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.

“

“

In the night’s main event featuring Batista against Chavo Guerrero, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero swayed the odds heavily against The Animal by naming World Heavyweight Champion Edge as the special guest referee. The scheduled referee, Charles Robinson, had been conveniently taken out of commission earlier in the night in a match the GM ordered between Robinson and The Great Khali.

And, in typical Guerrero fashion, Batista’s match included a stipulation: If he laid a hand on Edge during the bout, he would lose his chance to face the Rated-R Superstar for the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions.

Although Batista held his own against Chavo, “The Family’s” influence proved to be too much to overcome. After being counted out of the match by guest referee Edge’s fast count, Batista suffered a 5-on-1 attack from “The Family,” capped off with a brutal spear from the Ultimate Opportunist.

If Vickie can continue to use her power to orchestrate things on SmackDown, how might she affect things at Night of Champions and even at The Granddaddy of Them All, WrestleMania XXV? And with three days until the WWE Draft, is Guerrero’s job going to be someone else’s after Monday Night?

It seems as though no one is immune from the vindictive ways of SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. Montel Vontavious Porter felt her wrath as she ordered him to face ECW Champion Kane. Despite all his self-promoting talk on the night’s edition of MVP’s VIP Lounge, SmackDown’s Franchise Playa proved to be no match for the Big Red Machine, deciding to get counted out rather than face the fires of the ECW Champion.

Then, after picking up the win, Kane had to deal with his own vindictive adversary, Mark Henry, who was out for payback for the double-chokeslam he received from Kane and Big Show earlier in the week on ECW.

In his first one-on-one match, Bam Neely took on United States Champion Matt Hardy. Looking on was Chavo Guerrero – Hardy’s Night of Champions opponent. But, Chavo proved to be more hindrance than help to his family member, as he attracted the attention of referee Charles Robinson who ejected him from ringside. With Bam distracted by Guerrero’s ejection, Hardy capitalized by delivering a hard-hitting Twist of Fate to pick up the win.

In a shocking move, Guerrero ordered WWE referee Charles Robinson to face action on SmackDown. While meeting with Robinson in her office, Guerrero expressed concern at what she perceived as Robinson’s lack of objectivity in Edge’s matches against Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIV and Judgment Day. She was also unhappy about Robinson ejecting Chavo from ringside earlier in the night. “You need to experience how it feels from a Superstar’s perspective,” she said.

Robinson had no choice but to follow the GM’s orders, even without knowing who his opponent would be. As he anxiously awaited the start of his first-ever match, he learned Guerrero picked none other than The Great Khali to face him. In an extreme mismatch, the 420-pound Punjabi Giant destroyed Robinson using a clothesline, head butt, Khali Chop and Khali Vise Grip. The brutal assault required Robinson to be removed from the ring on a stretcher.

Just like she did a few weeks ago on SmackDown, Michelle McCool defeated Layla using a heel hook to make her submit. The All-American Diva’s win attracted the attention of Natalya, who looked on from the ramp after the match. With the upcoming live three-hour WWE Draft on the next episode of Raw, the SmackDown Diva roster could be totally shaken up as the Sexiest Women on Television vie for the new Divas Championship.

All things must come to an end, but don’t tell Vladimir Kozlov. The man from Moscow chalked up another win by defeating Jamie Noble, bringing his undefeated SmackDown record to 11-0. While leaping from the top rope, Noble was met with a vicious head butt from Kozlov, leaving Noble writhing in agony after the match ended. More on Jamie Noble’s condition…

The growing dissention between tag team partners Deuce & Domino came to a head after their loss to Jesse & Festus. After Festus pinned Domino, Deuce delivered a Crack em’ in da’ Mouth to Domino. Deuce then tossed his leather jacket over his fallen comrade’s face as if to signal the end of the partnership of the once tag team champions.

With WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison on commentary, he watched his partner, The Miz, take on Finlay. With tensions high surrounding the upcoming tag team title match at Night of Champions, Morrison jumped up from the announce table in the middle of the match to go after Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle retaliated by whacking Morrison in the knee with a shillelagh. The action outside the ring distracted The Miz, allowing Finlay to capitalize and deliver a Celtic Cross to pick up the pinfall.

“

“

Less than two weeks before their Night of Champions match, ECW Champion Kane and Big Show took part in a colossal staredown on ECW on Sci Fi. General Manager Theodore Long offered the Night of Champions opponents an open forum to speak their minds before next Sunday.

Big Show pointed out that he’s been an opponent, partner and champion alongside Kane, but now the Big Red Machine has something he wants – the ECW Championship. The World’s Largest Athlete – who said he went through hell to earn his Night of Champions match – promised he’ll take back the Extreme gold next Sunday. Kane, determined to retain, had these words for Big Show: “Well, big man, hell is standing right here in front of you.”

While the two Superstars stood toe-to-toe in the middle of the ECW ring, Mark Henry marched down the ramp with an important message: save your strength.

“Because if I’m not drafted Monday night, you can bet your bottom dollar that after Night of Champions, whichever one of you two is holding the ECW title, I’m coming after,” the World’s Strongest Man claimed.

The Big Red Machine and his Night of Champions opponent didn’t take Henry’s big statement lightly, as the duo brutally double-chokeslammed him to the ECW mat, before continuing their staredown.

In other ECW action, Matt Striker thought he’d teach a lesson or two to newcomer Evan Bourne. But “Your Teacher’s” lesson plan went awry when the high-flying youngster hit Striker with a standing moonsault and a shooting star press for the pin to win the match. But Bourne’s celebration was cut short when Mike Knox – who Bourne beat last week in tag action with Kofi Kingston – entered the ring and attacked him.

Knox’s assault on Bourne fired him up for his upcoming bout with Kingston, but their match was interrupted by the Superstar who ended Kingston’s winning streak – Shelton Benjamin. ECW’s Gold Standard attacked the Jamaican Superstar mid-match, leading to Kingston’s win by disqualification. But during their scuffle, Benjamin accidentally kicked Knox, allowing Kingston to escape the ring.

Also on Tuesday night, former General Manager Armando Estrada continued to try to impress new GM Theodore Long when he faced Hornswoggle. But Estrada and Hornswoggle’s match quickly turned into a virtual comedy routine, when SmackDown’s littlest Superstar stole Estrada’s cigar, broke it in half and boldly threw it at him. Then Estrada tripped and fell when Hornswoggle tossed a bucket of marbles on the ground. The shenanigans – complete with a blow-up shillelagh, water pistols and Finlay – finally ended after Hornswoggle hit Estrada with a tadpole splash off the top rope for the win, giving the small Superstar momentum going into his WWE Tag Team Championship match at Night of Champions.

One-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, John Morrison, who will defend his gold alongside The Miz against Hornswoggle & Finlay next Sunday, met CM Punk this week on ECW. Mr. Money in the Bank took his briefcase all the way to the Extreme winner’s circle on Tuesday when he hit the Shaman of Sexy with a Go To Sleep for the win. An angry Miz came to his fellow Tag Champ’s side after his loss to proclaim they will remain WWE Tag Team Champions at Night of Champions.

“