SummerSlam 2008 Recap and Results

Jeff Hardy vs. MVP - After hitting the Whisper in the Wind, Jeff went back to the top rope. Shelton Benjamin appeared at ringside and Jeff flew off the top rope and crashed onto Shelton outside of the ring. Jeff went back to the top rope and missed the Swanton Bomb due to the delay caused by Shelton. MVP then hit the drive-by kick to get the win. Winner: MVP

Winners Take All: Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston & Women's Champion Mickie James vs. Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix - The rules of this match allowed for the men and the women to be in the ring at the same time. A few comedy spots happened as Santino was sporting a full-blown unibrow and jumped into his girlfriend’s arms when he was in trouble. The match ended when Kofi was taken out of the match by Santino pulling the rope down as he was running. Mickie then gave Santino a DDT. Beth then hit Mickie in the back of the head. She then picked her up in a chicken wing and dropped her face-first to the mat to get the win and titles for her team. Santino left the arena holding both titles while being carried on the shoulders of Beth. Winners and New Intercontinental & Women’s Champions: Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix

Shawn Michael's Announcement - Shawn entered the ring with his wife, Rebecca. Shawn said that the doctor’s recommend that he retire due to both the eye injury he suffered and his nagging injuries. Shawn says that he will heed the doctor’s advice and walk away. As Shawn was thanking his fans, Chris Jericho came down to the ring. Chris doesn’t want Shawn to leave this way. He wants Shawn to admit that he is retiring because of Chris Jericho and the injury he gave him. During their war of words, Chris tried to sucker-punch Shawn. When Shawn ducked the punch, Chris wound up hitting Shawn’s wife instead. Chris left the ring as Shawn and doctor’s attended to Mrs. Michaels.

ECW Championship: Champion Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy - Within seconds, Matt hit the Twist of Fate and was about to win the match when Tony Atlas pulled Matt out of the ring and started to beat him up. Jeff Hardy ran down to the ring and the brothers took care of the World’s Strongest Champion and his Hall of Fame manager. Winner: Matt Hardy by DQ

World Heavyweight Championship: Champion CM Punk vs. JBL - JBL used his size and strength advantage to methodically wear down the champion. When JBL went for his clothesline from hell, Punk hit him with a kick but when both men went to the mat, a violent collision of their heads busted open the back of the skull of CM Punk. A few minutes later, JBL suplexed Punk off of the top ropes. When he went to follow that up with a short-arm clothesline, Punk ducked it and hit the GTS out of nowhere to get the pin. Winner: CM Punk

WWE Championship: Champion Triple H vs. The Great Khali - The Great Khali dominated this match with his hands. We got to see chops, nerve holds, and vice grips. This match mercifully ended when Triple H broke out of the vise grip for the second time during the match and hit the pedigree, which he tried to use unsuccessfully earlier in the match. Winner: Triple H

Batista vs. John Cena - This was a great back-and-forth match that saw both men break out of submission maneuvers and each other’s finishing maneuvers. The turning point of this match was when Cena went for his off-the-top-rope leg drop. He was caught in mid-air by Batista who gave him the Batista Bomb. Somehow, Cena kicked out and this drove Batista nuts. The animal was unleashed and he hit another Batista Bomb to get the win. There was no attempted post-match handshake between the men. Winner: Batista

Hell in a Cell Match: The Undertaker vs. Edge - Edge confused this match for a TLC match as he grabbed tables, ladders, and chairs from underneath the ring during this match. However, the cell was not strong enough to contain the hatred between these men as one of the panels of the cage broke which allowed this battle to escape the cage. Outside of the structure, Edge delivered a spectacular looking spear that saw all three announce tables being used in the move. Once back inside of the ring, Edge’s attempt to go old school back-fired. Undertaker threw Edge through two tables set up outside of the ring, dragged him back in the ring, hit him with a television camera, a conchairto, and then hit the tombstone to get the win. After the match, the Undertaker left the ring and then returned to deliver further punishment. He carried Edge up a ladder, then went to an adjacent ladder and promised to send Edge to hell. He gave him a choke slam from the ladder that sent Edge through the ring. A few moments later, Undertaker used his magical powers and the hole that Edge went through went up in flames. Winner: The Undertaker

What does this event mean for the future?
I know I said this a few months ago but after tonight it should be true, I think we have finally seen the end of the Edge vs. Undertaker feud. The win by the Undertaker compounded by Triple H’s victory should lead to an eventual battle between them for the title.

On the RAW side of things, CM Punk’s reign continues but there is no definitive number one contender. While Batista got an impressive win tonight, he already had a title shot last month. Chris Jericho’s actions will lead to the return of Shawn Michaels but will he get a title shot first. I guess we’ll have to wait for another Adamle original to find out who gets the title shot at Unforgiven in three weeks.

Overall Thoughts
Not only did we get to see an incredible Hell in a Cell main event, we also got to see what should have been the main event of WrestleMania 25. The final two matches made this event feel special enough to be considered one of the big-4 events of the year, something that recent SummerSlam events haven’t felt like.

Match Results

• MVP beat Jeff Hardy
  
• Winners Take All: Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix beat Kofi Kingston & Mickie James to win both the Intercontinental & Women’s Championships
  
• ECW Title: Matt Hardy beat Champion Mark Henry by DQ
  
• World Heavyweight Championship: Champion CM Punk beat JBL
  
• WWE Championship: Champion Triple H beat The Great Khali
  
• Batista beat John Cena
  
• Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker beat Edge

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