The Great American Bash 2007

Date: July 22, 2007

Location: San Jose, California

Announcers: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Joey Styles, and Tazz

The Setup 

After some teasing of Cena vs. Lashley at the last PPV in the five-way title match, they came back with those two in a straight babyface match. Edge had to vacate the world title because of an injury not long before this show, so the new champion, the Great Kahli, defended against Kane and Batista in a three-way match of giants. 

The Business 

The show did 250,000 buys. While not a ton and five thousand less than the all-title match Vengeance show last month, it was good for third of the eleven B PPVs in 2007. They only trailed the aforementioned NOC and the upcoming No Mercy show that guaranteed a new WWE champion, so there was a bump from your regular B show. Still, I suppose you’d hope for more after Lashley’s role at Mania 23 and the feud with Vince. 

Prowrestlinghistory has the show drawing 13,034 for a $761,410 gate, so they had a strong house. 

The Results

WWE United States Championship: MVP (C) def. Matt Hardy in 12:55. This started a tad slow, but it was probably more like a Japanese match that was building up to flurries at the end. Hardy worked a head injury early and even had the subtle touch of falling off the ropes when he was climbing to the top before continuing his move. They did a ton of nearfalls that the fans genuinely bought into and reacted to. The finish came when MVP finally got his big kick to the head and finished it with the playmaker. Man, they fucked up that playmaker, which hurt the finish, but it was still a good match. ***

WWE Cruiserweight Championship / Cruiserweight Open: Hornswoggle def. Chavo Guerrero (C), Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore, Funaki, and Jamie Noble in 06:59. Your usual WWE cruiserweight stuff – a well-worked match, and no one really cared. To top it off, Hornswoggle ran in and hit Noble with a frog splash to win the title. This was so fucking stupid. 24/7 hardcore title type shit. *1/2 

Singapore Cane on a Pole Match: Carlito def. The Sandman in 05:31. There were a lot of punches, even though both men’s punches are terrible. This had very little heat and wasn’t remotely good, but at least they kept playing to the still and trying for the cane. Sandman finally got it, swung it at Carlito, who ducked and gave Sandman a backstabber with the cane across the throat. All of that, and there were zero cane shots. 3/4*

WWE Women’s Championship: Candice Michelle (C) def. Melina in 06:22. These two worked hard, but weren’t good. Melina just seemed constantly out of position, and watching her bump and feed on the comeback was slightly traumatic. Candace won with a standing bulldog. *

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Umaga (C) def. Jeff Hardy in 11:20. They should show this match to every big man and little man pro wrestlers on day one coming into the business. Umaga dominated early. It was a little slow, but they’d mix in a spot where Umaga would devastate Hardy with a power move. Hardy made his comeback, and it was perfect. He hit a lot of his signature spots, and they really worked the crowd into believing Hardy was going to steal the match, but he couldn’t pull it off. Umaga finally finished with a Samoan spike. This built a little slowly, but the work and story were excellent. ***3/4 

ECW World Championship: John Morrison (C) def. CM Punk in 07:50. Punk’s kicks and strikes looked really good, which wasn’t always the case. Morrison, however, had a spot where he threw some punches and elbows, and let’s say he probably shouldn’t have been doing that in a match with someone working an MMA gimmick. Morrison did get a chance to show some gymnastic spots, so there was generally a good contrast between the two. Punk came off the top, and Morrison kicked the leg, then followed it up with a cover. The finish looked a little funky. **1/2 

Texas Bullrope Match: Randy Orton def. Dusty Rhodes in 05:40. This was setup by Dusty saving Cody from an Orton attack. Orton was in his legend-killer mode again, slapping Dusty and beating up Cody, leading to this. There were light Dusty chants, but if you’re bringing Dusty back, why the fuck are you choosing San Jose? It’s 2007, so we have a bullrope match with no blood. You could close your eyes and see Dusty working spots like he would as if he was bleeding, but came across like a paint-by-numbers bullrope match without a lot of heat. Orton won when he blasted Dusty with the cowbell. *1/2 

World Heavyweight Championship: The Great Khali (C) def. Batista and Kane in 10:04.This was probably better than it should have been because they kept it simple and had two men work at a time while one lay out for the most part. Kahli took a double chokeslam through a table and a single chokeslam from Kans. Batista hit a Batista bomb on the massive Kane. Kahli rebounded from his troubles and finished Kane with a tree slam for the finish. *3/4 

WWE Championship: John Cena (C) def. Bobby Lashley in 14:52. The fans were into this despite the babyface dynamic, but I suppose that’s where the passionate Cena mix helps. They did some offsetting power spots early, and Lashley looked good working in his amateur wrestling. They built to some really good nearfalls late, but might have dragged out the recovery to make the cover a little too long. They did an awesome spot where Lashley went for the spear, and Cena took him down with an STFU. They really dragged out the drama, but did an excellent job of making you think Lashley might pass out or tap out before he got the ropes. It was really well-executed. They ended up in a superplex position, and Cena ended it with an FU from the second rope. I thought they worked well together, and I can’t for the life of me understand why they never did it again. ***1/2

Recommendation 

Thumbs in the Middle. The main was very good, as was the Hardy-Umaga match, but they were just banging these shows out way too often. There was a lot of filler and some really rough stuff early.