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Chris Jericho put on a great show in full-on villain mode, but the WWE’s second-most-overhyped worker was his opponent: Batista. And of course, that meant the end of Jericho’s solid title reign.

Jericho carried Batista the whole match, and the introduction of the mystery special guest referee ended up being: Stone Cold Steve Austin, rather than Shawn Michaels. (Thank the L-RD!)

Austin played his role to the hilt, hitting Stunners on Randy Orton (who ran in), as well as Jericho before the match was over, and counting the three-count for the title change to make it more exciting than it would have been otherwise.

The top moment of the PPV was when Jericho tried to get himself counted out like a keylogger to avoid the match, and Austin threatened to switch the title on him if he did that. It was a classic “‘cuz Stone Cold says so” moment that really amped up the entertainment factor.

WINNER: Batista
RATING: 8.9

The match result on this one makes a person feel like Triple-H has wholesale ownership of the WWE Title, given that he’s the boss’s son-in-law. No one’s worked harder over on Smackdown to take the show to a new level than Jeff Hardy, and he was no exception in this match.

Unfortunately, though both men put on a solid show, the Rainbow-Haired Warrior was forced to job to The In-Law Assassin anyway, and perhaps even scratch his head in wonder about why he returned from TNA, which had made him a world champion, just to job out to an aging Hunter yet again. Ugh.

WINNER: Triple H
RATING: 7.8

The potential problem with this match was pitting Hardy, a ring veteran, against Bourne, a relative newcomer. For an ECW brand that’s struggling just to get ratings, a more marquee matchup might have been nice, although Bourne ended up putting on a decent show with Hardy.

While diet pill reviews might be more interesting than a blow-by-blow of this match, the bottom line is that Hardy and Bourne kept the action brisk and interesting throughout, with better ring psychology than one might expect out of a ring rookie like Bourne.

WINNER: Matt Hardy
RATING: 7.6

Best costume contest: Hottest Halloween dive is… It’s Mickie James, 21%. Wow, kind of a shame they telegraphed the results by listing the names in order of finish before the results percentages were posted.

Kelly Kelly was number two with 17 percent. Torrie a distant third at 15… I told you she was past it! Meline and Maria tie for fourth with 12 percent each and the rest don’t matter.

So, who will be the special guest referee?

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

2. Mick Foley

3. JBL

I voted for Austin. The Rattlesnake is the best entertainment-value choice. Sure, gotta love Foley, but it’s all about Stone Cold for me. JBL? Are you kidding?

History of the rivalry before the reveal. That Batista spear off the stage was fun.

Back to the Grish…. here we go… this is clearly the final match…

Over 13 million votes? Cool!

Crowd pops larger for Stone Cold than anyone. And they HATE JBL….

Aww crap… JBL interferes…. Is this a fix?

Way to draw heel heat… for a color commentator?

Here comes Foley…

OK, it’s just a clusterfudge before the result is announced.

OH HELL YEAH! It’s Stone Cold 79%!

AND HE’S HERE!

Like the Been There, Destroyed that shirt.

JBL clotheslines the Texas Rattlesnake?

Fun exchange! Stunner!

Cool little warm-up.

Four-corner pose. And here comes Taker… And we’re into the World Entrance Entertainment segment now…

Love that glance between Taker and Austin. The history there makes it speak volumes and makes me wish Austin could come back for a short, meaningful run. Wouldn’t even have to involve a title. Austin doesn’t need that.

Ugh. Batista out with the title on him. No wonder SmackDown is the least-liked show of WWE’s trio of prime-time shows.

Batista is a big, slow slug; so’s Taker. Only Austin is electric.

This could be painful. Horrible without Austin.

Let’s see…

Fast start by Taker. He’s hyped. Cool.

And now predictably slowing down with tie-ups in the middle of the ring. Ugh.

A couple near-falls traded.

Taker’s matches are so paint-by-numbers these days…

Batista selling like crazy for a long time for Taker.

Nice duck from the knee to the back in the corner. Batista’s turn to take control for a bit. He’s a big man, he gets those opps.

Great high-flying clothesline off the ropes from Undertaker. He still puts out effort; Taker’s no Nash or Hall.

Another great flyer move as Taker goes for a knee in the corner again and flips head over ass out of the ring. A bit later, I like the big leg across the neck on the ring apron.

Taker’s converting me; he can still put together a fun match.

Weird homoerotic tie-up in the middle of the ring, Taker avoids the pin.

Batista tries to pin him. Looked like a three to me, but it wasn’t the scripted finish so they call it a nearfall. OK, whatever.

Great kickout by Batista. Crowd was ready for the Taker win, though.

Spear to Taker. 1… 2… No!

Storyline is Batista can’t beat Taker… guess we’ll see if they build on that or pay it off.

Last Ride on Batista out of the corner.

Nearfall!

Spinebuster reversal by Batista. Taker kicks out.

Batista Bomb… NO! Kickout again!

Second Basista Bomb… that’s it. Crap.

WINNER: Batista… Winner… Still World Heavywieght Champ. Too bad. Taker gave great match tonight

RATING: 8.1, helped considerably by convincing near-falls in the last five minutes.

Wow, no Stunners by Austin post-match, no beers? What a rip. You expect that when Austin refs. But no, it’s over folks.

That’s a pretty decent Cyber Sunday 2007, even if the REAL main event was match 5, not match 7… Hey-ohhh! PUBLISH!

Brooke and her “jungle” don’t interest me at all.

Jillian and her Britney wannabe act is tired. King seems to love it, but he’s paid to.

Boy, I’m tired of Umaga as a “punishment” opponent. When’s the last time he really crushed anyone? And Triple H just doesn’t fit into this face/Degeneration X persona anymore. With his new, borderline blasphemous “King of Kings” moniker, he just feels more like he needs to go back to being a hardcore heel again. But even that’s tired. Triple H is reaching Undertaker status, where he’s very very good, but overexposed and hard to get worked up over anymore.

But hey, we have three stips that were voted on.

1) Street Fight

2) First Blood

3) Steel Cage

I think I voted steel cage… Here’s the Grish….

And it’s… street fight by 57%? No one wanted the first blood match.

Hmm, OK. This could be livable. Really wanted that steel cage to come down, though.

Crowd’s disappointed there will be no cage, too. Street fights always kind of suck for the live audience, though, since the match invariably goes outside of the ring AND outside of the arena, which is a real heat-suck for the live crowd. And I know whereof I speak, since I was at the SummerSlam in Minneapolis several years ago and that hardcore match that went outside of Target Center really sucked the passion out of the live crowd.

Wow, H is no-selling for Umaga. No surprise.

Yup, action goes out of the arena early… and come crashing back in!

Taking the action close to the crowd. Nice.

Back in the ring now. That’s good for the live crowd.

Trash can move. Nice shot on Umaga! And he goes down. Nearfall. Good deal.

Goes for it again. Samoan drop reversal by Umaga.

Action’s heating up in the ring.

Eventually a nearfall by Umaga. Nice whip into the steel steps.

Back into the ring. Umaga dominating for a nice stretch by now. This is good for ring psychology.

H is finally selling? For Umaga? Crowd pops and buys it. Guess son-in-law is a company man.

Steel chair now. What exactly is the difference between a Street Fight and an ECW rules match again?

Reversal by Triple H… nice nearfall. Almost thought the match was over.

Here’s the pedigree… nope! Reversal.

Nice swinging sidewalk slam by Umaga. H is getting manhandled. Good sell job.

Action moves out to the announce tables. Funny how they upset the ECW and Smackdown tables but not the live announcers for the match at the Raw table.

Samoan Bulldozer on top of a table! It collapses! Nice break-down.

Umaga misses the top-rope head-butt. Here comes the turnaround so that the predictable Triple H win comes off.

It’s the sledgehammer! Well, at least it’ll end on a crowd-pleaser.

Low blow by Umaga.

Sledgehammer by H. Pedigree. Triple H win!

WINNER: Triple H.

RATING: 7.2 (out of 10)

Well at least the finish wasn’t bad. Predictable but nice turns.

About a half-hour left. Probably only one match remaining…

PUBLISH… see you in the next post.

Looks like EDGE is returning for Survivor Series. That helps!

Layla needs to be in a nursing home. Kelly-Kelly isn’t exactly selling the exhibitionist persona in THAT costume.

Orton’s intense. He loves wearing this title. Like his heel persona a lot.

Well, there’s some match history here at least. Orton can maybe draw a decent match outta Michaels. Orton looks intimidating, even against Michaels. Helps to learn from vets like Triple H and Flair. The Evolution gimmick continues to pay dividends years later.

This match is being wasted at the start of the second hour. This should be the PPV capper, the main event. Weird choice.

Orton’s selling that shoulder well. But it’s not hanging dead like Cena’s, so it’s a work. Pretty much what I’ve expected, so far. Nothing spectacular, but solid action. Just not a big fan of Michaels as a legit threat against WWE’s young guns.

Orton’s selflessly selling, though, which goes AGAINST his public/private image, so maybe wearing the title agrees with him.

OK, time to end the over-long middle-of-the-ring man-hug and start WORKING again, guys.

Nice nearfall by Michaels on Orton, but it wasn’t THAT convincing. Orton’s too dominant and fresh, still.

Orton going for a top-rope superplex? That won’t end well. Yup, he’s down now. Michaels goes for it all… misses. Naturally.

GREAT near-fall by Michaels. That’s his strength. Selling late in a match. Both men down. Michaels backflips up. Momentum in his favor….

Big elbow! Super-kick coming… Orton ducks, crotch-punch from Orton. Michaels is down.

Michaels wins by DQ, but… Orton retains.

WINNER: Michaels by DQ.

RATING: 8.1 for a GREAT final five minutes…

Now it’s time for the post-match, legend-killer BS. Orton gearing up for the spear…

SUPERKICK! Michaels was playing possum a bit. Nice finish.

Decent first 90 minutes. But it’s LATE so the second half of this won’t be coming anymore tonight…

Good night, all… I’ll finish this off soon!

…PUBLISH…

OK, quick “nature calls” break and I’m back, with an assortment of pink lemonade and regular chocolate Tootsie Rolls in hand. Yummy.

Back to Cyber Sunday.

Michelle McCool as Eve? BIG yawn… such roster-filler.

Melina as a showgirl? Way cooler than McCool.

JBL giving Foley heat? Nice. Cool Fox News allusion, though, JBL.

I will say JBL was champ the last time I watched SmackDown regularly. Foley’s repartee is fun, though. I wonder how many fans pick up on the GOP-Dem tension between JBL and Foley, though. Who cares? I get it…

Next match: MVP vs ???

This was a mess-up. Hardy got injured legit and the whole thing changed AFTER I voted.

Choices are:

Mark Henry: Match heat-killer.

The Great Khali: Hope so.

Kane: Ugh.

Let it be Khali, please!

HELL NO! It’s Kane???

By nearly 70 percent? WWE Internet fan stupidity once again!

Kane is OVER. Has been for YEARS.

No Khali on Cyber Sunday 2007. Stupid.

Oh well… MVP is electrifying, at least, and put together THE BEST Inferno Match EVER with Kane.

I’ll live.

MVP knows how to sell this mismatch, at least. And keeps the energy up, despite Kane’s sluggish style. If they ever do a TV movie on the life and times of the wrestler Kane, I have the perfect casting call: Brian Posehn, the creepy mailroom guy from the old NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me, as well as from The Sarah Silverman Show. Of course, with Posehn in the role, Kane would be The Big Gay Machine. Oh well.

Typical big-man slow power moves from the boring Kane… maybe he IS the Big Gay Machine. Heh.

What’s with that idiot fan waving like a wild man? Anyone THAT desperate to be on TV should aim for America’s Most Wanted.

And… WHAT? MVP gets counted out?

WINNER: KANE by count-out. Ugh. Glad MVP’s still US Champ, but… YAWN!

RATING: 4.1

Time to get out of this post QUICK. Publish!

Mickie James is hot! But nothing beats Pocahontas.

Torrie Wilson’s just SO past-prime. Next!

Raw’s GM… William Regal? Ugh. BAD decision. He’s already kissed McMahon ass literally.

Announcing the WWE title match opponent early? Stupid.

OK, gotta deal.

Shawn Michaels? Nah, saw that too much in 2006 and early 2007.

Jeff Hardy? That would be fresh.

Mr. Kennedy? That’d be major-league! I voted for Kennedy because I hate Kennedy… but in the GOOD way! Great heel.

Kennedy gets the biggest pop. Heel pop, but pop.

And it’s… Michaels? Nearly 60 percent?? Good G-d, WWE Internet fans are such MARKS! Kennedy only gets 10 percent?

Eat Stephanie McMahon and die, VoteForTheWorst.com!

But for now, it’s… Mr. Kennedy versus Jeff Hardy.

Hope it’s considered a #1 contenders match, at least!

Styles aren’t an ideal match here. Kennedy’s a power wrestler, Hardy’s a high flyer.

Well, let’s give it a chance.

Boring in-ring action early on, but Jeff takes it outside and off the top turnbuckle. Now we’re talking.

Funny that they’re selling this as “two promising young men” considering Hardy’s been around for over a decade already.

KING: I think Kennedy’s using this match just to get his frustrations out at not being voted into the WWE Title Match.

No kidding, King of the Bloody Obvious.

Long count after Hardy’s hurricanerama. Solid clotheslines by Hardy. Kennedy-worthy.

Nice twist of fate. KICKOUT! Kennedy’s alive!

Hardy goes all-out with the high risk stuff, knocks himself stupid, and Kennedy gets the win outta nowhere!

WINNER: Misssteeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Kenneddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! (At the top of the first hour)

RATING: 7.8 (Another five minutes and more energy could’ve boosted it a lot!)

Time to publish… again.

Wow, Matt Hardy’s busted up. Too bad I almost never watch SmackDown. Gotta love MVP, though. He’s a future main eventer.

Matt’s become a better talker. He’s hanging with MVP. Love the head games.

God, I hope JBL doesn’t win the guest referee vote. Gotta be Stone Cold for this to be a GREAT PPV.

Wow, who wouldn’t vote Maria?

What the hell’s up with Sumo-Victoria? Damn! indeed!

ECW Title match as only the second match of the night? Talk about being on the undercard…

Punk’s electrifying, but they put the title on him too soon. He’s not the draw he would have been if he’d been pursuing for another year… but stupid John Morrison went and screwed that pooch with a suspension. But he’s back tonight. Maybe. We can only hope.

Big Daddy V? Please, G-d, no!

The Miz? As a comedy match, maybe.

Morrison? … NO!!!!!!

By six percent, it’s The Miz!

Hey, this is fun! Thanks, VoteForTheWorst.com!

But Big Daddy V was actually the worst option, suckas!

Beat the CRAP outta that ex-Real Worlder!

The Miz is just The Red Rooster 20 years later… apologies to Terry Taylor, but it’s TRUE! It’s DAMN true!

A bit sluggish early on, especially for a couple light heavyweights.

At least they’re giving the match time to develop. Miz seems to be a Jessie Ventura disciple in heelishness. Good taste, there.

I’m impressed how much Punk is giving Miz “the rub” to sell this match. Not bad at all. Great Punk leap halfway across the weak backwards! Nice bump. And WTF was that high-flying neck-snapper move? Miz is taking advantage of this stage! Why in the world is the crowd yelling “Y2J” in the middle of an ECW match? If Jericho comes back, it’ll be Raw, not ECW, that’s for damn sure.

Now Miz is bumping well for Punk. Good job, Miz. Great leap, pin and near-fall.

Miz gives good roll-up, gives the ladies a thrill with that “grab the trunks” action on Punk. Yeesh. I do not want to see some guy’s ass on this PPV. Deal-breaker, right there, WWE.

Maria’s ass, maybe…

Wow, finish outta nowhere. Punk wins!

This would have deserved another 10 minutes and played out a LOT better if Miz and Punk had some real heat built up. Maybe a glimpse of ECW Things to Come?

WINNER: Winner and still ECW Champ… CM Punk! (At about 37 minutes into the whole deal…)

RATING (out of 10): 7.8 Great high-flyer action, but too brief. Time to PUBLISH, meet you in the next entry…

The world is watching.

Mr. Kennedy, apparently. Like this guy a lot. Gotta hate a cheesehead. Great character concept, solid match guy. Mr. Kennedy for president? That’d be a Hillary-stopper, for sure! Heh.

The power is in my hands? WWE beware, in that case!

My first decision? This theme song sucks. Sorry.

Uh-oh. It’s FINLAY! I’m Irish by heritage and I can’t stand this guy. Stip match decision left to us. At least the opponent is Rey-Rey. He’s fun. Did anyone see the episode of HEROES where the gal did a 619 on some creep robber? That was fun. Sure, he’s a bit of a gimmick wrestler, but at least it’s not an embarrassing gimmick, like The Worm.

Here’s Toddy! Three choices. Stretcher match. Yawn. Shileleigh on a pole match? Ugh. No DQ? Rather standard. I believe I voted stretcher.

And its…. A stretcher match! Yay! I guess. I still hate Finlay, and not in the good way, the way I hate Mr. Kennedy or Edge. I just want to hit fast forward whenever Finlay enters the ring.

Save me, Rey-Rey!

Ugh. Big guy dominates pipsqueak early. Tossing Rey-Rey onto a stretcher only a couple minutes in? Predictable. Probably foreshadows a Rey-Rey win, though. Dumb plan, going to the stretcher so much so early on. Beat the crap out of each other and when you’re both barely standing, then go to it and get some real “close-call” psychology out of the crowd.

Oops. Drifted off a bit there and almost missed that nice, match-turning hurricanerama by Mysterio. Didn’t last long, though. Hmm. Finlay wants to go for the sheleliegh anyway? Now Rey-Rey wants it, too? Interesting.

Nice moves and counters at the corner in the process, though. Rey gets it! Aw no, Finlay takes it away like a lolly from a baby. Better work with the stretcher, now that they’re both hurting. Rey has Finley on the table… but… a TV cable saves him. Great reason to switch to satellite. But Rey wins anyway!

WINNER: Rey-Rey around 16 minutes into the PPV.

RATING (out of 10): 6.5. Mostly due to me hating Finlay. If he’d won, it would have been lower.

That’s cool, I guess. Time to publish…

OK, I have never done this before, but here I go.

As I write this, Cyber Sunday is about five days in the past. I had wanted to do it much sooner, but my schedule just didn’t allow for it until now. Yet I have carefully avoided as much Cyber Sunday news as I could so that I’m coming into this fresh and without prejudices.

Cyber Sunday is a young WWE PPV. So young it’s probably not even close to its fifth annual airing yet. “In storyline,” the event was born out of the “Eric Bischoff as RAW GM” era and offered fans a chance to make key PPV decisions themselves… or at least try to… by voting for key match elements, like who should get a title shot, what type of match two fueding wrestlers should be involved in, who the guest referee for another match would be, and so forth.

Since the results are announced live at the PPV, it adds in a fun element of suspense and involvement, and as such it has become one of my Top 5 WWE PPVs, in terms of having fun watching it.

This year, I decided I wanted to handle Cyber Sunday in a way that is, at least for me, unique. Rather than watching the whole thing live and blogging about it anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, I would react to the matches on my blog as I was watching them.

The initial plan was to do this during the PPV, live. But family obligations intervened and I ended up having to TIVO Cyber Sunday. So now, I finally have the time. Here goes. Grab whatever you please, from beer and pizza to a pomegranate and soda water. Whatever trips your trigger. Because I’m about to hit play and I’m going to TRY to watch through every single match and blog about them AS I watch. No pauses (I hope.) No fast forwarding (unless a match absolutely stinks, then, well…). Just pure watching and blogging.

As for me, I have an ice-cold bottle of Tropicana Orangeade at the ready. Heart-healthy stuff. We’re all set. PLAY.

I have to admit it: I’m behind.

I TIVO’d Cyber Sunday and have yet to watch it, but the buzz I hear is mostly positive. While it would have been more fun without John Cena on injured reserve, the whole affair does possess that “air of the unexpected” that makes for a good PPV.

Here’s the deal: I’ll watch Cyber Sunday soon and be back with my match-by-match reactions. I’ll also catch up on RAW and be back on schedule before you know it.

Deal?

Deal.