Night of Champions 2008 Night of Champions 2008 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on June 29 , 2008 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas , Texas . It was the first annual event to be promoted solely under the Night of Champions name and the eighth annual event under the Vengeance chronology . It starred wrestlers from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . Like the previous year before , every match on the card was contested for a championship ; three were won and five were retained . The main event was an interpromotional match for the WWE Championship between SmackDown representative , Triple H , and Raw representative , John Cena ; Triple H won the match and retained the championship . The main match was also an interpromotional match for the World Heavyweight Championship between SmackDown representative , Edge , and Raw representative , Batista , which Edge won to retain the championship . The main match from the ECW brand was an interpromotional standard match involving three wrestlers for the ECW Championship , in which ECW representative , Mark Henry , defeated the champion and Raw representative , Kane , and SmackDown representative , The Big Show . Night of Champions received 273 , 000 pay - per - view buys , and was instrumental in helping WWE increase its pay - per - view revenue by $ 21 . 9 million compared to the previous year . The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a 7 out of 10 stars , higher and lower than the 2007 event ' s ratings of 5 and 7 . 5 out of 10 ( there were two ratings because two different writers reviewed the show ) . Background . The event featured eight professional wrestling matches , performances with pre - determined outcomes between wrestlers with fictional personalities that are portrayed as real , were featured on the event ' s card . The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before , during , and after the event were planned by WWE ' s creative staff . The event starred wrestlers from the Raw , SmackDown and ECW brands – storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner . Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick , as they followed a series of events which generally built tension , leading to a wrestling match . The main event scripted into Night of Champions on the Raw brand was between Triple H and John Cena over the WWE Championship . At the Royal Rumble , Cena won the Royal Rumble match , a multi - competitor match type in which wrestlers are eliminated until one is left and declared winner , where he earned the right to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXIV . The next night on " Raw " , Cena stated that he did not want to wait until WrestleMania for a title match , and decided that he wanted to face then champion Randy Orton for the title on that same episode . Orton declined to defend the title on " Raw " , but proposed to Cena that they could meet at WWE ' s next pay - per - view event , No Way Out , in a title match , to which Cena agreed . At the event , Cena defeated Orton by disqualification , but did not win the title because a title can only change hands via pinfall or submission . That same night , Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match , where the ring is surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders , to earn a title shot at WrestleMania . The night after No Way Out , Cena demanded that he receive a title rematch , following his match with Orton , but Raw General Manager William Regal , a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer , announced that Cena and Orton would be facing each other in a non - title match , with Triple H as the special guest referee , in the main event later that night , with the stipulation that if Cena won , he would join the title match at WrestleMania , making it a standard match involving three wrestlers . Cena won the match , making him part of the main event at WrestleMania . At WrestleMania , Orton defeated Triple H and Cena to retain the title , after pinning Cena . At Backlash , Orton defended the title once again against Cena and Triple H , this time in a Fatal Four - Way Elimination match which also included John " Bradshaw " Layfield . Triple H won the match after eliminating Orton last to win the title . On the June 2 episode of " Raw " , Cena faced Jeff Hardy , with the stipulation being that if Cena or Hardy won they would earn a title shot against Triple H at Night of Champions . Cena won the match to challenge Triple H for the title at Night of Champions . Three weeks later , during the sixth annual WWE Draft , a mock sports draft lottery in which wrestlers switched programs , Triple H was drafted to the SmackDown brand . On the June 27 episode of " SmackDown " , it was revealed that Triple H would still defend the title against Cena . The main feud on the SmackDown brand was between Edge and Batista over the World Heavyweight Championship . On the June 6 episode of " SmackDown " , Batista , Funaki , Nunzio , and Colin Delaney defeated Edge , Chavo Guerrero , Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in an eight - man tag team match . A stipulation was placed in the match that if Batista ' s team won the tag team match , Batista earned a World title match against Edge at Night of Champions . The following week , SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero added a predicament to Batista ' s title shot , stating that in order for the title match to occur at Night of Champions , Batista would have to defeat The Great Khali to finalize his title shot . Batista defeated the Great Khali and retained his title shot . On the June 23 episode of " Raw " , Batista was drafted to the Raw brand as a part of the 2008 WWE Draft . That same night , WWE Chairman Vince McMahon informed Edge that even though Batista was drafted , Edge would still defend the title no matter what the outcome was . The other predominant title match on the ECW brand was between ECW Champion Kane defending the title against The Big Show and Mark Henry in a standard match involving three wrestlers . At One Night Stand , WWE ' s previous pay - per - view event , The Big Show won a five - man Singapore Cane match including CM Punk , Chavo Guerrero , Tommy Dreamer , and John Morrison to earn a title shot against Kane at Night of Champions . On the June 23 episode of " Raw " , Kane was drafted to the Raw brand , making the ECW title exclusive to the Raw program . 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 title match , making it a Triple Threat match . Each of the three top title feuds were affected by the 2008 WWE Draft and an additional Supplemental Draft held two days later on WWE ' s official website . As a result , 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 .