Unforgiven (2008)

The 2008 Unforgiven was the 11th and final annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on September 7, 2008, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2009, Unforgiven was replaced by Breaking Point.

Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, which featured a supercard. The three brands, Raw, SmackDown, and ECW, were all represented by their respective Championship Scramble match – a 20 minute time limit bout, during which participants can become the temporary champion via pinfall or submission. The main event of the pay-per-view was the Championship Scramble from the Raw brand. It was originally scheduled to feature World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defending his title; he was replaced by Chris Jericho after Randy Orton attacked CM Punk. Jericho won the match and became World Heavyweight Champion. The Championship Scramble from the ECW brand featured ECW Champion Mark Henry defending, losing the match and title to Matt Hardy. The SmackDown brand's Championship Scramble saw WWE Champion Triple H defeat the other competitors to retain his championship. Another featured match on the undercard was an unsanctioned match, or hardcore match, in which Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Jericho.

The event marked the first time the Championship Scramble format was used by WWE. The event had an attendance of 8,707. The event received 211,000 pay-per-view buys, more than the previous year's event. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of second on Billboard's DVD sales chart. It was also the first and only Unforgiven PPV broadcast in high definition.

Unforgiven was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 21st In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998. Following the discontinuation of the In Your House series in February 1999, Unforgiven branched off as its own PPV in September that year, becoming WWE's annual September PPV. The 2008 event was the 11th event in the Unforgiven chronology and took place on September 7 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.

The event featured seven professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during, and after the event. All wrestlers were from one of the WWE's brands – SmackDown, Raw, or ECW – the three storyline divisions]in which WWE assigned its employees. The event also marked the first time that the Championship Scramble format was used by the WWE.

Wrestlers from Raw were featured in the main event at Unforgiven: a Championship Scramble match, a 20 minute time limit bout, during which participants enter at five-minute intervals and can become the temporary champion via pinfall or submission. The match was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, and was originally scheduled to be CM Punk defending the title against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Kane. During the event, however, Randy Orton attacked Punk and he was replaced in the match by Chris Jericho. The build up to the match began on the August 18 episode of Raw, when Raw General Manager Mike Adamle, who portrays an on screen authority figure, announced the match and its rules, stating that JBL, Batista, John Cena, Kane, and World Heavyweight Champion Punk would participate. The following week on Raw, Adamle announced that Cena had been injured after his match against Batista at SummerSlam, and would be unable to compete in the Championship Scramble. Adamle then announced Mysterio as Cena's replacement. On the September 1 episode of Raw, a preview of the Championship Scramble match was featured, in which the five men fighting in the Championship Scramble competed in a traditional battle royal, which Kane won.

The other predominant match from Raw was an unsanctioned match between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. At SummerSlam, Michaels came to the ring to announce his retirement. However, Jericho interrupted the announcement and, in an attempt to punch Michaels, accidentally struck Michaels' wife Rebecca. On the August 18 episode of Raw, Jericho stated that he had no remorse for punching Michaels wife, claiming that Michaels "had it coming". The next week on Raw, Michaels announced he would not retire and asked Jericho for an unsanctioned match, which Jericho accepted. The following week on Raw a contract was signed for the match. The signing ended with both men attacking each other.

The predominant match from SmackDown was a Championship Scramble for the WWE Championship, in which title holder Triple H faced Jeff Hardy, The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). On the August 22 episode of SmackDown!, General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that SmackDown would have a Championship Scramble match and that the competitors would include WWE Champion Triple H and four men to be decided later in the night through a series of qualifying matches. The first qualifying match was a ten man battle royal, which saw The Big Show disrupt the match and throw all the competitors over the top rope. The Brian Kendrick, however, was saved by his bodyguard, Ezekiel Jackson, who caught Kendrick and put him back in the ring after the Big Show had eliminated all other competitors. Thus, Kendrick qualified for the Championship Scramble. The second qualifying match saw MVP defeat Festus by count out, qualifying for the match. The third qualifying match was Shelton Benjamin versus Finlay, which Benjamin won. The final qualifying match was Jeff Hardy versus The Great Khali, which Hardy won.