Judgment Day (2008)

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Judgment Day (2008)
Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s)	Raw SmackDown ECW
Date	May 18, 2008
Venue	Qwest Center Omaha
City	Omaha, Nebraska
Pay-per-view chronology
Backlash (2008)	Judgment Day (2008)	One Night Stand (2008)
Judgment Day chronology
Judgment Day (2007)	Judgment Day (2008)	TBD

Judgment Day (2008) was the tenth annual Judgment Day professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on May 18, 2008 at the Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.^[1] The official theme song was "Take It All" by Zididada.^[2]

The main match on the Raw brand was a Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship between Triple H and Randy Orton, which Triple H won by pinning Orton after executing a Pedigree.^[3] The predominant match on the SmackDown brand was Edge versus The Undertaker for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.^[4] Undertaker won the match by countout, but did not win the title since championships cannot be decided by countout or disqualification. The primary match on the ECW brand was a tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championships between champions The Miz & John Morrison and Kane & CM Punk. Miz and Morrison won the match and retained the titles.^[5] Featured matches on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho,^[6] and John Cena versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL).^[7]

Contents 1 Report 1.1 Background 1.2 Event 1.3 Aftermath 2 Results 3 References 4 External links

Report

Background

The main feud heading into Judgment Day on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Randy Orton, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. At the previous pay-per-view, Backlash, Triple H last eliminated Randy Orton in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match, also involving John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), to win the WWE Championship.^[8][9] The following night on Raw, General Manager William Regal stopped a title match between Orton and Triple H, and booked the two in a Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship at Judgment Day.^[3]

The main feud on the SmackDown brand was between The Undertaker and Edge, with the two feuding over the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. At Backlash, The Undertaker defeated Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship by forcing him to submit to the gogoplata. On the May 2 edition of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero stripped The Undertaker of the title after claiming the gogoplata was an illegal submission hold. The following week, Guerrero booked Undertaker in a match for the vacant title at Judgment Day against Edge, who last eliminated Batista in a battle royal to become the number one contender.

Another feud from Raw was between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. At Backlash, Shawn Michaels defeated Batista (with Chris Jericho as the Special Guest referee).^[10][11] During the match, Michaels countered a Batista Bomb attempt, and appeared to have legitimately injured his knee.^[10][11] On the April 28 edition of Raw, Jericho claimed that Michaels faked his knee injury to allow him to defeat Batista at Backlash.^[12][13] On May 5, it was announced that Jericho would face off against Michaels at Judgment Day.^[14] On the May 12 edition of Raw, Michaels revealed that he did indeed fake his knee injury. Four days later, on the May 16 edition of SmackDown, Batista promised to hurt Michaels for faking his injury.

One more rivalry from Raw heading into Judgment Day was between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). In the Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the WWE Championship at Backlash, Cena eliminated JBL by making him submit to the STFU. On the April 28 edition of Raw, JBL challenged Cena to a match at Judgment Day, which was made official on WWE.com.

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view (PPV), Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes defeated Santino Marella and Carlito in a dark match to retain the World Tag Team Championship. The first match that aired live on pay-per-view was between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Layfield dominated most of the match and worked on Cena's recently repaired shoulder. He hit brutal punches and applied brutal submission maneuvers on Cena. Cena tried to perform an F-U on JBL but collapsed due to his pain and was unable to hit the maneuver. JBL hit a Clothesline from Hell on Cena before hitting him in head. He went for another Clothesline from Hell but Cena ducked and performed an FU on JBL and pinned him to win the match.^[7][15] The second match was for the WWE Tag Team Championship between the defending champions, John Morrison & The Miz and ECW Champion Kane and Mr. Money in the Bank CM Punk. The challengers, Kane and Punk were in control for the majority of the match. But in the end, Kane chokeslammed Miz outside the ring. Punk was distracted as Morrison hit him with a Moonlight Drive and pinned him to win the match and retain the tag titles.^[5][15]

The third match was a non-title match between Shawn Michaels and WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho. During the match, both men reversed each other's maneuvers and attempted near-falls on each other but were unsuccessful. They hit each other risky high-flying moves before Jericho attempted the Walls of Jericho on Michaels. Michaels caught Jericho and countered it into a straddle pin to take the win. After the match was over, both men shook hands with each other.^[6][15] The fourth match was a divas triple threat match for the WWE Women's Championship between defending champion Mickie James, Beth Phoenix and Melina. Phoenix dominated the champion and Melina for most of the match. She even managed to pick both of them above her head but was unable to control it and Melina took advantage and threw her outside the ring. James hit Melina with a Mickie DT and pinned her to win the match and retain the title.^[16][15] The fifth match was for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship between The Undertaker and Edge. They both battled inside the ring and their action spilled to the outside. Undertaker was able to enter the ring before referee's 10 count but Edge failed. Undertaker won by countout and was given the World Heavyweight Championship until SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero said that a title could not change hands via countout, therefore the title was still vacant. Undertaker responded by hitting a Tombstone Piledriver on Edge.^[4][15]

Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) came out and issued an open challenge to anybody who could defeat him. WWE United States Champion Matt Hardy came out but said that he would not wrestle MVP, instead his brother Jeff Hardy would wrestle MVP. Hardy came out and MVP knocked him out many times during the match and hit many risky maneuvers before Hardy connected with a Whisper in the Wind on MVP followed by a pinfall victory.^[17][15]

The main event was a Steel cage match between defending champion Triple H and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. When the bell rang, Orton quickly bolted for the cage door but Triple H prevented him from escaping. They both exchanged punches with each other until Triple H locked in a figure four leglock on Orton as a tribute to Ric Flair. The match came to an end when Orton went to deliver Triple H a running punt to the head, but instead Triple H hit Orton in the face with a steel chair (that Orton brought into the match earlier), which led to Triple H to execute a Pedigree on Orton and pinned him to retain the WWE Championship.^[3][15]

Aftermath

Further information: One Night Stand (2008)

The next night on Raw, General Manager William Regal announced that the main event would be a tag team match pitting WWE Champion Triple H and John Cena against Randy Orton and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Regal stated that if Orton and JBL won, they could choose any kind of extreme rematches against Triple H and Cena at One Night Stand and if Triple H and Cena won, they would face each other for the WWE Championship in an extreme match of Regal's choosing.^[18] Orton and JBL won the match.^[18] Orton chose a Last Man Standing match against Triple H and JBL chose a First Blood match against Cena. At One Night Stand, both men lost in their rematches.^[19][20] Batista defeated Chris Jericho to earn the rights to face Shawn Michaels in a Stretcher match. At One Night Stand, Batista defeated Michaels in the match.^[21]

On the following edition of SmackDown, General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that The Undertaker would face Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match (TLC) at One Night Stand with the stipulation that if Undertaker lost, he would be fired from WWE.^[22] At One Night Stand, Edge defeated Undertaker with the help of Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in a TLC match to win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship and Undertaker was forced to leave WWE.^[23] At One Night Stand, Big Show defeated CM Punk, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer and John Morrison in a five-man Singapore Cane match to earn an ECW Championship match against Kane at Night of Champions.^[24]

Results

• Dark match: Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes defeated Santino Marella and Carlito to retain the World Tag Team Championship^[15]
• John Cena defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) (15:09)^[7]
  • Cena pinned JBL after an FU.
• John Morrison and The Miz defeated Kane and CM Punk to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship (7:30) ^[5]
  • Morrison pinned Punk after a Moonlight Drive.
• Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Jericho (15:56) ^[6]
  • Michaels pinned Jericho after countering the Walls of Jericho into a straddle pin.
• Mickie James defeated Beth Phoenix and Melina in a Triple Threat match to retain the WWE Women's Championship (4:55)^[16]
  • Mickie pinned Melina after a Mickie DT.
• The Undertaker defeated Edge by countout for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship (16:30)^[4]
  • SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero declared the title would remain vacant since a championship cannot be decided by countout.
• Jeff Hardy defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (9:50)
  • Jeff pinned MVP after a Whisper in the Wind.^[17]
• Triple H defeated Randy Orton in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE Championship (21:20)^[3]
  • Triple H pinned Orton after a steel chair shot and a Pedigree.

References

External links

• Official Judgment Day website