By Richard Gray on July 21st, 2008
WWE held their final pay-per-view before SummerSlam last night with The Great American Bash from Long Island, New York. This year’s edition of the Bash featured the good, the bad, and the ugly. The pay-per-view was by no means spectacular but it did include some surprises and some solid wrestling. Not only was the event notable for being the final pay-per-view before SummerSlam but it also featured CM Punk’s first defense of the World Heavyweight Championship on pay-per-view. A lot of questions were raised going into the event as to how confident that WWE management is with him as champion and I think that at least part of that was answered last night. Furthermore WWE crowned the first ever Divas Champion and had two surprising title changes. Below are my full thoughts on the event.
The Great American Bash opened with the Fatal Four Way tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. If I were booking I probably would have opened with Shelton Benjamin vs. Matt Hardy but this match featured enough action where it turned out to be a solid opener. I was surprised with Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins stealing the win as I expected a title change but I expected Finlay & Hornswoggle to get the nod. I do not think that Ryder & Hawkins are near as over as Finlay & Hornswoggle but I guess it could be a possibility that WWE wanted the titles back on SmackDown. I can’t believe that I am actually questioning why Hornswoggle doesn’t get another run with a title. Nonetheless the match was solid and provided enough entertainment to set the tone for the show.
There was not much time from the first match to the second as Matt Hardy immediately came out to defend the United States Championship against Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin and Hardy had a very good match with another surprising outcome. This has got to be like the 1000th time that WWE has started a push for Shelton – one can only wonder how long that they will stick with it. Shelton looked very good in the ring despite botching an important moonsault spot that he was supposed to sell from Matt Hardy. I am not sure where this leaves Hardy but hopefully he will not be reduced as I felt that he was worthy of a longer run as US Champion given how long it took him to overcome MVP for the title.
Mark Henry’s defense of the ECW Championship against Tommy Dreamer was not really much of a match but more of a Henry spot fest. Henry hit pretty much everything that a guy his size is capable of only for Dreamer to land a couple of spots here and there. The notable thing to come out of this match was Colin Delaney turning heel as he cost Dreamer the win (as if Henry needed Colin’s help) by knocking him off the ropes where Henry could pin him. I would expect a Dreamer vs. Colin feud on ECW.
Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho stole the show with their bout which was one of the more unusual matches that I have seen in WWE in quite some time. After Michaels and Jericho worked for several minutes and Michaels fought off Lance Cade interference – Shawn ended up getting busted open badly. The way that it was sold on pay-per-view was that Jericho had re-injured the eye of Shawn Michaels with a stiff elbow. They booked Michaels to refuse to give up only for Jericho to continue punishing him with stiff right hands and boots to the face. Eventually the referee stopped the match, deeming Michaels unable to continue thus declaring Chris Jericho the winner. I love real-life finishes such as this and is something that I would not mind seeing more of. Michaels was bleeding extremely bad – probably the worst anyone has bled in a WWE ring this year. My only problem with this match was its position on the card because I knew that it would be impossible to follow.
When a match is almost impossible to follow – who is sent out to follow? The divas. Michelle McCool and Natalya had a very basic – submission hold dominated – match that saw Michelle McCool walking away as the first ever WWE Divas Champion. There was nothing to the match and there was not really anything notable about it. This was probably used as a bathroom break for most people and I think it was more or less to drip off the emotion from the Michaels/Jericho ending. After the match, Jericho came out and said that HBK had a detached retina and that his career was over. It was a good heel moment for Jericho but from some reason it drew little reaction from the fans. I would probably attribute that to New York fans being smarter on the business than your average Joe.
World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk had his first title defense on pay-per-view in the next match against Batista. These two had a fun match going until Kane came down and interfered – causing a double disqualification. Normally I would be livid with the finish but I understand why it was done. WWE is obviously still testing the waters with Punk as champion but they did not want to take the belt off him. However, they did not want him to go clean against Batista and eliminate a possibility for a SummerSlam match. Furthermore they evidently want to add Kane to the mix so I think that the booking made sense in that Punk and Batista got to feel one another out while keeping the program going.
I prefaced this review with The Great American Bash included the good, the bad, and the ugly – well the next “match” featured bad and ugly but nothing good. JBL’s New York City Parking Lot Brawl with John Cena was a joke and insulted the intelligence of everyone watching. Not only did the contest look extremely contrived and fake, the stunts that were pulled off made the match very unbelievable. JBL smashed Cena’s face through a glass window where Cena didn’t even bleed and at one point even doused a car in gasoline and set it on fire with Cena in the back of it. Cena escaped unscathed – looking as Super Manish as ever and went directly back on the offense. Another thing that made no sense was the fact that Cena showed up for the match completely unharmed from the cliffhanger ending to Raw last week which was more than eye-rolling. This contest killed the live crowd and as I noted last night in my coverage – killed our web traffic as well as people were obviously not very interested in a parking lot brawl between Cena and Bradshaw. JBL stole the win like I knew that he would because of all of the clean jobs that he has done to Cena.
Triple H and Edge had a solid match but it did not come close to Jericho vs. Michaels and I did not feel that it was as good as Punk vs. Batista. Hunter and Edge seemed to work well together there were just times in this match where I felt that the action got a bit slow. The match ended in interference with Alicia Fox (the wedding planner) and Vickie Guerrero hitting the ring. In a moment that made no sense at all, Edge went for a spear on Fox but missed and hit Vickie. Why is he mad at the wedding planner? Nonetheless Hunter capitalized off the distraction to retain the WWE Championship. The match would have been better without the interference but I understand that it had to happen for the storylines building to SummerSlam to tie together.
The Great American Bash was filled with the good (Jericho vs. Michaels), the bad (the New York City Parking Lot Brawl), and the ugly (HBK’s bleeding face) but overall I felt that it was a solid show building to SummerSlam. I wouldn’t go out of my way to order the replay but I felt like I got my money’s worth with the spectacular bout between Michaels and Jericho. If you decide to watch this show, completely skip the New York City Parking Lot Brawl and the Divas Championship match. Unless you want to see Colin Delaney turn heel, you can skip the ECW Championship match. Other than that the event was an enjoyable couple of hours of wrestling and will probably entertain you.
Tags: CM Punk retains, First Divas Champion, Michaels vs. Jericho steals the show, New United States Champion, New WWE Tag Team Champions, Triple H retains
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July 21st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Good Afternoon, Love your site! But, please tell me what, if anything, does Mark Henry bring to the WWE? Big yes…but that’s it. The man has no talent, couldn’t wrestle if his life depended on it…and his mic skills? I don’t know, Mr. McMahon has spent a great deal of money on a personna that no one seems to care one way or the other about.
Thanks for listening, have a nice afternoon!
July 21st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Richard.. Will you please stop kissing The WWE Butt since The Great American Bash Sucked, there was only one good match on this PPV. and that was Jericho and Shawn Michaels. who put on a show for there fans anyway i will not waste my money on buying this PPV on DVD
July 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I noted that was a very good match… But how do you figure that I am “kissing butt”? I’m just telling it how I saw it.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
“Another thing that made no sense was the fact that Cena showed up for the match completely unharmed from the cliffhanger ending to Raw last week which was more than eye-rolling.”
Why would he have bad scars or bruises when WWE admitted he got out of the way?
Plus, if you’ll remember, in 1990 in Memphis, Jerry Lawler got run down by Eddie Gilbert on TV and was actually hit by the car. Lawler legit injured his hip badly doing the angle and could barely walk. Yet, he still went on the show a few minutes later and did a promo. He threatened Gilbert and then had to tell the fans not to not to call the cops because some fans watching the show at home live called Memphis police wanting Gilbert arrested doing a hit-and-run. So I really don’t think it’s a big deal that Cena didn’t show up injured since he was not hit for real and according to WWE, JBL basically missed him.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I just don’t think that the angle was necessary if nothing was going to become of it. It was stupid in itself but if you remember WWE did not come out and say that it “missed him” they said that he barely got out of the way and that it grazed him. I don’t know about you but if a car grazed me I probably wouldn’t be at 100% 6 days later.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Ellen I think that Mark Henry has a job because he is a dependable big guy with extraordinary size. I agree that he is not the most colorful guy but I think that he has a place in WWE. Thank you for being so polite!
July 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
“I just don’t think that the angle was necessary if nothing was going to become of it. It was stupid in itself but if you remember WWE did not come out and say that it “missed him” they said that he barely got out of the way and that it grazed him. I don’t know about you but if a car grazed me I probably wouldn’t be at 100% 6 days later.”
Yeah, I think they could have done something else, like have JBL beat down Cena with a chair or something. Simple but effective. I just thought that given the way WWE described what happened, Cena not showing up badly hurt wasn’t a big deal.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
GAB was not worth the 40 bucks. HBK and Y2J was good and Punk/Batista was a lot better than I expected, but that’s not saying much. However, besides that, the rest of the matches were lacking in excitement and could’ve been RAW, Smackdown, or ECW matches.
They have CM punk showing he’s not actually worthy of the title. He hasn’t beat anyone clean or legit even going back to the days prior to the belt changing hands. Batista once again loses, or at least doesn’t win, a title bout on a PPV. So I guess this all leads up to 3 way dance between Punk, Batista, and Kane at SummerSlam in which, even if CM punk wins, won’t legitimize himself as a worthy champ.
JBL/Cena match was way too long, way too boring and way too stupid. At least Super Cena did win again.
HHH/Edge match was ruined with the interference. I felt the same way with Edge trying to spear Fox, but instead hits Vickie. I didn’t understand why Edge tried to spear Fox, but maybe I was still trying to figure out what Fox and Vickie were doing out there to begin with. Not entirely a poor match, but again with that finish, something that could’ve been on Smackdown.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
JBL/Cena match was way too long, way too boring and way too stupid. At least Super Cena did win again.
**meant to say didn’t win again
July 21st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
the great amercian bash is basically a summerslam pre show summerslam will probaly have edge vs hhh jbl vs cena in another gimmick match to end the fued plus h.b.k vs cena and maybe punk vs botchtista i know the wwe was shaking things up i just hope we dont get the same matches at unforgiven no mercy e.t.c i know its good to have a long feud but wrestling the same guy in 4 ppv’s straight gets rather boring i hope wwe arent going down this road again.
July 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
*hbk vs y2j
July 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
The Bash always turns out to be a sub-standard show for some reasons. There weren’t that many stand-out moments. That isn’t to say it’s bad, just not…that damn good, to steal a copyrighted phrase.
Partly because WWE seems to have hired Vince Russo for most of the booking, as somebody seems to be impressed with the job he did with Victory Road. The WWE Tag Team Championships to the job run-in guys? Gimme a break! Least credible team since Cade & Murdoch. Needless to say, I was pissed (drunk context) and very pissed (anger context). The match was a good opener though, really helped get the old blood a-flowing. I did not like that Miz & Morrison never got to have a dominant period there though.
Shelton vs. Hardy was pretty good. I like Hardy better than Benjamin, but deep inside, I wanted Hardy’s boring US title reign to end. And what happened with that moonsault? Did Shelton botch the sell, or did Matt botch the move? Either way, it looked plenty painful. They should turn Shelton face, as he can actually draw a minor modicum of a crowd reaction as a face. But let’s see how he does.
The ECW Championship match was, quote the crowd “Boring” and a very “You can’t wrestle” kind of match. A big waste of a PPV spot if you ask me. They should have continued Kennedy vs. Umaga instead. I was behind Dreamer all the way, and I marked out for that EXTREMELY unpredictable Colin Delaney heel turn! I guess now he’ll dominate everybody! Maybe.
HBK vs. Y2J was the match of the night, although not as good as I’d want it to be. Very good back-and-forth action, both men looking strong. But MAN, that bleeding was NASTY! Even the king of blading in every match ever himself, Ric Flair, would be shitting his pants! One of the most brutal finishes witnessed since the Attitude Era. MAN, that was almost too much even for a de-sensitized feller like me!
The Divas match was pretty good, although I dislike the outcome. For some reason, McCool won? Gee, I wonder if it could have anything to do with her dating Taker? Sort of a reverse Triple H situation there. Everybody knows Natalya should have won and formed a lesbian stable with Beth Phoenix, but no! Stupid Russo.
CM Punk vs. Batista was better than I expected, and helped build up CM Punk’s failed credibility. I though it’d be a squash match. It’s clear that Batista did not bring his A-game though. I knew Kane was gonna interfere, but I didn’t expect a DOUBLE DQ. WHAT?
…JBL vs. Cena was one of the biggest, fakest, boring clusterf*cks I have ever laid my eyes on. Even some of the worst from Victory Road looked like WrestleMania 2000 in comparison. I can’t say anything but retarded. I’m just glad JBL’s windshield was made from kryptonite.
The main event was a bit lacking, for some reason. Triple H is becoming a rerun of himself in all his matches – the same spots, same situations, same moves. Edge, on the other hand, looked like a better competitor than ever, and I was really pulling for him to end Triple H’s EXTREMELY boring WWE Championship reign. Loved the finish with Vickie. I wonder if it’s gonna be fun to be Edge on SD! in coming weeks…
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All in all, as I said, the show was a good effort, but nothing particularly memorable, outside of the Y2J vs. Michaels match, which couldn’t even touch their Judgment Day encounter. Also, having the worst match I’ve seen so far this year (and since the end of the Attitude Era) drags down its final grade considerably. Definitely the worst WWE PPV so far in 2008. I probably would have given it an ever lower score if it hadn’t been for it being 1,000 times better than Victory Road, which I sadly wasted my life watching.
9.5/10
July 21st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
heard some of the spots in the cena/ jbl “fight” were taped the day before and edited into the match somehow. is this true? i think it is. because when jbl “ran down” cena last week, the license plate on the car was a texas plate. raw wasnt in texas last week, but was the week before, right?
July 21st, 2008 at 5:17 pm
So Edge trying to spear Alicia Fox confused me as well, but according to WWE.Com’s review of the match, his spear was intended for the ref…just thought i’d clear that up because it came off as a really confusing spot.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Hi Richard. Just wanted to correct and remind you that this WAS NOT CM Punk’s FIRST World Heavyweight title defense. He defended the belt against JBL on the same night he won it, remember?
Other than that, great blog and I agree with pretty much everything you had to say.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:35 pm
HK,
The thing that happened with matts moonsault from what i could tell was that shelton was to lift his knees up but it looked like he almost forgot and it also looked like matt over shot and ended up getting a faceful of sheltons left knee
July 21st, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Beavis you say Punk hasn’t had a credible win since before he even got the title and that if he did beat Kane and Batista in a triple threat at SS he still wouldn’t look like a worthy champ, who would have have to beat to look like a worthy champ if beating those 2 in a match clean isn’t worthy? Edge in a TLC? Taker in a Hell in a Cell? HHH in a Last Man Standing? Multiple wins on PPVs?(did that as ECW Champion) Money in the Bank?(wait he already did that)
Henry isn’t exciting but it doesn’t mean that he can’t work, he been around for a very long time and been really given nothing in his career to do beside have a love affair with Mae Young, while other people that have been around just as long as him like HHH have climbed the top of the mountain. Being the worlds strongest man you shouldn’t really have to do all that much to your oppenent to get a win, should you? I think what they messed up with Henry was not giving him a manager along time ago, when he was in The Nation he could have emerged along with The Rock, and really done something.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Andy – Thanks for pointing that out. When I was writing the piece the point I was trying to make was that it was his first title defense on PPV but I should have worded it better. It’s corrected now.
Thanks everyone for the feedback!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
GAB was a pretty good show all in all. They really sold the HBK eye injury which should lead to some good storyline down the road.
Batista and Kane should have a nice feud. Hopefully Kane is carrying around his mask in that bag.
Rob Dib
http://www.prowrestling-gear.com
July 21st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
so if it is gonna be JBL vs Punk at summerslam, not official but potentially, the next big match should be #1 contenders involving Cena, Batista, and Kane. Or maybe just have Kane vs Batista go at it and have Cena in the main event with punk in JBL… or have all 5 in the match together, if they can somehow make a good storyline out of it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 am
Not to many good matches but an alright show with alright endings to the matches.
Really Didn’t agree with giving the Edge-Heads the tag belts, the team is way to jobberish and Miz and Morrison are over as hell as heels. Mark Henry vs. Dreamer showed pretty limited skill from Mark Henry and showed the disrespect/lack of history that younger fans know about Tommy Dreamer. McCool won……..i guess doing Taker really helps. CM Punk vs. Batista. Solid. But agree with others that Punk still doesn’t look legit because he doesn’t go over clean. Kane is really coming along as the top heel for once, thank god.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
Hahaha. I almost completely correct. I knew shelton & twins gonna win the title. WWE wouldn’t make the same mistake twice by giving Horny the title & the twinlike reminds me of the old Edge n Christian, so i just knew it. Henry, JBL and trips wins just obvious. Kane’s involvement was easy to guess.
I’m just not sure about HBK/Y2J but I’m rooting for Y2J. Glad I did. I was getting boring of HBK being goody all the time. Wants a beatdown on him.
The only match I’m wrong was the match that I don’t even care. It was the divas match for that UGLIEST belt ever designed in the history of wrestling.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 am
…And you’re 100% sure you’ve seen the WWE spinner belt?
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 am
Its kinda cute i think. I mean people on this site dont like the wwe belt. Why? it preety fucken cool. Anyways cena loseing at bash was gay. As for the match i did not think it was that bad. Sorry not going to jump on this bandwagon full of haters. Simply because they had some cool spots.I thought it was there better match this year. Moveing on, the raw ending tonight was crazy. I have no idea whos going to feud with who now, which is good. Unpredicablity creates cash. Oh and the HHH edge match was the best match of the night counter after counter, very back in forth. They should have a rematch at Summerslam. This time make it a ladder match. Cause both guys are very good at ladder matches. Now HHH has not been in one for a while. But his match against the rock at summerslam 1998 was awesome!
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:43 am
I think the spinner belt is ridiculous. Looks like a kids belt. The World Heavyweight Championship belt is where its at.
Rob
http://www.prowrestling-gear.com
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Richard, I got a question that hopefully you can answer.
Why is there so much skepticism around CM Punks World Title reign? Last year around this time, WWE had The Great Khali as champion and ratings remained the same and his matches with Batista were not worth watching.
Now we have someone who is worthy of any title run and a lot of people are questioning why? Why is it sink or swim for CM Punk? Why so much pressure on him and if he doesn’t bring in ratings or whatever, then they take the title off him?
Please answer b/c there seems to be so much contradiction from what happened last year to what I have been reading and seeing as of late/
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 am
I’ve enjoyed the Punk title run so far. It really suits the situation going on Raw right now. Without a GM on the show and going with the theme that no one is running the show in particular, Punk represents the unpredictability and vulnerability that is RAW right now. He is the perfect champion for the show for the time being and hopefully will develop into a true main event star that he is capable of being.
Excellent recap of the show, Richard.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
How can this PPV be so crappy yet be rated a 9.5 out of 10? Because it was better then Victory Road? Doubt that! VR was way better then GAB. No one saw the teased Sting heel turn coming – NO ONE. The moves of everyone in the X-division and from the teams in the World X Cup were a million times better then anything on GAB.
What did we expect from GAB? Everything crappy that happened. Double DQs, interfearence, pre-taped badly done segments of parking lot brawls. It’s as if Vince was watching Impact and thought oh cool LAX vs. Beer Money in the parking lot, mmm me likes.
Everyone crapped on VR when in fact the Ultimate X match alone had more athletic action then the entire GAB PPV. But here proves yet again why no matter how BAD WWE is, people will always say it’s great. Whatever, live in your crappy ass world, i’ll be in mind watching better entertainment.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Where was all of the pyro??????
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
How many felonys does it take to put John Cena down? Arson, Vechicular homicide, can’t get the job done. I watched the match last night and was laughing most the match after reading all the reports about it. Good on the ref to yell fire as soon as JBL lit the car up, who knows the whole place could have gone up in flames.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
LADIES AND GENTELMEN. THE BIGGEST TNA MARK IN THE WORLD: SPENCER
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:22 am
Anthony: your point is?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:36 am
Anthony, I resent that remark. I’m the biggest TNA mark in the world.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:25 am
i think i figured out why Edge was mad at the wedding planner…because he realised that he should never have betrayed Vickie! (yes i KNOW it’s a storyline… I write my own!) the whole storyline hs been very inspiring to me!
July 26th, 2008 at 9:57 am
i think it was because he wanted to show vickie he loves her andnot fox, by spearing fox.