Unforgiven (2008)
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown ECW
Date	September 7, 2008
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Venue	Quicken Loans Arena
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous SummerSlam (2008) Next → No Mercy (2008)
Unforgiven chronology
← Previous Unforgiven (2007) Next → TBD

Unforgiven (2008) was the eleventh annual Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It will take place on September 7, 2008, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The event will feature wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.^[2]

Six professional wrestling matches are currently scheduled to be featured on the event's card. These matches are planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's creative staff and feature wrestlers playing a character for the entertainment of the audience. All wrestlers will be from either the Raw, SmackDown, or ECW brands - the three storyline divisions in which WWE assigns its employees.

The primary rivalry on the Raw brand is a Championship Scramble for the World Heavyweight Championship. On the August 18 episode of Raw, General Manager Mike Adamle announced the bout, which will involve CM Punk (Phil Brooks), John "Bradshaw" Layfield (John Layfield), Kane (Glen Jacobs), Batista (Dave Bautista), and Rey Mysterio (Oscar Gutierrez). This match has a 20-minute time limit, during which participants can become the temporary champion via pinfall or submission. The final superstar who gains a victory when the time limit expires will leave the match as the champion. Only the person who wins the match will be officially recognized as the champion. John Cena was one of the initial participants in the match. However, on the August 25 edition of Raw, Adamle announced that Cena had suffered a herniated disc in his neck in his match with Batista at SummerSlam, taking him out of the Scramble. Rey Mysterio was subsequently named as Cena's replacement.

The other rivalry on the Raw brand is between Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) and Chris Jericho (Christopher Irvine). At SummerSlam, Jericho accidentally punched Michaels' wife Rebecca in the face when Michaels publicly announced that he was (kayfabe) retiring from WWE. On the August 25 edition of Raw, Michaels revealed that he had denounced his decision to retire and challenged Jericho to an Unsanctioned match at Unforgiven.

The predominant rivalry on the SmackDown brand is another Championship Scramble for the WWE Championship held by Triple H (Paul Levesque). The match was announced on the August 22 broadcast of SmackDown by General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who also announced a series of qualifying matches. The qualifiers were The Brian Kendrick (Brian Kendrick), Shelton Benjamin, Montel Vontavious Porter (Alvin Burke, Jr.), and Jeff Hardy.

The primary rivalry on the ECW brand is a third Championship Scramble for the ECW Championship. The August 26 episode of ECW opened with General Manager Theodore Long announcing that the ECW brand would have its own Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven. During the episode, Matt Hardy, The Miz (Mike Mizanin), Chavo Guerrero (Salvador Guerrero III), and Finlay (Dave Finlay) qualified to be the four challengers for Mark Henry's ECW Championship.

The first match of the event was the ECW Championship Scramble match, which Matt Hardy won when pinned The Miz after a Twist of Fate. The next match was for the World Tag Team Championship, which Cody Rhodes (Cody Runnels) and Ted DiBiase won via pinfall after a roll-up.

Despite its promotional build-up, only a reported 6,000 tickets have been sold for the event for an arena that holds 20,000 people. To prevent the arena from looking too empty, local radio stations gave away Unforgiven tickets.^[3]

• WWE Unforgiven
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

• The official website of WWE Unforgiven