WWE The Great American Bash

The Great American Bash
NXT Logo used in 2022
Information
Other name(s)The Bash (2009)
Created byDusty Rhodes
Promotion(s)National Wrestling Alliance: Jim Crockett Promotions (1985–1988)
World Championship Wrestling (1989–1992, 1995–2000)
WWE (2004–2009, 2012, 2020–present)
Brand(s)Raw (2007–2009)
SmackDown (2004–2009)
ECW (2007–2009)
NXT (2020–present)
First event1985

The Great American Bash, known simply as The Bash in 2009 and as NXT The Great American Bash since 2020, is a series of professional wrestling shows held in the summer by WWE since 2004. It was originally made by the National Wrestling Alliance starting in 1985 and then by World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 2000.[1] According to Ric Flair in his autobiography, Dusty Rhodes invented The Great American Bash.[source?]

After the last Great American Bash by World Championship Wrestling in 2000, The Great American Bash did not happen again until 2004 and only SmackDown! superstars were on it until the 2007 event, when Raw and ECW brands joined. Something special about the 2004 event was that anyone in the American military could watch it for free.[2] It was simply called The Bash in 2009, and WWE replaced the series with Fatal 4-Way the following year.[3] In 2012, the Great American Bash returned as a special episode of SmackDown.[4] Since 2020, the name is used for a yearly television special of the NXT brand (the 2023 edition however was a livesteaming-only show).[5]

Dates and venues

Here are the dates and places where past events have been held:

WCW/nWo co-branded event SmackDown-branded event NXT-branded event
# Event Date City Venue Main event Ref.
National Wrestling Alliance: Jim Crockett Promotions
1 The Great American Bash (1985) July 6, 1985 Charlotte, North Carolina American Legion Memorial Stadium Tully Blanchard (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes in a Steel cage match for the NWA World Television Championship [1]
2 The Great American Bash (1986) July–August 1986 A tour of 13 shows around the south and eastern parts of the country Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair (c) for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
3 The Great American Bash (1987) July 1987 A tour of several shows around the south and eastern parts of the country The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk), Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, and Tully Blanchard) and The War Machine in a WarGames match
4 The Great American Bash (1988) July 10, 1988 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
National Wrestling Alliance: World Championship Wrestling
5 The Great American Bash (1989) July 23, 1989 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Ric Flair (c) vs. Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship [1]
6 The Great American Bash (1990) July 7, 1990 Ric Flair (c) vs. Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
World Championship Wrestling
7 The Great American Bash (1991) July 14, 1991 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Rick Steiner vs. Arn Anderson and Paul E. Dangerously in a handicap steel cage match [1]
8 The Great American Bash (1992) July 12, 1992 Albany, Georgia Albany Civic Center Terry Gordy and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in a tournament final to crown the first NWA World Tag Team Champions
9 The Great American Bash (1995) June 18, 1995 Dayton, Ohio Hara Arena Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage [6]
10 The Great American Bash (1996) June 16, 1996 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena The Giant (c) vs. Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
11 The Great American Bash (1997) June 15, 1997 Moline, Illinois The MARK of the Quad Cities Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage in a Falls Count Anywhere match
12 The Great American Bash (1998) June 14, 1998 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Sting vs. The Giant for control of the WCW World Tag Team Championship [6]
13 The Great American Bash (1999) June 13, 1999 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore, Maryland Kevin Nash (c) vs. Randy Savage for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship [6]
14 The Great American Bash (2000) June 11, 2000 Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with Ernest Miller as the special guest enforcer
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
15 The Great American Bash (2004) June 27, 2004 Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk Scope The Undertaker vs. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) in a Handicap Concrete Crypt match[a] [7]
16 The Great American Bash (2005) July 24, 2005 Buffalo, New York HSBC Arena Batista (c) vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the World Heavyweight Championship [8]
17 The Great American Bash (2006) July 23, 2006 Indianapolis, Indiana Conseco Fieldhouse Rey Mysterio (c) vs. King Booker for the World Heavyweight Championship [9]
18 The Great American Bash (2007) July 22, 2007 San Jose, California HP Pavilion John Cena (c) vs. Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship [10]
19 The Great American Bash (2008) July 20, 2008 Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Triple H (c) vs. Edge for the WWE Championship [11]
20 The Bash (2009) June 28, 2009 Sacramento, California ARCO Arena Randy Orton (c) vs. Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match for the WWE Championship [12]
21 SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash[b] July 3, 2012 Corpus Christi, Texas American Bank Center The Great American Bash 20-Man Battle Royal to determine the guest General Manager for the following week's SmackDown [13]
22 NXT The Great American Bash (2020)[c] July 1, 2020[d]

(Night 1)

Winter Park, Florida Full Sail University Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks [14]
July 8, 2020

(Night 2)

NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. North American Champion Keith Lee in a Winner Takes All match
23 NXT The Great American Bash (2021)[c] July 6, 2021 Orlando, Florida Capitol Wrestling Center at WWE Performance Center Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly [15]
24 NXT The Great American Bash (2022)[c] July 5, 2022 WWE Performance Center Bron Breakker (c) vs. Cameron Grimes for the NXT Championship [16]
25 NXT The Great American Bash (2023) July 30, 2023 Cedar Park, Texas H-E-B Center at Cedar Park Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship [17]
26 NXT The Great American Bash (2024)[c] July 30, 2024 Orlando, Florida WWE Performance Center Roxanne Perez (c) vs. Thea Hail for the NXT Women's Championship [18]
August 6, 2024 Axiom and Nathan Frazer (c) vs. MSK (Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz) for the NXT Tag Team Championship
(c) –is the champion(s) going into the match
  1. ↑ Had Undertaker lost, his manager Paul Bearer would have been buried in cement. Undertaker won the match, but went on to bury Bearer by himself. Bearer's scenes were filmed before the show and a stunt double was used instead.
  2. ↑ This was a special episode of SmackDown
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 This was a special episode of NXT
  4. ↑ The event was filmed on July 1 and aired on July 1 and 8.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "The Great American Bash". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  2. ↑ "World Wrestling Entertainment® Offers The Great American Bash® Pay-Per-View". World Wrestling Entertainment. May 28, 2004. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Fatal 4-Way". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 23, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  4. ↑ "WWE.com: SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash Five-Point Preview – July 03, 2012". WWE. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Great American Bash returning for next two weeks of NXT". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Cawthon, Graham (2015). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 5: World Championship Wrestling 1995-2001. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1499656343.
  7. ↑ "Great American Bash 2004". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Great American Bash 2005". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Great American Bash 2006". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  10. ↑ Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (July 27, 2007). "Cena still champ after busy Bash". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2007.{cite web}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ↑ "Great American Bash 2008 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
  12. ↑ "The Bash". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
  13. ↑ "WWE.com: SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash Five-Point Preview – July 03, 2012". WWE. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Great American Bash returning for next two weeks of NXT". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  15. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (June 13, 2021). "NXT Announces Great American Bash Special, Kushida Open Challenge Added To 6/15 NXT". Fightful. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  16. ↑ Guzzo, Gisberto (June 4, 2022). "NXT Sets 'Great American Bash' Special For July". Fightful. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  17. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (May 28, 2023). "NXT Great American Bash Announced For July 30". Fightful. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  18. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (July 16, 2024). "NXT Great American Bash To Be A Two-Week Special, Both Nights To Air On SyFy". Fightful. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

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