STW - Cyber Sunday 2006 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

This week Bruce we’re talking about Cyber Sunday 2006. It is the first installment of Cyber Sunday but not the first time that fans voting on WWE.com to determine pay-per-view matches were used. This is a variation if you will...of Taboo Tuesday. Why the switch from Tuesday to Sunday? Just not pulling the results the office was hoping for?

Does weekend pay-per-views just make more sense for consumers and for the company especially with travel and the like?

We covered No Mercy last month in the archives so we’re coming off a Smackdown pay-per-view to a Raw pay-per-view. Was the competition real in the results between the writers & wrestlers between Smackdown and Raw?

To launch the promotion for Cyber Sunday a three-hour Raw is held coming off of No Mercy and called the Season premiere. You combine all the brands for the show between Raw, Smackdown & ECW and it also features the return of Vince McMahon from the Hell in a Cell match and he sets up the main event between John Cena who is the champion of Raw, Big Show who is the champion of ECW, and King Booker who is the champion of Smackdown. Does this make the brand extension silly when you have all 3 champions facing off against each other?

Is there a way to not make any of the brands weaker when you book something like this?

There’s a big brawl between the 3 and it leads to matches announced for that night which were Big Show vs. Jeff Hardy, King Booker vs. Rob Van Dam and the Undertaker vs. John Cena.

On Raw all 6 announcers are used and Meltzer is very critical of it. “Personally, I thought it was a mess. They used all six announcers, and five of the six didn't appear comfortable. JBL, who carries Smackdown, was a huge negative on this show as he tried to run over everyone. Others who share my opinion of him as an announcer agreed he was bad on the show, although one source backstage said Vince is the one to blame because he controls the announcers and was probably getting off on JBL ripping on the other announcers, which to me, hurt their credibility. Tazz eventually came back on him, and it was entertaining, but it also led to a Booker vs. Rob Van Dam match being practically ignored while the two tried to one-up each other. The worst part is even though Tazz did get the

better of the first grade level exchange, noting that the announcing job was the only job JBL's wife didn't get him (she got him his bankingjob) and that when JBL kept calling Tazz a midget who wasn't even good enough to wrestle in WWE, Tazz said he wasn't allowed to wrestle in WWE simply because he was short, and categorized JBL as a "tall, chubby, clumsy wrestler." JBL's big comeback was saying "B-13 "and other references to Bingo, in reference to Tazz being an ECW star with the tired Bingo Hall knock, and claiming to have sold out Madison Square Garden. The funny part of all this is Tazz was in the grand scheme of things, more over in ECW than JBL was in WWE, and JBL never sold out Madison Square Garden (the Smackdown house show with JBL on top in MSG was one of the five smallest crowds of the past 67 years), but for obvious reasons saying JBL never drew on top can't be said . And Tazz can't claim his own ECW legacy was on the level of JBL holding a WWE version of the world title. JBL took Jerry Lawler, who was actually, by far, the biggest draw of the three color commentators, out of his game, he made fun of Joey Styles' voice and Jim Ross' face and Ross basically ignored it and tried to call the match. JBL's announcing is controversial, in that I like it on Smackdown, but more than half of the wrestlers that I hear from are very negative, feeling he goes into business for himself to the detriment of the story lines and characters and matches. Even Tazz acknowledged the biggest criticism when he told JBL to try to get the talent over instead of himself over (to which JBL responded in character that an announcing God gets himself over naturally).”

A lot to unpack there but it is tough to carry 6 guys through a broadcast and have it be entertaining and make it work, but man the JBL - Tazz stuff is hilarious looking back at it now don’t you think?

Umaga defeats Kane in a Loser Leaves RAW match after Armando Alejandro Estrada interferes. Why the move of Kane off Raw?

From the Observer: “Shawn Michaels & HHH beat Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch in a street fight in 5:50. They did a promo before the match showing the South Carolina Gamecocks mascot, saying Vince would like him because he's a big cock. HHH was doing a bunch of cock jokes, and nobody in the crowd was laughing. Ouch.

Apparently the show was scripted for the Gamecocks mascot to appear, but whatever the skit was, there was a standards and practices issue and it was nixed. HHH in his promo acted like the mascot had agreed to do something and backed out, noting that somebody told the mascot it wouldn't be good for his image. It came off like the usual WWE lack of self-awareness of how the real world sees the company and being mad people won't play ball with them over it.”

OK Bruce why did the mascot back out?

Fabulous Moolah & Mae Young were introduced to the crowd because they were in South Carolina. From the Observer: “Moolah and Mae Young were originally booked for a larger role. They were contacted this past week, but both women, who are 83, had recent falls. Moolah was supposed to wrestle on the show. I'm not clear of the specifics but it sounded like she was going to wrestle Melina in the women's tournament. The scripted idea was for Moolah to wrestle, have a woman interfere, and for Mae to give that woman a bronco buster. It makes sense that Torrie Wilson got the spot, and that Kristal was saved from a bronco buster. Believe it or not, but obviously the match would have to be very short, but Moolah stiII has that old-school mentality where she wouldn't be happy losing a short TV match . Mae had fallen on her hip in the bathroom when she went to weigh herself. Her hip wasn't broken, but it is very sore. She was using a walker backstage and even in front of the people, but she is not permanently disabled and is expected to be able to get rid Of it soon. Moolah fell two weeks ago when she was in New Jersey at an autograph signing. She was hurt, but also did not break her hip”

How crazy is it that they were booked at 83 to be a part of a physical match?

So there’s this odd promo that we have to talk about. Mitch of the Spirit Squad admitted that he sucked but that he had four friends who would help him defeat Ric Flair. Flair comes out to a big pop and then Roddy Piper comes out to a big pop, IRS & Ted DiBiase follow to a smaller pop and then Arn Anderson appears and gets a huge pop and Flair beats Mitch in a minute while the veterans chase the Spirit Squad to the back. It’s odd to portray yourself as saying “you suck” but the pops these guys got...showed how over they were still didn’t it?

Rated RKO is formed on the Cutting Edge and it’s amazing to see 15 years later the rivalry between Edge & Randy Orton has continued but these two in the ring together as a tag team were such a great heel team against DX. Where does the idea come from of putting these two together?

Cena & Taker ends in a no contest as the champions brawl to end the show. How did we never see a full length Cena vs. Undertaker WrestleMania match do you think?

Raw goes up against the NFL and UFC on Spike and the rating comes in as a disappointment I would assume at a 3.8 with 5.03 million viewers over the three hours rising just .2 ratings points from the week before. Is that a disappointment to you?

In the Observer it’s noted that Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin was hired to be the “wrestling guy” on creative for Raw since Michael Hayes was moved to the Smackdown head writer spot. He lasts 5 days and it’s written in the Observer that Hayes got heat over getting someone like Garvin in the spot to be his drinking buddy in a high paying spot instead of someone who was following the business and knew what he was getting into. What did you think of Garvin in this spot and did he add anything?

On Smackdown Chris Benoit defeats Mr. Kennedy when he’s distracted by the Undertaker to win the United States title. The storyline is that Kennedy wants to go to Raw to escape the Undertaker. What did Taker think of working with Kennedy?

Batista wins a #1 contender’s match over Bobby Lashley & Fit Finlay to become Booker’s #1 contender. Why back to Batista & Booker here? You yourself said at Summerslam it didn’t work. Were you just out of options with the roster?

The Marine debuts in theaters and is No. 6 in the rankings for gross with $7,138,774 which beats “See No Evil.” Is this considered a success in the WWE office?

The next week on Raw from Los Angeles - Rated RKO come out in one of the classic comedy sketches and a staple of WWE programming...dressed as your enemies and mimicking them. Edge is HHH and Orton is HBK and it’s...interesting to look back at this 15 years later. Triple H said Edge's "Live Sex Show" was the highest rated moment on RAW but Edge couldn't rise to the occasion..

• Triple H said Randy Orton was an icon because Orton is the number one downloaded WWE superstar in the gay community..
• Things got heated after Triple H showed several of Randy Orton's famous internet nudie pictures on the big screen..

Bruce...this is right down Vince’s alley isn’t it?

Cryme Tyme debuts and in a WWE staple win their debut match over the Spirit Squad. Was this the realization that it was time to put the Spirit Squad to bed and get a new act over?

Kevin Federline debuts as a A-list celebrity friend of Johnny Nitro & Melina. We’ve touched on Federline in the past but Bruce, how does this deal come together?

Vince comes out and announces that the fans will be the ones choosing which championship will be on the line between Big Show, King Booker & John Cena. Cena invites out Federline and asks him what title should be on the line and when Federline answers Cena’s WWE Championship he gets hit with the FU. Was this the plan all along?

Now speaking of celebrity involvement … the infamous segment with Umaga and Jackass’ Steve-O & Chris Pontius takes place. Steve-O gets knocked out by Umaga but he’s concussed so he doesn’t know to stay down and Umaga beats the shit out of him. What’s going on backstage when this happens and what do you remember of this?

Did Umaga have any heat? What happens after?

Were you happy with the amount of mainstream coverage of Jackass and Federline? Does that make things like this a success?

You tape Smackdown directly after this show. David Taylor debuts as William Regal’s tag team partner. Who recommended Taylor to come in and why at this point in his career?

Chavo beats Rey in an I Quit Loser Leaves Town match after numerous chair shots to his knee. This is for Rey to take time off for major knee surgery. It’s...a heavy angle that an over babyface like Rey is the one who quits. Can you explain why a major babyface quitting is the way to write him off of TV?

Coming out of the show it’s reported in the Observer that in Los Angeles Bob Sapp meets with Vince McMahon & John Laurinitis. For those of our audience who don’t know...who is Bob Sapp and why was this meeting taking place?

Was there ever any hope of Sapp coming into the WWE?

It’s reported in the Observer that people at Ford Field … in the prep for Mania … are told that the only guaranteed match at this point is Big Show vs. Hulk Hogan. Was that ever on the books at this point or is this just fiction?

WWE files litigation to break the contract between WWE and THQ/Jakks pacific deals. What do you remember about this and why was the company trying to move on?

Raw from Chicago … the 700th Raw mind you … features the Kevin Federline story continuing when Federline introduced King Booker and Booker put over Federline’s CD. This brought Cena out who said that King Booker has “officially lost his status as a black man” for saying Federline’s CD was a treasure which leads to Ron Simmons coming out and saying, “DAMN!” for the first time on TV.

Listen to this reaction Bruce: Ron Simmons "DAMN"

Where did the idea for Ron to come out and do this come from?

From the Observer: “James pinned Melina in 3:47 with a DDT. Match was good by WWE women's match standards. These two have a past of disliking each other from OVW and James was clearly rubbing it into Melina that she got to go over.”

Did these two have heat and do you remember there being an issue between the two or is that Meltzer just trying to put 2 and 2 together?

Eugene beats up Jim Duggan backstage. Yup that’s a real thing Bruce. Just...throwing it out there.

Kenny from the Spirit Squad comes out for his match with Ric Flair and Flair brings out Sgt. Slaughter, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes come out to be in Flair’s corner. How does this all come to be for these 3 in Chicago and what was it like bringing Roddy back into the mix?

Any funny stories from them being back?

This is to lead to the Spirit Squad against Ric Flair and one of those 3 to be his tag team partner at Cyber Sunday. Kenny gets the pin on Flair on Raw. Was there a conscious booking effort … and really this goes for the whole build of the show … for the fans to pick who creative wanted in the spot?

Our buddy EB is outside the ring for the main event between Triple H and Randy Orton and ends up helping Orton beat Triple H. This is right around the time “Controversy Creates Cash” is due to come out. Is that why Eric is brought back into the fold here?

It’s reported in the Observer that Tully Blanchard is hired as a producer. And just a week later it’s written that JBL cut a promo on him backstage due to some past issues with him. Do you remember this?

Here’s just more interesting stuff considering the timing of things from the Observer: “Afa Anoia Jr. , signed a developmental deal this week. We're told promos are his weakness, as he was taught to do them like the old Wild Samoans style in the 80s and that won't fly today. His cousin Joe, who is playing at Georgia Tech and is the younger brother of Rosey, is also under consideration after he graduates. Joe has said publicly that he's really not that interested in wrestling, but he has talked about doing the NFL for a few years and getting into wrestling when his career is over. Joe is said to have an awesome look with long hair and crazy tattoos and is already a great talker.”

Huh. Whatever happened to that Joe guy?

Monty Brown is on his way in at this time after leaving TNA. Did you know of Monty ahead of that time and did you think he would fit in the WWE?

RVD and Big Show on ECW have a ladder match that Rob wins to earn a title shot that I’m pretty sure he never ended up getting. It’s noticeable in the match that Show is a step slow. How beat up is Show at this point?

On Smackdown David Taylor & William Regal take on Bobby Lashley & Tatanka and I bring this match up for two reasons. First Taylor tears his meniscus in it and then after Regal beats Tatanka - Tatanka turns heel on Lashley. What a mess Bruce. Was Tatanka worth the investment at this point? Was there a worry about signing someone of Taylor’s age the injury risk?

Chris Benoit cuts a promo looking for votes as he’s up against Sandman & Kane to face Umaga at Cyber Sunday when Vickie & Chavo interrupt and Vickie tells Chris he wasn’t even that close to Eddie Guerrero anyway. Are you telling me no one ever voiced any complaint about this?

The Boogeyman returns on Smackdown. Yup.

Ted DiBiase and Tim Horner are let go after the tapings from their roles as agents. In the Observer it’s speculated that Horner wasn’t good with finishes and the times had passed Ted by. Also there was talk of having DiBiase be part of the Flair tag team gimmick and that Ted turned it down. Is that how you remember it?

At the go home Raw the voting is pushed very heavily as it should be. The line up looks like this:

Triple H & Shawn Michaels as DX vs Edge & Randy Orton as Rated RKO with these 3 options for referee:

1. Eric Bischoff
2. Jonathan Coachman
3. Vince McMahon

The Big Show vs King Booker vs John Cena with the fans voting on which Title would be on the line

Jeff Hardy’s opponent for the IC title to be chosen between Carlito, Shelton Benjamin and Johnny Nitro

Umaga’s opponent decided between: The Sandman, Kane and Chris Benoit

Between Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter & Dusty Rhodes to be Ric Flair’s tag team partner against the Spirit Squad.

All 3 of them cut a promo as to why it should be them. Did they get a script and have issues with using one?

The main event on the go-home Raw is between Cena & Coach. Shockingly enough Cena wins.

How hard is it to build to a pay-per-view where you have to setup a bunch of different possibilities?

The only thing to note on the last ECW show before Cyber Sunday is that an Elimination Chamber match is announced as the main event for ECW’s pay-per-view December to Dismember. Go check out our WWECW episode in the archives at adfreeshows.com but was this just the attempt to throw a gimmick match to sell a pay per view?

Well we’re here Bruce and let’s talk about the business end of things.

The previous year’s version of this show … Taboo Tuesday headlined by Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena for the WWE Title … and once again on a Tuesday gets 174,000 buys. This show draws 228,000 buys. Was this show being held on the wrong day at the time?

The show is up from No Mercy the month before as well with another 31,000 buys. Do you think this card with so much more than No Mercy did should’ve done more?

The Wrestling Observer readers thought the show was a thumbs down with 60% voting that way.

1. Umaga pinned Kane in 8:39. Crowd voted 49% for Kane, 28% for Sandman and 23% for Chris Benoit. Sandman did a good promo on ECW TV asking for the votes so that explained him beating out Benoit. Obviously they are going with a Cena vs. Umaga program and want to keep Umaga untouched until that point. Kane came off into a chop by Umaga, followed by the Samoan spike clean in the middle. Kane didn't even do a big post-match sit-up as they wanted Umaga over big as the story. **

This is the beginning of the big push of Umaga against Cena. And it’s big to beat Kane in under 9 minutes on pay-per-view. How important is this win here?

Was it a surprise to see Sandman place 2nd in votes?

2. Cryme Tyme won a tornado match over Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, The Highlanders and Charlie Haas & Viscera in 4:28. Fans picked tornado match with 50% of the vote to 35% for a tag team turmoil and 15% for a fatal four way. This was the one election they did nothing to influence since the match was never even announced on television to begin with. The Highlanders did simultaneous dives out of the ring but the crowd died after it as Cryme Tyme was the only one of the four teams getting any kind of push. The finish saw Cade & Murdoch do the high-

low on Rory, but JTG threw them out of the ring and stole the pin. Post-match saw them swerve Jerry Lawler and steal his computer. *l/4

It’s kind of funny to see Cryme Tyme getting this push and Cade & Murdoch being in the background this early on. They were quick to get over but was there anything else that could’ve been done with anyone else in this match?

DX told everyone to vote for Bischoff as referee. They explained that they'd already stuck Vince's head up Big Show's ass so there was nothing left to do to him, and Jonathan Coachman was humiliated on Raw. HHH riled up Michaels about Bischoff saying Michaels isn't controversial, and he kept superkicking

random non-wrestlers in the hallway.

This is one of the best skits at the time for DX. Was it better to stick to this type of humor compared to the sophomoric humor they were known for?

3. Jeff Hardy beat Carlito to retain the IC title in 13:21. Carlito got 62% of the vote to 25% for Benjamin and 13% for Nitro. There were some real communication problems early. The crowd popped big for the near falls in the final few minutes of the match. The finish saw Carlito miss a huracanrana off the top rope and Hardy pin him clean with a swanton. The crowd didn't appear to choose favorites. They did more flying than

any other match, a lot of which was off. **

It seems like Carlito & Jeff and the other guys as well did a lot of mid card work back around this time. Were any of these guys ready at this point to be in the top spot?

4. Randy Orton & Edge beat HHH & Shawn Michaels in 18:11. Crowd voted 60% for Bischoff as ref and 20% for both McMahon and Coachman. Match was a disappointment. Not bad at all, but it never got to the level you'd expect. Bischoff played a fair ref, actually counting slow and deliberate for both sides. Edge accidentally speared Bischoff. Edge speared HHH, but Michaels did a dive outside the ring on Edge. In the ring, Orton used the

RKO on HHH. With Bischoff down, Chad Patton ran in to ref but HHH kicked out. After Orton was blocked for a second RKO, Michaels used a superkick on Orton and HHH went for the pin. Bischoff pulled Patton out of the ring and decked him. Edge hit Michaels with a chair and then Orton hit HHH with a chair right in front of Bischoff. Orton then used an RKO on the chair for the pin. Orton & Edge after the match pushed that they had ended the DX winning streak and pushed their tag team name as the Rated RKO tag team. **¾

It’s the first time the name comes together but the match was missing something. Is it just first match for these 4 together with a special guest referee gimmick that makes it difficult?

5. Lita pinned Mickie James in 8:07 to win the vacant women's title in a lumberjack match. Lumberjack got 46% to 40% for a no DQ and 14% for a submission match. All the regular women from the three brands were there dressed in various seductive outfits. Ross buzzed Lawler by saying these lumberjacks didn't look like Jos LeDuc (one of Lawler's legendary opponents) with a flannel shirt and an ax. The match was just brutal. It really put over how good Trish Stratus is. All their traditional pro wrestling spots looked bad. Then they did submissions on the ground and the crowd didn't buy that. There were various spots where the

lumberjacks attacked them. Right before the finish they tried something that went awry and Ross said, "What was that?" None only that, but whatever it was ended up being replayed. Among the worst PPV matches of the year. Lita won clean with

a DDT. -*

There’s no way around it. This was bad. A lot to unpack here. Why Lita going over for the vacant title when she’s leaving next month? Was Trish the glue of the division at the time?

6. Ric Flair & Roddy Piper may have become the oldest world tag team champions in history beating Kenny & Mikey in 6:55. Fans voted for Piper with 45% to 36% for Dusty Rhodes and 19% for Sgt. Slaughter. Ross brought up Flair & Piper as a tag team in the Mid Atlantic area. Piper physically looked horrible, and he was the one doing the selling, which probably wasn't the best idea. Flair hot tagged in and got Mikey in the figure four, but Kenny broke it up the first time. The second time, Mikey was stuck in the middle and Kenny couldn't save him and he tapped. Really big pop and it played out well as it was sold like it was a miracle that they were in late 2006 and these guys were tag champs. Imagine if the belts weren't so devalued. Post-match saw Rhodes and Slaughter do a run-in and clean house on the entire Squad, and then they danced in the ring together. That was something for the ages, watching Sarge get down. 3/4*

Was Piper a surprise considering the way he looked? Was he happy with his performance? Did you think there was legs with Ric & Roddy as a tag team?

Booker & Sharmell tried to get Cena to make a pact to work together, because Show was so huge. Cena listened and said he'd do it, which shocked everyone. Then he said-only one condition, that he gets a night with Sharmell. She was furious and Booker told her to leave. Then, with her gone, Booker said it would be okay and it's a deal. Cena then said he's sick, that's his wife and Cena said it only because he knew he'd never agree and talked about how twisted he is. They left the room and in front of Sharmell, Cena apologized and then pretty much told her that Booker had agreed. She was pissed. This led to the Ron Simmons "damn” spot.

This is some funny shit Bruce. Right down Vince’s alley yes?

Now for the main event and it’s a backdrop for Cena vs. Federline…

7. King Booker retained the World heavyweight title and won the mythical Champion of Champions beating John Cena and Big Show in 21:05. Only 12% of the fans voted for Cena's title at stake, since he's the face. 67% voted for Booker's title and 21 % for Show's title. Show was taken out early when Cena dropkicked his knee outside the ring and Show, holding the steps, fell head first into them. He was out of the match for the next 8:00. Show came back and destroyed everyone. Show got

Cena on his shoulders in an electric chair spot. Booker came off the top rope with a missile dropkick, but to Show's face instead of Cena. Show suplexed both men at the same time. The finish saw Cena kick a chair into Show's face as he took a bump on the floor. Sharmell ran in with the title belt, but Cena caught her and gave her an FU after teasing it. Booker grabbed the belt and went to use it, but Cena put him in the STFU. Kevin Federline then ran in and hit Cena with a belt shot. Cena no-sold it and got up. Federline ran off. Cena turned around, but then Booker hit him with a belt shot and got the pin. The closing shot of the show was Federline mocking Cena as opposed to Booker celebrating. **3/4

You expected that Booker’s title would be on the line obviously. Were there any other curveballs you weren’t expecting?

Booker getting the win here is big even with Federline’s help. How over was Booker in reality with the office?

What’d you think Bruce? Thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle?