The Great American Bash (2008) was the fifth
annual
Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) 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.
The main match on the SmackDown brand was between
Triple H and
Edge for
the
WWE Championship. Triple H won
the match and retained the WWE Championship after pinning Edge
following a
Pedigree. The primary
match on the Raw brand was between
CM Punk
and
Batista for the
World Heavyweight
Championship, which ended in a double
disqualification
following interference from
Kane. 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.
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.Y2J>
Background
The stage setup for The Great American
Bash
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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
Event
The first match of the Bash was a Fatal Four-Way Tag Team Match for
the WWE Tag Team Championships.
John Morrison and The Miz defended
the titles against
Curt
Hawkins and Zack Ryder,
Jesse and
Festus and
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 on top 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. Hawkins and Ryder won the titles after pinning
Jesse.
The next match was a singles match for the
WWE United States
Championship. United States Champion
Matt
Hardy faced
Shelton Benjamin.
Hardy was pinned after being hit with the Paydirt, meaning Benjamin
was the new United States Champion.
The next match was a singles match for the ECW Championship. ECW
Champion Mark Henry with Tony Atlas retained the title 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 between
Shawn Michaels and
Chris Jericho. The match started and already
Michaels suffered kayfabe cracked ribs and internal bleeding.
During the match Jericho hit a wild elbow to Michaels' right eye
which was injured months before by Jericho. Michaels was bleeding
for the remainder of the match. Lance Cade also interfered and hit
many cheap shots on Michaels while the referee's back was turned.
After Jericho hit many shots on Michaels' face the referee deemed
Shawn Michaels unable to continue, therefore Chris Jericho was
declared the winner.
The next match scheduled was a match to determine the inaugural
WWE Divas Champion between
Michelle McCool and
Natalya. McCool forced Natalya to tap with a
Leglock.
The next match was for the World Heavyweight Championship. The
champion CM Punk faced Batista. Each man continually built momentum
on different occasions. Batista managed to hit a Spinebuster
outside of the ring. As Batista pushed Punk back into the ring Kane
interfered by attacking both Batista and Punk which ended the
match. This meant that Punk retained the World Heavyweight
Championship by double 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 planned
spot, JBL set fire to
a car with Cena inside. Cena destroyed a car with JBL in it with a
forklift. Cena was about to hit the FU but JBL countered and pushed
Cena into a window, which cut Cena's arm, allowing JBL to win the
match.
The final match was for the WWE Championship. WWE Champion Triple H
defended the title against Edge. Both men were dominating at
different times of the match. Near the end of the match Alicia Fox
tried to give Edge the WWE Championship belt so he could use it as
a weapon. Vickie Guerrero started brawling with Fox, however, and
Edge accidentally speared Guerrero in an attempt to hit the referee
to delay the match. This distraction allowed Triple H to hit a
Pedigree to retain the WWE Championship.
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.
At SummerSlam, Undertaker defeated Edge after performing a
Tombstone
Piledriver. 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. After
Chris Jericho beat
Shawn Michaels in a singles match, it was
announced that Shawn would have his rematch at
Unforgiven in a non-sanctioned match. During the
match, Michaels' persistent assault on Jericho would lead to
Jericho obtaining a legitimate bruised and swollen jaw.
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). 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. On the following episode of
Raw, Cena and Batista
defeated Cody Rhodes (
Cody Runnels) and
Ted DiBiase to capture the
World Tag Team
Championship. On the August 11 episode of
Raw, Cena
and Batista lost the tag team championship to Rhodes and DiBiase in
a tag team rematch.
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
See also
References
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