The Great American Bash 2007

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The Great American Bash 2007
Information
Promotion	WWE
Date	July 22, 2007
Venue	HP Pavillion
City	San Jose, California
Attendance	13,034
Last Event	Vengeance
Next Event	SummerSlam

The Great American Bash 2007 was the fourth annual Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on July 22, 2007 from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands.

The main match on the Raw brand was John Cena versus Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship, which Cena won by pinfall after executing an FU on Lashley from the second rope. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between The Great Khali, Batista and Kane. Khali won the match and retained the title after pinning Kane. The primary match on the ECW brand was John Morrison versus CM Punk for the ECW Championship, which Morrison won by pinfall after hitting Punk with both of his knees. The featured matches on the undercard included Montel Vontavious Porter versus Matt Hardy for the WWE United States Championship and Randy Orton versus Dusty Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope match.

The event had 229,000 buys, up slightly on the 2006 figure of 227,000 buys.

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Background

The main feud heading into The Great American Bash on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Bobby Lashley over the WWE Championship. The feud began on the June 11, 2007 edition of Raw, when Lashley was drafted to the Raw brand and stripped of his ECW Championship. Three weeks later, on the July 2 edition of Raw, a "Beat the Clock" tournament was held to determine Cena's opponent for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash. The tournament matches included: Randy Orton versus Jeff Hardy, King Booker versus Val Venis, Mr. Kennedy versus Super Crazy, and Lashley versus Shelton Benjamin. Lashley ended up winning the tournament by defeating Benjamin in less than 5 minutes and therefore becoming the number one contender to the WWE Championship.

The main feud on the SmackDown! brand was between The Great Khali, Batista, and Kane, with the three battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. At the previous pay-per-view, Vengeance, then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated Batista in a "Last Chance" match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 6 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced that Edge would be defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Kane at The Great American Bash. The next week on SmackDown!, The Great Khali issued an open challenge for a match at The Great American Bash, which was accepted by Batista. Later that night, Edge legitimately injured his left pectoral muscle after Kane, who was disguised as a character, attacked Edge during his Mardi Gras celebration. On the July 20 edition of SmackDown!, Edge was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship due to his legit injury. Theodore Long then announced that there would be a 20-man Battle Royal later that night to determine a new World Heavyweight Champion. Khali ended up winning the Battle Royal by last eliminating Kane and Batista. That same night, Kane faced off against Batista to determine Khali's opponent for The Great American Bash, which ended in a no-contest after Khali interfered. Long finalized that both Kane and Batista would end up facing Khali for the championship at The Great American Bash.

The main feud on the ECW brand was between John Morrison and CM Punk with the two battling over the ECW Championship. At Vengeance, Morrison (then known as Johnny Nitro) defeated Punk to win the ECW Championship, which was vacant since then-champion Lashley had been drafted to the Raw brand. Nitro was a replacement for Chris Benoit, who was absent due to "personal reasons." On the June 26 edition of ECW, CM Punk defeated Elijah Burke in a two out of three falls match to once again become the number one contender to the ECW Championship.

Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.

• Dark Match: Chuck Palumbo defeated Chris Masters
• Montel Vontavious Porter (c) defeated Matt Hardy to retain the WWE United States Championship (12:55)
• Hornswoggle defeated Chavo Guerrero (c), Funaki, Hornswoggle, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (6:59)
• Carlito defeated The Sandman in a Singapore Cane On A Pole Match (5:31)
• Candice Michelle (c) defeated Melina to retain the WWE Women's Championship (6:22)
• Umaga (c) defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship (11:20)
• John Morrison (c) defeated CM Punk to retain the ECW Heavyweight Championship (7:51)
• Randy Orton defeated Dusty Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope Match (5:40)
• The Great Khali (c) defeated Batista & Kane in a Triple Threat Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (10:03)
• John Cena (c) defeated Bobby Lashley to retain the WWE Championship (14:53)

Other on-screen talent

Commentators Interviewers

Ring announcer Referees

Also See

• List of WWE pay-per-view events
• WWE Event History
• The Great American Bash

DVD release

• The Great American Bash 2007 on DVD

External links

• The Great American Bash 2007 Official Website
• The Great American Bash 2007 at CAGEMATCH.net
• [ The Great American Bash 2007 at Online World of Wrestling]