Night of Champions 2008

Night of Champions (2008) was the second annual Night of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Though it was the second annual event under its name, it was the eight annual event in the Night of Champions chronology. It took place on June 29 2008 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. As with last year's event, every championship in WWE was defended at the event.

The main event was an interpromotional match for the WWE Championship between Triple H (from SmackDown) and John Cena (from Raw), which Triple H won via pinfall, after Triple H delivered a Pedigree. The predominant match was an interpromotional match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge (from SmackDown) and Batista (from Raw), which Edge won via pinfall, after a weapon shot with the World Heavyweight Championship belt. The other main match was an interpromotional Triple Threat match for the ECW Championship where Mark Henry (from ECW) defeated Kane (from Raw) and Big Show (from SmackDown) via pinfall, after Henry performed a Splash onto Kane.

Background
The main feud heading into Night of Champions on the Raw brand was between Triple H and John Cena, with the two battling over the WWE Championship. At the Royal Rumble, Cena won the Royal Rumble match for a title shot at WrestleMania, but he challenged Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at No Way Out where Orton disqualified himself to retain the title. That same night, Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match against Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Umaga and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) to earn a title shot at WrestleMania. The next night on Raw, Cena demanded that he received another match for the WWE Championship. Raw General Manager William Regal announced that Cena and Orton would be facing each other in a non-title match, with Triple H as the Special Guest Referee, that same night. Cena won the match by pinfall after performing an FU. Per the pre-match stipulation, the match as WrestleMania XXIV became a Triple threat match involving Cena, Orton, and Triple H. At WrestleMania XXIV, Orton defeated Triple H and Cena to retain the title. At Backlash, Cena and Triple H challenged Orton for the title again, this time in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match which also included JBL. Triple H won the match, and the title. On the 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 was between Edge and Batista, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 6 edition of SmackDown, Batista, Funaki, Nunzio, and Colin Delaney defeated Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in an eight-man tag team match. Per pre-match stipulations, Batista earned a title match against Edge at Night of Champions.

The main feud on the ECW brand was between Kane, Big Show, and Mark Henry with the three feuding over the ECW Championship. At One Night Stand, Big Show won a five-man Singapore Cane match including only former ECW Champions, CM Punk, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer, and John Morrison to earn a title shot against Kane at Night of Champions. During the supplemental draft, Mark Henry was drafted to the ECW brand. It was announced on WWE's official website that Henry would be added to the ECW Championship match, making it a Triple Threat match.

Each of the three world title feuds were affected by the 2008 WWE Draft that was held on the June 23 edition of Raw and an additional Supplemental Draft held two days later on WWE.com. During the televised draft, Batista and Kane were drafted to the Raw brand while Triple H was drafted to the SmackDown brand. As a consequence, 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
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Jeff Hardy defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a dark match after delivering a swanton bomb. The first match to air live on the card was a tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, between the team of John Morrison and The Miz and the team of Finlay and Hornswoggle.

Aftermath
As a result of the matches at the event, the ECW Championship was once again made ECW exclusive. The WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship remained on the SmackDown brand, leaving Raw without a top-tier championship belt. However, the following night, on the June 30, 2008 edition of Raw, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, defeating Edge to capture the World Heavyweight Championship, making the title Raw exclusive.