WWE Night of Champions 2008 Predictions

Night of Champions is just a few days away and I am more excited about this event than I have been about a non-WrestleMania PPV in years. Due to the WWE Draft, this show is filled with many questions and possibilities that will have a major impact on the WWE for quite sometime.

For those that missed it, on Monday night WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to SmackDown while Batista, the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, was drafted to RAW. That has left both of the major titles in the WWE on the SmackDown brand while the two challengers at this event are on the RAW brand. Will both titles stay on SmackDown, move to RAW, or does only one move back to RAW? And lets not forget that CM Punk is still in possession of the Money in the Bank briefcase that guarantees him a shot at any title whenever he wants to use it.

You can let me know what you think will be happening at the show or share your thoughts on the draft in the next few days by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of this post. Please note that I am writing this post before the airing of the final episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Since this site is non-spoiler, I ask that you do not mention anything in your comments about what occurred at the taping of that show. I will update the blog Friday night if there are any new matches added to this show.

WWE Tag Team Championship: Champions The Miz & John Morrison vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle - The confusion of this show will begin with four ECW wrestlers competing for the tag team titles that belong to SmackDown. The Miz and Morrison have been great tag team champions but I think that their reign is about to end. There are just so many more things that can be done with Hornswoggle as a tag team champion than if the belts stayed at the Palace of Wisdom. Predicted Winners: Finlay and Hornswoggle

ECW Championship: Champion Kane vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry - Strange situation here as all three WWE brands are represented in this match. I can't see Kane retaining the title here because he is on RAW and the two brands don't do TV on the same night and won't be sharing the same night regardless of what some other Internet sites have reported. While Big Show was the best champion of the new ECW, it doesn't make any sense for him to go back to what he was doing before he retired. That leaves Mark Henry to win this match. Since this is a three-way match, I can see Mark getting a cheap win by pinning a wrestler that has been knocked out by one of the other men in this match. If this happens, it will be the first time in his WWE career that he will win a title inside of the ring. Despite starting his WWE career in 1996, the only title Mark has held in the WWE was handed to him by Jeff Jarrett. Predicted Winner: Mark Henry

Intercontinental Championship: Champion Chris Jericho vs. ??? - Considering that a typical 3-hour WWE PPV has only six or seven matches and this one has nine matches scheduled, that means that some of the matches on this show will be exceptionally short. This will be one of them. I expect that his mystery opponent will be announced as being Shawn Michaels and once the music hits it will really be Lance Cade dressed as Shawn and pretending to be a blind man. A comedy match will ensue with Chris beating this version of Shawn Michaels. Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

Women's Championship: Champion Mickie James vs. Katie Lea Burchill - Regardless of what happens in this match, I can see this feud going on for a few more weeks on RAW. The best way to keep it going would be to have Katie lose by DQ because of her brother's interference. That way she could still claim that she pinned Mickie twice while Mickie has still never pinned her. Predicted Winner: Mickie James by DQ

U.S. Title: Champion Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guerrero - This is the second match of the night that will feature ECW wrestlers battling for a SmackDown title. I never thought I would say this about wrestling but it is getting complicated to figure out what is going on. As far as this match goes, Matt worked too long to get this title just so he can lose it in his first PPV defense. I think Matt will have a long run with this title as a way to build him up into a contender for one of the main event titles. Predicted Winner: Matt Hardy

World Tag Team Championship: Champs Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase & ??? - Looking at the RAW roster, I see two guys that I can imagine Ted DiBiase picking as his partner for his first match. One is JBL because both men are loaded. It would be a great play on his dad's old Money Inc. tag team. However, why should Ted have to work hard to win the title when there is a much easier way to win the titles? It is easier to win the titles in a 2-on-1 match instead of a 2-on-2 match. If Cody Rhodes becomes Ted's partner, he can both beat up Hardcore Holly and allow himself to be pinned by Ted. This way Cody would retain the title and get a piece of the Million Dollar Man's money in the process. Predicted Winners: Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes

Divas Championship: Natalya vs. ??? - This is the only match of the night where we will be guaranteed a new champion as the winner of this match will be the first Divas Champion. A competitor for Natalya still hasn't been announced and I think they were purposely waiting until after the supplemental draft to make the announcement. Since only one Diva was moved to SmackDown in the draft and it is the most popular current Diva, I expect that we will see Maria get this title shot and become the first Divas champion. Predicted Winner: Maria

World Heavyweight Championship: Champion Edge vs. Batista - Before I get to this match, I'd like to update a stat from last month's predictions. Starting with WrestleMania 23, there have been 15 PPV events that have featured a match involving at least two of these three men (Batista, Edge, and Undertaker) battling each other. The four events when they didn’t face each other were due to the injuries of both the Undertaker and Edge last summer. Throughout their feud, Edge has always been one step ahead of Batista. I just can't see Edge without the title when he gets married in a few weeks. And of course in a few months, the Undertaker will somehow make his way out of banishment. Since that feud has revolved around the title belt, it needs to stay on SmackDown. Predicted Winner: Edge

WWE Championship: Champion Triple H vs. John Cena - This is such a huge match for several reasons. These are two of the biggest stars in the company and have main evented a WrestleMania against each other. Since the men are now on different brands it doesn't appear likely that a rematch will be taking place. In addition, since they are different brands, depending on what happens in this match, one of the brands may be left without a championship belt after this match ends. Unlike their battle at WrestleMania 22, I don't see this match having a clean ending. Regardless of how the Batista-Edge match turns out, Vickie Guerrero will have a vested interest in Triple H retaining the title. Lately it seems that whatever Vickie wants Vickie gets. After this show, Vickie will be the GM of the show with the two main WWE Championship belts. If RAW ends this show without a title belt, it sets up an interesting summer of how the brand will regain the belt. Will CM Punk cash in his Money in the Bank to be the savior of RAW? Will another RAW star somehow manage to get that title shot? Will RAW get a new GM to help them during this crisis? I don't know the answer to any of those questions but they are all things that make me want to watch the show if this scenario unfolds. Predicted Winner: Triple H

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