Night of Champions: When Triple H beat John Cena in one of the greatest title matches ever

At Night of Champions 2008, Triple H defeated John Cena to retain his WWE Championship in one of the greatest title matches in the history of the promotion. The match was above incredible as it featured some memorable moments and gave a bump to Triple H’s heel persona. While fans loved the long storyline between the two superstars, critics praised Triple H and John Cena for their performances. Some websites also hailed Triple H vs John Cena as “the title match of the year”.

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Night of Champions 2008: The birth of Triple H vs John Cena feud

At Royal Rumble 2008, John Cena won the Royal Rumble and earned a chance to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 24. At No Way Out, John Cena defeated Orton via disqualification but didn’t win the title because a title can only change hands via pinfall or submission. On the same night, Triple H won the Elimination Chamber match and earned a title shot of his own. This lead to a triple-threat match between the three superstars at WrestleMania, which Randy Orton won.  

At Backlash, Orton was primed to defend the title once again against Cena and Triple H, this time in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match which also included John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Triple H won the match and was crowned the new champion. A week later, John Cena defeated Jeff Hardy and became the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Later, Triple H agreed to fight Cena and the match was made official.

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Night of Champions 2008: Triple H defeats John Cena to retain his title

The match started slowly as the two superstars tested each other with some wrestling moves. However, Triple H soon took over by hitting John Cena with a high knee, followed by a facebuster knee smash. John Cena tried to fight back, but Triple H hit him with a spinebuster. John Cena soon recovered and threw the champion out of the ring, injuring HHH’s knee. John Cena then started targeting Triple H’s injured knee and delivered a chop block and a spear.

John Cena then trapped Triple H in the STF but the champ broke free. Cena tried to execute an Attitude Adjustment but Triple H slipped out and delivered a Pedigree. However, because of his knee injury, the champ was unable to pin Cena. As Triple H somehow reached near Cena, the challenger delivered an Attitude Adjustment for a near-fall. Triple H soon recovered and delivered a Pedigree to win the match.

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