The 2006 Cyber Sunday was the third annual Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sundayprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Rawbrand division. It took place on November 5, 2006, at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio with 7,000 fans attending. The event was previously known as Taboo Tuesday in 2004 and 2005. For 2006, the event was moved to the more traditional Sunday night for PPVs and was renamed as Cyber Sunday. It was also the final Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday to be brand-exclusive as following WrestleMania 23 the following year, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued.
This event had the unique feature of being an interactive PPV. Fans could vote, via WWE's official website, for selective characteristics in the scheduled matches, including opponents, stipulations, match types, etc. The voting for the event started on October 16, 2006, and ended during the event.
Taboo Tuesday was an annual pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2004. It was the first regularly-scheduled pay-per-view by WWE on a Tuesday since 1991's This Tuesday in Texas, the first regularly-scheduled non-Sunday pay-per-view since the 1994 Survivor Series, and the first non-Sunday pay-per-view of any kind since In Your House 8: Beware of Dog 2 in 1996. The event was also produced exclusively for wrestlers of the Rawbrand. A unique feature of the event was the ability for fans to vote on certain aspects of every match. Because of this, the event was billed as an "interactive pay-per-view."[3] In 2006, WWE moved the event to a more traditional Sunday night for PPVs, and thus renamed the event as Cyber Sunday. It was held on November 5, 2006, at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. While it was the first event to be titled Cyber Sunday, it was the third overall in the Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday chronology. Like the previous two years' events, it was also a Raw-exclusive PPV.[4]
Storylines
The main feud heading into Cyber Sunday was between WWE ChampionJohn Cena, World Heavyweight ChampionKing Booker, and ECW World ChampionBig Show, the top champion of each of the three brands. This feud began on the October 9 edition of Raw, where they came face to face, arguing about who was the most dominant champion in WWE.[5] WWE Chairman Vince McMahon interrupted, and booked a triple threat "Champion of Champions" match at Cyber Sunday between the three of them.[5] This also gave each show's General Manager an opportunity to choose opponents for each other's champion that night.[5] This resulted in Big Show defeating Jeff Hardy and Booker defeating Rob Van Dam; however, the match between Cena and The Undertaker was interrupted by Booker, Big Show, and The Undertaker's storyline rival, Mr. Kennedy.[5] At the same time, Cena began a minor feud with Kevin Federline.[6] Federline, as the on-screen close friend of Johnny Nitro and Melina's, appeared on Raw to promote his album, "Playing With Fire".[6] Cena rapped about Federline, but Nitro came out to Federline's defense and was thrown out of the ring by Cena.[6] Cena was then interrupted by his two Cyber Sunday opponents and McMahon, who announced that a championship would be on the line at Cyber Sunday.[6] Cena performed the FU on Federline, after being insulted.[6] The feud between the champions continued on the October 20 edition of SmackDown!, when Big Show and Cena were at ringside during Booker's title defense against Batista.[7] Batista speared Booker onto Big Show, who, in response, assaulted Batista, ending the match via disqualification.[7] Cena then joined the brawl, and SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced a tag team match for the next week.[7] On the next Raw, Cena defeated Nitro after an FU, but was assaulted afterwards by his Cyber Sunday opponents, who turned on each other shortly after to start a brawl between the four to end the show.[8] Batista and Cena were successful in the tag team match, after Big Show abandoned Booker.[9] The next week, on Raw, a preview of Cyber Sunday's interactivity was displayed when fans voted for Cena's opponent for the night, between Big Show, Booker, and Jonathan Coachman.[10] Coachman won in the voting, but was easily defeated by Cena.[10]
The main feud on the undercard was between D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton). The feud began to develop on the October 9 edition of Raw, when Edge convinced Orton that Triple H was the reason for their unsuccess.[5] Orton lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H in 2004,[11] and Edge lost a title match due to interference from DX the previous week.[12] This led to Edge and Orton joining forces.[5] On the next edition of Raw, Edge praised Mr. McMahon's booking skills and suggested that he and Orton have a match with DX at Cyber Sunday where fans could choose a special guest referee.[6] Mr. McMahon liked the idea, and decided for the options to be Coachman, Eric Bischoff, and himself.[13][6] The following week, Orton pinned Triple H in a match after hitting Triple H in the head with a steel chair.[8] Coachman had been the special guest referee, but Michaels superkicked him after he tried to count the pinfall, after Edge had interfered.[8] On October 30, McMahon, Coachman, and Bischoff were guests on Edge's talkshow, The Cutting Edge, and McMahon booked a match between Orton and Triple H for later that night, with Edge as the guest referee.[10] Before the match could start, however, Triple H performed a Pedigree on Edge, meaning he couldn't officiate.[10] Edge recovered and interfered, meaning the match ended in a no-contest.[10] Edge and Orton attacked Triple H with steel chairs, until Triple H got his sledgehammer and retaliated.[10]
The fourth match was between Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) and D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) with Eric Bischoff, who won the vote with 60%, as special guest referee.[14][15] Michaels took control of Edge and tagged in Triple H.[15] Orton and Edge gained control over Michaels after they pulled him into the ringpost.[15] While Bischoff was preventing Triple H from entering the ring, Rated-RKO continued to double team Michaels and Orton performed a Backbreaker.[14][15] Edge attempted to perform a Spear on Michaels but hit Bischoff instead.[14][15][19] Referee Chad Patton entered the ring to replace Bischoff, and after a Spear and RKO to Triple H, Orton pinned him for a near-fall.[14][15] Orton attempted another RKO on Triple H but Michaels interrupted and superkicked him.[14][15] Bischoff prevented Patton from counting the pin, and Michaels tried to pursue him but Edge hit him with a chair.[14][15][19] Orton performed an RKO onto a chair on Triple H for the win.[14][15][19]
The next match was the final of the tournament for the WWE Women's Championship between Lita and Mickie James.[14][15] The match was the first ever Lumberjill match (the female version of a lumberjack match), which gained 46% of the vote.[14][15] The match begun with both Divas throwing the other outside the ring to try to gain an advantage.[15] Lita dominated the early proceedings, applying a sleeper hold until James countered with a cross-arm breaker.[15] Lita executed a DDT to win the title.[14][15][20]
In the sixth match, The Spirit Squad defended the World Tag Team Championship against Ric Flair and Roddy Piper, who won the voting with 46%.[14][15]Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes accompanied Flair and Piper to ringside.[14][15]Kenny and Mikey were the two Spirit Squad members to defend the title.[15] Flair tagged in Piper, who the Spirit Squad dominated.[14] After Mikey missed a Splash, Piper tagged in Flair.[15] Flair applied the Figure Four Leglock on Mikey but Kenny broke the hold with a Guillotine leg drop on Flair.[14][15] Flair made Mikey submit to the Figure Four Leglock to win the title for his team. After the match, Flair, Piper, Slaughter, and Rhodes celebrated in the ring after stopping the Spirit Squad from attacking Flair and Piper.[21]
The main event was the "Champion of Champions" match between the WWE ChampionJohn Cena, World Heavyweight ChampionKing Booker and the ECW World ChampionBig Show.[14][15] The fans voted for the World Heavyweight Championship to be defended.[14][15] At the start of the match, Booker tried to team with Cena but was prevented by Big Show, who began to dominate.[15] Booker and Cena combined to clothesline Big Show over the top rope and they fought.[14][15] Cena tried an FU but Booker countered with a DDT.[14][15] Big Show performed a chokeslam on Booker.[15] He attempted a chokeslam through a broadcast table on Cena but Cena countered and threw him into the ringpost.[15] Cena performed an FU on Queen Sharmell when she attempted to hit him with the title belt.[14][22][15] Cena applied the STFU on Booker, but while the referee was tending to Sharmell, Kevin Federline hit Cena with the title belt.[22][15] Booker hit Cena with the title belt[22] and pinned Cena to retain the title.[1][22][23]
Aftermath
After his involvement in the main event, Kevin Federline challenged John Cena to a match on the January 1 edition of Raw,[24] a match he won due to interference of Umaga who was in a midst of a feud with Cena.[25] Shortly after this match, Cena defeated Umaga at New Year's Revolution with a roll-up, ending Umaga's one year undefeated streak.[26] Then at the Royal Rumble Cena defeated Umaga again in a Last Man Standing match.[27] After the Royal Rumble Cena and Umaga's feud ended.
Roddy Piper and Ric Flair dropped the World Tag Team Championship two weeks later, to Rated-RKO after Piper was told he had cancer.[28]The Spirit Squad continued their feud with Flair, and were defeated by him, and fellow "legends" at Survivor Series.[29] The night after Survivor Series, the Spirit Squad were defeated in their last match on Raw, and the stable disbanded.[30]Kenny was the only member to stay on WWE television.[31]
D-Generation X and Rated-RKO continued feuding, and at Survivor Series, Team DX won with a clean sweep of Team Rated-RKO.[32] The feud continued until New Year's Revolution, where the match between them for the World Tag Team Championship ended in a No Contest after Triple H delivered a Spinebuster on Orton and tore his quadriceps which was the main cause for the end of the DX return storyline.[33]
After she won her fourth WWE Women's Championship, Lita continued her feud with Mickie James, with Lita winning two and losing one of three non-title handicap matches against James on Raw where James had, respectively, one hand tied behind her back, her feet tied together and blindfolded, with James able to win the second of those matches after DX squirted mustard in Lita's face.[24][28][34] After Lita announced her retirement after Survivor Series, she lost the title to James at Survivor Series on November 26.[35]
The 2006 Cyber Sunday would be the final event in the interactive PPVs chronology to be Raw-exclusive, as following WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs.[42]
