Previously on On the Card: Cryme Tyme stole the show… and Jerry’s laptop.
Backstage, Shawn Michaels is working a different laptop, tapping keys seemingly at random. He does not computer well. Triple H turns up and they roll through a ham-fisted explanation of the stipulations for their match. Shawn is attempting to vote on the computer but his illiteracy stops him. Trips points out that Mr. McMahon’s head-up-Big-Show’s-arse ratio is too high for him to be special referee in their match. Trips then says that they don’t want Coachman either as Cena beat him up last week and, “the bloom is pretty much off that rose… as if it wasn’t when we stuck his head through a wall and spraypainted DX on his pimply butt.” Shawn agrees. That leaves Eric Bischoff, who Trips claims believes that he is controversial. It also conspires that Bischoff said DX don’t know the meaning of the word controversial. Shawn disagrees. Trips doubles down: Bischoff said Shawn specifically doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Shawn is apoplectic: He put Bret Hart in a Sharpshooter. Montral Screwjob reference! Shawn points out that Trips is controversial as he married old what’s-her-name. Shawn turns to a backstage helper, asks his name (it’s Stan) and superkicks him there and then to prove his controversy. He then superkicks two other men as he storms off, ranting and raving.
Cut to the official theme music of Cyber Sunday, Disciple’s “Scars Remain”.
The Hardy’s music plays and we are treated to the least-talented but crazier of the two: Jeff! He appears, strung out and high-fives all his fans. The Intercontinental title is on the line… but against whom?
Todd and Maria wonder what it is like to be Jeff Hardy right now. The choices are Carlito, Shelton Benjamin or Johnny Nitro. Carlito is tossing an apple. Shelton is praying. Johnny is posing the results are in… 62% for Carlito! Sweet Christmas pudding! Only 13% for Nitro and the other 25% go to Shelton. What a win for the man who doesn’t know whether to spit or swallow. Over 14 million votes cast worldwide.
His music plays and he comes out. JR considers that 62% is a big number and that any politician would love to have that numbers in their approval rating. Jeff is not happy to fight Carlito at all. Carlito places his apple below the turnbuckle and the championship is held high as the bell rings.
Intercontinental Championship match: Jeff Hardy (c) def. Carlito via pin in 13:21.
JR is talking about Pat Patterson as Carlito offers his hand to Jeff. He shakes it and offers a clap. The two men lock up and there’s a lovely snapmare followed by a number of combinations and pins. Because both men are faces, this has to be a good-old-fashioned wrestling match. Hardy knocks Carlito to the ground and there is a botch as Carlito goes to jump over Hardy but Jeff doesn’t duck like a goose. Carlito dropkicks Jeff’s knee and then taunts him with Hardy’s finger-salute before hitting a lovely suplex. Jeff dropkicks Carlito to the abdomen and we see that the two faces are becoming a bit heelish. Carlito hits the springboard moonsault on Hardy and is rocked outside followed by a baseball slide. Jeff runs the barricades but another dropkick sends him to the ground.
Hardy chants rise as the two men go into the ring. Jeff hits a ten count on the turnbuckle and Carlito counters a Vader-Bomb style slingshot splash. Full nelson city over here in the middle of the ring. Jeff fights back and hits a jawbreaker, almost getting the Twist of Fate but Carlito escapes it. Close pins and JR complains that they’re using too much energy. That’s a very old person complaint to make, JR. Full nelson city again in the centre of the ring. JR then cuts a wee promo for Cyber Sunday. Carlito hits a leg drop and almost gets the three. More full nelsons. Mike Chioda, the ref in charge here is not very happy with this time wasting. Jeff fights back and gets a flapjack on his face for his effort. Silly Hardy. Another close 2-count.
Lovely backbreaker and another close 2-count followed by… CHIN LOCK CITY. So many rest holds up in here. What are you guys, hourly? Come on. Carlito and Jeff both sell a drop as it they were both on the receiving end of it. Confusion. Lovely running neckbreaker from our man Hardy and Jeff hits a sit-out facebuster suplex, popping to the top rope for a Swanton but Carlito gets the knees up just in time. Devastating. Carlito hits a springboard spinning somersault followed by a springboard moonsault and gets Jeff up to hit the springboard lariat. Jeff fights back, runs up the turnbuckle for a Whisper in the Wind. He pops to the other turnbuckle but Carlito is up before Jeff can dive. They’re setting up for a super hurricanrana but it is countered and Jeff hits the Swanton for the pin in 13:21
2016 comments:
Lovely little match with a few too many rest holds and repetitive moves that lose their high-flying edge when performed flawlessly over and over again. We can be impressed by someone’s athleticism without having to see them do the same move the entire match.
2006 comments:
Absolutely great. I have grown into a huge Carlito mark all of a sudden.
Grade: A-
One little blonde girl in the audience goes fucking apeshit at the win. Jeff raises his hands, celebrates and goes out the winner. Interesting how this could be a springboard (excuse the pun) for a lovely feud between the two fan-favourites, leading to a potential heel-turn for one of them, but it could easily be a one-off due to the nature of Cyber Sunday.
Jerry still has no laptop. JR introduces the next match and we’re shown a recap of the events of the last few weeks. Randy Orton became a guest on Edge’s Cutting Edge. Edge asks some difficult questions and reminds them of Trips betraying him. Edge reminds him that Shawn Michaels betrayed Edge. Randy and Edge are best friends now… or at least realise that the enemy of their enemy is their friend. Edge and Randy dress up like DX in a sad attempt to out-prank the super pranksters. We have a special guest referee for this match – Bischoff, the Coach or Vince. All have a problem with DX so Rated-RKO have an advantage either way. Both teams are dirty-no-good-double-crossers.
Back in the arena, thousands get Porygon-style epileptic fits from the DX intro. I love the DX theme, though. It’s a bit too slow for me, but it never gets old and sounds like Rage Against the Machine. In the middle of the ring, they hit the X signs for three chops of pyro. Lovely. Shawn does a lap of honour and is gassed before the match even begins. The two men play the crowd off each other for a while as they clearly have nothing better to do.
Trips begs the crowd to be silent, yet they will not. Their voices will be heard. He asks the crowd if they are ready and asks again as the first answer isn’t good enough. Trips hits his, “Let’s get ready to suck it!” bit and Shawn asks, “If you’re not down with that-“ the crowd pre-empt him and Trips tells them off.
Todd and Maria have a little back and forth. Maria says she voted for Vince because she doesn’t want to be fired. She pretends she’s a dopey woman but she’s not. She’s shrewd as shit. The choices are (if you have been dozing the last hour) Eric Bischoff (the kind of controversy), Jonathan “the Coach” Coachman (fool), Vince McMahon (the chairman of the board). The winner is… Eric Bischoff with 60% of the vote! The Coach and Vince got 20% each! Whaaat. The man himself walks down in his WWE ref gear. He walks around the ring, unable to get in, seemingly.
Randy’s music hits and out he comes, hitting his Legend Killer pose on the Titantron, stopping mid-stride to wait for Edge. Jesus, these themes are amazing, aren’t they? Probably the two best theme songs of this generation, I’d say.
That’s right, I said it.
The two enter the ring slowly. JR and Jerry wonder how much experience Bischoff has had as a ref. He rings the bell and the match begins.
Tag Team match with Special Guest Referee Eric Bischoff: Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) def. D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) via pin in 18:11.
JR talk for a bit about how awesome DX are as the pranksters rock-paper-scissors to start the match. It’s Michaels and Edge, staring off and looking into each other’s eyes before they lock up. Fun fact: on the DVD I’m watching this on, the DX vs. Rated-RKO chapter starts at around 49 minutes and they finally lock up 1 hour, 4 minutes in. That’s fifteen minutes of promos, entrances and set up before a match. What?
JR chastises DX for not taking Edge and Orton seriously. Why would they? DX are funny lads and like a laugh. Edge takes a couple of bumps and Shawn sunset flips over him, making Edge Aloha-Arn for a while before Shawn pulls down Edge’s shorts, exposing his arse for a spanking. Humiliated, Edge takes quite a beating and HHH is tagged in. Trips climbs to the top rope, getting a huge pop for it… and just climbs down and into the ring. What? He punches the hell out of Edge’s face and gets a thumb in the eye for his effort. Randy is tagged in and takes over, throwing Trips into the corner, which he explodes out of. Trips hits a lovely delayed suplex, almost a brainbuster by the looks of it.
A knee to the face and Randy is reeling. Shawn is in and it’s his turn to beat on Randy with a Flair chop. Trips is back in and Randy throws him into the corner, tagging Edge in. Rated-RKO double team Trips with a lovely dropkick. Trips attempts to take over but Edge stays in control. Bischoff is being a great ref just now. I hardly remembered that it was him. Randy is being on Trips in the corner. Stomping a mudhole in Trips and walking it dry. JR considers whether it is legal or not to have such an extended attack upon someone in the corner. Trips stops a flying attack with a boot to Edge’s gut followed by a lovely DDT.
Hot tag to Shawn and he’s jumping around, hitting a kip-up followed by two atomic drops, going to one corner, deciding that it’s the wrong corner and going to the other one for the elbow drop. He tunes up the band but as the crowd count along, Orton slithers up from behind, pulls at his legs and Shawn’s balls are crunch on the ring post. Super slow count from Bischoff. Randy is in now, beating on Shawn. Another slow count. It’s almost like Bischoff doesn’t want Rated-RKO to win. Surely that’s nepotism. Trips runs in after Edge and Bischoff goes to chastise him as the heels beat on Shawn. Lovely dropkick by Edge, slow pin, rest hold city. Shawn struggles to his feet and tries to get to the hot tag, flips Edge over but the Rated-R Superstar turns it into a sunset flip. More Aloha-Arning from Shawn, into a pin and a two count.
Randy is in now with a lovely dropkick and another slow two-count. Rest hold city from the man himself. It lasts forever, by the way. JR considers that it is difficult to do Sweet Chin Music when lying on your back. Michaels is up, Flair chopping away at Orton, who retaliates with a backbreaker, really selling it as well. Edge is in, begging for Shawn to stand up for the spear but when the time finally comes, Michaels sidesteps and Edge spears Bischoff. A lovely enziguri from Michaels and both men are down. Hot tag is building up here and Randy and Trip comes in. Trips clears house, hits the high knee on Orton and the knee drop on Edge. Lovely spinebuster, leading into a Pedigree which is ruined by a spear from Edge. Michaels tosses Edge out and hits the suicide dive. Orton is on the floor, hits Trips with the RKO and goes for the pin. A new referee slides in, hits the one-two-thr- TRIPS KICKS OUT BAH GAWD.
Randy is getting ready for another RKO, sweat dripping from his nose. The RKO is countered, pushed into Shawn’s Sweet Chin Music and Trips covers but the pin is interrupted by Bischoff who pulls the ref out. As Shawn goes to kill Bischoff, Edge cracks him with a steel chair. Edge rolls into the ring, Trips dodges the chair, goes for the Pedigree on Edge but Orton has the chair now and hits a lovely chair shot to the head followed by an RKO on said chair for the pin in 18:11.
2016 comments:
Nice wee match, bit too long, especially near the end leading up to the spotfest. The finishing moves didn’t get as much of a pop as I’d expected and the fact that Bischoff was in the ring made little difference to the match except for the ending.
2006 comments:
Who is Bischoff again and why do I suddenly hate him like I’d never really liked him ever?
Grade: A-
Randy’s great music hits and Bischoff raises Edge’s arm, remembers that he’s hurt, lifts Randy’s arm and Rated-RKO have a wee moment in the middle of the ring. Randy hits his Legend Killer pose and Edge hits… the DX sign? What? Wrestling makes little sense sometimes. The heels and ref leave as we see the highlights of the match. Surprised no one went the extra mile and bladed this match. I think this is the first one in a while where Trips hasn’t bled everywhere.
Cut to the damn Marine. Has it not come out yet? John Cena is hitting up his mental thug accent. What a guy, know’m’sayin’?
Back in the arena, JR is attempting a promo on the main event but it cuts backstage to show Lita congratulating Rated-RKO as they go to celebrate, still in their ring gear. They are asked by Todd whether their win is tainted by the fact that they won via cheating and say that it is only the beginning for their team.
Back in the ring, it is the match that isn’t a match! The Divas come out, not a wrestler amongst them, all of them gimmicked and showing skin. Awful. Lilian Garcia introduces Mickie James and JR hopes that she has taken her medicine.
Lita’s scream music hits and she comes out, the only talented one of the lot. We see the tournament and it’s a pathetic one at that. There were more (namely Candice, Torrie Wilson and Victoria) but they had a single match each and then were involved in a Bra and Panties match with Maria. Take away these “wrestlers” and you’re left with Lita, Maria, Mickie and Melina. That was it. Those were the female wrestlers that they could bring up to do a tournament. That’s just sad. Shame on you, WWE. Shame upon ye. Why would you even want a belt that only three other people can actually fight for? You’re the best of a bad bunch.
Cut to Maria who fires together a horrible promo on how she’s disappointed she’s not in the ring to attempt to get the vacant title (Trish won it at Unforgiven back in September and then retired with it) but she’s sure they’re going to have a great match. I wouldn’t be so sure, somehow. The choices for this match are No DQ, Diva Lumberjill or Submission. 46% for a Lumberjill, 40% for no DQ and 14% for submission. The fans clearly know that the girls can’t actually wrestle.
Lumberjill match for the vacant WWE Women’s Champion: Lita def. Mickie James via pin in 8:07.
We know how this is going to fare, but let’s watch anyways.
Lita instantly throws Mickie out and the Lumberjills roll her back in. Mickie throws Lita out and she rolls herself back in. Jerry says, “There’s no such thing as a sure thing… unless your name is Lita.” The girls headlock each other and have some weak shoulder barges, bad hip tosses, sad dropkicks and pantomime acting. Lita attempts to escape and the Lumberjills push her back in. Hair pull and face smash. Kick to the stomach and choke in the corner. Lovely snap suplex and even JR is impressed. The Lumberjills are hitting a Sable-level beat on the mat. Lita gets her head battered into the turnbuckle and the crowd could not give a shit, neither could the announcers. Lita telegraphs the word’s saddest body slam. Mickie is tired and Lita jumps on her back for sleeper hold in the centre of the ring. The Lumberjills attempt another beat and Mickie hits the cross-arm-breaker in an attempt to “hyperextend that arm”, but Lita breaks the hold with her feet on the rope. Irish whip and a couple of push-downs from Mickie as Lita desperately tries to claw her way out of this pathetic match. Both girls fall out of the ring in a botched tarantula, I think, and the Lumberjills jump on them. Ten count in the middle of the ring but the girls are up and smacking each other. Weak toss into the turnbuckle. Mickie calls for her finisher, misses the ropes and falls. JR asks, “What the hell was that?” Lita goes for the cover, attempts to use the ropes and is pushed off by a Lumberjill. Punches mid-ring and Victoria pulls on Mickie’s leg, leading to the most brutal DDT I’ve seen in a women’s match and the pin for Lita’s fourth and final reign as WWE Women’s Champion in 8:07.
2016 comments:
Fuck off with your “women’s wrestling”. There’s no wrestling here, Vince, it’s just a chance to show tits on TV.
2006 comments:
I made a sandwich during this.
Grade: This deserves no rating.
No wonder Lita retired three weeks later. I wouldn’t want to wrestle in a company that hates you. She celebrates in ring as the tits all leave. The crowd could not care less. We see a replay of that brutal DDT which probably actually killed Mickie. Let’s move on.
On the Card will return on November 19th with the third and final part of Cyber Sunday 2006.
On The Card 