WWE Cyber Sunday 2007

WWE Cyber Sunday 2007
Washington, DC - October 2007

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the World Heavyweight Champion was Batista, the WWE Champion was Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy was the Intercontinental Champion, the US Champion was MVP (who was also one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with Matt Hardy), the Women's Champion was Beth Phoenix, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch were the World Tag Team Champions, and CM Punk was the ECW Champion. 

Cyber Sunday was a pay-per-view event where fans got to vote, right up until the match happened (I guess?), for stipulations, participants, guest refs, etc. As one would assume, most longtime fans agree that the outcomes were rigged or - at the very least - set-up so that the wrestlers didn't have to improvise too much depending on what the fan vote would be (plus, in some cases, the expected outcome was so overwhelmingly obvious that there was little mystery as to what "the fans" would vote for). And our opener is a great example of all of these things as Rey Mysterio takes on Finlay in a Stretcher Match (as opposed to a Shillelah-on-a-Pole or No DQ match). Of course, because a Stretcher Match is automatically No DQ and the shillelagh was already hanging on a pole in one of the corners, it didn't really matter what stipulation was going to be voted for because the resulting match would've been near identical - save for the finish. As one would expect from two world class workers, this is a solid opener that features some big Mysterio bumps and some trademark Finlay nastiness. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a "hidden gem," but the crowd is into it, the action is mostly good, and its worth checking out if you're a fan of either guy. The most impressive thing about the match, though, is the exact thing I just said couldn't happen on a show like this - something unplanned (or at least it looks unplanned). After hitting an awesome somersault splash out of the ring and onto Finlay (who is laying on the stretcher), Mysterio looks to bring him over the finish line only for the stretcher to get caught on a camera cord. From the looks of it, this was not planned, so when the cord finally wraps itself around the wheel, Finlay has two choices: inexplicably play dead or come up with something on the fly. Fortunately, they go with the latter and Finlay rolls off the stretcher in such a way that the back wheels lift and the stretcher loosens itself. Instead of just falling back onto the thing, though, he actually grabs the nearby shillelagh and looks like he might strike Mysterio, who swiftly counters with a face drop that sends Finlay chin-first onto the stretcher. Really good work on-the-fly that was totally believable as a legit way to end the match. (3/5)

Backstage, Matt Hardy is injured so he cannot compete tonight in what would've been a World Tag Team Championship defense (I think?) with his teammate MVP. Instead, MVP will be defending the US Championship against Kane, Mark Henry, or The Great Khali. 

Back to the ring we go for CM Punk's ECW Championship defense against...The Miz (who earned more votes than John Morrison and Big Daddy V). In 2022, we've learned that CM Punk seemed to have a genuine dislike for The Miz based on his lack of credentials, but if these two had any legit heat back then, it doesn't come across at all. This match is actually pretty darn good and would probably rank as The Miz's best yet at this time (he'd really only been competing for a few years by then). CM Punk isn't as over as he'd become, but his big moves get a great reaction (especially the running knee in the corner). The Miz gets decisively beaten, but its not a squash match. Hard-hitting, good back-and-forth, no wasted minutes - this one gets a little extra love for exceeding expectations and ending definitively. The Miz wasn't then and isn't now a world-class in-ring worker, but he had surprisingly good chemistry with Punk in this match and its kind of a shame that those two never got a real feud against eachother in 2011/2012 when its possible they could've worked some match (maybe Punk's disdain for Miz prevented that?). (3/5)

Before the next match (and throughout the evening), we also get a look at various divas in costumes. The fan vote here is to...see one of the divas in their costume? Seems unnecessary. Each vignette is dumber than the last. This is the type of thing that makes being a wrestling a fan embarrassing and so it gets a negative point from me. (-1)

Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Kennedy are shown backstage - all three in the running to challenge Randy Orton for his WWE Championship later in the evening. Of course, all three weren't really in the running because Michaels was positioned as the biggest star and biggest threat to Orton's reign (though I'm curious if Jeff Hardy might've actually won the vote had it been legitimate). With Michaels winning the vote, Hardy and Kennedy square off in the next contest. This wasn't bad and Jeff Hardy, like Mysterio in the opener, takes his fair share of hellacious bumps to not only keep the crowd engaged but help establish Kennedy as a vicious heel. (2.5/5)

MVP defends his title against Kane next. These two had feuded extensively so they have good chemistry together and MVP knows how to basically just bump and sell his way into Kane's offense. Kane dominates for the most part, but MVP gets enough offense in to make it seem like he has actually might get the win. Unfortunately, a pretty good match gets a pretty lame finish as MVP gets counted out to retain the title. Another solid match, but nothing you wouldn't get on your average episode of SmackDown around this time. (2/5)

Randy Orton defends his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels in the next contest. This is one of those matches where most people assumed (correctly) that Shawn Michaels had no chance of actually winning, so the challenge that he and Orton had was to actually see if they could make fans question that assumption. I'm not sure they ever actually do...but they come close enough, especially for the live crowd, who pops huge for some of the nearfalls. Michaels does a good job of targeting Orton's left arm and I appreciate Orton selling it throughout the match. Speaking of Orton, I would've liked to see a touch more heelishness out of him and some more attempts to hit the RKO, but he really gives this match to HBK and, by doing that, the live crowd does buy into the idea that Michaels has him beat by the end. Speaking of the end, the finish is another one that bums out the crowd, but I love the unexpected nature of it. A stronger, more definitive finish would've nudged this one into "must see" territory, but instead, its just a Match of the Night contender instead. (3.5/5)

After some more diva nonsense backstage, we get Triple H vs. Umaga. Like the previous match, it was obvious to any longtime fan that Umaga would be doing the job, but because of the stipulation, the question here wasn't so much about whether Umaga might score an upset as much as it was about whether they could live up to some of the excellent hardcore matches that Umaga had had with Cena and Jeff Hardy in the years before this. While they didn't surpass the Umaga/Cena match from Royal Rumble 07' (few matches have), Triple H does a great job of making Umaga look like an absolute monster and there are some stellar moments in this match. They start things out by brawling in the crowd, going through part of the stage, and Umaga nearly decapitating the Game with a crossbody near the guardrail. In the ring, Umaga controls and we get the Triple H that I've always found to be maybe the best version of Triple H, or at least an underrated part of his skillset: babyface taking punishment from a monster. While this is a street fight, there aren't an abundance of weapons, which means that when we do get low blows, chair shots, and Triple H's trademark sledgehammer, they carry much more weight than if the whole match had been a "kitchen sink" brawl like one might've expected. Before the finish, Umaga looks to have the match won when he lands a very impressive splash onto Triple H through a table, but Triple H manages to get a hold of his trusty hammer to help him secure the win. A very, very good match that I'd consider "must see" if you're a fan of either guy. (4/5)

Mickie James wins the diva contest but doesn't even get to come out in front of the crowd. What a waste of time. I'm tempted to take another point off this show. 

Main event time - The Undertaker defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista. Steve Austin is named the Special Guest Referee (no surprise there) and, after giving a stunner to both Mick Foley and JBL, he does his job and completely fades into the background. (Though its worth mentioning that he actually eats a pretty stiff clothesline from JBL before the match and takes a back bump when I was under the assumption that he really couldn't "work" until his recent "one night only" comeback at WrestleMania XXXVIII.) People talk up the Taker/Batista match at WrestleMania XXXIII but these two guys had tremendous chemistry from the jump and this one does not disappoint whatsoever. I like how there are a number of counters and dodges, but this never feels like a match built entirely on signature offense - even though, when you're Undertaker and everything you do is basically signature offense, there's no other way to describe it. Batista was always a limited worker, but everything he does do he does well in this match, from the shoulders into the corner to the devastating spinebuster he hits to counter the Old School. Undertaker goes for the triangle choke a couple of times and cinches it once, but they don't waste much time with headlocks and submissions. This is a fight and it is a battle between two powerhouses. I really like how definitive the finish was for this one too, but wonder if it was done clean here because this was a "lesser" show and maybe Vince thought it wouldn't hurt Undertaker's legitimacy? If so, he was right, but also, Batista earned this victory every step of the way so there was no real need to worry about protecting the Deadman anyway. For a match that goes 15+ minutes, it never drags either. I'd consider this a "must watch" if you're a fan of either guy or maybe slept on this feud after some of their more high profile outings. (4/5)

Cyber Sunday and Taboo Tuesday (its predecessor) were "lesser" pay-per-views when they existed, but this show proves that sometimes a WWE show overdelivers when the expectations are relatively low. I'm not sure anyone was expecting as many good-to-great matches as we got here, even if, on paper, matches like Mysterio/Finlay, HBK/Orton, Umaga/Triple H, and Batista/Undertaker all sound very enticing. The issue was predictability in finishes and a thin midcard, but because the performers went out of their way to make the in-ring action as exciting and varied as possible, the show works as a whole, earning a respectable 3.0-out-of-5 Kwang Score (which would've been slightly higher if it weren't for all the embarrassing diva nonsense.)

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand