WWE – Cyber Sunday 2008 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews



Everyone in the world wants to have their voices heard and their opinions known, and have them mean something on a worldwide stage makes them even better. Each and every year the WWE wants to put control in the hands of the WWE Universe (the fans) and let it be known that they have control. The annual PPV entitled Cyber Sunday does just that and lets fans see the types of matches and the match-ups they want to see. Whether it’s a ladder match or a cage match. Whether it is a three way dance or a tag team gauntlet. Whether it is a hated rival or a fan-favorite. All choices are in the hands of the fans and what they say…goes.

October 26, 2008 would be the day that the votes would be tallied and everything that the fans wanted to see would to happen. The US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona was the site of the PPV and would see some championship matches, some gimmick matches, and even a few old faces that hadn’t been seen in a long time. Big Show and Undertaker would stand above them all as the two giants faced off in a Last Man Standing match. Rey Mysterio and the monster Kane would fight for their lives in a No Holds Barred match that would allow them to do whatever it takes to pick up a victory.

Some faces not seen in a long time, but never forgotten, would also make appearances at Cyber Sunday. Santino Marella was determined to prove he is the greatest Intercontinental Champion by possibly facing off with three of the greatest to ever hold the title including Honky Tonk Man, Goldust, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. And in what could have been the most popular, and easiest, decision for the fans to make; a special guest referee needed to be chosen for the World Heavyweight Championship match between RAW superstars Batista and Chris Jericho. When time came for the match; the fans made the expected choice and wanted to see a “rattlesnake” in zebra stripes.

Cyber Sunday has the potential every single year to be one of the most exciting and unexpected PPVs. The fans have the opportunity to vote for their favorites and make things the way they want it without being the same old stuff. The problem is that the choices given by WWE usually end up being kind of blah or have one choice that is extremely popular and its evident that will be the winner. I’d love to all the choices to be overly difficult to choose between and therefore keep a little more suspense in what final decisions will be made. I mean come on now. People really don’t want choices like 2 out of 3 falls or submissions matches. And do you honestly think Randy Orton will get a lot of votes?

**Warning: There are spoilers in this review!**

~ Kane Vs. Rey Mysterio: Falls Count Anywhere, No Holds Barred, or 2 out of 3 Falls Match – Like I said, no-one is going to rally vote for 2 out of 3 falls, but it ended up being “no holds barred” that won out. I expected a lot more out of this one and neither guy seemed to take advantage of using weapons or just doing whatever it takes to win. Kane looks slow and bored out there while Rey seemed to overly dominate a guy twice his size. I’m just sick of watching Rey win over Kane constantly when it should be the other way around nine out of ten times.

~ ECW Championship Match: Matt Hardy (c) Vs. Mark Henry, Finlay, or Evan Bourne – Hardy versus Henry had happened enough and I’m not entirely sure I would have enjoyed seeing Finlay in this particular case so I’m happy Bourne won out. Bourne quickly became one of the top stars on ECW and looks to be headed the way of CM Punk if things keep up. Hardy and Bourne match up very nicely because their styles play off of one another and it allows them to keep a high-paced match while delivering some really interesting and unique moves. Bourne’s shooting star press is a thing of beauty and needs to be seen by all. While I didn’t expect him to pull out the upset here; they had me thinking it might happen a few times.

~ Choose The Tag Team Match: Cody Rhodes/Ted Dibiase Vs. CM Punk/Kofi Kingston, John Morrison/The Miz Vs. Cryme Tyme, or Jamie Noble/Mickie James Vs. William Regal/Layla – I’m a little surprised that Kofi and Punk didn’t win out here due to their popularity, but I guess Cryme Tyme has a bigger following then expected. I like Miz and Morrison but Shad and JTG just don’t seem to appeal to me much in the ring, and not nearly as much as their little outside the ring antics do. This match just stays kind of slow and never really gets off the ground. Both teams do a formulaic tag match and not much more.

~ WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Santino Marella (c) Vs. Roddy Piper, Goldust, or Honky Tonk Man – Just how close the voting was here surprised the hell out of me, but the result sucked. Santino’s “Honk-A-Meter” is solid comedy gold and surprisingly Honky ended up winning out over the two obviously more popular choices. Now if only the whole match hadn’t been comedy fodder then I would have ended up a bit happier.

~ Undertaker Vs. Big Show: Knockout, I Quit, or Last Man Standing – Not entirely sure how “Last Man Standing” won over “Knockout” but to each their own. I’m not the biggest fan of this type of match because of the horribly boring and multiple ten counts we have to endure throughout. These two guys are already kind of big and plodding, but they do a decent job here of making this into a huge brawl with some great spots. Taker being slammed through the announce table by Show off the barricade is a really cool visual and totally unexpected. They do a nice job here of going back and forth, but still the long counts kill momentum as soon as they get it.

~ Divas Halloween Costume Contest: Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool, Brie Bella, Candice Michelle, Eve, Jillian, Katie Lea Burchill, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Lena Yada, Maria, Maryse, Natalya, Tiffany, Victoria, Mickie James – All the divas are dressed up for Halloween and the WWE Universe gets to vote on who looks best. Mickie James dressed as Lara Croft wins and then a brawl ensues. Blah blah blah!

~ WWE Championship Match: Triple H (c) Vs. Jeff Hardy, Vladimir Kozlov, or Triple Threat Match Versus Both – Kozlov ends up with a very small percentage of the vote and it’s not like they could have expected it to go any different. This match didn’t have nearly the excitement and tension in it that their one back at No Mercy did. Here we get a pretty straight-forward match with Jeff pulling out some big flying moves and then Trips simply overpowering him. Just didn’t have the “oomph” that their past matches have had.

~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho (c) Vs. Batista – Special Referee Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, or Randy Orton – Austin wins the special guest referee spot in the “Biggest Shocker Of The Year (Sarcasm)” category. Austin automatically makes some rules that Jericho will lose the title if he purposefully gets himself disqualified or counted out making this match almost too predictable now. This whole match is virtually a big mess because Batista looks lost out there and Jericho is doing all he can to try and salvage it but he can only do so much. Austin keeps thing interesting by being his usual self but it’s just so little here. A bunch of nuttiness ends the match to bring about the proverbial crappy finish. Blech!

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and everything looks good with no pixilation problems from pyro or graphics. Some of the older wrestlers are made to look just as good as the younger wresters so you know WWE is doing a great job with their production.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and no problems here either as WWE continues to keep their production value up when it comes to home releases.

WWE.com Preview Match: United States Championship Match: Shelton Benjamin (c) Vs. R-Truth – The other two choices to face Benjamin were Festus and MVP. This match isn’t much of anything and is kind of over before it even begins. It was nice of them to include this extra match on the DVD though considering we usually only get short backstage pieces.

Honky Tonk Man, Roddy Piper, and Goldust Argue Over Who Was the Greatest Intercontinental Champion – After the Intercontinental Title match debacle, the three of them are in the dressing room and start going back and forth. Actually, Honky and Piper scream back and forth for a while until the painted freak chimes in. It’s only about a minute and a half long but pretty funny.

TrailersBehind Enemy Lines: Colombia, Edge: A Decade Of Decadence, and The History Of The Intercontinental Championship


There is just so much potential for this PPV and yet it continues to be mediocre every year with only a single good match or maybe two. Watching this year’s Cyber Sunday makes me think that they focus so much on the fan interaction and voting that they don’t put much forth effort-wise into actually making it good. Besides the ECW Championship Match; everything else just kind of is ho-hum and blah. The stuff with the Legends and Santino was humorous but wasteful as far as taking up time on a PPV. Seeing Austin again was cool but it came at the expense of Jericho losing his title to an undeserving paper champion in Batista. In a welcome change though when it comes to DVDs, a match was included and it wasn’t the best in the world, but at least it was something more than just another interview. I wouldn’t bother with this one if you missed it because be happy you did, but try to find the Bourne/Hardy match because it’s a good one.

And I beg of the WWE to sit down and think about next year’s Cyber Sunday hard because some improvements need to be made.

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WWE Home Video presents Cyber Sunday 2008. Featuring: Santino Marella, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourne, Goldust, Honky Tonk Man, and many more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: November 25, 2008. Available at Amazon