cyber tuesday

With so much financial doom and gloom overhanging the festive season, many retailers have been anticipating the slowest December for years.

We'll be keeping a close eye, and reporting back, on how the Christmas sales are shaping in Britain. But as the whole sub-prime thing started Stateside, why not measure what's moving on Main Street?

The day after Thanksgiving, known as 'Black' Friday because it signals the crossover for many stores into making money for the year, traditionally kicks off the seasonal shopping scramble. It's the biggest US retailing day of the year, and typically accounts for about 5% of all Christmas shopping.

And despite fears that the mortgage meltdown and credit crunch would constipate consumers, sales seem to have started better than expected.

Amid tales of feverish buying frenzy, Black Friday's figures were 8.3% up on last year, said footfall monitor ShopperTrak.

147m shoppers visited US stores over Thanksgiving weekend, according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey which included data from Thursday to Saturday and projections for Sunday. Though the NRF estimated sales growth at just 3.5% which would represent the worst number for five years, with consumer spending per head dropping, also by 3.5%.

Both retailers and retailer investors are looking to see if sales momentum can be maintained with oil prices seemingly heading for $100/barrel, the deepest housing recession for 16 years, rising mortgage defaults and consumer confidence indicators plunging to almost their lowest since 1992.

And whether volume growth can be achieved without slashing prices. Retail observer Mastercard Spending Pulses sees Christmas sales up between 4 and 4.5% against last year, but notes that two years ago sales were climbing by between 7 and 8% on an annualised basis.

The key to American year-end spend this year is likely to be online.

Cue internet sales. These account for less than 5% of the US total, but are growing fast.

Yesterday was christened 'Cyber' Monday by US retailers to mark the start of the online holiday shopping season, when consumers log on at work to look for presents they didn't find in the shops over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Web shopping watcher ComScore Metrics is forecasting that online sales reached $700m yesterday, up from $608m last year and the heaviest online shopping day on record.

Yet Cyber Monday may not even prove to be the biggest online buying day at the start of the pre-Christmas run-in. Online discount offers started from Thanksgiving Day onwards and some Cyber Monday sales started on Sunday or will extend until Friday.

Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, Macy's, Sears, Staples and Toys "R" Us have all put up special website deals to persuade consumers to switch from in-store shopping to online ordering.

It seems to be working.

Wal-Mart said today that compared with a year ago, internet sales climbed more than 60% on Black Friday, on which day overall online visits increased 10% from a year earlier, according to research firm Nielsen Online.

Web shopping watcher ComScore Metrics saw online consumer purchases rising 22% on Black Friday and 29% on Thanksgiving Day, and is forecasting a 20% increase in internet sales up to Christmas compared with last year.

With the busiest online shopping day usually falling about 10 days before Christmas, retailers are watching their online sales figures in particular with bated breath.

And what of dear old Blighty?

Next week could be the busiest shopping time of the year, according to online retailer 247electrical, who has monitored online shopping for the past five years.

The high street may be turning down but the internet is still drawing in the shoppers, says the company, who expect a shopping surge in the run up to Christmas with the first Monday and Tuesday in December traditionally being the firm's busiest days of the year.

247 also believes that Britons are putting off the inevitable 'belt tightening' until 2008, and expects that over ￡13bn will be spent online in the UK during the last three months of the year, nearly double last year's total of around ￡7bn.

WWE Cyber Sunday
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Cyber Sunday is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2004 and 2005, the event was known as Taboo Tuesday[1] and was exclusive to the RAW brand.

During the event's "Taboo Tuesday" years, it was the first pay-per-view held by the company on a Tuesday since 1991's This Tuesday in Texas. The inaugural event was held in October, and the 2005 event was pushed back to early November, likely to prevent competition from a Major League Baseball playoff game. By 2006 the show was moved to a more traditional Sunday night slot―alleviating problems with the taping schedule of SmackDown! (usually held on Tuesdays)―and renamed Cyber Sunday.

The most distinctive feature of Cyber Sunday is the ability for fans to vote online through WWE.com on certain aspects of every match. The voting typically begins in the middle of an episode of RAW a few weeks beforehand and ends during the pay-per-view, often moments before the match is slated to begin. Because of this, Cyber Sunday is billed as an "interactive pay-per-view". Since the 2005 event, the official tag line for the PPV has been "Log On. Take Over."

Contents
1 Cyber Sunday dates and venues
2 Results
2.1 Taboo Tuesday
2.1.1 2004
2.1.2 2005
2.2 Cyber Sunday
2.2.1 2006
2.2.2 2007
3 References
4 External links



[edit] Cyber Sunday dates and venues
Event Date City Venue
Taboo Tuesday (2004) October 19, 2004 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Bradley Center
Taboo Tuesday (2005) November 1, 2005 San Diego, California iPayOne Center
Cyber Sunday (2006) November 5, 2006 Cincinnati, Ohio U.S. Bank Arena
Cyber Sunday (2007) October 28, 2007 Washington D.C. Verizon Center


[edit] Results

[edit] Taboo Tuesday

[edit] 2004
Taboo Tuesday 2004

Details
Promotion World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s) RAW
Date October 19, 2004
Venue Bradley Center
City Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance 3,500
Pay-per-view chronology
No Mercy 2004 Taboo Tuesday 2004 Survivor Series 2004

Taboo Tuesday 2004 took place on October 19, 2004 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The voting for this event started on October 18, 2004 and ended during the event.

Dark match: Sgt. Slaughter defeated Muhammad Hassan (w/Daivari) by disqualification
Hassan was disqualified. Slaughter was selected over two local jobbers.
Shelton Benjamin defeated Chris Jericho to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship (10:55)
Benjamin pinned Jericho after a T-Bone Suplex.
Voting: Shelton Benjamin 37.48%, Batista 20.11%, Jonathan Coachman 7.01%, Christian 6.69%, Rhyno 5.77%, Maven 4.23%, William Regal 3.81%, The Hurricane 3.77%, Tyson Tomko 2.49%, Tajiri 2.36%, Steven Richards 2.24%, Val Venis 1.69%, Rosey 1.10%, Chuck Palumbo 0.68%, Rodney Mack 0.58%
Trish Stratus defeated Molly Holly, Gail Kim, Jazz, Stacy Keibler, Nidia and Victoria in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal to retain the WWE Women's Championship (5:30)
Stratus last eliminated Holly to win.
Voting: School Girl 53.10%, French maid 30.03%, Nurse 16.87%
Gene Snitsky defeated Kane (w/Lita) in a Weapon of Choice match (14:17)
Snitsky pinned Kane after coming off of the second rope onto the steel chair that was wrapped around Kane's neck.
Voting: Chain 40.84%, Steel Chair 29.93%, Lead Pipe 29.24 %
Eugene defeated Eric Bischoff in a "Choose the Loser's Fate" match (2:01)
Eugene pinned Bischoff after a Leg drop.
After the match Vince McMahon forced Bischoff to be shaved bald by Eugene and Jonathan Coachman to strip down to his underwear and wear a dress. Coach was forced to wear the dress for the remainder of the event.
Voting: Hair vs. Hair match 58.73%, Loser Wears a Dress 20.77%, Loser is Winners Servant 20.50%
Chris Benoit and Edge defeated La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Robért Conway) to win the World Tag Team Championship (16:15)
Benoit forced Conway to submit with the Crippler Crossface.
Edge left from the arena during the match.
The opponents of La Résistance were the two wrestlers not selected to face Triple H.
Christy Hemme defeated Carmella DeCesare in a Lingerie Pillow Fight (1:48)
Hemme pinned DeCesare after hitting her with a feather pillow.
Voting: Lingerie Pillow Fight 56.48%, Evening Gown Match 33.22%, Aerobics Challenge 10.30%
Triple H defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (14:05)
Triple H pinned Michaels after a Spear from Edge.
Voting: Shawn Michaels 38.72%, Edge 33.42%, Chris Benoit 27.86%
Randy Orton defeated Ric Flair in a Steel cage match (10:35)
Orton pinned Flair after an RKO.
Voting: Steel cage match 68%, Falls Count Anywhere 20%, Submission Match 12%.
After the 2004 PPV went off the air, Vince McMahon paid tribute to long time employee Pat Patterson who was working his last night for the company. Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon came to ringside and they had Patterson sing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, which he was known to do in karaoke bars while on tour.



[edit] 2005
Taboo Tuesday 2005

Details
Promotion World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s) RAW
Date November 1, 2005
Venue iPayOne Center
City San Diego, California
Attendance 6,000
Pay-per-view chronology
No Mercy 2005 Taboo Tuesday 2005 Survivor Series 2005

Taboo Tuesday 2005 took place on November 1, 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, California. The official theme song was "Twisted Transistor" by Korn. The voting for this event started on October 24, 2005 and ended during the event.

HEAT match: Kerwin White and Matt Striker defeated Shelton Benjamin and Val Venis (2:38)
Striker pinned Benjamin.
Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy defeated Chris Masters and Snitsky (13:46)
Mysterio pinned Masters after a Pickin' the Dime.
SmackDown! referee Nick Patrick and RAW referee Mike Chioda officiated the match, disagreeing and interrupting each other throughout parts of the match.
Snitsky replaced Edge, who refused to wrestle.
Voting: Matt Hardy 31%, Rey Mysterio 29%, John Bradshaw Layfield 17%, Christian 13%, Hardcore Holly 10%
Eugene and Jimmy Snuka defeated Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko (6:21)
Snuka pinned Conway after a Superfly Splash.
Conway was originally scheduled to compete in a handicap match before Tomko was added in.
Voting: Jimmy Snuka 43%, Jim Duggan 40%, Kamala 17%
Mankind defeated Carlito (7:22)
Mankind forced Carlito to submit with a Mandible claw. The fans chose which gimmick Mick Foley wrestled as.
Voting: Mankind 52%, Cactus Jack 35%, Dude Love 13%