The Great American Bash is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE. Created by Dusty Rhodes, the event was established in 1985 and was originally produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions and was broadcast on closed-circuit television. In 1988, it began broadcasting on pay-per-view, and later that year, JCP was rebranded as WCW, which seceded from the NWA in January 1991.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) purchased WCW. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to WWE and the promotion revived The Great American Bash as their own annual PPV in 2004. It was held exclusively for the SmackDown brand from 2004 to 2006 before brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued in April 2007. In 2009, WWE renamed the event as The Bash, which was also the final Great American Bash event, as it was replaced by Fatal 4-Way in 2010.
The Great American Bash returned in July 2012 under its original full name and was held as a special live episode of SmackDown. In July 2020, the event name was again revived and has since been held as an annual event for WWE's NXT brand, airing as special episodes of NXT.
Great American Tropes:
- American Title: The Great American Bash.
- The Bad Guys Win:
- 2004: JBL defeated Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship on a technicality, ending the latter's beloved reign.
- 2006: King Booker defeated Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship after Chavo Guerrero bashed Mysterio' head with a steel chair, citing his Face–Heel Turn.
- 2007: The Great Khali defeated Batista and Kane to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
- 2008: Chris Jericho defeated Shawn Michaels by technical knockout. JBL defeated John Cena in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl.
- 2009: Randy Orton defeated Triple H to retain the WWE Championship with the score 2-1.
- The Chew Toy: Batista, Eddie Guerrero, and Torrie Wilson never won in this event.
- Dawn of an Era: The 2008 event saw Michelle McCool defeating Natalya to become the inaugural Diva's Champion.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory:
- Batista lost by disqualification in the 2005 and 2006 events.
- The match between CM Punk and Batista in the 2008 even resulted in a double disqualification after Kane attacked both men.
- In the 2009 event, Jeff Hardy defeated World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk by disqualification after Punk kicked the referee. However, Punk still remained as champion.
- End of an Age: The 2008 event marked the final time for the WWE to have the TV-14 rating. And two days later, the company went PG.
- Face–Heel Turn: Chavo Guerrero pulled this off by hitting Rey Mysterio with a steel chair, which led to King Booker pinning Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
- First Blood: In the 2008 event, Chris Jericho elbowed Shawn Michaels' right eye, causing him to bleed for the remainder of the match. Despite HBK's efforts, Jericho kept targeting the damaged eye until Michaels was unable to compete. This marked the last time blood was included in the WWE before the company went PG two days later.
- Flag Bikini: Torrie Wilson is wearing a bikini top on the 2004 and 2005 posters because she can.
- Good Versus Good: The 2007 event had two faces John Cena and Bobby Lashley battle for the WWE Championship.
- Invincible Villain: JBL had never lost in this event.
- Mêlée à Trois:
- The 2007 event features the World Heavyweight Champion; The Great Khali, Batista, and Kane.
- The 2008 event has a fatal 4-way match between The Miz and Morrison, Jesse and Festus, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, and Finlay and Hornswoggle for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Mood Whiplash: The 2005 event had no fewer than three instances of Mood Whiplash, and possibly four:
- One of the most heavily promoted matches of the night was a Number One Contender's Match between The Undertaker and Muhammad Hassan that stemmed from Hassan's having run away from 'Taker during an earlier Number One Contender's Match. Hassan claimed that he was not afraid of Undertaker and that he was going to become WWE's first Arab-American world champion. Naturally, he was also at this time vehemently denouncing the United States and parading into arenas on a litter carried by several black-masked "sympathizers" before ululating like a muezzin, drawing tons of racially-charged ire from audiences. During the match at the Bash, Hassan's masked lackeys cheated on his behalf at every possible opportunity, even trying to choke out Undertaker with piano wire. After 'Taker finally managed to win the match, the lackeys attacked him in retaliation; the "Deadman" made short work of them before stalking Hassan to the entrance ramp and giving him a Last Ride through an exposed compartment of the stage, breaking every bone in his body and supposedly "killing" him.
- Following this grisly encounter was an inherently silly match involving tag-team action between the Mexicools and the blue World order, with the Mexicools entering the arena on lawn mowers and the bWo entering on scooters.
- After the Mexicools' victory, the mood was whipped right back to "dark" with a bitterly personal feud between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio over which of them would be granted custody of Rey's son Dominick. Eddie threatened to reveal a terrible secret if he beat Rey in their match (which we later learned was that Eddie had apparently fathered Dominick out of wedlock with a prostitute and then given the baby to Rey and his wife to raise as their own child). The mood leading into this match was about as somber as WWE could get, with a frightened Rey and Dominick praying and holding each other backstage and commentators Tazz and Michael Cole outright condemning Eddie's behavior - and then during the match, Eddie cruelly manipulated his opponent by using Dominick (who was seated at ringside) as a human shield). Luckily, Rey managed to win the match, so the nightmare was over....at least for a time.
- Then, not two minutes after this traumatic plotline wrapped up, we swung right back to "silly" (not to mention titillating) with a Bra and Panties Match between Torrie Wilson and Melina, with Candice Michelle as the referee. That match ended with Melina running out of the arena shamefully in her underwear, followed soon afterward by Torrie and Candice (also in their underwear), who indulged in a casual on-the-lips kiss for good measure.
- Finally, Torrie and Candice's lip-lock was followed immediately by the arrival of Number One Contender John "Bradshaw" Layfield's motorcade - which, while not quite an example, was still quite jarring because it's hard to focus on an official-looking white limousine when you're still trying to push your boner down.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain:
- The 2007 event had Dusty Rhodes vs. Randy Orton in a Texas Bullrope Match in which Orton won.
- The 2008 event had Chris Jericho defeating Shawn Michaels via TKO.
- The 2009 event saw Randy Orton defeating Triple H to retain the WWE Championship
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: The 2009 poster sees Batista punching from the screen.
- Series Mascot: Batista was on the poster in this event three times (2006, 2008, and 2009note ). Torrie Wilson appeared on the poster twice (2004 and 2005).
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The 2004 main event featured The Undertaker in Rescue Arc for Paul Bearer against The Dudley Boys. After he defeated them, Taker said Bearer is a liability to him and proceeds to "kill" him anyways.
- Three Round Death Match: In the 2009 event, then-WWE Champion Randy Orton faced off against Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match.
