King of the Ring (2008)
The 2008 King of the Ring was the 18th edition of the King of the Ring tournament produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held as a special episode of Raw on April 21, 2008, at BI-LO Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Unlike the previous 2006 tournament that only featured wrestlers from the SmackDown brand division, the 2008 tournament featured wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands at the time—Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. The 2008 tournament was won by Raw's William Regal, who defeated ECW's CM Punk in the final. Background The King of the Ring tournament is a single-elimination tournament that was established by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 1985 with the winner being crowned "King of the Ring." It was held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990. These early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows and were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed to WWE in 2002). In 1993, the promotion began to produce the King of the Ring tournament as a self-titled pay-per-view (PPV). Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. King of the Ring continued as the annual June PPV until the 2002 event, which was the final King of the Ring produced as a PPV. Following the conclusion of the PPV chronology, the tournament began to be held periodically every few years, first making its return in 2006, which was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. The 2008 tournament was the 18th King of the Ring tournament and featured wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands at the time: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. The tournament took place as a special episode of Raw on April 21, 2008, at BI-LO Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Matches Quarter-finals The show started with the quarter-final round of the 2008 King of the Ring tournament pitting the WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho against the WWE United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). MVP began dominating Jericho until Jericho performed a Springboard Dropkick on MVP. MVP regained his momentum and performed a Delayed Elbow Drop, which he calls Ballin' Elbow for a near-fall. MVP began working on Jericho's face and applied a Three-quarter Facelock and followed by executing Knee Lifts. MVP performed a Big Boot for a near-fall. Jericho tried to perform a Diving Crossbody but MVP countered it into a Flapjack. However, Jericho recovered and executed a One-Handed Bulldog. Jericho tried to perform a Springboard Moonsault which he calls Lionsault but MVP avoided the move. MVP tried to finish Jericho with an Overdrive which he calls Playmaker but Jericho countered it into an Elevated Boston Crab which he calls Walls of Jericho. Jericho forced MVP to submit to the