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THE CYNICAL VIEW: C'MON BABY! NO, NEVERMIND! THOUGHTS ON CYBER SUNDAY

Welcome back to The Cynical View, where I feel it necessary to briefly recap my thoughts on WWE’s most recent PPV offering, Cyber Sunday. Thanks to all those who have corresponded recently, I greatly appreciate your comments.

For Cyber Sunday 2007 anticipation ran high. Fans were out in force, expecting, and awaiting the glorious return of one Chris Jericho. But it didn’t happen. After weeks of low-key build-up, amidst wild internet speculation, the show was a damp squib in regards to the Save.Us.2.2 nonsense. Instead, we were treated to an even bigger surprise, a quality WWE PPV!

Instantly, I groaned, as I absolutely hate Stretcher Matches, and it also became quickly apparent that they were going to ignore the stipulations, and use the shillelagh anyway, effectively making this a No Disqualification match. Ridiculous bunch of stipulations.

Anyways, this was a fine, entertaining encounter, stuffed with well-worked exchanges, as both guys absolutely worked their butts off. The fans were into it, as it played into the formula you would expect, with Rey coming back from beat-downs to hit some big spots. One in particular, a Powerbomb off the top, was especially impressive. The finish came when Rey hit a flipping senton to the outside, onto Finlay, who was prone on the stretcher. What was really remarkable, was when afterwards, as he pushed the stretcher towards the ramp, it caught in the TV cables, and really screwed up the finish. However both of these two worked around it, in professional fashion. 90per cent of the WWE talent wouldn’t have been able to do that.

Nice win for Rey, and a good way to kick off the show.

--Backstage, Matt Hardy was revealed to be in no-condition to wrestle. They made him up to emphasize his legit injury, as we discovered that MVP would now be facing either Khali, Kane, or Mark Henry with his title on the line. I speak for most people in saying, I’d rather have seen another Matt/MVP bout.

My pick, The Miz, got the nod here, which tells me that ECW fans are sick of having V and Morrison shoved down their throats. I’ve never seen such a wafer-thin talent roster.

This was a methodical, basic match, never especially exciting, but not terrible either. The fans were more into Punk than they were into this actual match, but at least he got a positive reaction. There was a big “you can’t wrestle” chant for the challenger early on. At one point, Punk went for a cross body, one of his usual spots, and The Miz, out of position, caused a horrendous looking error. Aside from that, this was probably the best match I’ve seen him in. The action picked up a little towards the end, and Punk got the win with the “Go to Sleep”.

-The WWE Title contender was revealed as Shawn Michaels, to no-ones surprise. What was pretty good, was that the two losers, were then booked into an immediate match. Which was fine, but something should have been at stake, be it a future shot, or Jeff’s Intercontinental title.

Jeff looked utterly dejected coming to the ring. Kennedy grounded him early, playing off the need for Jeff to be able to execute his high flying manoeuvres. This wasn’t bad stuff, but they’ve done better before, and the crowd, while into it, weren’t as hot for Jeff as they’ve been in recent times. The big moves and comebacks for Hardy were well spaced out, and done in the trademark exciting fashion, making this watchable, without ever being especially gripping. It just felt like a pointless filler match. The odd finish came when Jeff landed awkwardly off a slingshot dropkick in the corner, and Kennedy pinned him. Totally bizarre. Kennedy should have hit him with a finisher or something after this, as it would have made both guys look better, rather than Jeff appearing weak, and Kennedy a complete fluke.

-JBL hyped his campaign to referee the World title match, and treated us to his great campaign video. Good stuff.

This was better than your average Kane PPV match, but still pretty dire. There just wasn’t anything there. It was flat, barely existent wrestling, but on the plus side, it could well have been an abomination, which it wasn’t. It was also marred by another squiffy finish, with MVP retaining after he lost by count out. Obviously they played up the possibility that he lost on purpose. Ugh, I hate that sort of nonsense.

This was a really great match. One thing is for sure, although Michaels is hardly a fresh main eventer, he always delivers. Going about 17/18 minutes, this really was a treat. For the most part, Randy worked the head and neck, with HBK targeting the arm. As usual, Michael’s timing throughout this was unparalleled. In one spot I completely loved, they jostled over a superplex attempt, but they really did jostle. Doing this really underlined the impact of the move, and the absolute necessity in avoiding being caught with it. Really nice little touches like that work wonders for the believability of such crucial outings. The fans were buzzing, really behind Shawn, who made an electric comeback towards the end. Then, in response to a Sweet Chin Music effort, Randy low-blowed him for the intentional DQ lose, thus avoiding losing his title.

Horrendous finish, absolute crap, that no-one wanted to see. A terrible, lazy, short-sighted way to finish a match. Also, with this ending so early, it suggested to me that we would not be seeing Chris Jericho’s return at Cyber Sunday.

The fans picked a street fight over a Cage match, which is completely bizarre, but I’m glad, as it gave these two far greater scope, within which to work. However the fans in attendance booed unhappily, wanting to see the Cage that was hanging over their heads.

This started out hot, as a fight up the ramp, with the fans behind Hunter as a he attacked Umaga before he made it to the ring. They brawled around the stage, which was effective, and saw Hunter spear Umaga through a portion of the wall, in a reasonable spot. This was nice, drawn out, shortcut filled action. These two clearly have good chemistry, and Umaga can add another superstar to the list with whom he’s worked well with throughout 07.

Obviously HHH got the win, which was never really in doubt. But there were some fantastic moments leading up to his Pedigree/Sledgehammer finish, including a great moment where Umaga ran over all the announce tables, and splashed him through one. Fantastic stuff.

-Mickey James won the Divas costume contest for anyone who gives a crap, about this nonsense.

Thrilling encounter, though nowhere near the standard oft their Wrestlemania bout. But how could it be? I don’t know why, but these two are the definition of two acts who have great chemistry. In Batista’s book he talks about he was disappointed that he and JBL didn’t have better matches because he thought two big guys like them should have great matches (what nonsense!), but this is obviously the sort of result he had in his head. Bell-to-bell, this was engrossing stuff. Beforehand, Austin stunned both JBL and Mick Foley, and was obviously voted as the special referee. Terrible segment. JBL was funny, but Foley was wasted, and it’s pretty tired seeing Austin do the same thing. Plus, he was a distraction as a referee, especially in such a clean match, where his aura wasn’t necessary.

Regardless, these two put on an absolutely Herculean effort, with Batista looking at his best here. The action was slow and involving, with Batista doing an outstanding, fantastic job of selling a shoulder injury. Great stuff. They worked around this in the second half of the match, in really believable fashion, which made the water-tight final few minutes extremely exciting. Great match, with a fine, clean win for Batista, that completely took me by surprise. Dave won following his second Batista Bomb, which was especially impressive following the astounding selling he had displayed throughout this. I imagine this will lead to a gimmick match finale between the two at some point.

Throughout the PPV, the Diva Contest that was featured was an embarrassment, even if Victoria’s costume was quite funny. The worst bout on the card was certainly MVP vs. Kane, but it was by no means a train wreck. Kennedy/Jeff Hardy was also uninspired, but hardly offensive, while Punk’s title defense was better than anyone expected, and both Finlay and Triple H had exciting gimmick matches. Some folk have questioned the legitimacy of the WWE’s voting here, especially with reference to the Triple H stipulation, and the ECW title opponent. For me, the ECW title match doesn’t come into the equation, as it’s entirely obvious that the fans are sick to death of the same matches, especially the presentation of Big V as a somebody. He really isn’t, he still Mabel, he’s still Vis, he’s still not Championship match worthy, and everyone knows it. Hunter’s match is a different matter, but it is possible that fans just didn’t buy into the Steel Cage gimmick for this particular feud. Regardless, at least we ended up with good match. What does legitimize things somewhat, was the crazy margin between the votes for Foley and Austin to referee the main event. As expected, JBL finished at the bottom of the popularity contest, as he’s a heel. But Foley earned only one-per-cent more of the vote, which is an embarrassment to him I would imagine, but doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

The finest match of the show was probably Batista/Undertaker. The Orton defence was right up there with it, but has to lose out thanks to the crazy dud of an ending it featured. Horrible. Just look at the faces of the fans in attendance to see the utter shock of how deflating this finish was. It made me queasy, and was another nail in the coffin of good-will from the WWE.

Speaking of good-will. Once more, a large number of fans must be feeling let down after the non-appearance of Chris Jericho. Even more so, after he failed to debut at Raw as well. Some people are absolutely, inconsolably outraged about this, and others are defending the WWE as the promotion did not promise or advertise him at any point. However, they did strongly indicate that both these occasions would be those that would feature the return of Jericho. The implications were hardly subtle, and misleading for sure.

For me, the WWE isn’t at fault, if Jericho not appearing at either show was not their doing, if his other bookings, and his commitments made it unfeasible for him to appear. However, I think it’s a different situation if the WWE merely held back his supposed return, purely to spite those internet fans who speculated based on the rumours that the WWE themselves instigated with their Save.Us videos.

In that case, the WWE will have once again pulled a power-play and flexed their muscles, rather than entertaining the fans. This is a very strong possibility, and would be the sort of reprehensible activity McMahon perpetrates on a frequent basis. They’re pissed that we’ve all looked into their videos and deciphered the code. They’re irate that they’ve got people talking. But surely that was the point in the first place? Surely they accomplished their goals? With the McMahons, the mind just boggles. If no-one had noticed the Jericho link in the Save Us videos, what was the point of doing them in the first place? And If they really didn’t expect people to figure them out, how much is that of an insult to the intelligence of their fans.

The WWE didn’t have to feature Chris Jericho on either Cyber Sunday, or Raw. But they didn’t have to make us believe they would either.

Thanks for reading this nonsense. If you have any comments/questions/queries/or anything to say, get in touch at bazilalfonso@hotmail.com, whether you agree/disagree/hate me, or whatever if may be, I welcome all correspondence