 WWE Champion Triple H Saved Jeff Hardy from United States Champion Shelton Benjamin, MVP, The Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel JacksonMan, Triple H was really in the prime of his "burial" era at this point. He completely broke the fourth wall by calling this a promo and did nothing to elevate either Benjamin or MVP when talking about them. He even made a comment about being a champion for the next century, and he was a babyface! It didn't help that he was the last one left standing over all of his Unforgiven opponents. I know this was supposed to hype the WWE Championship Scramble match for that Sunday, but it wasn't very effective. R-Truth def. Bam NeelyTruth had just returned to WWE a few weeks earlier, so he was in the process of racking up wins at this point. I assume Neely was just the setup guy for Chavo Guerrero and that Truth went on to beat him, too. Neely was hardly a threat, so it made sense for Truth to put him away as quickly as he did. His rapping entrance through the crowd may have been longer than the match itself. The Undertaker Addressed Vickie GuerreroUndertaker was fresh off his Hell in a Cell win over Edge at SummerSlam when he shifted his focus toward Guerrero (Edge's husband in storyline). He threatened her here in typical 'Taker fashion before disappearing when the lights went out. There wasn't much to it, but it did build toward the angle they'd do at Unforgiven. I'm shocked Undertaker didn't get a televised entrance here to kill time. United States Champion Shelton Benjamin def. MVP (Non-Title)This was one of the better matches on the entire episode despite the heel vs. heel dynamic where the crowd didn't have an incentive to cheer for one guy over the other. It was on the shorter side, of course, but what we got from them was good. I wasn't expecting the straightforward finish with Benjamin pinning MVP, but I'm not complaining because another non-title loss for Benjamin (who just lost to Triple H the week prior) would have been the wrong call. Maryse def. MariaThe acting from these two in the backstage segment that preceded this match was awful, but I guess that was par for the course for the WWE Divas at the time. At any rate, this was designed to give Maryse a quick warm-up win before she challenged Michelle McCool for the Divas Championship at Unforgiven. It was a pretty basic bout, as you'd expect. Maryse and McCool faced off afterward. The Brian Kendrick def. Jeff HardyThis was heavily hyped throughout the show as the first-ever one-on-one encounter between the two. It wasn't exactly a barn burner (mostly because it wasn't given the time to be one), but this was a fun sprint for as long as it lasted. Kendrick pinning Hardy was huge considering how damn popular Hardy was at the time, but WWE never did anything to capitalize on it after Unforgiven. Super Crazy def. Ryan BraddockI totally forgot Ryan Braddock was a thing. I believe he was only ever utilized as an enhancement talent on the main roster before being released the following year. He actually wrestles for the NWA nowadays as Jay Bradley. This was a blink-and-you-missed-it match, and I was stunned Crazy actually won for a change, but it immediately became clear that this only existed so Vladimir Kozlov could come out afterward and attack Crazy. Vladimir Kozlov, Big Show and Vickie Guerrero Confronted Each OtherThis was essentially an extension of the last match since Kozlov took out Crazy and proceeded to cut a promo demanding better competition, which brought out Big Show. Kozlov was undefeated at this point and Show would have been a real challenge for him, but as I remember it, it was only ever teased and nothing more because Big Show turned heel by joining Guerrero at Unforgiven. She was harsh toward him here, so I'm curious what the explanation for their alliance ended up being. Brie Bella def. VictoriaI'm honestly surprised there were two women's matches in one night. That's obviously commonplace in 2025, but it didn't seem like the norm in 2008 when so little focus was put on the women's division. Granted, both bouts on this show were brief, but it was better than nothing. The focus was less on the match and more on the finish with Brie executing "Twin Magic" and Nikki sliding in to win for her sister. That was unknown to the audience and Victoria at this point in the storyline, though. WWE Champion Triple H def. The Great Khali in a Lumberjack Match (Non-Title)This was a rematch of their WWE Championship clash from SummerSlam the month prior. This was along the same lines as that encounter in that was slow and plodding, but I thought the Lumberjack stipulation was a nice touch with the WWE Championship challengers at Unforgiven surrounding ringside, even though they weren't much of a factor. I liked that Hardy left HHH laying to close the show. Overall Show2008 was when I started watching wrestling full-time, so the year in general for WWE makes me nostalgic, but it's fascinating watching a show like this back and realizing how poor the quality of their programming was back then, specifically SmackDown. It sucked as a go-home show for Unforgiven and sucked in general. Way too matches with nothing getting time to breathe. I intend to go back and review a lot of these older episodes eventually, but this was hardly a riveting watch.
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