Great American Bash Grades Out as a "B"
WWE's Great American Bash held Sunday night in San Jose, CA is going to go down as one of those "tweener" cards - meaning it was not too good, but of course - not too bad. With nine matches on the show, there was a lot of star power, and the main event of two faces that really was strong will likely be what saves the card in the end. The other two heavyweight title matches lacked, and the legend match with Dusty Rhodes vs Randy Orton can only be described as "weak."
The one glaring thing that we can start with is that the SmackDown brand sorely needs to figure something out for the heavyweight title. I realize that they were in a rock and a hard spot last week when it came down that Edge was going to have to be gone for about 4 months, but as stated before, putting the title on a guy who despite his size has possibly the worst in-ring skills in the company is just totally out of wack. That guy, Khali, was awful last night, and the only thing that saved the match was the in-ring back and forth with Batista and Kane. With no direction for the brand, they let Khali win, but longterm, they have to move the belt to Batista, Kane, or someone that they bring in that can win the belt and get some momentum going. If they try and wait for Taker in or around November to come in and win it from Khali, that will be too long to wait for him to return.
The John Morrison and C.M. Punk match was okay, but the ending was a little strange, with John kicking out Punk's leg as he leaped in the ring off the ropes, and then he pinned him clean. This belt is now in no-man's land, as there is not much out there as far as contenders are concerned for that belt. Punk is the hottest guy that has been pushed, yet when it comes to big matches, he always loses. I almost think with a lack of decent challengers in ECW, we'll see more and more Morrison-Punk matches down the road.
Most of the filler matches were okay, with the women's title match being solid as Candice beating Melina, Umaga in a strong match beating Jeff Hardy to keep the IC belt, and MVP winning in a decent opener vs Matt Hardy to keep the US Title. The comedy spot of the night, which basically flushes the cruiserweight title down the toilet is Hornswoggle winning the belt when he jumped in the invational in the end got the pin. With Chavo Guerrero being one of the better wrestlers in the company, taking the belt off him and putting it on a mascot was a joke.
Carlito beat Sandman in a "cane on a pole" match, which was okay for what it was. As far as the Rhodes-Orton match went, I thought it was rather lackluster, as Rhodes had the advantage early on, then Orton got him with the cowbell on the knee, a little back and forth, and then Orton hit him in the head with the belt for the pin. I realize that Dusty is a legend, and we were not going to see much, but this was more of a Monday night squash then a PPV match.
On to the main event, the Cena-Lashley match was about the strongest PPV main for sometime, as the two really did well together in the match, and you could sense early on they were on the same page. Another strong factor was the fact that the crowd was very much into it, making the near falls and the near submission towards the end really solid. I have no problem with Cena winning, and this looks as if we'll be setting up a SummerSlam main of Cena vs Orton, with the possible title change we've all talked about finally coming down.
Overall, Both John and I on the podcast post match show gave his card a "B". I thought for the most part this card dwarfed the last three Great American Bash cards, and despite the vibe of a curse over the SmackDown belt and a lack of challengers for the ECW belt, this card sat well with me as the build for SummerSlam in NJ next month.
