Spike (which was more like a punch to the chest in this instance) for the pinfall win at 8:39.
Winner by pinfall: Umaga
Analysis: **1/4 It was a decent match between two power guys. Umaga getting the win was no surprise since he was an undefeated star on the rise and they were building him up to be a main event guy. Kane put up a fight and the fans were into his comeback, but Umaga getting the win was the right call here. Two months after this, Umaga was in the WWE Title picture.
After the match, Umaga left with Estrada while JR reminded us again that Umaga was still undefeated.
Big Show was shown walking backstage with the ECW Title on his shoulders when Queen Sharmell showed up to talk. Sharmell said that being Champion of Champions doesn’t matter because what matters is keeping your title. Show said being Champion of Champions means a lot. She said that Show and Booker can work together, but Show wasn’t interested. Show told Sharmell he doesn’t trust her or her husband. She left angrily.
The entrances took place for the four-way tag team match with Cryme Tyme out first, the team of Viscera/Charlie Haas entered to no reaction, The Highlanders were next and the last team were Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. The only team that got a reaction was Cryme Tyme. The match stipulations were voted on by the fans:
Texas Tornado (50%)
Tag Team Turmoil (35%)
Fatal Four-Way (15%)
Texas Tornado: Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) vs. Viscera and Charlie Haas vs. The Highlanders (Rory and Robbie McAllister) vs. Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
Pre-match notes: Cryme Tyme were faces, Cade/Murdoch were heels, The Highlanders were faces and Viscera/Haas were a thrown together face team that got no reaction.
The Texas Tornado rules meant that all four teams were active and they did not have to do tags.
The eight guys paired off with some action in the ring and some on the floor. Cade with a body slam on Rory and JTG sent Haas out of the ring. Viscera with a body slam on Shad followed by a missed elbow drop. Shad slammed JTG on Viscera for two as Cade broke it up. Murdoch with a jawbreaker on Shad and Cade with a neckbreaker to send Shad out of the ring. The Highlanders double teamed Cade and Murdoch to send them both out of the ring with clotheslines. The Highlanders each hit slingshot dives over the top onto Cade and Murdoch on the floor. JTG with a dropkick on Haas, but then Haas came back with a German suplex. Shad went back into the ring with a boot to the face of Haas. Viscera with a sidewalk slam on Shad, who had “23 arrests for assault” according to JR as if that is a good thing. I guess it’s supposed to make us think he is tough because he got arrested so many times? Sure. The Highlanders hit a double dropkick to send Viscera out of the ring. Murdoch and Cade hit a double team kick to the face of Robbie followed by a High/Low clothesline/kick combo on Robbie. Cryme Tyme went back in the ring, they sent Cade and Murdoch out of the ring and JTG covered Robbie for the pinfall win at 4:28.
Winners by pinfall: Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG)
Analysis: * This was bad. I don’t think it needed to go longer than that considering it was a Texas Tornado without a lot of great talent in the ring. Cryme Tyme was new on the roster, so it made sense for them to get the win. If you would have told me that Cryme Tyme would never win Tag Team Titles on the main roster I wouldn’t believe it because they were popular. It just didn’t happen for them.
Post match, Cryme Tyme went over to Ross and Lawler at their table. While JTG greeted JR and Lawler, Shad took Lawler’s laptop and walked to the back with it. Lawler realized that Shad took the laptop from him and freaked out about it.
Shawn Michaels was shown on a laptop trying to vote for the referee of their match when his DX partner Triple H walked up to him. They noted that they hadn’t done anything to Eric Bischoff. Hunter said that Bischoff claimed that DX doesn’t know what it’s like to be controversial. Shawn reminded him that he was the one that put Bret Hart in the Sharpshooter, Hunter married that “what’s her name” and Shawn was angry about it. Michaels walked up to a guy, asked his name and he said Stan, so Michaels hit him with a superkick! (It was Shawn Spears aka Tye Dillinger.) Michaels: “I just kicked Stan!” Michaels walked away and hit two more guys with superkicks. That was hilarious. Hunter said he didn’t know if it was controversial, but it sure was funny.
Analysis: That was pretty funny, especially the random superkick on “Stan” standing by. Some of the DX comedy in 2006 was gross out stuff, but a lot of the other comedy they did was genuinely funny like this. Hunter married Stephanie in 2003, but they didn’t fully acknowledge it on WWE TV until early 2009 during Hunter’s feud with Orton heading into WrestleMania, so that’s why Michaels said “what’s her name” here.
Jeff Hardy entered with the Intercontinental Championship and he got a big pop as usual. The poll results for Jeff’s opponent went like this:
Carlito (62%)
Shelton Benjamin (25%)
Johnny Nitro (13%)
Carlito was the only face of the three men, so of course he won.
Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Hardy vs. Carlito
Pre-match notes: Hardy was the face Intercontinental Champion while Carlito was also a face.
They did a pre-match handshake as fans chanted for Hardy. They did an inside cradle spot that was messed up a bit, but it got a two count. Carlito got a backslide pin for two. Jeff with a shoulder tackle, he ran the ropes and they completely missed a leapfrog spot with Jeff not going under, so they got their signals crossed. Carlito with a dropkick to the knee followed by a suplex for two. Hardy with a dropkick to the ribs and it looked like they may have messed up that spot too. Hardy with a clothesline. Carlito went for an attack off the ropes, Hardy avoided and kicked Carlito out of the ring. Hardy with a dropkick that knocked Carlito to the floor. Hardy ran the barricade, jumped off and Carlito dropped him with a dropkick. Back in the ring, Carlito slapped on a chinlock, Hardy fought back with punches and Carlito with two feet up to block a corner attack. Carlito squeezed the ribs to keep Hardy grounded, then Hardy came back with a jawbreaker and Carlito got a rollup using the tights for two. Carlito grabbed another chinlock, then Jeff got back to his feet and Carlito hit a leg drop. Carlito grabbed another waist lock rest hold. When Hardy tried to attack, Carlito caught him and hit a flapjack slam for a two count. Carlito with a backbreaker followed by another chinlock. Hardy back up, elbow to the head and Hardy hit a DDT. Hardy with a clothesline, back elbow and a Slingblade although it wasn’t called that yet. Hardy with a front suplex where it looked like Carlito’s head was spiked into the mat. Hardy up top, Swanton Bomb, but Carlito got the knees up and blocked for a two count. Carlito went for a springboard senton that barely connected followed by a springboard moonsault that connected even less. That got a two count. Carlito missed a springboard attack when Jeff moved and Jeff hit the Whisper in the Wind attack off the turnbuckle for a two count. Jeff went up top, Carlito met him with punches, Carlito went for a hurricanrana, Jeff blocked it, Carlito hit hard and Jeff hit a Swanton Bomb for the pinfall win at 13:21. That Swanton Bomb really connected with all of Jeff’s weight landing hard on Carlito’s upper body.
Winner by pinfall: Jeff Hardy
Analysis: ** This was below average. They should have had a better match, but there were several moments where they messed up. They must have been told they needed to fill time because they killed so much time with Carlito applying rest holds. Jeff retaining was fine with me because he was one of the most popular guys on the show.
After the match, Hardy celebrated and JR tried putting over big time by saying it was a “tremendous match” but this really wasn’t a great match at all.
There was a video package for Degeneration X vs. Rated RKO. I was a fan of Edge teaming with Orton as fresh rivals for Michaels and Triple H because the DX feud vs. The McMahons went on for too long. The feud involved Edge and Orton doing impressions of DX as well while DX said it didn’t matter who the referee was.
The Degeneration X duo of Shawn Michaels and Triple got a big reaction from the crowd. The DX guys pointed at the crowd to get them to cheer. There was also a pre-match promo from DX to fire up the crowd as usual.
The special guest referee was announced. Maria said she voted for Vince McMahon because she didn’t want to get fired. The three choices were all heels. The results were:
Eric Bischoff (60%)
Vince McMahon (20%)
Jonathan Coachman (20%)
Eric Bischoff made his entrance in a referee shirt. This was about a year after he was removed as a full-time General Manager of Raw. He was promoting his “Controversy Creates Cash” book around this time. Due to that, the announcers manage to say the word “controversy” about a dozen times during the next match.
Randy Orton was up first for his team in the “hey nothing you can say” theme song days. Edge was next without Lita because she had a match later in the show. As I say all the time, Edge’s theme song was one of my favorites in wrestling history.
Analysis: Those intros took about ten minutes. There was a lot of time killing here.
Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) vs. Degeneration X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels)
Pre-match notes: Edge and Orton were heels while Michaels and Triple H were faces. Bischoff was a heel referee.
Michaels was in control early with chops to Edge’s chest. Michaels pulled Edge’s tights down a bit while going for a pinfall, so that drew some laughs. Michaels with a sunset flip with Bischoff doing a one count because he was slow to start the count. Hunter tagged in teasing a move off the top, then he climbed down the ropes and kicked Edge. Hunter worked over Edge with several punches to the head. Hunter with a running clothesline on Orton followed by a suplex and a knee drop. Michaels with a boot to the face of Orton, Hunter back in and Orton drove Hunter to the heel corner, so Edge hit Hunter in the back. Orton with a dropkick on Hunter with Edge as the legal man. Edge with a sitout neckbreaker for two. Bischoff was counting at a normal speed. Orton worked over Hunter with punches. Edge went for an attack off the ropes, Hunter with a kick to the gut and Hunter hit a DDT. Michaels tagged in with a forearm on Edge, atomic drop on both heels and Hunter with a body slam on Edge. Michaels went up top with an elbow drop on Edge. Michaels went for a superkick, so Orton grabbed him and drove him groin first into the ring post. Hunter yelled at Bischoff, who said he didn’t see anything. The heels made some quick tags as they worked over Michaels as the face in peril, which was followed by some cheap heel work. Edge hit a standing dropkick on Michaels for a two count. Edge grabbed Michaels in a front facelock to keep him grounded. Michaels nearly made a tag, but Edge got a sunset flip followed by a boot to the face for two. Orton grounded Michaels with a headlock for about one minute. Michaels tried to come back with chops, but Orton hit a modified backbreaker to stop that. Edge set up for a Spear, Michaels moved and Edge hit Bischoff with the Spear by accident. Michaels hit an enziguri kick on Edge.
Hunter got the hot tag against Orton although there was no referee to see it. Hunter with a jumping knee to the face, then a facebuster and a clothesline on Edge. Hunter with a spinebuster on Orton. Hunter went for a Pedigree, but Edge came back with a Spear. Michaels dumped Edge over the top to the floor followed by a cross body block over the top onto Edge. Hunter turned around right into a RKO by Orton. When Orton covered, referee Chad Patton slipped into the ring and Hunter got the right shoulder up to kick out at two. Orton was surprised by that. Hunter shoved Orton right into a Sweet Chin Music superkick by Michaels for two because Bischoff pulled referee Patton out of the ring and punched him in the head. Big heat for that. Michaels went after Bischoff on the floor and Edge hit Michaels in the head with a steel chair. Edge brought the chair into the ring, Hunter with the kick and Orton hit Hunter in the back with the chair. Bischoff saw it, but did nothing. Orton hit the RKO on the steel chair and covered with Bischoff counting the pinfall at 18:11.
Winners by pinfall: Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton)
Analysis: ***1/4 That was a good match by four of the biggest superstars in WWE history in terms of what they accomplished in their careers. I thought it dragged on a bit too much, which isn’t a surprise because most Triple H PPV matches went too long. If they went closer to 15 minutes with more action and exciting nearfalls it would have been better. The action did pick up after Bischoff was hit with that Spear by accident. It was smart booking to have Orton/Edge get the win because this was the beginning of their rivalry, so it was the right call to set up some rematches later in the year. It was also a very cheap win since Bischoff didn’t call for the DQ when the heels blatantly cheated.
The duo of Orton and Edge celebrated the win in the aisle while Bischoff walked away with them.
There was a video about the movie The Marine, which was WWE’s first movie project that starred John Cena. I saw it on cable years later. Nothing special.
Edge and Randy Orton were in the parking lot celebrating the win. Lita went up to them to congratulate them on the win. Edge said they gave DX their first defeat since reforming. Lita said she’s going to win the Women’s Title and Edge said he’ll see her at the hotel. Todd Grisham asked Edge and Orton about their tainted victory. Orton laughed about the win. Edge said that there will be a new era on Raw that will be Rated RKO. Edge and Orton left in a limo.
The women’s roster made their entrance for the Women’s Title match. The women were Candice Michelle, Torrie Wilson, Ashley Massaro, Jillian Hall, Layla El, Rebecca DiPietro, Kelly Kelly, Ariel, Michelle McCool (later known as Michelle McTaker by me), Melina, Victoria, Trinity and Kristal Marshall. They stood in a line in front of the announcers. Gorgeous line right there.
It was time for the Women’s Championship Tournament finals. The title was vacant due to Trish Stratus retiring after she won the title at Unforgiven. Mickie James was up first to a decent reaction. She beat Melina to get to the finals while Lita beat Maria to get the finals. The tournament only had four women. Lita was up next with fans booing her. The voting results were shown.
Diva Lumberjack match (46%)
No Disqualification match (40%)
Submission match (14%)
Analysis: Weak voting options for this match. It was not as interesting as the two previous years.
Women’s Championship Lumberjack Match: Mickie James vs. Lita
Pre-match notes: Lita was the heel and Mickie was the face.
Lita kicked James in the ribs and tossed her to the floor where the heel girls were, but Mickie got back in the ring quickly. James tossed Lita on the floor near the babyface women and Lita fought her way back in the ring. Lita with a running shoulder tackle, James with a trip and a dropkick. Lita went to the apron, the babyface women grabbed her and Lita drove her throat into the top rope. Lita with a knee drop to the ribs followed by a snap suplex for two. James threw Lita into the turnbuckle, but Lita came back with a rake to the eyes. Lita stepped on James’ back while she was against the turnbuckle. Lita with a tilt-a-whirl slam that was a bit sloppy for a two count. Lita slapped on a sleeper hold, James fought out of it with an armbar counter and Lita got to the ropes. That was a good counter. James tripped up Lita, whip into the ropes and three chops got a two count. James with an elbow to the face, then she went for the headscissors out of the corner, but both girls fell to the floor. The lumberjacks tossed the women back in the ring. James sent Lita into the turnbuckle, she wanted a DDT out of the corner, but then she just fell to the mat. JR said “what the hell was that?” and when Lita covered with her foot on the ropes, Candice shoved her foot off. James followed up with a rollup for two. James ran the ropes, Victoria grabbed her foot and James kicked Victoria down. Lita followed up with a DDT that planted James in the ring and Lita covered for the pinfall win at 8:07.
Winner by pinfall and New Women’s Champion: Lita
Analysis: ** It was a decent match with a few moments where they made some minor mistakes like that DDT out of the corner, but then they got through it and Lita got the cheap win thanks to the help from Victoria. I think they could have set up some nearfalls better to build up to the finish a bit more.
Lita celebrated with the title. Lawler kept talking about Lita’s sex celebration with Edge at the hotel. James and Lita had a staredown to end it.
Analysis: They would have a rematch a few weeks later at Survivor Series in what was Lita’s retirement match.
The five man Spirit Squad group were backstage with the World Tag Team Titles. Kenny tried to give them a pep talk, but Johnny asked who made him boss and Kenny reminded them that he beat Ric Flair by himself. Kenny told Mikey that he roughed him up for his own benefit to make him tougher. Kenny told Mikey they are going to beat those fossils. The group was fired up and they all said “Champs Til The End” to end their cheer.
Ric Flair made his entrance for the World Tag Team Title match. Flair got a big pop as usual. Who will his partner be? The results turned out like this:
Roddy Piper (46%)
Dusty Rhodes (35%)
Sgt. Slaughter (19%)
It was reported after the show that WWE wanted Dusty to win, but Piper beat him. Sarge and Dusty were happy for him as Piper made his way towards the ring.
The Spirit Squad group made their entrance. Kenny (later known as Kenny Dykstra or Ken Doane) and Mikey (Mike Mondo) were wrestling in the match while Nicky (later known as Dolph Ziggler), Mitch (Nick Mitchell) and Johnny (aka Johnny Jeter) were on the outside. Flair invited Dusty and Sarge to ringside to support them at ringside. They got a big pop from the crowd.
World Tag Team Championships: Kenny and Mikey (w/Nicky, Mitch and Johnny) vs. Ric Flair and Roddy Piper (w/Dusty Rhodes and Sergeant Slaughter)
Pre-match notes: Flair was 57 and Piper was 52 – they were the heels. The Spirit Squad were the heel champions. Kenny was only 20 years old and Mikey was 23 years old, so there was a big age difference.
Flair with a hiptoss followed by a headlock. Flair with a shoulder tackle, Kenny with a leapfrog and a dropkick got a two count. Piper, who had a big gut by this point as you would expect at that age, tagged in with punches for Mikey and Piper bit the forehead. The heels distracted Piper, so they took over with Kenny rubbing his face into the mat. Mikey tagged in with an elbow drop. Kenny worked over Piper with a chinlock, then Mikey distracted the referee and Kenny raked the eyes without the referee seeing it. After Piper was slammed to the mat, Kenny put Mikey on his shoulders for a splash off the top, but Piper moved. Flair got the hot tag followed by chops on both heels. Flair and Piper with a double clothesline that sent Kenny out of the ring. Double back elbow by Flair/Piper on Mikey. Double suplex by Flair and Piper on Mikey. Roddy was moving very slow. Flair slapped on the Figure Four Leglock on Mikey in the middle of the ring, but Kenny broke it up with a leg drop off the top on Flair. Mikey went for a slam, but Flair got an inside cradle on him. Flair chopped Mikey down followed by a Figure Four Leglock, Piper went into the ring and punched Kenny to prevent a save and Mikey tapped out to give Flair the submission win at 6:55.
Winners by pinfall and New World Tag Team Champions: Ric Flair and Roddy Piper
Analysis: *3/4 It wasn’t a great match from a technical standpoint, but it was a fun moment to see Flair and Piper win the titles. Sometimes that’s enough when you watch a wrestling show and you just want to see stuff that makes the fans happy. This worked as a fun moment.
After the match, the Spirit Squad guys went into the ring to attack, but Rhodes and Slaughter made the save for their buddies. Flair hugged Piper and they were really happy. The fans were excited about it too. Flair and Piper celebrated with the titles with Rhodes and Slaughter celebrating with them. Dusty’s music played with some dancing by the old guys. The fans popped huge for the celebration.
Analysis: This was only Piper’s second championship reign in his legendary WWE career. He won the Intercontinental Title in 1992 just so he can put over Bret Hart at WrestleMania 8 that year. Piper always said he didn’t care about winning titles, so he would refuse it when asked. I think this time he understood it would be a cool moment at this stage in their careers. At the combined age of 109 years old, Flair and Piper were definitely one of the oldest tag team champions in WWE history, if not the oldest.
King Booker and Sharmell walked into John Cena’s locker room. Booker said that they need to talk because if Big Show takes either of their titles to ECW, they may never get them back. Booker suggested that he makes a royal pact with Cena to take out Big Show leading to a Cena/Booker battle to the finish. Cena said it’s a good strategy. Booker said he’s wise as Solomon, as smart as Socrates and Cena stopped him. Cena said if he goes along with this, he wants one night with Queen Sharmell, who was not happy about that. Sharmell left angrily. Cena smirked. Booker said “okay” with Cena looking surprised and Cena yelled at him saying he never wanted his wife. Cena said that he wanted to see if Booker was dumb enough to do it. Cena said he had no problem taking Booker’s title. Cena joked about making a deal with Booker, then Sharmell yelled and Booker said he handled it. Ron Simmons showed up to deliver a…“DAMN” reaction.
Analysis: It was a unique meeting of the minds with Cena coming across as a clever babyface while Booker was made to look like a fool.
There were members of the Cincinnati Bengals at ringside.
There was a video package for the “Champion of Champions” match between WWE Champion John Cena, World Champion King Booker and ECW Champion Big Show. One title was on the line with the fans getting to vote on what title will be up for grabs. Vince McMahon set the match up. There wasn’t much of a storyline other than this being about three champions meeting in a match.
King Booker, the World Heavyweight Champion from Smackdown, made his entrance with his wife Queen Sharmell. The announcers did the best they could to make this seem like one of the biggest matches ever, but I don’t think the fans saw it that way. Big Show was up next as the ECW Champion. There wasn’t much of a reaction to him. I don’t know what he weighed, but he was as big as ever here. John Cena was last as the WWE Champion representing Raw and he had the spinner title with him. Cena got the biggest pop of the night for his entrance. Here are the poll results:
World Heavyweight Championship (67%)
ECW World Championship (21%)
WWE Championship (12%)
It was no surprise that the World Heavyweight Championship would win the poll because Booker was the top heel champion in the company. Big Show was a heel too, but fans didn’t care about ECW that much.
World Heavyweight Championship: King Booker (w/Queen Sharmell) vs. John Cena vs. Big Show
Pre-match notes: Booker was the heel World Heavyweight Champion from Smackdown, Cena was a face and Show was a heel.
Cena punched Booker, who went out of the ring and Show hit Cena with a headbutt. Show whipped Cena into the turnbuckle followed by a turnbuckle and a body slam. JR kept saying “Booker T” so Lawler corrected him that it’s “King Booker.” Show worked over Cena with a chop to the chest, a knee and a kick while Booker remained out of the ring. Booker took advantage of a situation with a scissors kick to the back of Show while Show was by the ropes. Show came back with a punch and a clothesline on Booker. Show with a headbutt to Booker and a knee that knocked Cena off the apron to the floor. Show with a body slam on Booker followed by an elbow drop to the chest into a two count because Cena made the save. Show with a headbutt to Cena, Booker with knees on Show and then Booker teamed with Cena for a double clothesline that sent Show over the top to the floor. Big bump by Show there. Booker got a rollup for two after that. Cena with a suplex for two, Show pulled Cena out of the ring and hit him with a clothesline. Show grabbed the steel steps, Cena with a dropkick to the legs and Show fell face first into the steps. Back in the ring, Booker hit a Book End on Cena for two. Booker with a back kick to the head of Cena. Booker picked up Cena and sent him into the top rope followed by a superkick for two. Booker with a sidewalk slam for a two count. Cena came back with a belly to belly side suplex on Booker for two. Booker slapped on a chinlock on Cena for about one minute until Cena countered into a belly to back slam for two. Cena went up top and he missed a poor looking splash because Booker moved, so that got a two count from Booker. Cena avoided a scissors kick, Booker avoided the FU and Booker hit a DDT on Cena for two. Cena came back with a side Russian legsweep for a two count. Cena went for the STFU submission, but Booker got to the ropes to break it. Booker with a thumb to the eye, Cena with a clothesline, running back elbow and a suplex for two.
Booker whipped Cena into the ropes leading to a back body drop. Booker went up top, Cena stopped him with a punch and Show got back in the ring to put Cena on his shoulders. Booker jumped off the top with a missile dropkick on Show to knock all three guys down. Booker covered Show leading to a power kickout by Show. JR called Big Show the biggest man in sports entertainment after nearly saying “professional wrestling.” Show hit a double suplex on Booker and Cena. Show whipped both guys into the turnbuckle leading to Show hitting a running back splash followed by a running shoulder tackle. Show with a Chokeslam to Booker. Cena ran the ropes, but Show took him out with a Spear with JR calling it a shoulderblock. It was a Spear. Show whipped Cena face first into the announce table and Show cleared off the top of the announce table, but not the monitors. Cena shoved Show into the ring post. Back in the ring, Cena with the two shoulderblocks on Booker followed by the spinning slam. Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Booker while also kicking a steel chair in Booker’s face. Sharmell went into the ring with the World Title, Cena picked her up and hit the FU slam on her. The funny thing about that was that Sharmell held onto her crown while she was being slammed. Cena with a drop toe hold on Booker into the STFU submission while referee Mike Chioda checked on Sharmell. Kevin Federline showed up in an “America’s Most Hated” shirt and he hit Cena in the back with the World Title. The referee never saw it and even if he did, there are usually no DQ’s in a triple threat match. JR: “What in the hell is K-Fed doing here?” Believe me JR, the fans asked the same thing. Cena got back up, Federline left the ring and Cena went over to Booker again. Booker hit Cena in the face with the World Heavyweight Championship, which the referee never saw and Booker covered Cena for the pinfall win at 21:05. King Booker was announced as the winner as well as the “Champion of Champions” for winning this match.
Winner by pinfall: King Booker
Analysis: *** It was a solid triple threat match with Cena losing in cheap fashion because he rarely lost clean during this period. It was smart to have Big Show out of the match for about ten minutes because he didn’t look like he could work a 20-minute match. He was too big here. Cena and Booker worked well together to put on an entertaining match with several good nearfalls for each guy. It made sense for Booker to get the win since he was the one defending his title, so the expectation going in was that whoever the champion was in the match, they were going to retain. That’s exactly what happened. It wouldn’t have made a lot of sense to have Cena or Big Show win the title that was on Smackdown. Booker’s reign as World Champion didn’t last that much longer.
Post match, Booker picked up his wife Sharmell (who still had the crown on) while referee Mike Chioda carried the World Title for him.
Federline went into the ring with JR calling him Mr. Britney Spears and the fans booed. Lawler managed to plug K-Fed’s “Playing with Fire” CD that nobody bought. They replayed the ending of the match. Federline celebrated as he went back up the aisle while Cena was checked on by referees and that was the end of the show.
Analysis: Who the hell is Kevin Federline? I’m sure some of you are asking that. His biggest claim to fame is that he was married to singer Britney Spears, who was a big deal in the 2000s, and they had two sons together. Federline appeared on Raw a few weeks before this (as an ally of Johnny Nitro and Melina), Cena mocked him and gave him the FU, so this was Federline getting his revenge. After doing a quick search about Federline, Spears filed for divorce from him a few days after this show and then they were divorced by the next summer. On the first Raw of 2007, Federline pinned Cena in a match thanks to interference from Nitro and Umaga. Cena dropped him with a FU later that evening to put an end to that “rivalry” if you want to call it that. Federline was not famous for very long. I would love to know who suggested this to Vince McMahon, why Vince thought it was a good idea and how much Federline got paid for this because whatever it was, they overpaid him. The Federline appearances were not well received by fans at all.
This event had a run time of 2:33:06 on WWE Network. Much like No Mercy as the PPV before it, this broadcast ended about 12 minutes earlier than most PPVs of this era.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Show Rating (out of 10): 4
This was a disappointing show. There were only two matches around the three-star level and everything else was below average. Some of the stipulations they picked with the fan vote were not that interesting either, so Cyber Sunday came off as a boring event. Clearly, this concept of a show didn’t work, yet WWE did it two more years after this.
There isn’t a single match that I would recommend at Cyber Sunday because the guys in the best matches all had plenty of much better matches in their careers. Plus, the presence of Kevin Federline ending the show made me groan a lot by the time it was over.
Best Match: Rated RKO vs. Degeneration X (***1/4 out of 5)
Worst Match: Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) vs. Viscera and Charlie Haas vs. The Highlanders (Rory and Robbie McAllister) vs. Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch (*)
Five Stars of the Night
- Edge
- Shawn Michaels
- Randy Orton
- John Cena
- Booker T
Next up: Survivor Series 2006, which featured Raw, Smackdown and ECW superstars.
Thanks for reading.
John Canton – mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter @johnreport
Check out my other retro WWE PPV reviews here as well.