Great American Bash 2008 Recap & Results

Tonight’s show featured multiple title changes, someone betray their mentor, a family soap opera that even Jerry Springer would find dysfunctional, and two men with such hatred for each other that one man tried to set the other on fire. As if that wasn’t enough, tonight might have marked the end of the career for one of the most popular and successful wrestlers of all-time.

WWE Tag Team Championship: Champions The Miz & John Morrison vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Jesse & Festus vs. Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder - With Finlay checking on Hornswoggle who was thrown into the barricade and the Miz & Morrison licking their wounds outside the ring, and Hawkins outside of the ring, things looked good for Jesse and Festus. They had Ryder on the mat and tried a rocket launcher. Unfortunately, Hawkins pulled Festus outside of the ring which left Jesse on the top rope. Ryder got up, threw Jesse on the ground and pinned him to win the match and the tag team titles. Winners and New Champions: Hawkins & Ryder

U.S. Championship: Champion Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin - The crowd was really into this match and had dueling chants going on (a theme that would run throughout the night). This one ended when Matt messed up a moonsault. Shelton took advantage of this and won the match with the Goldrush moments later. The first two matches have brought the two SmackDown titles back to wrestlers that are a part of the brand. Winner and New Champion: Shelton Benjamin

ECW Title: Champion Mark Henry vs. Tommy Dreamer - Mark was escorted to the ring by WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas and Tommy was led to the ring by Colin Delaney. When Tommy was in control of the match and posing on the second rope, Colin turned on his mentor and snapped his arm over the top rope. The World's Strongest Champion took advantage and hit the World's Strongest Slam to retain the title. Winner: Mark Henry

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho - Shawn entered this match still not 100% from his eye injury. During the match, Chris elbowed Shawn in the eye and busted Shawn open. Chris kept working over the eye until Shawn was unable to defend himself and the referee stopped the match. Winner: Chris Jericho

Divas Championship: Michelle McCool vs. Natalya Neidhart - Being at the event live allowed me to notice two things I wouldn't have seen on TV. The first is that the covering of the mat was changed because of all the blood that Shawn stained it with. The second was the enormous exit of the crowd during this match as they went to the restrooms and concession stands. As far as the match itself goes, Natalya put Michelle in the sharp shooter but Michelle broke the hold by grabbing the ropes. A few moments later, Michelle hooked Natalya in the Brazilian heel hook to win the match via submission en route to becoming the first Divas Champion. Winner and New Champion: Michelle McCool

- During Michelle's celebration, Chris Jericho appeared at the top of the ramps and told the audience that Shawn Michael's career was over. He just came back from the trainer's room and heard that Shawn has a detached retina.

World Heavyweight Championship: Champion CM Punk vs. Batista - About 10 minutes into the match, Batista hit Punk with a spine buster outside of the ring. When Batista threw a seemingly unconscious CM Punk back into the ring, he was attacked from behind by Kane. After attacking Batista, he attacked Punk, and then the cameraman. Winner: Double DQ

NYC Parking Lot Brawl: John Cena vs. JBL - The match started off in a parking area in the back of the arena. A few minutes into the match, Cena attached jumper cables from a car battery to JBL's private area causing a painful electrical shock. JBL repaid this deed by putting Cena inside of a car, poured gasoline on it, and then lit it on fire. Cena repaid this deed by putting JBL in a car and then smashing it with a forklift. Cena then used the forklift to move the car JBL was trapped in to the arena. Once inside the arena, Cena took JBL out of the car and beat him up at the top of the ramp. Cena put JBL into position for the FU but got too cocky by trying to walk him over to the car. JBL escaped and threw Cena off the top of the ramp and into the windshield of the car below. While Cena was entangled in the glass on the hood of the car, JBL leaned against the window and pinned Cena. Winner: JBL

WWE Championship: Champion Triple H vs. Edge - With both men out of it, Edge's wedding planner, Alicia Fox, came out and attempted to slide Edge the title belt to use as a weapon. Vickie Guerrero came out and attacked Fox. Vickie gained possession of the belt and looked like she was going to hit her husband when Alicia attacked her. When the ref was breaking up the cat fight, it appeared that Edge was trying to attempt to spear either the referee or Alicia. When they both moved, Edge accidentally hit Vickie with the spear. A shocked Edge was then hit with the pedigree by Triple H and lost the match. After the match, Chavo Guerrero came down to the ring to attend to his Aunt Vickie and yelled at Edge. Winner: Triple H

What does this event mean for the future?
This event can be viewed as the show that was used to set up next month's SummerSlam. On RAW, it appears that there should be a triple-threat match for the World title between CM Punk, Batista, and Kane. On SmackDown, the family drama between Edge and Vickie overshadowed the title match. I don't think anything was settled between Triple H and Edge and can easily see a rematch between the two next month.

Overall Thoughts
Watching wrestling on TV is great but watching it in-person is much better. This was one of the liveliest and most vocal crowds I have ever been a part of. Even when the crowd had to watch most of the Parking Lot Brawl on TV, they were still very vocal and into the match. I'm looking forward to watching this event on DVD to see if the cameras were able to pick up the excitement that permeated throughout the arena all night. I really enjoyed this show.

By the way, when you go to a live PPV event, there is usually a match that the fans in attendance get to see before the PPV telecast starts. Tonight, that match featured Umaga beat Mr. Kennedy with the Samoan Spike.

Match Results

WWE Tag Team Championship: Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder beat Champs The Miz & John Morrison, Finlay & Hornswoggle, and Jesse & Festus to win the titles

U.S. Title: Shelton Benjamin beat Matt Hardy to win the title

ECW Championship: Champion Mark Henry beat Tommy Dreamer

Chris Jericho beat Shawn Michaels

Divas Championship: Michelle McCool beat Natalya Neidhart to become the first Divas Champion

World Heavyweight Championship: Champion CM Punk and Batista fought to a double-DQ

NYC Parking Lot Brawl: JBL beat John Cena

WWE Championship: Champion Triple H beat Edge

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