WWE Great American Bash

Last Sunday's Great American Bash was already a tough sell, when you consider that Smackdown has a roster decimated by injuries and talents raids. But when you throw in the atrocious booking and storylines that have held back so many talented wrestlers from showing their full potential, not to mention have resulted in a world champion who can never win and then it's hardly surprising that the GAB was not expected to break it's habit of being the worst drawing pay per view of the year. However things were looking better during the build thanks to the return of Batista and Ken Kennedy as well as the development of guys like Mark Henry, Bobby Lashley and Fit Finaly into a strong role on the brand in their absence. Unfortunately things were to take a turn for the worse when one of those few positives, Mark Henry, would injur his knee just 6 days before the show and require the main event to be completely re-booked. But that's not all. Just when things looked like they couldn't get any worse, WWE's wellness program flagged up several wrestlers with health issues and as a result Bobby Lashley, The Great Khali and Super Crazy were all told they were unable to compete on the show.


This makes judging the Great American Bash something of a tricky task. On paper, the card was not great to begin with and these last minute changes meant that two of the top angles had to be rebooked, as well as two of the main undercard matches. As a result, the show had an incredibly disjointed feel and some of the matches just made no sense whatsoever. However, as a long term move for the company this can only be regarded as a good thing as it means that the Wellness program is taking effect and doing some good, as in days gone by, talent would have been expected to work though these potentially dangerous health issues and beyond without any time-off to recover.

Therefore as it came time for the show to start, it could have gone one of two ways. If we were lucky, the powers-that-be in WWE would have completely thrown out large chunks of the card and we could have at least gotten an interesting wrestling card with some entertaining matches on it. Instead they tried to fudge it as best they could and paper over the cracks with, what they no doubt saw as clever little plot devices. Unfortunately this left a lot of the casual fans who had no idea what was going on and left the rest of us shaking our heads with bewilderment as they flipped from real-world to kayfabe on a minute to minute basis (Lashley was announced as having elevated liver enzymes and this was part of an angle, while Khali and Crazy were just pulled from their matches with no reason given) and ended up as a complete mess of a show which was definitely not worth the now increased price of $40.

Despite hard work from all those involved, none of the matches really managed to get out of second gear. Kendrick/London and Kash/Noble had a solid tag match, but it lacked the high flying or great wrestling that all 4 men are capable of. Finlay and Regal had a decent enough match, but when both men are heels and the whole storyline for the match was supposed to be them teaming up against Bobby Lashley then it just doesn't work. (Not to mention the whole leprechaun gimmick just isn't funny). I was hoping for a repeat of the fantastic Benoit vs. Finlay match from a couple of months ago here, however with the shoddy booking this was just never going to happen and the crowd, unfortunately turned on these 2 talented workers who deserve better.

By the time we reached the cruiserweight title match between Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms, it was going to take a miracle to rescue this show and unfortunately for the two men involved here, this match typified the evening when it comes to the shambolic nature of WWE right now. Despite the build for this match being based around Psicosis and Super Crazy's feud as a result of the break up of the Mexicools, Crazy was pulled from the match before it was even announced and Matt Hardy (who was originally in line for a match with Mr Kennedy) was put in his place. With Hardy and Helms' history coming up together in the Carolina indie scene, you would have thought this could have been a show-stealing match. However when the commentators point out that Matt Hardy is actually too heavy to be a cruiserweight (despite being a former CW champ) then the match loses all meaning and effectively all purpose. In the end, these two went through the motions and the final match that could have saved the show was over and things could only get worse from here on in as the Divas and Punjabi Prison matches were still to come.

However before we get there, I'd like to take a minute to address what was perhaps the biggest problem of the whole show, that being the commentary. When Michael Cole and Tazz were behind the commentary desk, they were the best in the business. Even when the show was wretched they would do their best and at least made it no worse than it already was. However JBL is just horrid as a colour man and did more damage than he did good throughout the entire show. Whether he was trying to get himself over at the expense of the talent, constantly contradicting himself, or just plain repeating the same tired old cliches again and again, Bradshaw was just terrible - which in turn put Cole off and dragged him down as well. If Bradshaw is going to continue, he needs to work out just what his announcing character is going to be and stick with it. One minute he was JBL the heel wrestler, then he was John Layfield the retired wrestler and the next he was the annoying goof who you get stuck behind you at a show who makes crass and irrelevant comments through out the show, ruining it for all those around him. On a weak show, to have an inexperienced announce team just made the whole thing that much more painful to watch.

With that off my chest, we come to the final third of the show which, despite being the most affected by the talent cuts, ended up as perhaps the most entertaining (with the exception of the Diva's match which was just wretched!). By having Big Show substitute for Khali in the Punjabi Prison match, it at least meant we were in for a good brawl as Show has been on a roll since moving over to the ECW brand. Lots of blood and plunder made this a pretty decent big man match, however overly complicated rules and a goofy finish with Taker and Show falling through the cage wall prevented it from being better than many people had ever thought it would be.

Batista vs. Kennedy was a glorified squash, which put Batista over as a monster as a result of the DQ finish. Screwy finishes are often dangerous territory to get into when you want both men to come out of the match unbeaten, however the bloody nature of the match meant that Batista came out of it as a total monster, while Kennedy was not completely humiliated as a result. Unfortunately his generally poor performance in the ring (combined with a really underwhelming entrance) did that for him and there is still a long way to go with Mr Kennedy before he becomes a genuine main-eventer.


So by the time we got to the main event, it was something of a relief that the men involved were not horrible workers and that this might actually have the potential to be half decent. Ignoring the fact that Booker has earned himself a title shot, despite loosing to Bobby Lashley at least 3 times on TV, the King Booker gimmick has given a new lease of life to the 5-time WCW champ. Finally getting the main event push he should have had back in 2001, this match also saw WWE finally pull the trigger on the Chavo Guerrero heel turn as he cost Rey the match by nailing him with a chair, allowing Booker to get the pin and the belt. Although this will lead to a resurgence of the 'Eddie-storyline' which has been the main focus of Rey's underdog title reign, at least this allows Rey and Chavo a main event level program and their matches have always been very strong. It's just a shame that both men have had to be given this push as a result of Eddie's death. I could go on for ages about how insensitive this is and how it belittles Eddie's legacy as well as blurring the line between reality and 'wrestling reality' to the point that it is no longer there. However this is the direction they have chosen to go in and I just hope that both men are able to get a modicum of success out of this without tarnishing their relationship with the remaining members of the Guerrero family who are not caught up in the WWE circus.

Overall verdict: D+
"A weak card, made worse by the medical issues. Putting aside the positives that the implementation of the Wellness program is going to make to the life of the wrestlers, this was a poor show, which lacked any really memorable moments (perhaps with the exception of Booker's title win). With such a state of upheaval going into it, this either could have been a straight wrestling show with some fun matches on or a half-baked mish-mash of half finished angles and incomplete storylines. Unfortunately, WWE's constant obsession with blurring the lines between reality and the WWE world, meant we got the latter and so despite some strong work from all involved, the show lacked any kind of real entertainment that would elevate it above an average episode of Smackdown."