Cyber Sunday wasn’t anything really outstanding, but it was entertaining enough, and the fajitas we made for it were AWESOME. I did enjoy all of the matches in their own way, even if I didn’t always agree with some of the choices the ‘WWE Universe’ voted for (no Kozlov?!) but democracy is a flawed concept at the best of times, never mind when the people you are giving a voice to are rubes, nerds and children. ;)

Rey Mysterio vs. Kane (No Holds Barred)
This was a fun opener, if nothing particularly memorable. People can diss Rey all they want (and I watch practically every WWE event with my friends Jasp who hates the shit out of him) but this feud has got Kane to actually start putting in some effort again. I especially liked one bit near the start where Mysterio got whipped ribs-first under the bottom turnbuckle into the post, and Kane followed him in with a baseball slide dropkick, then just stretched him round the post. Rey, for his part, actually showed some aggression with some nasty chair shots, and generally played a good underdog role like he usually does. Also the bit where Mysterio went for the 619, ran into a choke instead, and then reversed the chokeslam into a hurricanrana was awesome. Rey won after the 619 and his stupid dolphin splash, so I’m guessing this feud is either over or close to it now. Time to update the Ongoing Kane Tally!

Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne
This was pretty great, not a classic like I briefly imagined it might be, but very good. It was exciting throughout, with Bourne continuing to impress me more and more. Hopefully him getting a chance to be on PPV will allow him to get more over, because let’s face it, nobody watches ECW on Sci-Fi. All of Bourne’s kicks and knees looked awesome, with one in particular looking like it knocked Matt silly. Matt getting to play the bigger man for once was quite fun too, and set up a cool crucifix powerbomb into hurricanrana reversal from Bourne. The crowd seemed to get more into the match as it went on, and the ending was cool: Bourne misses his stunning shooting star press, Matt goes for the Twist of Fate, only for Evan to reverse it into a VERY close near-fall, then Hardy actually hits the Twist of Fate for the win. Nice.

Cryme Tyme vs. John Morrison & The Miz
This was the match I was hoping for, although I would have been almost as happy with CM Punk/Kofi Kingston vs. Priceless (wouldn’t have minded Jamie Noble/Mickie James vs. William Regal/Layla either but there was no way that was winning). Anyhow, this was good, nothing spectacular but a good tag team match. I can’t remember many specific bits I liked, except Cryme Tyme’s usual shtick, Miz being a total prick, and Morrison being John Morrison. Oh, actually I just remembered JTG managed to counter Miz and Morrison’s trademark ‘slingshot into a forearm’ double team, that was cool. The end came when Shad had Morrison set up for something, but The Miz snuck in and kneecapped him, allowing JoMo to hit the Moonlight Drive.

Santino Marella vs. The Honky Tonk Man
This was just as you’d expect: Santino’s hilarious mic work, and then a two-minute comedy match. Santino really was great before the match though, picking on the Honky Donkey Man and making reference to SHAZAM O’NEAL who happened to be sat at ringside. The Honky and Santino had a dance off, Saninto jumped him, got overwhelmed, Honky went through the motions, and Beth Phoenix interfered to cause the disqualification. I’m not making it sound very entertaining but it really was. Afterwards, Santino yells at Beth, and she starts sulking, then Roddy Piper and big fat Goldust come out and beat him up some more.

Big Show vs. The Undertaker (Last Man Standing)
This was really good. I’m undecided if it’s better than their No Mercy match, but either way, definitely worth a watch. It was pretty slow in parts, but that actually worked for it, adding to the drama, getting over the punishment they were taking, and making everything seem more deliberate. This match was mostly all Big Show just battering The Undertaker from pillar to post and back again. Taker did get chance for revenge, but it was almost all Show and his devastating punches. Taker also took a big chokeslam off the crowd barrier through the announce table, which was neat. The use of the count for the Last Man Standing stipulation was done well here too. Eventually, it looks as if Undertaker can’t answer the count, so Show looks to finish him off with the killer knockout shot to the back of the skull he did at No Mercy, but this time, Taker grabs his arm and pulls him into THAT DEVASTATING FORBIDDEN CHOKE SUBMISSION!! I guess it was only banned against Edge, or Last Man Standing matches are an exception, or Vickie Guerrero will have something to say (prediction: Excuse Me!) on Smackdown about it, but regardless, Show was choked the fuck out and Undertaker wins the match. Awesome.

Mickie James then won the Divas Halloween Costume Contest. She was Lara Croft, and she looked hot as usual, but there wasn’t enough boobage for my liking: Kelly Kelly or MARYSE had better costumes. Ah well, I guess I shouldn’t be complaining that Mickie has a connection with the crowd that’s more than ‘tits’ though. Oh and Victoria dressed up as a fucking dancing bannana. WACCA WACCA WACCA.

Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy
As good as the last match was, I think this may have been better. At the time, I wasn’t as impressed with it as I probably should have been, because I wanted the fans to vote for HHH vs. Jeff vs. VLADMIR KOZLOV in a triple threat match, but I forgot that the fans are buffoons and don’t realise that if they pick a triple threat match they still get to see Jeff. I gave it another watch just then though, and it’s really cool. They worked a similar story to their No Mercy match, with speed/heart vs. power/experience, as well as Jeff Hardy getting better and better and getting SO CLOSE to winning the big one and finally winning the title, but he just can’t do it…yet. In this case, it’s his own tendency to take risks that costs him, which is pretty cool. One of my favourite parts of the match is, after the usual ‘going for their big moves early, psyching each other out’ stuff, Jeff gets the advantage and goes for his swinging corner dropkick, but HHH reverses it into a massive spinebuster. That was fucking sweet. Oh and at one point, Tazz says “don’t let him build any momentum, Trips!” because Tazz is outstanding. Then he puts Jeff in the Crossface for quite a while, until Hardy manages to counter it into a cradle, then hits Poetry in Motion style attack using the steps at ringside. This sets up a portion of the match with Jeff hitting everything, but it’s just not enough: two Whispers In the Wind, the corner dropkick, Twist of Fate, even the Swanton Bomb! However, instead of going for the pin, Jeff goes to the top and goes for a second one, because, well, he’s an idiot. This time he lands right across HHH’s knees, which probably hurt a good bit. Triple H goes for the Pedigree, but Jeff reverses into a roll-up near-fall, then a big dive to the floor, but when he goes for another Swanton, HHH catches him, hooks his arms and drags him off the turnbuckle into the Pedigree for the pinfall. Very entertaining match, especially the second time around. You can bitch about HHH taking everything Jeff had and kicking out and it only taking one Pedigree for him to win if you like, but a) HHH is a swine, it’s nothing new and b) it works in the context of the match and the storyline, and also c) whatever. So yeah, probably the best match of the show, although I expected Kozlov to do a run-in at the least.  The young girls in the front row getting more and more agitated at H beating up Jeff were adorable though.

Chris Jericho vs. Batista (Special Referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin)

I don’t remember a lot from this match, I think I was falling asleep. Not that that’s an indication of it being a terrible match or anything, I’m just getting old and weary. The match itself was just okay, nothing brilliant, but nothing bad, but everything surrounding it was pretty exciting and fun. By which I mean all the shenanigans at the end, with special guest referee Stone Cold getting taken out, leading up to all sorts of shenanigans involving JBL (helping Jericho out because, I dunno, he hates Batista I guess) and the other two choices for the referee spot: Shawn Michaels (who ran out, did a hilarious slow count and then beat the shit out of nemesis Jericho), and Randy Orton (who ran out, jumped Austin, and then did the world’s greatest sell of the Stone Cold Stunner). Eventually, after all sorts of wackiness, Jericho shoves Austin, who goes for the Stunner, but Jericho escapes it, and turns round straight into Batista’s spinebuster. One Batista Bomb later and we have a new World Champion! I was genuinely surprised at the outcome too. I quite like Batista, but it just seems a weird time to do it, as it’s not like the match was hyped up huge or it was meant of a big feud or anything. On the other hand, this way Jericho’s character gets to become even more bitter and paranoid (and to be fair, the odds actually WERE stacked against him this time), Stone Cold’s yearly appearance is always great, and Batista is probably the biggest star on Raw anyway, and if it means we get Batista/Cena II for the World title, then, as the kids say, it’s all good.