This past February, WWE held it’s eleventh annual No Way Out PPV in Las Vegas, Neveda. On paper, this PPV seemed to be a great PPV more than capable of delivering. The first match of the night featured the ECW Championship being defended. Chavo Guerrero took on CM Punk in what was a pretty decent match with Chavo Guerrero successfully defending his title. At this point, the ECW Championship is the equevilent of the US and Intercontinental championship.
The next match of the night was the dreaded Elimination Chamber match that featured Undertaker, Big Daddy V, Batista, The Great Khali, MVP, and Finley. This match had the potential of being one of the best main events of the night, but becuase the spot it got as the second match, this match was basically a let down for several different reasons, including the presence of Khali and Daddy V. I guess it got so low because Triple H wasn’t involved. Yes, WWE revolves around Triple H, what he wants, he gets. Luckily, Khali and Daddy V were taken out early. The final two combatants were Undertaker and Batista. After a typical solid one on one match, the Undertaker emerged victorious and headed towards Wrestlemania’s main event.
Mr. Kennedy came out next to take on Ric Flair in a Career threatening match. A decent Ric Flair match that saw Ric Flair pick up the win. The match that followed was the World Heavyweight Championship Match between Edge and Rey Mysterio. The match itself was decent considering the fact that Rey Mysterio was injured and worked through the pain. Edge came out on top to retain his title. This brought out a returning Big Show who intimidated Mysterio and called out Floyd Mayweather. The end result saw Big Show with a busted nose and the seeds were planted for a future confrontation.
Next up was Randy Orton against John Cena for the WWE Championship. These two started where they left off last October. It was a pretty solid match with both men gaining control of the match several times. The ending came when Randy Orton slapped the ref in the face, which in turn caused a DQ for Orton. Cena won but Orton retained. Cena then proceeded to FU Orton and get a bit of payback. Again a great match with a very questionable finish.
Of course, this brought out our final match of the night, The Raw Elimination Chamber Match which featured Triple H, Chris Jericho, Umaga, JBL, Jeff Hardy and Shawn Michaels. Is it a surprise that this is the main event? Of course not, Triple H just has to be in the main event (sarcasm intended). Despite the ego of Triple H, this match turned out to be a decent match with planty of great spots from Jericho and Jeff Hardy. The Final two contenders were Triple H and Jeff Hardy. For a brief moment, it seemed as though Jeff Hardy was actually going to win but in the end, "The Game" Triple H emerged the winner and now has Wrestlemania to look forward to.
In the end, No Way Out 2008 was a decent PPV which could have been better. The first Elimination Chamber was a let down and placed too early on the card. There was no woman’s championship match, no tag or secondary titles defended. We saw Big Show return, which was refreshing to see. As a whole, this PPV was decent but let’s hope Wrestlemania 24 is much better.