WWE Cyber Sunday 2008 Review

From November 23, 2009.

With the egotistic Chris Jericho as the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista rises up and challenges him for the belt. Will Batista be able to dethrone Jericho? Or will Jericho leave Cyber Sunday with his World Heavyweight Championship around his waist?

Match 1: No Holds Barred - Kane vs. Rey Mysterio
The opening bout of the night was between Kane and Rey Mysterio in what was a boring and uninspiring match. Mysterio really deserves better than this and being in an 11 minute opening match with Kane doesn't help him at all. Mysterio got the win after hitting the 619.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Rating: *

Match 2: ECW Championship - Matt Hardy (c) vs. Evan Bourne
After beating out Finlay and Mark Henry in the voting polls, Evan Bourne gets his first shot at the ECW Championship against Matt Hardy in a match that some may call the sleeper hit of the night. Altough these two weren't given much time, they really put on a show of agility and quickness. Matt Hardy retains his title after hitting the Twist of Fate.
Winner: Matt Hardy
Rating: ***

Match 3: John Morrison & The Miz vs. Cryme Tyme
The third match of the night was a tag team match between these two tag teams. This was an okay match but nothing that should really be on PPV. I'd normally expect this kind of match on Raw or ECW but I guess it wouldn't hurt to give these guys some PPV time.
Winners: John Morrison & The Miz
Rating: *3/4

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship - Santino Marella (c) vs. The Honky Tonk Man
Santino Marella has really established himself as a hilarious jobber and this really was no diferent. This match was really just a comedy match with nothing really special. Santino loses via disqualification to The Honky Tonk Man and retains his title.
Winner: The Honky Tonk Man
Rating: n/a

Match 5: Last Man Standing - The Big Show vs. The Undertaker
This is where the PPV really gets out of first gear with the Last Man Standing match between these two giants. In my opinion, these two have phenomenal chemistry as The Undertaker does such a great job making The Big Show look very good. The match was probably one of the best big man fights that I have seen in a long time as they brawled in and out of the ring. They then took it into outside the ringside barricades where The Big Show drove The Undertaker through the announcer's table in a nice spot. After, The Undertaker put The Big Show in the Hell's Gate submission leaving The Big Show unconscious and unable to answer the count of 10.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: ***3/4

Match 6: WWE Championship - Triple H (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
Even though these two had a tremendous match at No Mercy, I think adding Vladimir Kozlov to the mix would have been better but this is Cyber Sunday and the fans had the ability to choose the matches and I guess this is what they wanted. The match itself was very similar to that of their match at No Mercy but that's really a good thing. It was also interesting to see Triple H play the role of a heel here as Hardy was definitely the crowd favorite. After a lot of back and fourth action, Triple H hung Hardy on the ropes and nailed him with the Pedigree to defeat Hardy.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: ***3/4

Match 7: Special Guest Referee - World Heavyweight Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. Batista
Before the match begun, Stone Cold Steve Austin was announced as the special guest referee to Chris Jericho's displeasure. With the odds stacked against him, Jericho decided to get himself counted out to leave the show with the belt around his waist. This didn't please Austin so he said that if Jericho gets counted out, Batista would be the new World Heavyweight Champion. Jericho then went back in the ring and dominated Batista to much of the crowd's surprise. Batista didn't give up and fought back against Jericho until Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Austin. This then made Shawn Michaels come down to the ring and he tried to give the fast 3 count to Batista but it failed as JBL pulled him out of the ring and took him out with a devastating clothesline. After, Orton then came down to the ring to be the new referee but Austin gave him a Stone Cold Stunner. Batista then took out Jericho with the Batista Bomb to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Winner: Batista
Rating: ***3/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
The show started off pretty slowly but the final three matches of the night made this show worth talking about. The Last Man Standing match was outstanding, the WWE Championship match was a great back and fourth match, and the World Heavyweight Championship match was fun and hectic. If you're interested in checking this PPV out, then you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 8/10