WWE Night of Champions 2008 Review

Match 1: WWE Tag Team Championships - John Morrison & The Miz (c) vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle
2008's hottest tag team in John Morrison & The Miz defend the gold against the father & son combination of Finlay & Hornswoggle. Yup, professional wrestling can be an odd and beautiful thing. While this seems like an odd match, it was definitely fun to watch. Hornswoggle was great in his role here. Finlay did his best to prevent him from entering the match but he could only try so hard. Once, Morrison & Miz got their chance to get their hands on Hornswoggle, Hornswoggle hilariously threw his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, ready for a fight. But for his guts, Morrison & Miz made him pay for it. Bullying him around, slapping him around, and finally putting the nail in the coffin when Morrison tossed Hornswoggle hard off the top rope to get the win. Nice opening match here, sometimes forget how great the team of Morrison & Miz were back in the day.
Winners: John Morrison & The Miz
Rating: **1/2

Match 2: United States Championship - Matt Hardy (c) vs. Chavo Guerrero
Really felt like we got a very premature ending to 2007's feud of the year with Matt Hardy vs. MVP. Either way, Hardy's title defense here against Chavo Guerrero was the second match of the night. Basic wrestling match here with lots of action on the ground which somewhat took the Dallas crowd out of things. Even still, the action was pretty basic and gradually picked up towards the end. It felt like a very old school way of wrestling but in 2008 and beyond, that style is seemingly dead to an extent. Hardy picks up the win here against Chavo and gets some assistance from the referee to walk to the back.
Winner: Matt Hardy
Rating: **1/4

Match 3: ECW Championship - Kane (c) vs. The Big Show vs. Mark Henry
Funny fact, the titantron features banners for the championships and the ECW Championship is just the former Cruiserweight Championship with an ECW logo plastered on it. Good stuff. Also need to mention that Mike Adamle is on commentary. Again, good stuff. Kane seemingly gets hurt a few minutes into the match but once he got back in, the pace picked up and the crowd started to get into things a little bit more. Some fun action and enjoyable to see three huge guys in a triple threat that saw Mark Henry land a splash on Kane to pick up the win right after Kane hit a superplex on The Big Show. Cool to see Henry finally win some gold, he has always come off as one of the most underrated guys on the roster. Despite the awful commentary, that was a good ECW Championship match that definitely exceeded most expectations.
Winner: Mark Henry
Rating: **1/4

Match 4: World Tag Team Championships - Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly (c) vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes
Ted DiBiase comes out and says that his partner is on his way and should arrive within ten minutes. The referee doesn't care and starts the match without the arrival of DiBiase's partner. Cody Rhodes looks to start the match for his team but DiBiase calls in Hardcore Holly instead. Once Holly was inside, the obvious turn of Rhodes went down as he hit a DDT on Holly. Afterwards, DiBiase took out Holly once more to gain the win. Although obvious, that was a very fitting turn for Rhodes and the team of DiBiase & Rhodes shows promise.
Winners: Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes
Rating: n/a

Match 5: Intercontinental Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Chris Jericho comes out and addresses the Texas audience by putting himself and putting down the hometown boy in Shawn Michaels who couldn't make the short trip to the show. Kofi Kingston comes out as the challenger. Kingston needed a match like this to boost his popularity. A strong match with an established star and one that will truly make him believable as a star. Jericho was leading the way for the better part of the match and looked dominant but Kingston wouldn't let up, very fluid and very much rising to the occasion here. But once Jericho locked in the Walls of Jericho, Shawn Michaels runs through the crowd and hits a Sweet Chin Music on Lance Cade who was watching the match ringside. Michaels climbs on the ring apron for the distraction where Jericho rams him off but once Jericho turned around, Kingston hit a Trouble in Paradise for the win and the huge pop. Jericho pops Michaels in his injured eye after the match as Michaels was being helped to the back. Great match that helps Kingston as he scores his first big win in the WWE despite being overshadowed with Shawn Michaels. Jericho loses the title, but he is on to much bigger and better things. He didn't need that title with him.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Rating: ***1/4

Match 6: Women's Championship - Mickie James (c) vs. Katie Lea Burchill
Always enjoyed Mickie James in the WWE, definitely one of the sexiest and toughest ones in the division. Katie Lea Burchill is accompanied with her brother who constantly screams at her ringside and looks pretty good here. She worked on Mickie's shoulder throughout the match and James did a great job of selling the injury. Not only that, but Burchill was great in her role of doing her best to incapacitate her through the injury. But James was able to hit her DDT finisher out of nowhere to score the win. Decent Divas match but per usual, nothing out of the ordinary.
Winner: Mickie James
Rating: *3/4

Match 7: World Heavyweight Championship - Edge (c) vs. Batista
Fun fact, these two wrestled against each other for the same belt in the 2007 version of this event. That match was a Last Chance match, meaning that would have been their final match against each other. Funny how things work out. I loved the dynamic of this match. Sometimes, things don't have to make sense to make sense. Does that make any sense? No? Well, this match may make sense to that. Edge looked to be in control of the match for the better half of that match which somewhat bugged me. Shouldn't he be the slimy heel just trying to get away from an animal in Batista? But once Batista got his offense in, the action did pick up more. He was set to score the win when he his his Spinebuster but Vickie Guerrero came to the rescue. Edge then took out the referee as Vickie then announced a new referee, Chavo Guerrero. Batista then grabbed Vickie into the ring and tossed her out across La Familia. Good stuff. Edge then hits Batista over the head with the gold as Chavo then counted for the finish. Cluster of an ending that made sense for the situation, La Familia is politically trying to get Edge to win and they did everything in their power to have him retain the gold. And don't forget the finish, using the belt out of nowhere as he crushed Batista over the head with it. Slimy, sneaky and ultimately, smart. Edge.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ***1/2

Match 8: WWE Championship - Triple H (c) vs. John Cena
I was one of the few that was always bummed these two didn't have their WrestleMania 22 rematch at another WrestleMania since I absolutely loved their first encounter. The build for this match has been remarkable, the videos throughout the show were a nice touch. There's an aura about this rematch that is hard to describe, two of the biggest stars in the business going at it for the richest prize. Solid wrestling from the start as Triple H looks to be in the driver's seat. Cena is seemingly underestimating The Game after their first bout. Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler both note that these two hardly make any mistakes and how true that statement is. Triple H won't let up, not wanting this match to end in the same result that their 2006 match did. The tides finally change when Cena tosses Triple H out of the ring as Triple H lands awkwardly on his knee. This allows Cena to try and score an advantage by focusing on The Cerebral Assassin's knee. The commentators do a fantastic job of noting Triple H's two quad injuries. Triple H reminds us why he is the best in the business, selling the injury to perfection. Hitting the Pedigree on Cena but not being able to cover Cena quickly due to his injury. Cena does his best to regain the momentum, hitting an FU and locking in an STFU to boot. However, Triple H is able to reverse the STFU into his own crossface as the crowd is rocking. Triple H hits a second Pedigree and this time around, Cena isn't able to get up. Triple H wins the rematch and both titles go to the blue brand. Another fantastic main event match from these two that goes forgotten as their previous bout overshadows this one dramatically. They would go on to have a wasted rubber match later in 2009 on an edition of Raw where Triple H once again won. Still, this was a great main event match to close out the PPV and add more exciting questions after the 2008 Draft. Too bad this match doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: ****1/2

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
A good PPV outing from the WWE as the two main events delivered their advertisements with the WWE Championship match being the gem of the night. Triple H reminds us why he is the best technician in the ring and a genius at the psychology game. If you're going to get something out of this show, it's going to be the main event.
Rating: 7.5/10