WWE Night of Champions (2008) (TV)

Release Date:

29 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Sport

Tagline:

It's a Night of Defenders, It's a Night of Challengers, It's a Night of Champions

Plot Keywords:

TV Special | Wrestling

Cast

Antonio Banks	...	Montel Vontavious Porter
Dave Bautista	...	Batista
Paul Burchill	...	Paul Burchill
John Cena	...	Himself
Tony Chimel	...	Himself
Adam Copeland	...	Edge
Ted DiBiase Jr.	...	Himself
Dave Finlay	...	Finlay
Lilián García	...	Herself
Sal Guerrero	...	Chavo Guerrero
Vickie Guerrero	...	Herself
Jeff Hardy	...	Himself
Matt Hardy	...	Himself
John Hennigan	...	John Morrison
Mark Henry	...	Himself
Bob Howard	...	Hardcore Holly
Glenn Jacobs	...	Kane
Mickie James	...	Herself
Chris Jericho	...	Himself
John Layfield	...	JBL
Paul Levesque	...	Triple H
Shawn Michaels	...	Himself
Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin	...	The Miz (as Mike Mizanin)
Bam Neely	...	Himself
Dylan Postl	...	Hornswoggle
Justin Roberts	...	Himself
Cody Runnels	...	Himself
Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah	...	Kofi Kingston
Katarina Leigh Waters	...	Katie Lea Burchill
Paul Wight	...	Big Show

Art Department
Peter Castellano	....	motion graphics artist

Production Companies

• World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:180 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

Movie Connections:

Followed by WWE Night of Champions (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Devour

Average PPV with some nice surprises

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Night of Champions 2008 was an average PPV. However, the entire show felt as if it was lacking something

1.WWE Tag Team Championship: John Morrison and The Miz(c) vs. Finlay and Hornswoggle Decent opener. Nice to see that Hornswoggle can actually wrestle, as we got to see him perform a bulldog and headscissors. His size would be his downfall as he got pinned after he was yanked off the top turnbuckle. OK. 5/10.

2.United States Championship: Matt Hardy(c) vs. Chavo Guerrero Next was a good matchup between 2 high-flyers: Hardy and Guerrero. Hardy's knee was seemingly hurting throughout the match as Chavo worked on it. After a nice battle, Hardy hits the Twist of Fate for the win. Decent match. 6/10.

3.ECW Championship: Kane(c) vs. The Big Show vs. Mark Henry Due to the recent draft, this world title match had big implications. If Kane wins, it goes to Raw. If Big Show wins, it goes to Smackdown. If Mark Henry wins, it goes to ECW. You can already determine who was going to win this one. Kane gets knocked out early on so Big Show and Henry do battle. This was awful. Mark Henry didn't know what he was doing at all and can't wrestle for crap. Big Show can't really help him out there. This match was just awful. The finish came when Kane superplexed Big Show off the top turnbuckle only to be hit by a running splash from Henry. Winner and new ECW champion Mark Henry. May god help us all. 3/10.

4.World Tag Team Championhip: Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly(c) vs. Ted DiBiase Jr. and ????? In this battle for Raw's tag titles, Ted DiBiase and a partner of his choosing would challenge Holly and Rhodes for the gold. DiBiase begins the match with no partner, then all of a sudden Cody Rhodes hits Holly with a DDT and reveals himself to be DiBiase's partner! DiBiase then hits the Million Dollar Dream for the win, and Cody Rhodes is now tag team champion with a new partner. Not much of a match though. 1/10.

5.Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho(c) vs. Kofi Kingston Jericho began the night with no scheduled opponent, and went on a speech about how he injured Shawn Michaels. Kofi Kingston then enters as Jericho's opponent in his title defense. The two proceed to have a good match, clearly the best so far of the night. Lance Cade is at ringside in Jericho's corner. Late in the match, as Jericho locks Kingston in the Walls of Jericho, Shawn Michaels enters through the crowd and hits Sweet Chin Music on Lance Cade. This distraction allows Kingston to hit the Trouble in Paradise for the win. Kofi Kingston is the new Intercontinental Champion. Nice to see a new face holding a major title. A random opponent, comes in and wins gold. I enjoyed the ending and the match itself. 7/10.

6.Women's Championship: Mickie James(c) vs. Katie Lea Burchill Burchill was accompanied by her brother Paul for this match. Her and Mickie had a decent battle. It ran the risk of running too long similar to the Beth Phoenix/Melina disaster at One Night Stand, but ended before reaching that point. Mickie hits the Mickie DDT for the win. As expected. 4/10.

7.World Heavyweight Championship: Edge(c) vs. Batista Due to the draft, this world title match also determined which brand the championship would land on. If Edge wins, it stays on Smackdown. If Batista wins, it goes to Raw. Everyone remembers May-June of last year, where Edge repeatedly beat Batista at 3 straight PPV's. They had a pretty good match here. It started off slow with Batista dominating, but once Edge got some hits in the match got better. Eventually Edge knocks out the ref, prompting Vickie Guerrero to bring out Chavo as the replacement ref, along with the rest of La Familia. Batista knocks out Edge, then tosses Vickie over the top rope onto Hawkins, Ryder, Neely, and Chavo. Edge then hits Batista in the head with the World Heavyweight Championship. Chavo counts the pin, and Edge retains. Good match. 8/10.

8.WWE Championship: Triple H(c) vs. John Cena Same idea as the World Heavyweight Championship match. If Triple H wins, it goes to Smackdown. If Cena wins, it goes to Raw. So, that was the background to this Wrestlemania 22 rematch. Eveyrone remembers that bout, in which Cena was relentlessly booed but somehow pulled out a win vs. Triple H in a very slow and boring main event. This match was actually much better than it. The match was heavily hyped by WWE, proclaiming it as one of the most highly anticipated rematches ever. It almost lived up to expectations. There was more action this time around, and the match moved at a better pace. Cena missed the Five Knuckle Shuffle numerous times. He also hit the FU but failed to capture the pinfall. Late in the match, Cena locked Triple H in the STFU, but Triple H was able to get out of it and hit a Pedigree for the win. Great match between the two, better than the match at Wrestlemania 22. 9/10.

*Note: The results from the show meant Smackdown had the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship, and Raw had no World Title. However, the next night on Raw CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge, after Edge had been beat down by a vengeful Batista. The World Heavyweight Championship was then made Raw-exclusive.