WWE Cyber Sunday 08 Preview Results
Find out what Smackdown and ECW have to offer on Oct 26th in Phoenix
In previous years Cyber Sunday's voting has been available to fans worldwide.
This year however, the 'WWE Universe' seems to only refer to the U.S audience that are willing to pay $0.99 per vote on their cell phones. Despite many tours around the world to appease the non-U.S fans and make them feel more 'included' this year’s obvious money-making decision has done nothing to keep them on side.
As a small gesture two of the Smackdown bouts have opened for voting on WWE.Com, as well as a 'Diva's Halloween Costume Contest' that can be voted for on the night, but is it too little too late?
ECW Presence
The only ECW bout of the night is as follows:
Matt Hardy Vs. To Be Decided for the ECW Title
Fans can decide to give either Finlay, Evan Bourne or Mark Henry a shot at the title. Given Henry failed to retain/win the title at the last three PPV's, it is unlikely the fans will see fit to award him another shot. While Finlay would make a worthy competitor and it is always a joy to see Hornswaggle, Evan Bourne has been a breath of fresh air recently and based on crowd reactions it is likely he will get the fans support.
Despite being the best candidate for the match, it is unlikely Bourne will take the title from Hardy, especially on the whim of the voting public.
Prediction: Bourne and Hardy to have a good high flying match with Hardy picking up the win, or an annoyed Henry getting involved leading to a no contest.
Smackdown Bouts
The Smackdown bouts are set to be as follows:
Shelton Benjamin Vs. To Be Decided for the United States Championship
This is a close contender for the 'who the hell cares' vote, and only misses out on it because of the utterly pointless Diva's Fancy Dress Contest. Shelton Benjamin has been feuding with R-Truth recently, so the sensible thing to do would have been to put them in a match and let the fans choose the stipulation. Instead the WWE creative minds have decided to let the fans choose who gets a shot at the gold, adding MVP and....Festus into the mix. Festus, one half of a wasted tag team that has dressed up as removal men and mariachi band members in recent weeks, has somehow been considered for a title shot without actually doing anything.
R-Truth will probably win this vote, but it would not be a surprise to find out that this was the least voted for bout, despite being one of the worldwide free votes on WWE.Com.
Prediction: Look for Benjamin retaining the title against either R-Truth or Festus. As bizarre as the decision to include Festus is, the fans may vote him in for a laugh and a joke.
Diva's Halloween Costume Contest
Probably the most pointless part of the event. No one can predict who will win this vote and it's doubtful anyone actually cares. If luck is on the fans side, The Great Khali might show up with his Kiss Cam and make the segment half watchable.
The Undertaker Vs. The Big Show. Stipulation to be decided by the fans.
Despite attempts to claim otherwise, the second and final free vote match on WWE.Com only actually has two choices for fans to pick from. Listed is:
- A Knockout Match
- A Last Man Standing Match
- A 'I Quit' Match
and the WWE has made no effort to differentiate between the Knockout Match and the Last Man Standing match, in which one can only assume the match is won and lost when one participant is out for a count of 10.
Seeing as it has been mentioned a number of times that The Undertaker has never uttered the words 'I Quit', this would be the match most fans would like to see, and it is also the only choice that favours Taker over The Big Show.
Prediction: Taker to win in order to make it 1-1 and set up a deciding bout at Armageddon.
HHH Vs To Be Decided for the WWE Championship
This is one of the few bouts in which the outcome of the match may change depending on what the voting outcome is.
Kozlov is nothing without his undefeated streak, and until his character is built a little further it would not be the wisest move to end it at Cyber Sunday.
Jeff Hardy still doesn't have the Charisma to make a successful champion, as he proved on Smackdown recently when he delivered yet another laboured, awkward vocal performance before being Pedigree'd by HHH.
Prediction: Triple Threat match is the most likely outcome as HHH/Hardy has been done before, however Hardy's legions of fans wouldn't want him left out. If this is the case HHH will probably retain at Hardy's expense, keeping Kozlov's undefeated status at least technically intact.
To read the Cyber Sunday 2008 Preview and results for Raw Click here.
Results
- Shelton Benjamin retained his U.S Title by pinfall at the expense of R-Truth.
- Matt Hardy got the pinfall victory over Evan Bourne after a Twist of Fate to retain the ECW Title. Bourne was voted into the match by a landslide (69% of the vote.)
- The Undertaker defeated The Big Show in a Last Man Standing match (49% of the vote) despite Vikki Guerrero announcing it as an I Quit match.
- No one in the arena seemed to care as Tazz declared Mickie 'Tomb Raider' James the winner of the Diva's Halloween contest. A fight broke out afterwards and was soon over leaving all the face diva's in the ring to pose.
- HHH beat Jeff Hardy (again) by pinfall to retain his WWE Championship. Jeff got 57% of the vote.
To read WWE Cyber Sunday 2008 Full Smackdown/ECW Results Click Here.
To read WWE Cyber Sunday 2008 Full Raw Results Click Here.
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