Cyber Sunday is the WWE's double edged sword. On one hand it pleases masses of fans by giving them the opportunity to change the landscape of feuds and create matches that wouldn't normally be given the go ahead. While on the other hand it alienates fans that are unable to vote (especially this year with the majority of votes being exclusive to fans in the U.S) as well as the fact that the quality of the matches are greatly compromised, due to lack of preparation.
With this in mind it wasn't surprising to see that the card was littered with botched moves and poor match decisions, leading to a mediocre Pay Per View overall. However that isn't to say that there weren't some good points to Cyber Sunday 2008.
Before reading on why not check out:
Smackdown/ECW Cyber Sunday 2008 Preview and Predictions
Raw Cyber Sunday 2008 Preview and Predictions
Back to the show....
Another 'Job' for Kane
The first bout of the night was yet another match in the tedious Rey Mysterio Vs Kane feud, and as usual the WWE creative team decided to push Rey at the expense of a generally better talent. Kane might not be the best wrestler, but he has character and used correctly he could be one of the best Heels on the brand.
Instead he is thrown into a poorly constructed rivalry with Rey, in which the catalyst was never actually seen on screen but just described as anything from Kane kidnapping and torturing Rey to simply a beating in a car park.
As for the match, the fans voted for a No Holds Barred, and while this was said to favour Kane, it' was Rey that managed to use weapons to his own advantage and hit a 619 to get the pin, after bouncing Kane's head off some steel steps.
Tag Team Turmoil
The vote for the tag team bout was possibly the most shocking result of the night. On paper it looked like the fans would jump at the chance to see C.M Punk and Kofi Kingston go for the Tag Team Championships against Priceless. After all, it has everything the average WWE fan likes; title matches and C.M Punk.
On the night though it was clear that the constant Cryme Tyme / Miz&Morrison pushing worked as this was the match that was chosen.
In actuality it turned out to be a great bout, Cryme Tyme gave one of the best WWE performance they have delivered since debuting on October 16th 2006 and Miz and Morrison played the perfect heels before once again picking up a sneaky win over J.T.G and Shad.
Cena! Cena! Cena!
Next a promo video was shown, it was similar to the injury segments that have been shown about Cena on Raw for the past few weeks, however at the end of this one it was announced that he would return at Survivor Series, which created a buzz amongst the crowd.
Old Timers Unite
Next it was time to see who would face Santino Marella for his Intercontinental Championship, and this was one of the few votes that went exactly as it was expected to, although the WWE would rather it have gone differently and this showed in the match.
The Honky Tonk Man was voted in by 1% and wrestled a very short match due to a serious finger injury. It ended abruptly when Beth Phoenix grabbed Honky's leg in full view of the referee who disqualified Santino, sending him into a rage. Afterwards the two losing participants in the vote, Golddust and Roddy Piper, came to the ring and Santino recieved a beating from all three, ending with a shake, rattle and roll.
The Main Event
The vote for the World Heavyweight Championship match also went exactly as planned, when Stone Cold Steve Austin received a massive 74% of the vote and became the Special Referee.
As with any Special Ref match Austin did a poor job and then took a bump when Batista hit him instead of Jericho.
Shortly afterwards Jericho was covered Batista for what looked like a 3 count bringing HBK to the ring, however he refused to count. JBL also weighed in, destroying Michaels and hitting Batista with the gold before walking away with a smile on his face.
Orton then made his way out and attacked Stone Cold who had just managed to get back to his feet. Before Orton could make the impact he wanted to Austin caught him with a pretty good stunner, which is a rare thing to see since Austin stopped wrestling full time.
Moments later Batista hit a Batista Bomb and Austin counted the 3 to crown Batista the new W.H. Champion and wrap up 2008's Cyber Sunday with a few cold beers.
To find out what happened in the Blue/Extreme brands matches at Cyber Sunday 2008 Click Here.
Jay Davies - Jay Davies is a 25 year old graduate of the University of Lincoln's School of Journalism, currently residing in South Yorkshire, ...
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