10 Major WWE Matches That Changed At The Last Second

5. World Heavyweight Championship Scramble €“ Unforgiven 2008

Jericho1 No, the Championship Scramble wasn't a hot new breakfast at the International House of Pancakes €“ it was also a cool, fun new match WWE debuted at Unforgiven 2008. It was so cool and fun, in fact, that WWE gave us three of them on the same show €“ one for each major championship (WWE, World, and ECW). The rules were simple. Two men fight, the winner is the man who gets a pinfall or a submission. Actually, no, they weren't that simple at all. Five men are in the ring at once. They wrestle for twenty minutes €“ you know, moves, pinfalls, what have you. Whoever has gotten the most recent decision when the time limit runs out is the official champion. Matt Hardy won the ECW Title match and Triple H won the WWE Title match, but the World Heavyweight Championship Scramble, which went on last, was the subject of much controversy. Underdog champ CM Punk was scheduled to defend his title, but a backstage punt by Randy Orton put him out of the match. When the bout actually happened, it proceeded with only four men. With five minutes left, Chris Jericho (who had lost to Shawn Michaels earlier in the evening) came out, made his participation in the match clear, and pinned Kane to win the title. Fan-favorite Punk lost his championship without even having a chance to defend it, and many a fan was left unhappy.
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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013