Cyber Sunday (2016) was a professional wrestling pay per view event produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their SmackDown brand. It took place on January 10, 2016 at the Astro Dome in Houston Texas. It was the first in the WHEI Cyber Sunday choronology. By this time the War Hawks had gotten the hang of this and had a better idea of what they wanted to do so it wasn't an experiment anymore.
Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the card. The main event was a fan voted Fatal 4 Way Match for the WHEI WWE Championship between the defending Champion Damien Mizdow, The Rock, Sting, and Shawn Michaels in which Michaels won the match and the championship. Also at the event LWL's Edge teamed with SmackDown's Christian to win the WHEI WWE Tag Team Championship from The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan).
Background[]
The card included matches resulting from scripted storylines whose results were played out on by the War Hawks on their SmackDown brand. Storylines were produced on the War Hawks' weekly show Friday Night SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that resulted in a match or series of matches.
Upon the inception of the War Hawks Universe Mode, Ironman announced he would be bringing back Cyber Sunday. A pay per view WWE had held in real life from 2006 to 2008, and had started originally with Taboo Tuesday in 2004. The concept of this pay per view was the fans decided everything from the matches to the stipulations. Ironman held polls in the weeks leading up to the pay per view to see what the fans wanted and they voted depending on their preference.
The primary feud heading into Cyber Sunday was between Damien Mizdow, Shawn Michaels, The Rock and Sting. With the four feuding over the WHEI WWE Championship. During the season one draft Mizdow was awarded the title due to his overwhelming popularity. In the ensuing weeks he defeated The Rock, Sting, and Shawn Michaels in matches on SmackDown. This resulted in a poll for Cyber Sunday to determine Mizdow's challenger. Fans were given the choice of one of the three or a Fatal 4 Way. The fans voted for the title match to be a fatal 4 way and it was booked for Cyber Sunday.
The secondary feud heading into Cyber Sunday was between Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan. With the two of them feuding over the WHEI United States Championship. After Owens was awarded the championship during the season one premire Bryan came out and took exception to this. Bryan said he was never handed anything in his career. He also accused Ironman of being no better than The Authority, showing favoritism to certain superstars. An enraged Ironman came out and booked a match between the two at Cyber Sunday, the fans were given the option of a Submission Match, a TLC Match, or a No Holds Barred Match. They voted on a TLC match and it was set for Cyber Sunday.
The tag team feud heading into the event was between the reunited team of Edge & Christian and The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan). With the two teams feuding over the WHEI WWE Tag Team Championship. After several failed attempts to find a partner and being left laying by Harper and Rowan, Christian suggest he may need to make a phone call to an old friend. Hinting at a reunion of Edge and Christian. The problem was that Edge was an LWL superstar at the time, after a poll on Twitter revealed the fans wanted the reunion to happen, Stephanie said she would lend Edge to SmackDown for the match. It was made official the following week on SmackDown.
Event[]
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Ironman | SmackDown General Manager
Ring Announcer Commentator |
| Stephanie Hudson-Lytle | Commentator |
| Juggernaut | Commentator |
| KittyKat | Commentator |
| Nightingale | Commentator |
| Chaos | Commentator |
Preliminary Matches[]
The show opened with a Triple Threat Hell In A Cell Match for the WHEI Diva's Championship with Paige defending against Naomi and Nightingale. Early on Naomi and Paige teamed up against Nightingale, but the alliance didn't last very long. Later in the match the roles were reversed with Nightingale and Paige double teaming Naomi. This continued for most of the match, however in the end Nightingale hit a Twist Of Fate on the champion while Naomi was down to win the match and the championship.
Next was a Steel Cage Match between Titus O'Niel and the Big Boss Man. Titus took advantage early sending Boss Man into the cage. After some back and forth with several close calls Boss Man hit a Boss Man Slam after pulling Titus off the cage and escaped the cage to win the match.
After that was an Elimination Tag Team Match for the WHEI WWE Tag Team Championship between The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) and Edge & Christian. Rowan was the first person eliminated following a Killswitch by Christian while Edge distracted Harper. Harper himself put up a decent fight but ultimately was defeated following an inverted DDT by Christian to win the match and the title for his team.
Then was an Extreme Rules Match between Mark Henry and Mankind. After some great back and forth action in which both men's signature moves were hit Mankind applied a Single Leg Boston Crab and made Henry submit shockingly for the win.
After that was a Steel Cage Match between Bret Hart and Cactus Jack. In the end Hart hit a backbreaker on Cactus and escaped the cage to win the match.
The penultimate match was a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match for the WHEI United States Championship between Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan. The match was a classic, with moves incorporating all 3 namesake weapons. However in the end Owens hit a suicide plancha on the outside and climbed the ladder to retrieve the championship and retain the title.
Main Event[]
The main event was a Fatal 4 Way Match for the WHEI WWE Championship between Damien Mizdow, The Rock, Sting, and Shawn Michaels. While Ironman entertained the audience with his immitation of WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross the four men fought in a back and forth contest taking full advantage of the no disqualification and no count out stipulation. In the end however Michaels hit the champion with Sweet Chin Music to win the match and his 5th WWE Championship.
Results[]
| No. | Results | Stipulation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nightingale def. Paige (c) and Naomi | Triple Threat Hell In A Cell Match for the WHEI Diva's Championship |
| 2 | Big Boss Man def. Titus O'Neil | Steel Cage Match |
| 3 | Edge & Christian def. The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) (c) | Elimination Tag Team Match for the WHEI WWE Tag Team Championship |
| 4 | Mankind def. Mark Henry by Submission | Extreme Rules Match |
| 5 | Bret Hart def. Cactus Jack | Steel Cage Match |
| 6 | Kevin Owens (c) def. Daniel Bryan | Tables, Ladders, & Chairs Match for the WHEI United States Championship |
| 7 | Shawn Michaels def. Damien Mizdow (c), The Rock, & Sting | Fatal 4 Way Match for the WHEI WWE Championship |
| - (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the event | ||
Elimination Tag Team Match[]
| Elminated | Wrestler | Eliminated By | Method Of Elimination |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erick Rowan | Christian | Killswitch |
| 2 | Luke Harper | Christian | Inverted DDT |
| N/A | Edge | Winners | |
| Christian | |||