10 Things You Forgot Happened On WWE's Taboo Tuesday & Cyber Sunday
Isabella Bartlett
WWE was one of the first companies to implement a full online platform for fans to interact with their programming. In 2004, WWE had its first-ever Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view event in which fans would be able to vote on situations that would take place throughout the night.
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It would later be changed to Cyber Sunday to stick with WWE's traditional Sunday night PPV schedule. These shows would feature an array of match types and would keep the entire roster on their toes. It was one of WWE's most entertaining events during the Ruthless Aggression Era and would be a great concept for them to bring back. There was so much that happened on the shows though that sometimes it is easy to forget the events that occurred on the program.
10 The Story Behind The Concept
Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday were some of the first interactive experiences of their kind. WWE would give the fans multiple options for matches that fit in their respective storylines. From there, fans would go on to WWE's website and cast their votes for what they wanted to see on the show.
Fans would not find out which of options won the vote until the match was going to take place. This made for a suspenseful and exciting turn of events. WWE stars that competed on the show have gone on record saying that the voting process was 100% legit. They would then go on to express their frustrations because they did not have time to prepare for the type of matches they were competing in.
9 The New ECW Competed
In 2006, WWE revived the former promotion ECW as their third brand. The brand initially attempted to bring the extreme concept of ECW back, and it fit in perfectly with the unpredictability of the Cyber Sunday concept.
The show itself took place during a time when WWE would separate the pay-per-view event by brand, but there were times that these events would feature all of their brands. The ECW brand did not last long after their last appearance on the event. It is a surprisingly forgettable fact given that the ECW Championship was defended on the card.
8 Legends Appeared
It always makes for an exciting experience whenever WWE brings back one of their legendary stars and these shows usually featured a few. Even though Ric Flair was an active member of the roster at the time, he is still a legendary star that competed on the show with the ones that WWE brought back.
For example, Ric Flair won the World Tag Team Championships with a "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in 2006; the two men had legends Dusty Rhodes and Sgt. Slaughter in their corner. Slaughter was no stranger to this concept as he competed in the first match of the original Taboo Tuesday event. Throughout the five years these interactive shows took place, it saw the return of Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Snuka, and Jim Duggen, just to name a few more.
7 Wild Match Concepts
Since Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday gave the fans the choice of multiple different match concepts, this left the door open to have some crazy and unique matches. These included a variety of matches that fans do not see regularly to ones that fans hardly ever see. For example, some cards would feature Steel Cage matches and Street Fights.
It got a bit more unique when WWE added a Stretcher Match which saw Rey Mysterio defeat Finlay by placing him on a stretcher and pushing him up the ramp. Another crazy match was the Weapons of Choice match between "The Big Red Machine" Kane and the monster known as Gene Snitsky. The match was a twist to a modern day Extreme Rules match.
6 Forgotten Stars
Given that these events were somewhat unpredictable, WWE used them to highlight some of their mid-card talent. Unfortunately, due to the fact that they were not in the marquee match-ups, it would be easy to forget that some of those stars were on these cards.
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The Scottish tag team of The Highlanders was featured on the card once. Other notable stars that were easily forgettable are Tyson Tomoko and Chris Masters who didn't make much of an impact in WWE.
5 Tag Teams Matches Were Highlighted
Tag team wrestling makes for some exciting matches; which is why every single Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday had at least one tag team match. The very first Taboo Tuesday event saw an exciting tag match with Chris Benoit and Edge as they took on La Resistance. The second event saw four different tag team matches take place, one of which had Kane and The Big Show defeat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch to win the World Tag Team Championships.
The 2006 Cyber Sunday event had three featured on the show; one was a Texas tornado tag team match in which Cryme Tyme defeated three other teams. The next two events featured tag teams like Jesse and Festus and Miz and Morrission; both were winners of hard-fought matches.
4 Triple H's Involvement
As the son-in-law of the WWE's chairman and one of the top executives of the company, Triple H has had a lot of responsibilities throughout his career. He is one of the most respected stars in the wrestling business and part of that is because of his work ethic. Triple H competed at every single Cyber Sunday and Taboo Tuesday event, while putting on great matches.
At the first event, he faced long time partner Shawn Michaels. And at the second PPV, he took on former Evolution teammate Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match for the Nature Boy's Intercontinental Title. In his third event, he defeated the late Umaga in a Street Fight, and the following year he defeated Jeff Hardy in a WWE Championship match. At the last Cyber Sunday event, Triple H would join Michaels in the reformation of D-Generation X to take on the team of Rated RKO.
3 Treatment Of The Women
Prior to WWE's recent movement, the Women's Revolution, the women of professional wrestling were not always treated the same as the men. In fact, most of the time, they were not given the spotlight, and they were scheduled for shorter matches and were seen in a more sexual manner. The interactive event concept allowed the WWE fans to choose how they would like to see these women compete.
For example, 2005's Taboo Tuesday had a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal where the women on the roster competed in a Battle Royal while being dressed in outfits revolving around sexual fetishes. The year beforehand also had a similar match, but that card included a Lingerie Pillow Fight as well.
2 Legendary Commentators
WWE is capable of putting on great shows, but the play-by-play commentators provide the fans with the information needed to understand the match. These five shows had a variety of commentators throughout the years and each of them brought a unique expertise to the show. Classic commentators Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler were on hand for a few of the shows.
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Former ECW stars Joey Styles and Tazz appeared on a few of the show. Styles would represent the new ECW, while Tazz was on the SmackDown team. JBL was a commentator for Cyber Sunday's 2007 show. Part-time commentators Matt Striker and Todd Grisham provided play by play as well. Last but not least, current SmackDown Commentator Michael Cole was also one of the top commentators for these events.
1 Championship Main Events
It is common for a pay-per-view event to end in a championship match but given the concept of these events, the matches were anything but ordinary. For example, 2005's event ended in a triple threat championship match in which John Cena defeated Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels.
In 2006's event was also a triple threat match that saw King Booker defeat The Big Show and John Cena; both of which were also World Champions. 2007's had "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as a special guest referee in a match between Batista and The Undertaker. In 2008, Austin returned to be the special guest referee again, but this time the matchup was between Batista and Chris Jericho.