Review of WWE: Cyber Sunday 2006

Introduction

After two years of poor pay-per-view buy rates, in 2006 the WWE realised that Tuesday night events just aren`t as tempting to viewers as the traditional Sunday night spectaculars. As such, what was once Taboo Tuesday - the "interactive" card where fans could vote for one of a number of match stipulations - this year became "Cyber Sunday".

Hailing from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati on 16th October, Cyber Sunday was headlined by a first-time main event, with the champions of Raw (John Cena), Smackdown (King Booker) and ECW (The Big Show) contesting a Triple Threat match. The interactive feature of the event meant that fans could vote for whose title was at stake.

Elsewhere on the card, D-X faced Randy Orton & Edge, with the referee to be decided between Vince McMahon, Jonathan Coachman, or Eric Bischoff. The Spirit Squad were also in action, defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against Ric Flair and either Dusty Rhodes, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, or Sgt. Slaughter.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. The image is very clean indeed, with no noticeable video or compression artefacts. Due to its NTSC origins, the image is ever-so-slightly soft, but this is not distracting in the least.

The production values are up to the WWE`s very high standards, and for a live-to-tape event, it is hard to imagine this looking any better than it does here.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good. Everything from wrestler entrance themes, to in-ring action, to commentary, is mixed well, and is clear throughout. Speaking of commentary, it is ably - in a WWE sort of way - provided by Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler.

There are also Spanish, Italian, German, and French 2.0 tracks, with subtitles also available in Dutch and Portuguese.

Features

Looking past two unremarkable backstage interviews/segments with Roddy Piper & Ric Flair, and Umaga & Armando Alejandro Estrada, the one extra of note here is the Tag Team Title match between Piper & Flair and Edge & Randy Orton (Raw, 6th November). The bout was refereed by Eric Bischoff, under no-disqualification rules, which allowed all manner of high-jinks to take place. Unfortunately, the entire bout/segment captures a lot of what is wrong with the current WWE product.

Conclusion

In contrast to my other reviews, I`m not going to look at Cyber Sunday match-by-match, so as not to spoil any surprises viewers might get in watching this event. Suffice to say, however, that this was not a good offering from the WWE who, if they wish Cyber Sunday to remain worthy of pay-per-view status, must allow the fans to have a more considerable influence on the evening`s matches. For example, in the voting for the D-X vs Edge & Orton bout, what was the difference in having either Coach, Mr McMahon or Eric Bischoff as a referee, when all three were pursuing storyline vendettas with D-Generation X? Fans are not interested in this obvious nonsense; something like selecting D-X`s opponents would be much more tasty.

Of all the matches on the card, thankfully the two marquee bouts produced some quality, where others did not. One of those marquee bouts was the aforementioned D-X vs Edge & Orton contest, and had it not been for the blatant partiality of the referee, it would have been much better.

The main event was also, surprisingly, quite good. But again, it was notable for outside distractions that simply make the WWE product look ridiculous.

But away from these two matches, the rest of the card hugely disappointed. On paper, Jeff Hardy`s Intercontinental Title defence should have been excellent, but it was average at best. The Tag Team Title match promised little and delivered just as much, and whilst the Women`s Championship match contained a strong physical effort from both participants, the quality of the wrestling involved was nothing short of abominable.

If you are a WWE DVD collector, you are probably going to want this release, no matter what this review tells you. For the more thrifty viewer, you`d be best to pass on this one.