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 which was 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.
Another feud heading into Taboo Tuesday was between Mick Foley and Carlito. The feud started on the October 17th episode of Raw, when Foley appeared as a guest on Carlito's talk show segment Carlito's Cabana. Carlito insulted Foley by calling him the least coolest person he has ever seen. Foley admitted that he was not cool and isn't sure if he wants to be cool but fans tell him he's cool. He told Carlito that he is definitely cool with a cool shirt, cool accent, and cool hair but fans say Carlito is a "horses ass". Foley then says that the question for Carlito is what he is going to do about it. Later on that night, Carlito lost his Taboo Tuesday ballot qualification match to Shawn Michaels. During an interview backstage, he blamed Foley for his loss and challenged him to a match at Taboo Tuesday saying he doesn't care if he's retired. On the October 24th edition of Raw, Foley confronted Stephanie McMahon about Jim Ross's firing and says he won't sit back and watch Stephanie destroy the business he loves. Stephanie said that without her there would be no business for Foley to love. She then called out Carlito. As Carlito came down to the ring, Stephanie low blowed Foley from behind allowing Carlito to attack Foley and spit apple in his face. Later on that night, Foley served as special referee for the match between John Cena and Kurt Angle. During the match, Carlito came down to the ring and he and Foley brawled at ringside before Carlito threw Foley into the ring post. On the Halloween edition of Raw, It was announced that one of the three faces of Mick Foley would be voted on by the fans to see which one would face Carlito. The choices were Dude Love, Cactus Jack and Mankind. Carlito came to the ring that night saying he doesn't care what the fans vote is as he will still defeat Foley. Foley appeared on the TitanTron in each of his three personas taunting Carlito before their match at Taboo Tuesday.
==Results==
;
;
*Sunday Night Heat: Kerwin White and Matt Striker defeated Shelton Benjamin and Val Venis (02:38)
*Team SmackDown (Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy) defeated Chris Masters and Snitsky (13:46)
*Eugene and Jimmy Snuka defeated Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko (06:21)
*Mankind defeated Carlito (07:22)
*Kane and The Big Show defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch (c) to win the World Tag Team Championship (07:59)
*Batista defeated Jonathan Coachman (w/ Vader and Goldust) in a Street Fight (04:22)
*Trish Stratus (c) defeated Ashley, Mickie James, Maria, Candice Michelle and Victoria in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal for the WWE Women's Championship (05:23)
*Ric Flair (c) defeated Triple H in a Steel cage match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship (23:45)
*John Cena (c) defeated Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship (16:42)
===Divas battle royal entrances and eliminations===
Announced	Diva 	Order	Eliminated by
1 	Ashley 	3 	Victoria
2 	Candice Michelle	2 	Ashley
3 	Mickie James 	5 	Victoria
4 	Victoria 	4 	Mickie James
5 	Maria 	1 	Stratus and James
6 	Trish Stratus 	- 	WINNER
===Voting results===
Poll 	Results
Opponents for Snitsky and Chris Masters 	* Matt Hardy (31%)* Rey Mysterio (29%)* John "Bradshaw" Layfield (17%)
* Christian (13%)
* Hardcore Holly (10%)
Eugene's partner against Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko 	* Jimmy Snuka (42%)* Jim Duggan (40%)
* Kamala (17%)
Gimmick for Mick Foley against Carlito 	* Mankind (52%)* Cactus Jack (35%)
* Dude Love (13%)
Stipulations for Batista versus Jonathan Coachman 	* Street Fight (91%)* Verbal debate (6%)
* Arm wrestling match (3%)
Outfit for the Fulfill Your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal	* Lingerie (43%)* Leather and lace (32%)
* Cheerleader (25%)
Stipulations for Triple H versus Ric Flair 	* Steel cage match (83%)* Submission match (13%)
* Regular match (4%)
Opponent for John Cena and Kurt Angle 	* Shawn Michaels (46%)* Kane (38%)
* The Big Show (16%)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Joey Styles
*Jerry "The King" Lawler
*Carlos Cabrera
*Hugo Savinovich
;Interviewers
*Todd Grisham	
;Ring announcer
*Lilian Garcia
;Referees
*Nick Patrick
*Mike Chioda
*Jack Doan
*Mickie Henson
*Chad Patton
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*Taboo Tuesday
*Event gallery
==DVD release==
* Taboo Tuesday 2005 on DVD
==External links==
* Taboo Tuesday 2005 Official site
* Taboo Tuesday 2005 at CAGEMATCH.net
* Taboo Tuesday 2005 at Online World of Wrestling
* on WWE Network
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:Cyber Sunday
Category:2005 pay-per-view events
Category:Events with Steel Cage matches
Category:Events with Street Fights
Category:Events with Battle Royal matches