NEW Grt American Bash 2008 (DVD)

1)WWE Tag Team Championship Fatal 4 Way: Ryder/Hawkins d. Finlay/Hornswaggle, Jesse/Festus, and Miz/Morrison(c) - This one starts out with Festus hearing the bell, going crazy, and taking everyone out. Once order is restored, it is decent with frequent tags and different encounters between the combatants. Ends up in a brawl, where everyone takes somebody out. Weak finish with Hawkins just tripping Jesse up on the top rope and getting the three-count. Sorry Miz/Morrison, NEW CHAMPIONS. 3.5/10

2)United States Championship: Shelton Benjamin d. Matt Hardy(c) - This is probably the highlight of the evening for me. These two work decent together and provide an entertaining match. Hardy goes for a moonsault on Shelton and hits his head on Shelton's knee. Shelton takes advantage and hits his finisher for the win. I'm glad that Shelton Benjamin finally got something accomplished this year. He has been such a waste of great talent. I would definately consider him the most "athletic" in the WWE right now. 6.5/10

3) Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho - This one isn't a classic, but does what they wanted it to...continue the story. They go back and forth for a few, then, Jericho hits HBK with an elbow to his eye. The trademark "HBK Bladejob" follows. Jericho beats him down until the ref eventually calls the match due to HBK no longer able to go on. Jericho gets the victory because of this. This storyline really intrigues me. 6/10

4) ECW Championship: Mark Henry(c) d. Tommy Dreamer w/ Colin Delaney - The match is decent considering Dreamer is involved. The shock here comes when Colin Delaney turns on his mentor. Mark Henry retains. WOW! Didn't see that one coming. 3/10

5) The *NEW* Divas Championship: Michelle McCool d. Natalya - These two work well together for another good women's contest. The bad thing was the crowd in this one. They didn't get into it at all. Natalya and Michelle McCool was even able to pull of the hard to do Mexican Stretch submission hold. Apparently, everyone was gone to the restroom, and that's a shame. McCool gets the win and is the new Divas Champion. 6.5/10

*After Michelle McCool celebrates in the ring, Jericho comes out and informs the crowd that they probably have seen HBK's last match, and that they should save their ticket stubs. That HBK has suffered a detatched retina that will keep him from competing.*

6) World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk(c) vs. Batista *NO CONTEST* - The match starts out really good w/ CM Punk showing off his athleticism going toe to toe w/ the bigger Batista. They really worked well together until Kane comes to ringside and takes both of them out. The ref calls for the bell and declares a NO CONTEST. Kane repeats the same question he's had for weeks...."Is he Alive or Dead?!" 6/10

7) NYC Parking Lot Brawl: John Bradshaw Layfield d. John Cena - I really didn't enjoy this one at all. WWE did this one backstage, and it just seemed like too much of a production. Had too many camera angles, no commentary, and too spotty. JBL lights a car on fire with Cena in it. Then, Cena rams the car with a forklift that holds JBL. They end up at the rampway leading to the ring, where JBL counters a FU and throws Cena off the stage on to a car's windshield. JBL gets the win finally! Wait, JBL actually beat Cena for a change, WOW!! Cena isn't as invincible as he is often portrayed. 4/10

8) WWE Championship: Triple H(c) d. Edge - Starts out decent, Edge and Triple have some good chemistry. I was enjoying this one most of the match, until the end. Edge and Vickie's wedding planner comes out and tries to help Edge, but Vickie follows to confront her. They both get in the ring where Vickie inadvertantly gets the spear by Edge. Edge then turns around into the Pedigree in classic fashion. Triple H gets the win and retains. 6/10

Overall - This PPV you could probably leave on the shelf, unless you're a huge Triple H fan, or you want to see JBL finally get his against Cena. This is really one of the weakest of the year to date. Most of these matches have the quality of just being on their respected shows. Really, really expected more...

, my cousin, my dad, and my brother had pretty good seats to WWE's annual Great American Bash payperview in Long Island, New York. We didn't get to see the dark match but we got to see the entire show live which was a real treat.

Match 1- Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder d. John Morrison and The Miz ©, Finlay and Hornswoggle, and Jesse and Festus.

This was a nice opener to the show but I would've preferred if this was on the mid-card and not just the first match. Miz and Morrison were barely tagged in the entire time as Finlay, Hornswoggle, and Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder were in the ring mostly. One of my favorite moves in the match was when Hornswoggle did a Hurracarana on I think was Festus. Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder won when Jesse was on the top rope and he pushed Jesse off and pinned him. 4/5

Match 2- Shelton Benjamin d. Matt Hardy ©

This was a really good back and forth match between two accomplished competitors. I made a prediction before the match that because Matt Hardy had held on to the championship for so long that he was booked to lose it. I was right. Shelton beat Matt Hardy with Paydirt and pinned him for the three-count. Unfortunately, It wasn't as good as the tag team match. 3/5

Match 3- Mark Henry © w/ Tony Atlas d. Tommy Dreamer w/ Colin Delaney

This was a pretty good match. My prediction was that Dreamer was gonna get squashed like a bug. I was wrong. Dreamer hit the Dreamer DDT and Mark Henry was down. Then Colin Delaney yanked Tommy Dreamers leg which led Tommy right into Mark Henry's Worlds Strongest Slam which decimated Tommy Dreamer. I even got a picture of the moment when Colin was Yanking Dreamers Leg. Again, just an okay match. 3/5

Match 4- Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels

Anytime these two get into the ring it is magic. This match was bloody, gruesome, and awesome all at the same time. Chris Jericho destroyed Shawn Michaels giving him the Lionsault and the Codebreaker onto the rope. With Shawn Michael's ailing injuries Y2J had this one in the bag. Lance Cade interfered on Chris Jericho's behalf. This was probably one of the better matches. I feel very lucky that I got to see Shawn Michaels before he's going to retire. 5/5 Great Match!

Match 5- Michelle McCool d. Natalya

Michelle McCool was super hot so everybody stood up when she came down the ramp. Natalya- not so much. Brian remarked that she looked like a fat cow but I let that go as I watched two of my favorite SmackDown divas engage in combat. Michelle McCool tried a heel hook at the start but Natalya reversed it. Natalya eventually applied the Sharpshooter but amazingly, Michelle McCool made it to the rope and broke out. Michelle than applied the heel hook and Natalya suffered her first singles loss in the WWE. This match was way to short but WWE made up for this by having Eve and Cherry come down the ramp to celebrate with Michelle. 3/5

Match 6- C.M. Punk fought Batista to a double disqualification

This match was a very good match with a lot of back and forth between Punk and Batista. The Match lasted around 10 minutes and ended when Kane interfered and kicked the cameraman over. He Chokeslammed C.M. Punk and Batista looked pissed. Batista then Spinebustered C.M Punk. The next night on Raw JBL and Batista both asked for title shots and now it's C.M Punk vs. JBL for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. It was sick when Kane kicked the cameraman. Man is he demented!
4/5 good match.

Match 7- JBL d. John Cena in a Parking Lot Brawl

The most violent parking lot brawl I've seen. John Cena electrocuted JBL's balls, JBL set a car with John Cena in it on fire, and many more violent things happened. The car actually went on to the stage. John Cena went to F-U JBL unto the car but JBL realized it and pushed John Cena face first into the windshield. JBL got the pinfall. John Cena actually bleeded real blood on his elbow. Cryme Tyme did not interfere for Cena nor did Simply Priceless interfere for JBL. Great Match 5/5

Match 8- Triple H © d. Edge

Boy! What can I say about this match? Both competitors are seasoned veterans of the ring and it was a mostly fair match. Triple H the game got a huge pop while Edge got many boos due to him cheating on Vickie Guerrero with Alicia Fox, the wedding planner. There were many memorable moments between the two competitors such as when Edge DDT'd Triple H onto the hard ring floor. Every fan can agree that one of the best parts was when Alcia Fox interfered to give Edge the title belt to use on Triple H, and Vickie Guerrero came down the ramp and clotheslined her. Then Edge was gonna spear the wedding planner but she ducked and Edge speared Vickie. Best Match Hands Down 5/5

WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & Miz vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Jesse & Fetus vs. Zach Ryder & Kurt Hawkins - This did the job that an opening match should do in that it was fast paced while everyone got their moments to look strong. The ending heavily reflected the disadvantage of the champions walking into the match as the Edgeheads walked off as champions without Morrison & Miz being involved in the fall.

United States Champion Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin - This was an enjoyable solid "ground wrestling" match with a solid pace throughout the bout. It wasn't your typical "high flyin'/spotfest/entertaining" type match that both men are more famous for but it was enjoyable.

ECW Champion Mark Henry vs. Tommy Dreamer - The first flop of the evening as Mark Henry just can't put on a "better than average" match when he's the one "in charge" of the match. This was just a glorified squash match in that Tommy's heavily weak offense was just no match for Henry and the moment Tommy started gaining some momentum, Colin Delany turned on Dreamer to help Henry pick up the win. Just a poor match that in retrospect was pointless concidering how Delany ended up getting released within the next month.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho - Unlike their previous encounters, this wasn't about putting on a showstealing much but heavily putting over the personal issue between both men...even to the point where HBK was so serious that he didn't do his normal "on his knee & pray" fireworks entrance & just walked to the ring never taking his eyes off Jericho. HBK was selling injuries to his ribs & eye right from the start while Jericho used a more impactful & relentless offense than normal as well. The real highlight here was the closing moments with Jericho just being the most vicious anyone has seen from him in a long time (if ever) by just beating on a bloody HBK & attacking his eye with Lance Cade getting in a shot as well. Again, not their best match but you got the story they were putting over.

Divas Championship Match: Michelle McCool vs. Natalya - With the recent heavily developments in the womens division on RAW for the past couple of months in terms of stepping up & being more of the way it was back in 2002-2004 were they were putting more of a focus on the inring action, this was time for the SmackDown divas to put on a show. It just turned out to be very disappointing match as it was only decent at best & nothing really noteworthy here past McCool being the first "Divas" Champion.

World Champion C.M. Punk vs. Batista - This was the shock of the night here as I didn't expect Batista's style of wrestling (when he wants to put in an effort) to clash well with Punk's but it did & put on quite the performance here as it was Punk's wrestling style vs. Batista's power style. Eventhough the ending involving Kane was kinda a jip, it didn't take away from what was a good encounter between these two

NYC Parking Lot Brawl: John Cena vs. J.B.L. - Well I guess WWE finally figured out what made their "I Quit" match so well recieved...they didn't try to make them play to their weaknesses in straight wrestling, they played to their strengths & just let them brawl plus gave them toys to play with...in this case, cars. This match resembled the old Broiler Room Brawls or other parking lot matches (Cena/E. Guerrero & Shamrock/Blackman) in that they started the brawl away from the arena & eventually made their way to ringside. They used the cars, jumper cables, forklifts, and even gasoline & fire (which was a little too "over the top") as weapons in this brawl. They eventually made their way to ringside before JBL pulled a quick one by throwing Cena onto the hood of the car for him to finally get his victory over Cena.

WWE Champion Triple H vs. Edge - After these two having minor interactions between each other for years now (Edge chasing the World Title in 2004/2005, with John Cena in Apr. 2006, the Rated RKO vs. DX feud, ect.), these two finally meet one on one for the WWE Title on PPV. As you saw via highlights throughout the PPV, Edge's marrage was off to a rocky start (to say the least) when Triple H revealed that Edge cheated on Vickie with the wedding planner before the wedding so Edge was out for revenge which showed as he rushed towards Triple H right from the start before HHH overturned Edge's momentum. HHH ended up hurting what looked like his wrist which Edge focused on for a while before the match went back & forth between both men including Edge continuing to block Triple H's pedigree. However the ending with the wedding planner & Vickie Guerrero (who took one hell of a spear) getting involved, Triple H capitalized on the distraction to retain his championship.

DVD extras include Vickie Guerrero & La Familia backstage after the main event along with Kane backstage talking about what's in his bag.

In the end, I felt like this PPV was better than Royal Rumble, No Way Out, and Night Of Champions but it's right behind all the PPV's from WrestleMania to One Night Stand. The only real flops are the ECW & Divas title matches so this is one event I would recommend.