Night of Champions (2008)

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Night of Champions (2008)
Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand (s)	Raw SmackDown ECW
Date	June 29, 2008
Venue	American Airlines Center
City	Dallas, Texas
Pay-per-view chronology
One Night Stand (2008)	Night of Champions (2008)	The Great American Bash (2008)
Night of Champions chronology
Vengeance: Night of Champions	Night of Champions (2008)	TBA

WWE Night of Champions (2008) will be the second annual Night of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Though it is the eighth annual event, it will be the second annual event under the Night of Champions name.^[1] It will take place on June 29, 2008 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas and will feature talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.^[2] The official theme song is "Devour" by Shinedown.^[3] Like last year, every championship in WWE will be defended at the event.

Contents 1 Report 1.1 Background 2 Matches 3 References 4 External links

Report

Background

The main feud heading into Night of Champions on the RAW brand is between Triple H and John Cena, with the two battling over the WWE Championship. When Cena was in his second reign as WWE Champion, Triple H challenged him for the title at WrestleMania 22 in April 2006 but lost the match.^[4] Triple H and Cena restarted their feud over the WWE Championship in early 2008 when Randy Orton was the champion. At Royal Rumble, Cena won the Royal Rumble match for a WWE title shot at Orton at WrestleMania, but he challenged for the title at No Way Out where Orton disqualified himself to retain the title.^[5][6] Later in the main event, Triple H had won an Elimination Chamber match against WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Umaga and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) to earn a WWE title shot at WrestleMania.^[7] The next night on Raw, Cena demanded another shot at the WWE Championship, because his match with Orton at No Way Out ended in a disqualification. Raw General Manager William Regal announced that Cena and Orton would be facing each other in a non-title match. If Cena won, it would be a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania, but if Orton won he and Triple H would face each other. Triple H was made the Special Guest Referee of the match, and Cena won earning a title shot at WrestleMania.^[8] At WrestleMania XXIV, Orton defeated Triple H and Cena to retain the title.^[9] At Backlash, Cena and Triple H challenged Orton for the title again but in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match which also included JBL. Triple H won the title.^[10] On June 2 edition of Raw, Cena defeated Jeff Hardy to earn a WWE title shot against Triple H at Night of Champions.

The main feud on the SmackDown! brand is between Edge and Batista, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. Edge's first reign began in May 2007. Batista feuded with Edge over the title and challenged him in a match for the title at Judgment Day but lost.^[11] On the following edition of SmackDown!, Batista defeated Finlay, Mark Henry and Kane in a #1 contender's Fatal Four Way match to earn a World Title shot against Edge in a Steel Cage match at One Night Stand where Batista lost again.^[12][13] They finally met each other in a Last Chance match at Vengeance with the stipulation being that if Batista lost, he would not get the title shot as long as Edge was champion.^[14] Batista originally won the match by disqualification but SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long restarted the match stating that if Edge got disqualified, he would lose the title.^[14] Edge won by countout, meaning that Batista could not get another shot at the title as long as Edge was champion.^[14] In July Edge vacated the title, and in September Batista became champion. On November 30 edition of SmackDown!, Batista defended the title against Edge, resulting in a no contest.^[15] At Armageddon, Edge defeated Batista and The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match to win the title after Major Brothers interfered and transformed into Edge-heads.^[16] On June 6, 2008 edition of SmackDown!, Batista and his partners Funaki, Nunzio and Colin Delaney beat Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in an eight-man tag team match. Batista secured the win to earn a title match against Edge at Night of Champions.^[17]

The main feud on the ECW brand is between Kane and The Big Show, with the two battling over the ECW Championship. At One Night Stand, Big Show won a five-man Singapore Cane match including all former ECW Champions CM Punk, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer and WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison to earn a title shot against Kane at Night of Champions.^[18]

Matches

• ECW Championship: Kane (c) vs. The Big Show^[19]
• WWE Championship: Triple H (c) vs. John Cena^[20]
• World Tag Team Championship: Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ted DiBiase and TBD^[21]
• WWE Diva's Championship: Natalya vs. TBD^[22][23]
  • This will be used to inaugurate the Diva's Championship by determining the first champion.
• World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. Batista^[17]

References

External links

• Official Night Of Champions website