“

After bringing the ECW Championship back home to the Land of the Extreme – proving triumphant in an epic Triple Threat Match with Kane and Big Show at Night of Champions – ECW Champion Mark Henry celebrated with a crushing victory over the courageous Colin Delaney.

Earlier in the evening, Tommy Dreamer – with Delaney in tow – interrupted Henry and questioned whether the World’s Strongest Man actually knew what it meant to hold the coveted extreme title. After challenging Henry, the unimpressed new champion proclaimed that if young Delaney could beat him, he would give Dreamer his opportunity. Unfortunately for the ECW Original, although Delaney possessed the heart and soul of ECW, he could not overcome such enormous odds.

As part of his New Superstar Initiative, ECW General Manager Theodore Long introduced Atlas Ortiz, the latest addition to the ECW roster. The newcomer made a notable first impression, scoring a victory over former ECW GM Armando Estrada in his debut match.

In a fast and furious Six-Man Tag Team Match, United States Champion Matt Hardy teamed with fellow ECW draftees Finlay & Hornswoggle to defeat WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison & their partner Chavo Guerrero. After Hardy delivered the Twist of Fate to Morrison, and Hornswoggle dropped the Tadpole Splash on Guerrero, Finlay finished off the self-proclaimed “Mexican Warrior” with an authoritative Celtic Cross.

“

“

Monday’s Raw saw the largest crowd ever for a WWE live event in Oklahoma City, with 11,560 fans in attendance to witness Jim Ross’ farewell to Raw. Though the packed show began without the brand holding a World Championship, it was a different case by the time the night ended. In the course of the evening, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to compete against Edge and win the Rated-R Superstar’s World Heavyweight Championship, bringing the title back to Raw for the first time in years.

Another recent draftee who found himself wearing gold on Monday night was new Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston. The Jamaican Superstar was forced to defend his title against the man he won it from the night before, Chris Jericho. Y2J came to the ring bitter at the Night of Champions turn-out, blaming his loss on Shawn Michaels for interfering in the match, and challenging HBK to a contest at The Great American Bash in just three weeks. The match ended with Jericho being disqualified for pulling on Kingston’s tights during a pin, leaving the Intercontinental Championship securely around the Jamaican Superstar’s waist. Furious at his second loss to Kingston in two nights, Y2J assaulted the Intercontinental Champion after their match, going for the eyes just as he has against HBK in recent weeks.

Though the night was packed with action and fallout from Night of Champions, it began on a down note. As promised, Shane McMahon addressed the WWE Universe in regards to the accident that fell Mr. McMahon at the end of last week’s Raw. Shane opted to keep the WWE Chairman’s condition private, but did urge the Raw Superstars and all WWE employees to pull together during this period of uncertainty.

Having just joined the Raw Roster as part of the 2008 Draft, Rey Mysterio greeted the Raw audience and told them how excited he was to be on Monday nights. Before he could say much else, however, Santino Marella came to the ring and interrupted the Master of the 619. The Italian Superstar spoke down to the Ultimate Underdog, insulting the former World Champion and not allowing him a word in edgewise. Mysterio bided his time, and then gave the audience exactly what they wanted: Attacking Marella and shutting him up with the 619.

At Night of Champions, Cody Rhodes shocked the world by betraying his partner and mentor, Hardcore Holly, teaming with Ted DiBiase to defeat the veteran and become the new World Tag Team Champions. On Monday night, the two competed in their second match as a team against Darren Wade & Steve Anthony. After winning the match with a particularly strong showing, Cody explained his betrayal the night before, saying that he approached DiBiase about forming a partnership, since he was tired of carrying Hardcore Holly in the ring. DiBiase added that most other young people don’t have the spine that they do, declaring their new partnership “simply priceless.”

Fresh off her Night of Champions victory over Katie Lea Burchill, WWE Women’s Champion squared off against Jillian in a non-title match. The Women’s Champion showed why she deserves to have gold around her waist, pinning Jillian for the win after hitting the songstress with a Mick Kick.

The night before, Kane had lost his ECW Championship to Mark Henry, so he probably wasn’t the best person to show aggression toward on Monday night. Jamie Noble, however, was hoping to impress Katie Lea Burchill by issuing a warning to the biggest, baddest guy around, who happened to be the Big Red Machine. Kane didn’t take kindly to Noble’s threats, and chased him to ring, where he physically punished the recent Raw draftee.

As mentioned earlier, CM Punk made good use of his Money in the Bank briefcase on Monday night, winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge. Proving that he was no “paper champion,” the Straightedge Superstar went on to successfully defend his new title against JBL. To get all the details on CM Punk’s triumphant win, and his first World Title defense.

“

HHH beat John Cena to retain the WWE Championship

Edge beat Batista to retain the World Heavyweight Title

Mark Henry beat Kane and Big Show to become the new ECW Champion

Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes beat Hardcore Holly with Rhodes turning on his partner Holly to capture the World Tag Titles

John Morrison & Miz beat Hornswoggle & Finlay to retain the WWE Tag Titles

Kofi Kingston beat Chris Jericho to become the new Intercontinental Champion when HBK interfered

Matt Hardy beat Chavo Guerrero to retain the US Title

Mickie James beat Katie Lea Burchill to retain the Women’s Championship

RAW will get Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Batista, Kane, Jamie Noble, Deuce, Chuck Palumbo, Layla, Matt Striker and Michael Cole.

Smackdown will get HHH, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, Trevor Murdoch, DH Smith, Big Daddy V, Maria, Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, Carlito and Jim Ross.

ECW will get Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Hornswoggle, Finlay and Super Crazy.

“

Just five days prior to Night of Champions and one day after being pulled away from the Land of the Extreme in the stunning 2008 WWE Draft, ECW Champion Kane squared off a in a non-title match against Mark Henry. To the surprise of all, the World’s Strongest Man pinned the ECW Champion in the middle of the ring, bringing credibility to his recent claims that he belongs in championship competition with the likes of the Big Red Machine and the World’s Largest Athlete Big Show.

Following an explosive build-up filled with epic matches and spontaneous ringside collisions in recent weeks, Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin fought it out in a brutal Extreme Rules Match. After facing early annihilation at the hands of ECW’s Gold Standard, amid an array of metal stairs, trash cans, and chairs, Kofi bounced back to pick up the win, giving Benjamin a face full of garbage can and a fresh mark in the loss column.

Newcomer Evan Bourne, hit the ring flying, fighting for retribution after last week’s assault by Mike Knox. However, despite Bourne’s impressive arsenal of high-risk moves, Knox prevailed, defeating Bourne with authority.

After being drafted to ECW on Sci Fi, United States Champion Matt Hardy joined forced with newly-drafted Monday Night Raw Superstar Mr. Money in the Bank CM Punk to compete against the WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz in a non-title match.

The teams were very evenly matched and in the end it seemed liked Morrison might be able to tag in Miz to secure the victory. However, Hornswoggle suddenly made an unexpended appearance, causing a big enough distraction for Hardy to hit the Twist of Fate and pick up the victory.

“

“

Just days before Night of Champions, seismic shifts took place across the landscape of sports-entertainment, with WWE Champion Triple H being drafted to SmackDown, giving that brand two World Championships, while Raw gained the ECW Champion Kane. Raw, SmackDown and ECW earned the right to receive a random draft pick by competing in inter-brand matches that led to 10 Superstars changing their home brands. Even more shocking was the spontaneous destruction of the Raw stage, which collapsed on top of the Chairman of WWE, Mr. McMahon, in the final moments of the show.

With five Superstars drafted to the brand throughout the night, Raw came away from the draft with a lot of new talent in their roster. In the very first match of the night, WWE Champion Triple H (prior to being drafted himself) defeated Mark Henry, earning Raw the first draft pick, which saw the incomparable Rey Mysterio join Monday nights. After the match, The Game welcomed the Master of the 619, but was interrupted by Triple H’s Night of Champions opponent, John Cena.

Cena also tasted victory, as he defeated his long-time rival, World Heavyweight Champion Edge by count-out. After the match was won, Edge was attacked by Batista, who has his own problems with the World Champion, and will face him this Sunday at Night of Champions. With Cena winning the match, Raw earned another draft pick, which brought Batista back to Monday nights, along with his opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Title this Sunday night.

JBL showed San Antonio why he refers to himself as a “wrestling-god” as he defeated ECW’s Kofi Kingston to earn Raw another draft pick. When the random lottery machine ran, it was ECW Champion Kane who joined Raw along with his coveted title, though he will still defend it against Big Show at Night of Champions.

In the second of four tag team matches, World Tag Team Champions Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes defeated Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely, which served as good practice for the champions’ match at Night of Champions against Ted DiBiase and a mystery partner. After winning the match, it was CM Punk’s music that played as Mr. Money in the Bank himself joined Raw.

WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James & Melina and the team of SmackDown’s Victoria and Natalya also had a tag team match. Two of these women will be competing at Night of Champions: Mickie will defend her Women’s Championship against Katie Lea Burchill, and Natalya will compete against an opponent still to be decided in order to become the first-ever Divas Champion. The draft following this contest was open only to ring announcers, commentators and backstage interviewers, but when Melina suffered a severe ankle sprain and the match ended in a double-disqualification, both Raw and SmackDown received draft picks. These picks saw Jim Ross move to SmackDown, and Michael Cole move to the Raw announce table.

On Friday night, SmackDown will find itself with five new Superstars, two of which were selected after Edge won a Tri-Branded15-Man Battle Royal. The Ultimate Opportunist threw both Triple H and John Cena over the ropes, winning SmackDown the final two draft lottery picks of the night: Raw’s Mr. Kennedy, and WWE Champion Triple H, who will bring his title with him to Friday nights.

On Sunday, the father-son team of Finlay & Hornswoggle will challenge WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz, but on Monday night they warmed up by defeating the team of Santino Marella & Carlito. The two fighting Irishmen’s win resulted in Jeff Hardy being drafted to Friday nights.

SmackDown also benefited from MVP’s match with Tommy Dreamer, when the Ballin’ Superstar defeated Dreamer in spite of Colin Delaney being in the ECW Original’s corner. With that win, SmackDown said “Hello” to Umaga, who was drafted to the brand, and immediately entered the ring, devastating both Tommy Dreamer and Colin Delaney.

ECW only found itself gaining one new Superstar to the brand, due to WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz defeating United States Champion Matt Hardy and his brother and new SmackDown brand-mate, Jeff Hardy. With the champions’ win, ECW was able to draft Matt Hardy, who brings with him his United States Championship, which he will defend against Chavo Guerrero at Night of Champions.

In addition to the above Draft shake-ups, Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho entered the arena to address the crowd in the wake of his rivalry with San Antonio’s own Shawn Michaels. Y2J spoke to Lance Cade over the TitanTron, and the two criticized HBK for lying and betraying people over the years. Jericho went on to say that he would love to defend his title against Michaels at Night of Champions, but that HBK was unable to compete due to Y2J smashing his head into the Jeri-Tron 6000.

This brought the San Antonio native himself to the ring, resulting in a violent altercation between Michaels and the Intercontinental Champion, in which Jericho did further damage to HBK’s wounded eye.

For the third week in a row, Mr. McMahon gave away $1 million of his own money live on Raw. The WWE Chairman gave $100,000 to five lucky winners and $500,000 to one extremely lucky member of the WWE Universe. After giving away that huge final prize of the night, explosions rocked the Raw stage, which fell apart, collapsing on top of Mr. McMahon. WWE Superstars and medical personnel alike rushed to the scene, struggling to free the injured Chairman.

“