Cyber Sunday (2008) - Event

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Shelton Benjamin defended the WWE United States Championship against a superstar of the fans' choice in a match that was streamed exclusively on WWE.com. The candidates to be voted in were R-Truth, Montel Vontavious Porter and Festus. R-Truth won the poll by 59% over MVP and Festus, and hence faced Benjamin for the title. The match went back and forth, but ultimately Benjamin performed the Paydirt on R-Truth and pinned him to retain his title.

The first match to be aired live was a No Holds Barred match between Kane and Rey Mysterio. The No Holds Barred match stipulation was voted by the fans over a Falls Count Anywhere match and a Two out of three falls match. Early on in the match, Mysterio used his quickness and agility against Kane, along with some weapons like a Kendo stick and a STOP sign. Soon, Kane overpowered Mysterio and dominated the later part of the match. Near the end, Mysterio drop-toe held Kane and drove him face-first into the steel ring-steps kept in the corner of the ring. Then he hit Kane with a steel chair multiple times, before delivering a 619 and springboard splash and pinning him to win the match.

The next match featured Matt Hardy defending the ECW Championship against Evan Bourne, who was voted as the challenger by the fans over Mark Henry and Finlay. Early in the match, Bourne surprised Hardy with his agility, but Hardy eventually got control of the match. Nevertheless, Bourne hit several high-flying moves on Hardy, like a standing moonsault, a hurricanrana countering Hardy's Splash Mountain Bomb, and a diving knee drop from the top rope. In the end, Bourne missed the Air Bourne, and hence capitalizing, Hardy delivered a Twist of Fate to Bourne and pinned him to retain his title.

The third match aired was a tag team match with John Morrison and The Miz taking on Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG). This tag team match was chosen over an intergender tag team match having William Regal and Layla taking on Jamie Noble and Mickie James, and a World Tag Team Championship match between the champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase and the team of CM Punk and Kofi Kingston. The match featured numerous tag team moves from both the teams. At one point, Shad threw JTG over the ropes onto Morrison and Miz outside the ring. Back in the ring, Morrison and Miz controlled the latter part of the match. In the end, Miz, who was not the legal man in the ring, kicked Shad's knee behind the referee's back and Morrison delivered the Moonlight Drive to Shad for the pinfall.

The fourth match was between Santino Marella and The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship. Honky Tonk Man was voted as Marella's challenger by the fans over Roddy Piper and Goldust. Before the match started, Honky Tonk Man danced to his theme music and asked Marella to do the same, but he delivered a cheap shot to Honky Tonk Man to officially start the match. However, the match ended soon when Beth Phoenix, who was by Marella's side, tripped Honky Tonk Man as he preparing to hit Marella with his fist, and hence, the match ended in Honky Tonk Man's favor as he won via disqualification. Nevertheless, Marella remained the Intercontinental Champion as the title does not change hands via disqualification. After the match, Piper and Goldust made their way down to the ring to confront Marella. In the ring, Goldust hit the Final Cut on Marella, Piper hit him with a punch combination followed by an eye poke, and Honky Tonk Man delivered the Shake, Rattle and Roll to Marella.

The fifth match of the evening was a Last Man Standing match between The Undertaker and The Big Show. The Last Man Standing match stipulation was voted by the fans over a Knockout match and an "I Quit" match. In the beginning, Big Show threw Undertaker out of the ring, and after some time, Undertaker hit Big Show with a steel chair. The match continued with Big Show dominating Undertaker and striking him with punches. The match featured many other spots, like Undertaker thrusting Big Show's throat against a ringpost with a steel chair; Undertaker delivering a leg drop to Big Show on the ring apron, and then later countering Big Show's Chokeslam into a DDT; and, then Big Show hitting Undertaker with a TV monitor and even chokeslamming him from the Barricade through an announcer's table. In the end, Big Show hit Undertaker first with a chokeslam, followed by a knockout punch to the face and then with a steel chair, but Undertaker got to his feet each time before the ten count. Finally, Undertaker locked in Hell's Gate on Big Show causing Show to lose consciousness and allowing Undertaker to win the match.

Throughout the night, a costume contest was held featuring the WWE Divas. The winner was announced in the ring before the WWE Championship match. Mickie James, dressed as Lara Croft, won the contest.

The next match was a WWE Championship match where the fans voted who Triple H's opponent, who was Jeff Hardy, who won the poll over Vladimir Kozlov. During the beginning of the match both Hardy and Triple H countered each other's moves, then it was evenly matched. Hardy then hit the Swanton Bomb, then went up to the top rope for a second Swanton Bomb, but was unsuccessful in doing so. As Hardy was attempting the move, Triple H got up and countered the move into a Pedigree, and pinned Hardy for the win, and to retain his WWE title.

The main event featured Chris Jericho defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Batista. Steve Austin was voted by the fans to be the special guest referee. Upon hearing the voting results, Jericho attempted to walk away from the match and get counted out, but Austin explained that if Jericho got counted out or disqualified, then he would lose the title. So Jericho ran back in and proceeded with the match. It went back and forth between the two until Jericho hit a double knee facebuster, called the Codebreaker, on Austin, allowing Batista to take advantage of Jericho. Shawn Michaels came down to the ring and counted Batista's attempted pinfall, which Jericho kicked out at two. Michaels was about to hit a superkick to the face, called Sweet Chin Music, on Jericho, but instead faked Jericho out. John "Bradshaw" Layfield came down to the ring and attacked Michaels. Then Randy Orton came out and was appearing to take over as the special referee, but Austin got up and hit a Stunner on Orton. The match ended with Batista pinning Jericho after a Batista Bomb to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Austin and Batista celebrated as they drank beer.