Unforgiven (2006) - Aftermath

Aftermath

On the October 2, 2006 edition of Raw, John Cena was scheduled to defend the WWE Championship against Edge in a Steel Cage match, after Edge invoked his rematch clause for the title. Cena defeated Edge to retain the title, as he was able to perform an FU for the win, and thus ended the feud between the two. Edge, however, would begin a feud with DX, after Edge blamed DX for costing him the title match against Cena, due to interference from DX the previous week. The following week, Edge used an edition of The Cutting Edge to join forces with Randy Orton to form a team and began a feud against DX. Edge cited Randy Orton's lack of success after being kicked out of Evolution by Triple H and DX's "stale" antics "taking up TV time" as reasons to join forces. The duo dubbed themselves Rated-RKO. At Cyber Sunday, Edge and Orton became the first team to finally defeat DX since their reunion in June.

Kane and Umaga continued their feud, as both individuals interfered in one another's matches. On the October 9, 2006 edition of Raw, Kane and Umaga were scheduled in a "Loser Leaves Raw match"; Umaga defeated Kane and sent him to the SmackDown! brand. Despite their separation into different brands, Umaga and Kane had one final match at Cyber Sunday. Umaga won again, after fans selected him to be Umaga's opponent instead of Chris Benoit and The Sandman. The angle between Johnny Nitro and Jeff Hardy continued, as the two were involved in another Intercontinental Championship match where Nitro retained the title. Nitro, however, lost the title to Hardy, on the October 2 edition of Raw.

The WWE Women's Championship was vacated on September 18, 2006, following Trish Stratus' win at Unforgiven. On the September 25 edition of Raw, a Women's title tournament began, and the first match was won by Lita, after she defeated Candice Michelle. The second tournament match was a Lingerie match between Mickie James and Victoria, which James won. On the October 9 edition of Raw, Melina defeated Torrie Wilson in a Lumberjill match to advance in the tournament match. The following week, Maria won a Fatal Four-Way Bra and Panties match against Victoria, Candice Michelle, and Torrie Wilson to advance to the semi-finals. On the October 23 edition of Raw, James defeated Melina to advance in the semi-finals. The following week on Raw, Lita advanced in the tournament, after she defeated Maria. At Cyber Sunday, Lita and Mickie James advanced to the seventh match of the tournament. Lita won the vacant Women's title, after she pinned James with a Swinging snap DDT.

John Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the "Champion of Champions" – or who was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, King Booker (SmackDown!'s World Heavyweight Champion), and Big Show (ECW's World Champion) engaged in a feud leading to a triple threat match at Cyber Sunday in November; viewers chose which championship would be placed on the line. At the same time, Cena became involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline when he began appearing on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw, Federline helped King Booker retain his title at Cyber Sunday in the Triple Threat match by hitting Cena with the World Heavyweight Title belt.