Great American Trash and another weak RAW
So another year, another crappy Great American Bash PPV. I don’t know why it still surprises me anymore.
Match of the night…probably Michaels and Jericho, although it didn’t sparkle like we know the two are capable of. However it was a very different and equally engrossing type of match between the two, with a new, almost unhinged Jericho gradually brutalizing the injured eye of HBK and forcing the match to a surprisingly believeable stoppage, with Shawn, despite pleading to continue, an absolute bloody mess. Jericho then claimed on RAW in a typically brilliant promo that he had in fact ended the career of the legendary Showstopper…so we can expect to see them tear the house down at Summerslam then.
Chris Jericho (2001)
Elsewhere on the Bash snoozefest Michelle McCool became the first holder of the hideous looking new Divas Title, Hawkins and Ryder were able to end the long run of Miz and Morrison and claim the WWE Tag Team Titles and Tommy Dreamer proved that no matter how good you are, you can’t make a Mark Henry match entertaining as the Worlds Strongest Champion retained his title after Dreamer was betrayed by his long time friend Colin Delaney.
Elsewhere, Shelton Benjamin brought the US Title back to Smackdown with an impressive win over Matt Hardy while as I expected Cena and JBL put on the worst match of the night in their Parking Lot Brawl. No crowd noise, no commentary, a match that looked more like a low budget Hollywood action flick than a PPV wrestling match and finally a horribly weak finish when the pair fought back onto the arena stage where Cena was tamely thrown onto a car windscreen (something that had happened several times already) yet somehow was hurt enough to allow JBL to get the pinfall victory. Now don’t get me wrong it was a bit of a novelty to see JBL given a victory over Cena on PPV but they then ruined it by having the victorious JBL helped pitifully to the back by paramedics while Cena, the LOSER of the match, was allowed to walk, pose and leave unaided just to try and get him that little extra pop. No, sorry, but unless a loser has been particularly heroic (see Mankind in Hell in a Cell) then they fucking well don’t get to enjoy a televised pose at the end of the match. Show some bottle WWE and stop trying to ram Cena down our throats.
Shelton Benjamin
The good news from the Bash…CM Punk is still World Heavyweight Champion! The bad news…the creative staff still can’t quite bring themselves to give him a clean victory. In fact he was heading for a loss at the hands of Batista when Kane got involved forcing the DQ. Before laying out Punk. Seriously, even Rey Mysterio wasn’t made to look this weak. It got no better on RAW when Batista demanded a re-match. Punk accepted and for a few brief moments I thought they were finally going to paint Punk as a decent fighting champion. But no, again Punk is completely dominated only to again saved by DQ, this time as JBL hit the ring after earlier insisting he was the only one worthy of a title shot. Cue Cena hitting the ring and (accidently apparently) hitting Batista aswell. So we are left to close the show with Cena and Batista going at it while Punk, the Heavyweight champion, lies pathetically on the outside of the ring. It makes me sick.
Oh but on a positive side note can I just say how delighted I am to see D-Lo Brown back on WWE television. Good win over Santino (how funny is this Santino/Beth Phoenix angle going to be!) and while he didn’t get the biggest pop ever on his entry he did at least get a few chants during the match. I remember D-Lo as a very good Intercontinental champion during his first stint with the company and he put on a very good feud with Jeff Jarrett. Although it did lead to Mark Henry claiming his first singles title, so you have a lot to redeem for D-Lo. Earning yourself a programme with Kofi Kingston would be a good start.
D-Lo Brown (1999)
What did YOU think of the Great American Bash? Are you happy with the winners and losers on the night? Have we really seen the last of Shawn Michaels? And are you as happy as I am at the return of D-Lo?! Leave me your pearls of wisdom people.
