Unforgiven was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 21st In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998.

After being a Raw-exclusive PPV for the past four years, the 2007 event featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands,[4] as following WrestleMania 23 in April, brand-exclusive pay-per-views were discontinued.

Their rivalry started in early 2006 when Henry's interference caused The Undertaker to lose a match for the World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle.

[8] Following the assault, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat The Undertaker and win the World Heavyweight Championship.

[10][11][12] The main feud on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.

[13] The following night on Raw, Orton demanded a rematch for the title, but his request was declined by General manager William Regal.

The rivalry started on the September 11, 2007, episode of ECW on Sci Fi, when Burke became the number one contender to the title.

After Batista was unable to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Khali at SummerSlam,[13] he participated in a tournament in which he lost to Mysterio, the eventual winner.

Punk won the match after pinning Burke with a rolling cradle to retain the ECW Championship.

[4] In the next match, Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter faced Deuce 'n Domino for the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Deuce 'n Domino dominated early in the match and mocked the champs because of their feud over the United States Championship, which MVP held.

[24] The next match was Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch against Paul London and Brian Kendrick for the World Tag Team Championship.

As a result, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch retained the World Tag Team Championship.

[4] Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch continued to feud with Paul London and Brian Kendrick while Jeff Hardy got involved in a rivalry with Mr. Kennedy.

[26] On the September 17 episode of Raw, Candice Michelle and Mickie James defeated Melina and Jillian in a tag team match.

The first match involved Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Tommy Dreamer, and Stevie Richards.

[30] In the second round, which was held on the September 25 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, Burke went on to eliminate Kevin Thorn in a triple threat match after pinning him.

[31] On the October 2 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, Tommy Dreamer and Elijah Burke faced each other in the final match of the tournament.

Dreamer won the final match after a DDT and was made the number one contender for the title until Estrada came and said that Elimination Chase was not over.

[36] At No Mercy, the two faced each other in a Punjabi Prison match for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Batista won to retain the title.

[37] John Cena and Randy Orton continued their feud over the WWE Championship, as the two were scheduled to compete in a Last Man Standing match at No Mercy for the title.

[40] Triple H, however, defeated Orton to win the WWE Championship,[41][42] but later that same night, Triple H lost the title to Orton back in a Last Man Standing match after a title defense against Umaga, who he was booked to face in a standard wrestling match.