Taboo Tuesday 2005 Taboo Tuesday 2005 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on November 1 , 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego , California . It was the second annual Taboo Tuesday event in which the fans were given the chance to vote on stipulations for the matches . The voting for the event started on October 24 , 2005 and ended during the event . Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event ' s card . The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before , during , and after the event were planned by WWE ' s script writers . The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand : a storyline expansion of the promotion where employees are assigned to a wrestling brand under the WWE banner . The main event was a Triple Threat match , a standard match involving three wrestlers , for the WWE Championship . In this match , John Cena defeated Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels to retain his title . Two bouts were featured on the undercard . In a retrospective singles matches for the WWE Intercontinental Championship , Ric Flair defeated Triple H in a Steel cage match , which is fought in a cage with four sheets of mesh metal around , in , or against the edges of the wrestling ring , in which Flair won by escaping the cage and having both feet touch the arena floor . The other featured an Interpromotional tag team match where Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy ( SmackDown ! ) defeated Chris Masters and Snitsky ( Raw ) . Taboo Tuesday received 174 , 000 pay - per - view buys , which was the same amount as the previous year ' s event . The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event 7 out of 10 stars , higher than the 2004 event rating of 5 out of 10 stars . Background . Unlike other WWE pay - per - views , where stipulations were determined by WWE ' s creative staff , this was the second event where stipulations for matches were determined by votes from WWE fans conducted on WWE ' s official website . The event was scheduled to feature eight professional wrestling matches . Although the stipulations resulted from votes by WWE fans , different wrestlers were involved in pre - existing scripted feuds , plots and storylines , which led to scheduled matches in which WWE fans could vote upon stipulations . Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension - building events . All wrestlers belonged to the Raw brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program , the other being SmackDown ! . The main event scripted into Taboo Tuesday was between John Cena and Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship , in which Cena would also defend the title against the fans ' choice of three possible opponents : Kane , The Big Show , and Shawn Michaels . The buildup to the match began at Unforgiven , Raw ' s previous pay - per - view event , in which Cena intentionally disqualified himself . In WWE , a championship cannot change hands via count - out or disqualification , as a result , Cena retained the title . On the October 17 episode of " Raw " , one of WWE ' s primary television programs , General Manager Eric Bischoff , a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer , announced that a standard match involving three wrestlers , termed as a Triple Threat match , for the WWE Championship , would take place between Cena , Angle and the fans ' choice at Taboo Tuesday . Bischoff was scripted to promote three series of qualifying matches , in which the winner would receive a spot on the ballot as a potential challenger to Cena and Angle . The winners were Kane , The Big Show , and Shawn Michaels . The following week , a Triple Threat match was scheduled between the three competitors . Michaels won the match after he hit both Big Show and Kane with a superkick and pinned the Big Show for the win . The following week , Bischoff announced a singles match between Cena and Michaels . Late in the match , Angle attacked both Cena and Michaels . Cena , however , retaliated and lifted Angle up on his shoulders , but Michaels managed to hit Cena with a superkick . One of the featured preliminary matches was between Ric Flair versus Triple H for the WWE Intercontinental Championship . On the October 3 episode of " Raw " , " WWE Homecoming " , Triple H returned after a four - month hiatus . He took part in a match , teaming up with Flair , who was a fan favorite during Triple H ' s absence , to take on Chris Masters and Carlito . The duo defeated Masters and Carlito ; after the match , Triple H turned on Flair and hit him with a sledgehammer . The following week , Triple H explained his actions , saying he saw that Flair had become mediocre when he was spat at and when he won the Intercontinental title . Triple H continued to say that he needed to end Flair ' s career so his memories of Flair would not be tarnished . On the October 24 episode of " Raw " , a singles match was scheduled between Flair and Triple H at Taboo Tuesday , in which the fans would be given the opportunity to choose the type of match they compete in . The choice of the matches were a regular match , submission match , or a Steel Cage , a match where the ring is surrounded by walls of steel , for the Intercontinental title . Another preliminary match was between the Raw and SmackDown ! brands . The feud began on the October 3 episode of " Raw " , in which WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted a match between SmackDown ! wrestlers on the program . A match was scheduled , but before it got underway , Eric Bischoff announced that McMahon had left the arena , thus leaving himself in charge . Seeing SmackDown ! as inferior , Bischoff stopped the match by turning off the lights and going to a commercial break . At the end of the broadcast , SmackDown ! General Manager Theodore Long , led SmackDown ! superstars to the ring , and they fought with Raw superstars . On the October 17 episode of " Raw " , John " Bradshaw " Layfield ' s ( JBL ) ( SmackDown ! ) entrance music played during Edge ' s ( Raw ) match , the distraction caused Edge to lose the match . As part of the storyline , Edge and Chris Masters showed up to the SmackDown ! program on the October 21 episode , in which they interfered in a match between JBL and Rey Mysterio , where they assaulted Mysterio . On the October 24 episode of " Raw " , a match was made between Edge and Masters , and two of five SmackDown ! superstars chosen by the fans , and Mysterio attacked Edge from behind . The following week , Bischoff invited Mysterio to the " Raw " program to take the " Master Lock Challenge " , a challenge where the wrestler must break free from Masters ' swinging full nelson submission hold , which he calls the Master Lock . Mysterio , however , attacked Masters instead , which caused Bischoff to call for other Raw superstars . Long called for SmackDown ! superstars , and they fought until the Raw roster retreated .