The Great American Bash (2008)

Infobox Wrestling event
name=The Great American Bash (2008)


tagline=
theme="Move to the Music" by American Bang [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/|title=The Great American Bash website|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-07-07]
promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
brand=Raw
SmackDown!
ECW
date=July 20, 2008
venue=Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
city=Uniondale, New York
attendance=14,126cite web|url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/gabash.html#2008|title=Great American Bash 2008 results|publisher=Pro Wrestling History|accessdate=2008-04-22]
lastevent=Night of Champions (2008)
nextevent=SummerSlam (2008)
event=The Great American Bash
lastevent2=The Great American Bash (2007)
nextevent2=

The Great American Bash (2008) was the fifth annual Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on July 20, 2008 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.cite journal|year=2007|month=Special |title=Greatest Moments in Pay-Per-View History|journal=WWE Magazine|pages=64–65|accessdate= 2007-12-04]

The main match on the SmackDown brand was between Triple H (Paul Levesque) and Edge (Adam Copeland) for the WWE Championship. Triple H won the match and retained the WWE Championship after pinning Edge following a Pedigree.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/7582302/results/|accessdate=2008-07-21|title=Maul in the Family|last=Adkins|first=Greg|date=2008-07-20|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] The primary match on the Raw brand was between CM Punk and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, which ended in a double disqualification after Kane interfered.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/7616144/results/|accessdate=2008-07-21|title=Big Red invasion|last=Tello|first=Craig|date=2008-07-20|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] The predominant match on the ECW brand was between Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Championship, which Henry won by pinfall after performing a World's Strongest Slam.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/7635534/results/|accessdate=2008-07-21|title=World's strongest betrayal|last=Rote|first=Andrew|date=2008-07-20|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] The featured matches on the undercard included John Cena versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl and Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/7627392/results/|accessdate=2008-07-21|title=JBL drives it home|last=Sitterson|first=Aubrey|date=2008-07-20|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/matches/6831236/results/|accessdate=2008-07-21|title=The Great American Bash: The worst has come|last=Vermillion|first=James|date=2008-07-20|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment]

Background

The main feud heading into The Great American Bash on the SmackDown brand was between Triple H and Edge, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. On the July 4 edition of "SmackDown", SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that Triple H would defend the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash against Edge.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/archive/07042008/|title=A champion scorned|last=Passero|first=Mitch|date=2008-07-04|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-07-05] cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/smackdown/_080704/|title=SmackDown! 2008 07 04|date=2008-07-04|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20] On the July 18 edition of "SmackDown", Edge and Vickie Guerrero held their kayfabe wedding reception. At the end of the reception as Guerrero and Edge were in the ring, Triple H appeared to reveal Edge's secret love affair with Edge and Guerrero's wedding planner, Alicia Fox.

The primary feud going into The Great American Bash on the Raw brand was between CM Punk and Batista, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 30 edition of "Raw", Punk defeated Edge to capture the title, after Batista delivered a beating to Edge.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/_080630/|title=WWE RAW 2008 06 30|date=2008-06-30|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20] On the July 7 edition of "Raw", Batista became the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), John Cena, and Kane in a Fatal Four-Way match.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/results/6894172/|title=Rough Night in the Big Easy|last=Sitterson|first=Aubrey|date=2008-07-07|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-07-07] cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/_080707/|title=WWE RAW 2008 07 07|date=2008-07-07|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20] On the July 14 edition of "Raw", Punk defeated Kane by countout in a non-title match. After the match, Kane attempted to attack Punk, but Batista ran to the ring to stop Kane. Batista took a steel chair and hit Kane in the forehead, as Kane rolled out of the ring. Punk offered Batista a handshake, but Batista declined and instead delivered a spinebuster to Punk.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/_080714/|title=WWE RAW 2008 07 14|date=2008-07-14|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20]

The predominant feud on the ECW brand was between Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer. On the July 1 edition of "ECW", Henry faced Colin Delaney in a match where if Delaney had won, Dreamer would receive a title shot against Henry. Henry won the match, and Dreamer was not granted a title match.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/_080701/|title=WWE ECW on Sci-Fi 2008 07 01|date=2008-07-01|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20] The following week on "ECW" Henry faced Dreamer in a non-title match. The match ended in a no-contest after Henry escaped the ring to try and attack Delaney, who was at ringside with Dreamer. WWE Hall of Famer, Tony Atlas was the special guest ring announcer for this match, and stepped in to save Delaney from Henry's attack. Instead, Atlas turned heel, and allowed Henry to attack Delaney. Henry then returned to the ring to attack Dreamer, as the match was ruled a no-contest.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/_080708/|title=WWE ECW on Sci-Fi 2008 07 08|date=2008-07-08|publisher=Online World of Wrestling|accessdate=2008-07-20]

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Umaga defeated Mr. Kennedy after delivering a Samoan Spike.

Preliminary matches

The first match of the card was a Fatal Four-Way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship featuring Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder versus John Morrison and The Miz versus Jesse and Festus versus Finlay and Hornswoggle. As the bell rang, Festus cleared the ring until The Miz and Morrison tossed Hornswoggle in the ring. The Miz and Morrison then jumped onto the ring apron, but Festus knocked them off. Hornswoggle dove out of the ring through the top and middle ropes to land atop of The Miz and Morrison. Throughout the match, the eight wrestlers would attempt to make physical contact with their respective partners to get themselves tagged into the match.

The next match was a singles match for the WWE United States Championship. Matt Hardy faced Shelton Benjamin and was pinned after being hit with the Paydirt, thus being booked to win his first title in years.

The next match was a singles match for the ECW Championship. Mark Henry with Tony Atlas retained the titled against Tommy Dreamer with Colin Delaney. Tommy Dreamer was on the turnbuckle about to finish Henry off but Delaney turned on him and pulled him into the top rope. Mark Henry then hit the World's Strongest Slam to get the win.

The next match was a singles match. The participants were Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. The match started and already Michaels suffered kayfabe cracked ribs and internal bleeding. However, during the match Jericho hit a wild elbow to Shawn Michaels right eye which was injured months before by Jericho. Shawn was bleeding for the remainder of the match. Lance Cade also interfered and hit many cheap shots on Shawn while the referee's back was turned. After Jericho hit many shots on Michaels face the referee deemed Shawn Michaels unable to continue therefore the winner was Chris Jericho.

Main event matches

The next match scheduled was a diva's match to determine the first ever WWE Divas Champion. The participants were Michelle McCool and Natalya. McCool forced Natalya to tap with a Brazilian Heel Lock.

The next match was for the World Heayvweight Championship. The champion CM Punk faced Batista in a match. Each man continually built momentum on different occasions. Batista managed to hit a spinebuster while on the outside of the ring. As he pushed Punk back into the ring Kane interfered by attacking both Batista and Punk whiched ended the match. This meant that Punk retained the World Heavyweight Championship via disqualification.

The next match was a New York City Parking Lot Brawl. The contestants were John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). They both performed extreme moves including Cena using JBL's body to smash a car door off its hinges. In a moment of extreme passion, JBL actually set fire to a car with Cena inside. John Cena destroyed a car with JBL in it with a forklift. But finally Cena was about to hit an FU but JBL countered and pushed Cena into a window and it cut all of Cena's arm. This was enough to win the match.

The final match was for the WWE Championship. Triple H fought Edge for the title. Both men were dominating at different times of the match. However, near the end of the match Alicia Fox tried to give Edge the WWE Championship belt so he could use it as a weapon. However, Vickie Guerrero started brawling with Fox. Edge accidentally speared Guerrero while they were doing so in an attempt to hit the referee to delay the match. This distraction allowed Triple H to hit a Pedigree to retain.

Aftermath

On the July 25 episode of "SmackDown", Edge apologized to Vickie Guerrero for his actions at The Great American Bash. Guerrero accepted the apology, but informed Edge that she has already re-instated The Undertaker (Mark Calaway), who had been fired as a part of the storyline between himself and Edge. Guerrero announced that at the upcoming pay-per-view event, SummerSlam, Edge would face Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match, where the ring is surrounded by a steel structure.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/results/|title=A woman's scorn, a Deadman reborn|date=2008-07-25|accessdate=2008-09-13|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] At SummerSlam, Undertaker defeated Edge after delivering a chokeslam, where one wrestler lifts his opponent by their neck, and slams him down to the ring mat.citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2008/1219027684.shtml|title=WWE SummerSlam PPV Results|date=2008-08-17|accessdate=2008-09-13|last=Martin|first=Adam|publisher=WrestleView] Following SummerSlam, Edge was scripted to be out of action. Undertaker began to feud with Guerrero and Big Show (Paul Wight) at the next pay-per-view event, Unforgiven, when Big Show attacked Undertaker to save Guerrero from being attacked.citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2008/1220842783.shtml|title=WWE Unforgiven PPV Results|last=Martin|first=Adam|date=2008-09-07|accessdate=2008-09-13]

Following The Great American Bash, John Cena and JBL ended their feud, as did Batista and CM Punk (after a rematch the next night on "Raw", which Punk won).citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/results/raw/raw2008/1216697322.shtml|title=Great American Bash fallout|last=Golden|first=Hunter|date=2008-07-21|accessdate=2008-09-13|publisher=WrestleView] On the July 28 episode of "Raw", John Cena and Batista defeated JBL and Kane in a tag team match. After the match, on-screen authority figure, Mike Adamle announced that at SummerSlam, Batista would face John Cena in a standard match.citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/results/raw/raw2008/1217302559.shtml|title=Raw gets new GM|last=Golden|first=Hunter|date=2008-07-28|accessdate=2008-09-13|publisher=WrestleView] On the following episode of "Raw", Cena and Batista defeated Cody Rhodes (Cody Runnels) and Ted DiBiase to capture the World Tag Team Championship.citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/results/raw/raw2008/1217909238.shtml|title=New World Tag Champs|last=Golden|first=Hunter|date=2008-08-04|accessdate=2008-09-13|publisher=WrestleView] On the August 11 episode of "Raw", Cena and Batista lost the tag team championship to Rhodes and DiBiase in a tag team rematch.citeweb|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/results/raw/raw2008/1218512829.shtml|title=New Tag Champions|last=Golden|first=Hunter|date=2008-08-11|accessdate=2008-09-13|publisher=WrestleView]

On the August 4 episode of "Raw" Adamle announced that JBL and Chris Jericho would face CM Punk in a two-on-one match that night, where whoever pinned Punk (if anyone) would face Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. JBL won the match for his team after he pinned Punk, setting up the match between himself and Punk for SummerSlam.

Results

Parker Fleming and Max McMillian def. Cryme Tyme JD McMillian def. Triple H CM Punk def. JBL Y2J def. Khylan Wilkins Jeff Hardy and Christian def. Stuart and Aaron

References

ee also

*WWE The Great American Bash
*List of WWE pay-per-view events

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/thegreatamericanbash/ Official Great American Bash website]