The 2008 Night of Champions was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the second annual Night of Champions and took place on June 29, 2008, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The theme of the event was that all eight of WWE's active championships at the time were defended.
While this was the second Night of Champions, it was the first to be promoted solely under the Night of Champions name. The first event was a cross-promotional event with the annual Vengeance called Vengeance: Night of Champions. For 2008, WWE discontinued Vengeance as the June PPV in favor of Night of Champions.
The main event was an interpromotional match for the WWE Championship between defending champion and SmackDown representative Triple H and Raw representative John Cena; Triple H won the match and retained the championship. Another main match was also an interpromotional match for the World Heavyweight Championship between defending champion and SmackDown representative Edge and Raw representative Batista, which Edge won to retain the championship. At the time of the event, both titles were briefly on SmackDown as the event occurred right after the 2008 WWE Draft; the next night on Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship moved to the brand following a successful Money in the Bank cash-in by CM Punk. One other main match was an interpromotional triple threat match for the ECW Championship, in which ECW representative Mark Henry won the title by defeating SmackDown representative Big Show and defending champion and Raw representative Kane; the title was briefly on Raw also as a result of the draft but moved back to ECW thanks to Henry's win.
Night of Champions received 273,000 pay-per-view buys, and was instrumental in helping WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $21.9 million compared to the previous year. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a 7 out of 10 stars, higher and lower than the 2007 event's ratings of 5 and 7.5 out of 10 (there were two ratings because two different writers reviewed the show). It was also the first Night of Champions PPV broadcast in high definition.
Production Background
From 2001 to 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promoted an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event titled Vengeance. The seventh annual event in 2007 was held under the title Vengeance: Night of Champions with a theme that all of WWE's active championships at the time were defended. This would be the final Vengeance (until 2011) as WWE decided to drop the event in 2008 in favor of continuing Night of Champions as the annual June PPV. This second annual Night of Champions—and the first to be promoted solely as Night of Champions—was scheduled for June 29, 2008, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions.
As per the theme of the event, every active championship promoted by WWE at the time was defended. As a result of the 2008 WWE Draft, which happened the week before the event, several titles switched brands, including SmackDown briefly becoming the home of two of the world championships. At the time of the 2008 Night of Champions, the championships for each brand included the four on Raw—the ECW Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, the World Tag Team Championship, and the WWE Women's Championship—the three on SmackDown—the WWE Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, and the WWE Tag Team Championship—and ECW's only title—the United States Championship. Although SmackDown and ECW claimed ownership of their respective titles, a talent exchange agreement existed between the two brands, allowing wrestlers to challenge for either brands' championships.
Storylines The event featured eight professional wrestling matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.
The main event of Night of Champions on the Raw brand was between Triple H and John Cena over the WWE Championship. At the Royal Rumble, Cena won the Royal Rumble match, where he earned the right to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. The next night on Raw, Cena stated that he did not want to wait until WrestleMania for a title match, and decided that he wanted to face then champion Randy Orton for the title on that same episode. Orton declined to defend the title on Raw, but proposed to Cena that they could meet at WWE's next pay-per-view event, No Way Out, in a title match, to which Cena agreed. At No Way Out, Cena defeated Orton by disqualification, but did not win the title because a title can only change hands via pinfall or submission. That same night, Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match, where the ring is surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders, to earn a title shot at WrestleMania. The night after No Way Out, Cena demanded that he receive a title rematch, following his match with Orton, but Raw General manager William Regal, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, announced that Cena and Orton would be facing each other in a non-title match, with Triple H as the special guest referee, in the main event later that night, with the stipulation that if Cena won, he would join the title match at WrestleMania, making it a triple threat match. Cena won the match, making him part of the main event at WrestleMania. At WrestleMania, Orton defeated Triple H and Cena to retain the title, after pinning Cena. At Backlash, Orton defended the title once again against Cena and Triple H, this time in a fatal four-way elimination match which also included John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Triple H won the match after eliminating Orton last to win the title. On the June 2 episode of Raw, Cena faced Jeff Hardy, with the stipulation being that if Cena or Hardy won they would earn a title shot against Triple H at Night of Champions. Cena won the match to challenge Triple H for the title at Night of Champions. On the June 23 episode of Raw, during the fifth annual WWE Draft, Triple H was drafted to the SmackDown brand, making the WWE Championship exclusive to SmackDown. On the June 27 episode of SmackDown, it was revealed that Triple H would still defend the title against Cena.
The main feud on the SmackDown brand was between Edge and Batista over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 6 episode of SmackDown, Batista, Funaki, Nunzio, and Colin Delaney defeated Edge, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in an eight-man tag team match. A stipulation was placed in the match that if Batista's team won the tag team match, Batista earned a World title match against Edge at Night of Champions. The following week, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero added a predicament to Batista's title shot, stating that in order for the title match to occur at Night of Champions, Batista would have to defeat The Great Khali to finalize his title shot. Batista defeated Khali and retained his title shot. On the June 23 episode of Raw, Batista was drafted to the Raw brand as a part of the 2008 WWE Draft. That same night, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon informed Edge that he would still defend the title against Batista at Night of Champions.
The other predominant title match on the ECW brand was between ECW Champion Kane defending the title against Big Show and Mark Henry in a Triple Threat match. At One Night Stand, Big Show won a five-man Singapore Cane match including CM Punk, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer, and John Morrison to earn a title shot against Kane at Night of Champions. On the June 23 episode of Raw, Kane was drafted to the Raw brand, making the ECW Championship exclusive to Raw. During the supplemental draft, Henry was drafted to the ECW brand. It was announced on WWE's official website that Henry would be added to the title match, making it a triple threat match.
Another title match on the Raw brand scheduled for the event was for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The defending champion Chris Jericho however was embroiled in a feud with Shawn Michaels. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Michaels was a guest on Jericho's talk show segment The Highlight Reel where he revealed that he lied to Jericho about his knee injury during his match with Batista at Backlash and was faking it the whole time. Jericho in response to this turned heel and attacked Michaels throwing him against the Jeritron 3000 television screen and shattering it (the same way Michaels threw Marty Jannetty against the Barbershop window in 1991). As a result of the attack, Michaels had suffered an injury to his left eye and was not seen for several weeks afterwards. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Lance Cade aligned with Jericho and the two of them attacked Triple H and John Cena. Cade later explained that he was one of Michaels' best students in the Texas Wrestling Academy and stated that when he made it big he knew Michaels would pretend to be his friend and then turn on him (in response to Michaels' villain turns over the last few years). As a result of that Cade stated that won't give Michaels a chance to turn on him like he did others and added that unlike the fans he appreciates Jericho. Jericho stated that his attack on Michaels was in direct response to the fans supporting Michaels rather than supporting Jericho and claimed that he will save himself from now on. Kofi Kingston who had been drafted from the ECW brand to Raw via the Supplemental Draft was announced as Jericho's opponent for Night of Champions.
Each of the three top title feuds were affected by the 2008 WWE Draft and an additional Supplemental Draft held two days later on WWE's official website. As a result, each of the world title matches became interpromotional matches between the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands with the winner of each match determining the championships for each brand.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole Jerry Lawler Jim Ross Mick Foley Mike Adamle Tazz Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichBackstage interviewersEve TorresTodd GrishamRing announcersLilian Garcia Justin Roberts Tony Chimel RefereesJohn ConeMike ChiodaMarty EliasChad PattonCharles RobinsonMickie HensonScott ArmstrongMike PoseyJim KorderasJack Doan
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Jeff Hardy defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a dark match after performing a Swanton bomb.
Preliminary matches The first televised match saw John Morrison and The Miz defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against Finlay and Hornswoggle. The match began with Finlay in the ring as he crotched Morrison on the ring apron. Back in the ring, Morrison performed a dropkick on Finlay. Throughout the match, Miz and Morrison were in control. Hornswoggle was tagged in the match, which led to him to execute a hurricanrana, a stunner and a bulldog into the mat on Miz. Back and forth action took place between both teams. The match concluded with Finlay performing the Celtic Cross on Morrison, but Miz knocked Finlay out of the ring, before he could pin Morrison. Morrison then gained consciousness. He then pushed Hornswoggle off the top ropes and slammed him into the ring mat to gain the win and retain the tag titles.