The Great American Bash REVIEW!!!!!!

Last night saw the annul PPV event from the WWE and I thought they pulled off a very decent show considering its a B PPV

Fatal-Four-Way Tag Titles Match
John Morrison & The Miz v Jesse & Festus v The Edgeheads Hawkins and Ryder v Finlay & Hornswoggle

This for me was an excellent start to proceedings, Its always good to start the night off with a fast paced fun match to set the tone of the evening, the champs when in the spotlight do what they do (be brilliant) but in a match like this they had very little time to prove how good they are, I thought Jesse (who is improving every week) and Festus where going to win this one, it was a surprise that Hawkins and Ryder managed the victory, they have offered little one to the tag division despite being in a privileged position SD!

3/5

Shelton Benjamin Wins the United states Title from Matt Hardy

This was for me the match of the night, there is not many better when on song than Shelton Benjamin and his rise once again is great to see, hopefully he is more mature this time and realises that jobs sometimes have to be done and his work rate will continue to rival his skill level, Hardy needed to drop the strap, he is on ECW for a reason, 2008/09 will be his time to prove he can carry a brand and be the focal point of a show as the world champ, Benjamin is needed to lead the rest of the mid to uppercard on to bigger and better things on SD!, hopefully his time is now here!

4/5

Mark Henry retains the ECW Title from Tommy Dreamer

This match did not interest me at all, the only thing going for it was Tony Atlas is always fun to watch, good heel turn even if so predictable from Delaney near the end, this kid wont go far in the business!

1/5

HBK Shawn Michaels v Y2J Chris Jericho

This story is an interesting one, both if on there A game would have a match of the year but with there characters story progression its almost impossible for them to have the type of match there abilities can achieve instead we need to settle for the type of match required, glad Jericho went over Shawn, hopefully when this feud resumes its for the World Title because a belt of that magnitude is only fitting for guys with that ability, Michaels proved he is still the man for the big occasion by pulling of an array of good moves in this match, Jericho was at times on top of his game too although I was disappointed by the Walls of Jericho, as of late its resembled more of the real LionTamer he used to bring to the table but at The Bash it was more of the boston crab that just does not do it for anyone anymore!

Lance Cade has solidified his position as a top mid card guy now, not many are allowed to help in taking out a top draw like Michaels, he is still young and has a lot to learn but he has a bright future and his partnership with Jericho can only improve him although I would like to see more of him in the ring and on the mic.

3/5

McCool overcomes the odds to win the Diva Championship

The inaugural Diva championship came to a head at the Great American Bash when Michelle McCool took on Natalya in what was nothing more than a filler although the style that Nattie Niedhart portrays is quite similar to many of her family and you can tell she has taken a bit from everyone, I think in terms of character and attitude she resembles Owen and her in ring work when her opponent is on the ground reminds me of Bret, and that spring board she done at the GAB was shades of The British Bulldog, McCool won and I still don't know why, she should nothing in the match to suggest she could win and her ankle lock was poor

1/5

CM Punk retains the World Heavyweight Championship

Batista was a strong favourite going into this match, CM Punk has been labeled a weak champ so far, not that I agree with that sentiment, at the start of the show it showed a promo from last week after RAW went off air and CM Punk I thought delivered a good Promo, it set the tone for the match, Batista worked it well, he works well with a little guy in the ring, he allows them to set the pace and he just does his thing, Batista is not as bad as nearly everyone says when he is in there with someone who knows what they are doing, Punk and his kicks can become boring though, I hope he is allowed to do more moves, I thought the Kane interference was predictable but it was also needed, there was no way Punk was going to beat Big Dave clean and there was no way Batista was going to win the world title, it leaves the door open for a couple of feuds with Kane v Punk Kane v Batista and Punk v Batista still in the mix, I can see Jericho also throwing his name into the hat for that one.

3/5

John Cena v John Bradshaw Layfield

Not a match I looked forward too and while there was plenty of bumps not something that really got me interested, I was however sure that JBL would finally get that PPV win over Cena and I wasn't disappointed either, I don't really know what I was expecting with this match to be fair, not that it was poor its just that it never captured my imagination, plenty of bumps though and both deserve credit for knocking seven bells out of each other, hopefully the loss keeps this running and keeps Cena out of the main event for another PPV at least!

2/5

Triple H defends the WWE title against Edge

This could have been a match of the year contender but with so little build up to it there was not much interest, I doubt many actually believed Edge would beat Hunter so quickly after he won the title again and so quickly after Edge lost his strap!

Plenty of wrestling moves and near falls in this match although again this is one of those feuds that really needs the emotion to go with it and I felt the WWE left it to late to get that installed although Edge did his best, the best of the action came at the end though, with Edges bit on the side looking to help him and Vickie coming down to attack her, Edge then tries to spear the referee I assume for manhandling his bit of fluff and both get out the way in time for Vickie to get hit with the said Spear, Edge lets his guard down long enough for Triple H to recover and nail Edge with the pedigree for the 123

Overall PPV rating 3/5

Good show although not the greatest it irons out the little facts that have been hindering the progress of some of the shows since the draft

The US title and Tag Titles are back on SMACKDOWN, now ECW has Matt Hardy John Morrison and The Miz all available now for the ECW title which should automatically make that show better

CM Punk for me looked good against a big draw in Batista and hopefully will start to win over the doubters, Chris Jericho surely must have staked a claim for a main event position now

Shelton Benjamin has once again been trusted with gold in the company, he is a top draw if his mind is focussed and his work rate matches his athleticism then this could be the beginning of something major down the road for the Gold Standard!

OK, my thoughts on the GAB.

Tag Fatal Four Way
Decent start I thought. The number of people meant it could easily maintain a decent pace and it did. Glad the tag titles are back on Smackdown, be something to help along the lower card and maybe (big maybe) regain a bit of prestige. Glad Finlay and Hornswoggle didn't win anyway but I have to say, Hornswoggle really is over.

Matt Hardy Vs Shelton Benjamin
Good good match. After there Smackdown match it was hard to get excited over this but they really delivered. It was an opposite to their mundane Smackdown encounter and one of the PPV highlights. Nice back and forth action with some quality moves, what more could you want lol. Matt Hardy a certainty for ECW champion.

Dreamer Vs Henry
Usual business here with an unexpected (but still incredibly uninteresting) turn at the end. What's the point when nobody cares? Was a particularly dull affair anyway consisting of some old school wrestling holds (which neither has perfected) and some "manly" clotheslines. Not enough Tony Atlas for my liking.

Michaels Vs Jericho
Strange one this. Was pretty good with a strong, fast paced start with Michaels taking his usual impressive knocks. The crowd was into it and it had a good "flow" to it, something many matches lack these days. What I didn't like was the way it ended. I know you need to suspend belief a bit but having a bad eye does not make your eyebrow bleed. I thought it showed Michaels being a bit too weak considering his classic match technique is get decked and come back strong. Jericho fought that match totally legitimately and knacked him even though he's had way worse than that. Not what I thought would happen and I wasn't too keen on it. The match itself though was well above average.

Natalya Vs McCool
These matches make me angry every time I watch them. It was nothing, absolutely nothing. It was two (seemingly) talentless idiots rolling around screaming a bit. We didn't even see the classic 200 versions of a pin we so often see in Women's matches. Really disgusting display IMO.

CM Punk Vs Batista
Another good match but with big flaws. I didn't expect a lot but I was wrong. These two really looked good together and I thought they were pulling off a really good match. It's the best I've seen of Punk in the WWE. He looked springier and varied his moves more than usual, liked the slappy enziguri thing too lol. But then some massive problems for me. The first was Kane. We had expected this but it was far too early IMO. They had a lot left to give in that match. I didn't like the way they portrayed it as Batista having the match won when he clearly didn't. Then, what I though was the ultimate piss take was Punk getting powerbombed. They just had a good, close match then all of a sudden Batista goes totally over Punk like he's a pathetic rookie spoiling the whole match IMO. There was no reason at all to do that. I thought they pulled off the Kane ending well, albeit early, and didn't make either wrestler look weak but then this. Damned silly if you ask me.

Cena vs JBL
I admit, I was never going to like this unless it was a gore filled mess and as I expected I was disappointed. And how come Cena still has a head? Firstly, most of the bumps were stupid and didn't look they hurt. The sugar glass was over used and the tin cars were plain old daft. Then he sets fire to a car but on the wrong bit. How the devil is that gonna hurt Cena unless he forced him to sit on the bonnet. Naked. Didn't expect a clean win for JBL, would have actually liked to see an FU on the car but instead we got another interesting sugar glass spot. Cena made sure he showed off that brutal cut elbow too, get a plaster on that beast quick. Sorry if I'm being very sceptical but I don't like soft hardcore and this match never really interested me at all. I suppose it wasn't all that bad but it wasn't for me.

HHH Vs Edge
Ah, the big cheese of the night. There's obviously big things ahead for this rivalry and this was quite a promising start I thought. Again, I would have liked a longer match but it was all killer no filler as headlocks and arm bars were kept to a minimum. They opted for quite a physical match instead which suited them both. There definitely needs to be more between the two story-wise though, seemed a little bit hollow. Genuinely not sure where the Vickie and Edge story is going now, could be good, could be bollocks. I think Edge is gonna play the "loony hell bent on the title" role but hopefully him and Vickie will stay as enemies now, I think the power couple has been done enough now. Only time will tell but I think Edge and old Trips will have some classics in the coming months.