CyberSlam (1996) was the first CyberSlam professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The event took place on February 17, 1996 in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States.
10 professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Raven defeated The Sandman to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Other featured matches on the card were Shane Douglas versus Cactus Jack, 2 Cold Scorpio versus Sabu for the ECW World Television Championship and Francine and the Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2) versus Stevie Richards and the Eliminators (Kronus and Saturn) in a dog collar match. The event also featured the ECW return of Brian Pillman who had left from World Championship Wrestling after the SuperBrawl VI pay-per-view six days prior.
Excerpts from CyberSlam aired on episodes #148, #149, and #150 of ECW Hardcore TV on February 200, February 27, and March 5, 1996. The bout between Sabu and 2 Cold Scorpio was included on the 2004 WWE DVD release The Rise and Fall of ECW and the 2009 WWE DVD release Wrestling's Highest Flyers, while the bout between Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas was included on the 2012 WWE DVD and Blu-ray release ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 and the 2013 WWE DVD and Blu-ray release For All Mankind: The Life and Career of Mick Foley.
Storylines
The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches played out on ECW's television program Hardcore TV.
On the January 30 episode of Hardcore TV, Raven defeated The Sandman to win the World Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Sandman turned face by refusing Woman's offer to jump to World Championship Wrestling (WCW). At Big Apple Blizzard Blast, Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie offered Sandman to back out of another title match with Raven but Sandman told Richards to warn Raven that he would be coming for the title and then left the ring. Raven would then join the ring and Missy Hyatt came to confront Raven and refused his offer to join him and then Sandman came back and cleared Raven and his group from the ring with a kendo stick. On the February 6 episode of Hardcore TV, it was announced that Raven would defend the title against Sandman in a rematch at CyberSlam.
Shane Douglas returned to ECW at House Party after a failed stint in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and talked about how one needed to kiss Vince McMahon's ass to stay in the WWF. On the January 30 episode of Hardcore TV, Cactus Jack stated that he would prefer to kiss McMahon's ass over kissing Tod Gordon's ass to stay in ECW, thus signalling that he was leaving ECW for WWF. Later that night, Jack and his tag team partner Mikey Whipwreck defeated Douglas and Tommy Dreamer in a tag team match when Jack smashed a chair into Douglas' face. Douglas said that he had received the move purposely to bring the extreme into Jack and a match was made between the two at CyberSlam.
At House Party, 911 and Rey Misterio, Jr. defeated The Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) in a tag team match. After the match, Eliminators attacked their opponents and nailed Misterio with a Total Elimination. After the match, The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2) and Francine attempted to make the save as 911 brawled with Taz and Eliminators knocked out Francine with a Total Elimination. At Big Apple Blizzard Blast, Eliminators defeated Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck to win the World Tag Team Championship. After the match, Francine told Eliminators that she wanted to manage them but it turned out to be a ruse as she set them up for an attack by Pitbulls, who cut off Saturn's hair. On the January 30 episode of Hardcore TV, Stevie Richards apologized to Francine for abandoning her for Raven by Stevie Kicking her and then asked her if she was pregnant, which embarrassed her and Pitbulls attacked him and then Eliminators made the save by attacking Pitbulls. Later that night, it was announced that Pitbulls and Francine would compete against Eliminators and Richards in a Dog Collar match at CyberSlam.
Event
In the opening match of the event, the Bad Crew (Dog and Rose) and Judge Dredd competed against Dino Sendoff, Don E. Allen and the Dirt Bike Kid. Bad Crew hit a Doomsday Device to Allen to win the match. After the match, the Sandman Singapore caned all six competitors.
In the second bout, El Puerto Riqueño took on Spiros Greco. Greco hit a shoulder block and a pumphandle suplex to win the match.