Armageddon 2008 Armageddon 2008 was a professional - wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) promotion , which took place on December 14 , 2008 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo , New York . It featured professional wrestlers and other talent from all WWE ' s three brands : Raw , SmackDown and ECW . The ninth and final event within the Armageddon chronology , it featured on its card seven professional wrestling matches . During the SmackDown main event , Jeff Hardy defeated Triple H and WWE Champion Edge in a match involving three competitors to win the championship . The Raw main event featured the World Heavyweight Championship contested in a standard wrestling match , in which John Cena defeated Chris Jericho to retain the title . The undercard featured several matches , including CM Punk against Rey Mysterio in the finals of a tournament to determine the number - one contender to the WWE Intercontinental Championship , and Randy Orton versus Batista in a standard wrestling match . Armageddon helped WWE earn $ 15 . 9 million in revenue from PPV events , thanks to an attendance of approximately 12 , 500 and 193 , 000 PPV buys . When the 2008 event was released on DVD it reached a peak position of second on " Billboard " ' s DVD Sales Chart . The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a perfect 10 out of 10 . Background . Armageddon featured seven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing scripted feuds and storylines that had played out on " Raw " , " Friday Night SmackDown " , and " ECW on Sci Fi " — WWE ' s television programs . Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes in the scripted events that built tension and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches and competed either under their real names or stage names . The event featured wrestlers from WWE ' s Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands — a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to the television program of the same name . The main rivalry heading into Armageddon on the SmackDown brand was a match involving three competitors , known as a Triple Threat match in WWE , for the WWE Championship between Edge , Triple H , and Jeff Hardy . At Survivor Series , Jeff Hardy was out of action after being found unconscious in the stairwell of his Boston hotel earlier in the morning . This resulted to Hardy being removed from the WWE title match , leaving Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov battling each other one - on - one . Just when it looked like Triple H had Kozlov beat after nailing him with a hard - hitting Pedigree , SmackDown ' s primary authority figure Vickie Guerrero interrupted the match to announce that it would indeed be Triple Threat match – with Edge as the last minute third competitor . Edge made his way to the ring and nailed Triple H with a vicious Spear . Next , Hardy surprisingly ran into the ring and attacked Edge . Hardy then grabbed a steel chair , returned to the ring and knocked both Triple H and Kozlov with each chair shot to the head . As Hardy was about to nail Edge with the chair , Edge countered by spearing Hardy then capitalized , by covering Triple H for the win and won his 6th World Championship . SmackDown General Manager , Vickie Guerrero announced on the November 28 , 2008 episode of " SmackDown " that Triple H , Hardy , and Vladimir Kozlov would compete in a " Beat the Clock " challenge to gain the opportunity to face Edge at Armageddon for the title . In a Beat the Clock challenge , wrestlers compete in separate individual matches and whoever wins their match in the fastest time wins the competition . The first contest saw Hardy defeat The Brian Kendrick in 12 : 13 . Kozlov fought in the second encounter against Matt Hardy , but failed to defeat him in under 12 : 13 , thus being eliminated from the challenge . The last match - up pitted Triple H against Shelton Benjamin , which ended with Triple H gaining the fall at exactly 12 : 13 . As a result of the tie , neither man was announced as the contender for the championship . One week later on the December 5 , 2008 episode of " SmackDown " , it was announced that the WWE Board of Directors had decided Edge would have to defend the title against both Triple H and Hardy at Armageddon . John Cena and Chris Jericho were involved in the main rivalry on the Raw brand over the World Heavyweight Championship . At WWE ' s November Survivor Series PPV event , Cena returned to the WWE after a legitimate neck injury ( that he sustained at SummerSlam ) and defeated Jericho to win the championship . On the November 24 episode of " Raw " , Jericho defeated Randy Orton and Batista in a Triple Threat match to earn a title match against Cena at Armageddon . Later that night , Chris Jericho attempted to steal Cena ’ s thunder , claiming that he plans on winning back the title at Armageddon . When World Champion , John Cena could even make his much anticipated return to Raw , he then gave Jericho an opportunity to confront him face - to - face , Cena explained the difference between himself and Jericho , stating that he actually cares about the many members of the WWE Universe . After Jericho once again stated his intention to beat Cena at Armageddon and continued to belittle the WWE Universe , Cena snapped . He proceeded to brutalize Jericho , throwing him against the announce table , bludgeoning him with the steel stairs and locking him into an STFU . On the following week ' s edition of " Raw " , Jericho made his presence known in much the same way as Cena did the week before , addressing the audience as he made his way through the crowd down to the ring . The difference however , was that while Cena welcomed his fans , Jericho made pains to ignore them . He then went on to explain his resentment toward Cena , stating that while away from the WWE since August 2005 , Jericho ’ s son grew to be a fan , not of his father , but of John Cena . Now , Jericho hopes to show his son and all of the WWE what a real hero is , by beating Cena for the World Heavyweight Title at Armageddon . Later that night , Cena fought Kane in Raw ’ s main event . Though Jericho attempted to become involved , Cena managed to fight off and then go on to defeat Kane . After the match , Cena chased Jericho , who was attempting to escape . The tables turned , however , when Randy Orton , Cody Rhodes and Manu emerged to attack Cena , allowing Jericho to lock Cena in the Walls of Jericho . On the November 24 episode of " Raw " , Raw ' s primary authority figure Stephanie McMahon announced an eight - man single - elimination tournament to determine the number - one contender to the WWE Intercontinental Championship , which William Regal held . The first round saw four standard matches , in which Kofi Kingston , CM Punk , John Morrison , and Rey Mysterio were the victors . In the second round , Punk defeated Morrison and Mysterio defeated Kingston , resulting in Mysterio and Punk both qualifying for the finals at Armageddon . Event . Pre - show . Before Armageddon began , a non - televised match took place between the team of John Morrison and The Miz and the team of Jesse and Festus , which Morrison and The Miz won . This match was not included on the DVD release . Preliminary matches . The first match of the event was between Matt Hardy and Vladimir Kozlov . The match lasted for a few minutes before Kozlov grabbed Matt by the throat , lifted him up , and slammed him down with a chokeslam to gain the pinfall victory . The second match was the finals of the Intercontinental Championship contender tournament between Rey Mysterio and CM Punk . Near the end of the match , Mysterio tried to perform his signature 619 maneuver , however , Punk countered by lifting him up onto his shoulders , dropping him down to the mat , and performing a knee strike to the face , a move called the Go To Sleep . Punk then pinned Mysterio to gain the victory and a match against William Regal for the Intercontinental Championship . Finlay was pitted against Mark Henry , who was accompanied by Tony Atlas , in a match with no disqualifications billed as a Belfast Brawl . In the final moments of the match , Finlay left the ring and grabbed the steel steps at one of the four corners . He then re - entered the ring to only have Henry kick him in the face and grab the makeshift weapon . Finlay followed by retrieving a shillelagh he had brought with him to the ring and used it to bash Henry over the head before Henry could use the steel steps . Finlay then pinned Henry to become the winner . Batista versus Randy Orton was next , with Orton being accompanied to the ring by Cody Rhodes and Manu . The match started with Orton taking control and knocking Batista to the outside . The end came when Batista executed his finishing move the Batista Bomb by slamming Orton back - first down to the mat from his shoulders . Batista then pinned Orton to win the encounter . The fifth match was an Eight Woman Santa ' s Little Helper Tag Team match where all eight competitors were dressed in Christmas outfits . It pitted two teams of four against each other : Michelle McCool , Maria , Kelly Kelly , and Mickie James versus Maryse , Jillian Hall , Victoria , and Natayla . The match ended quickly with McCool getting a pinfall victory over Hall after holding Hall upside - down and slamming her face first into the mat in what McCool has dubbed the Faithbreaker . Main event matches . John Cena defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Chris Jericho in the next encounter . The match started off with Cena trying to lift Jericho on his shoulders in an early attempt to execute his finishing maneuver called the FU , only to have Jericho escape and perform his maneuver a double knee to the face and chest area called the Codebreaker . Cena became the victor in the encounter after making Jericho submit to his STFU submission hold by trapping Jericho ' s leg underneath with his , wrapping his arms around Jericho ' s neck , and pulling back . The main event contest saw Jeff Hardy and Triple H challenging Edge for the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match . Hardy won the contest after Triple H performed a maneuver he calls a Pedigree by forcing Edge ' s head into the mat followed by Hardy diving off the top rope executing a front - flip onto Edge , a move Hardy has dubbed a Swanton Bomb . Hardy followed by quickly pinning Edge and winning the match and his first World Championship while Triple H lay on the ground outside the ring . This marked Hardy ' s first WWE Championship . Aftermath . After Armageddon on the January 2 , 2009 episode of " SmackDown " , Vickie Guerrero announced that Jeff Hardy would defend the WWE Championship against Edge at the WWE ' s Royal Rumble PPV event . At the Royal Rumble , Edge defeated Hardy to regain the WWE Championship with the unexpected help from Matt Hardy . The rivalry between Batista and Orton continued until the December 15 , 2008 , episode of " Raw " , when Orton punted Batista in the head , giving him a storyline concussion , causing him to take time off indefinitely . WWE . com later reported that Batista elected to undergo surgery to repair a legitimate hamstring tear ( that he suffered during his match with John Cena at SummerSlam . CM Punk received his match for the Intercontinental title on the January 5 , 2009 episode of " Raw " against William Regal , but failed to win due to Regal getting himself disqualified . Two weeks later , Punk and Regal had another match this time under no disqualifications rules , which Punk won to claim the title . The rivalry between Michelle McCool and Maryse continued on the following edition of " SmackDown " when Maryse defeated Maria to earn another shot at McCool ' s Divas Championship . On the December 26 edition of " SmackDown " , Maryse defeated McCool to win the Divas Championship in a match that Maria officiated . After the match ended , McCool turned villainous and attacked Maria ; blaming her for the loss . Reception . The HSBC Arena has a maximum capacity of 19 , 200 , however Armageddon only had an attendance of 12 , 500 . It received 193 , 000 PPV buys , which was less than the 237 , 000 buys the previous year ' s event received . Armageddon helped World Wrestling Entertainment earn $ 15 . 9 million in revenue from PPV events , but this was less than the $ 19 . 9 million earned the previous year ; Linda McMahon , the CEO of WWE , confirmed this statement on February 24 , 2009 in a quarterly financial report . Canadian Online Explorer ' s professional wrestling section rated the event a perfect ten out of ten . Wade Keller of the PWTorch rated the main event match for the WWE Championship 4 and a quarter stars out of 5 . He went on to state that the match was a " really satisfying main event and it ' s the finish WWE dared not do for a long time . " He rated the match for the World Heavyweight Championship 3 and a quarter stars our of 5 and proclaimed he thought it was a " good match " . Sony Music Entertainment released the event on DVD on January 13 , 2009 , and it reached second place on " Billboard ' s " DVD Sales Chart for recreational sports during the week of February 7 , 2009 .