STW - Great American Bash 2004 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

The Great American Bash 2004 took place on June 27th, from the Norfolk Scope, in Norfolk, VA. It drew 6,500 fans for first ever WWE PPV event at the Scope, with about 5,500 paying $320,000. 0.43 buy rate $3.61 million company PPV revenue 

The price to buy it was $34.95. It had 238,000 buys; 172,000 of those were domestic buys

This was the first Great American Bash ppv under the banner of the WWE & the 15th overall event under the Great American Bash name, which of course started in JCP

The Scope was historically a WCW/NWA venue, several WCW ppvs were held there over the years. Why did it take WWE so long to finally go there, and why was it chosen to host this show? Was it because of the name of the event, the Great American Bash, which of course was a WCW ppv

June 2004 vs June 2003 comparisons - 

Estimated average attendance 6/03 4,822*

Estimated average attendance 6/04 4,362* (-9.5%)

May 2004 3,878*

Estimated average gate 6/03 $149,483*

Estimated average gate 6/04 $154,700 (+3.5%)

May 2004 $133,266*

Percentage of house shows sold out 6/03 7.1*

Percentage of house shows sold out 6/04 0.0*

May 2004 6.9*

Average Raw rating 6/03 3.79

Average Raw rating 6/04 3.73 (-1.6%)

May 2004 3.62

Average Smackdown rating 6/03 3.35

Average Smackdown rating 6/04 3.10 (-7.5%)

May 2004 2.93

June 7th Observer - 

The life and near death of Eddie Guerrero made for a riveting television special on UPN on 5/26, called “Cheating Death, Stealing Life.” The story was about Guerrero’s childhood, wrestling career and battle back from drug and alcohol addiction that came closer to killing him than nearly anyone realized.

The unfortunate thing is the show was programmed against the “American Idol” finals (17.74 rating), and got destroyed in the ratings. A special like this could have made Guerrero’s triumphs into a much stronger character had it been done when wrestling was hot and there was a large passionate audience. Today, I just see it as potentially making for a great DVD story when, presumably, it gets released late this year. It had no real business impact other than showing WWE can do an interesting wrestling documentary, that even with promotion for weeks, can’t get most of its core audience to watch. The show did a 1.05 national rating (1.19 realistic), barely one-third of what its lead-in, “Enterprise,” did, also going up against Idol. 

To show how bad the ratings were, it did about 1.6 million viewers, and the lowest rated prime time show of the last season, UPN’s “Game Over,” did 1.88 million viewers for an average episode. It wouldn’t be surprising if this was the lowest rated show of the entire week in prime time. Not surprisingly, the show did best in Houston (3.1) and Los Angeles (3.0). The hoped for number was the 2.0, which the Steve Austin special did in November, and UPN usually does a 1.6 at that time. The rating shows how little mainstream interest there is in Guerrero, and since the show only did well in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Dallas, that it appears he’s mainly strong with Hispanics. 

They need to market him more doing Spanish language promotion and media. It also shows how much WWE fans have lost interest in anything but Raw and Smackdown as the rest of the shows don’t do numbers. This also doesn’t help the company’s cause as far as getting more specials on UPN, which bring the company good money.

Vince McMahon was described as very different, “older and more business-like” as opposed to entertaining, by sources at TSN in Canada when he filmed two episodes of “Off the Record” with Michael Landsberg on 6/1, which aired on 6/1 and 6/2.

The first episode had aired at press time, and early reviews were that it was nowhere near as newsworthy as McMahon’s previous times on the show. Landsberg, who is usually strong seemed more interested in charming Vince and being funny.

There were no major revelations, and it was described by the person who interviewed me the day before on the state of the company and McMahon, that with the exception of the subject of Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, the comments were very similar.

The biggest story coming out of the show were his thoughts on Austin, which came off as negative, and Hulk Hogan. McMahon downed Austin, noting that the issue of the Stone Cold name was the reason a new contract hasn’t been signed. McMahon said WWE is a publicly traded company and they can’t be giving away their intellectual property, even if they personally like someone. When Landsberg brought up Dwayne Johnson owning the name Rock, which Rock has claimed in numerous interviews, McMahon said that isn’t the case, that WWE has only given Rock a license to use the name Rock in Hollywood. Ironically, the funny part about this is Austin would settle for the ability to use the name on outside projects but WWE still owning the name. 

McMahon also stated that he didn’t think Austin,due to his injuries, had very much left to offer and even said he thought his career as a major entertainer was pretty much done. McMahon said he made Austin what he considered a fair offer, and Austin turned it down, but also noted it’s harder negotiating through lawyers, and specifically noted he didn’t like Austin’s current attorney, who he said knew nothing about wrestling and was making demands. McMahon did admit that Austin made him more money than any wrestler in history. Vince said the fans don’t want the Austin who can’t wrestle, claimed he had walked out twice and been forgiven twice and said the wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin is done, he can’t do what he used to do, but he does have some value and may be back at some time.

When it came to Hogan, McMahon claimed Hogan had talked with people in the company of late trying to get back in, saying that his knee and hip were in good shape and he was ready for another run. When Hogan walked out last June, upset over both his Wrestlemania payoff and that he’d been asked to do too many jobs, it was the third time Hogan had walked out of planned programs since his 2002 return, McMahon at the time said he would never use him as talent again, although could see bringing him in for a non-talent role at some point. When asked about that, and the circumstances of Hogan’s latest departure, McMahon said he didn’t remember what they were. He said he and Hogan had a good relationship and would consider bringing him back. When asked about Sting, he said he didn’t think the company would be doing anything with Sting.

While he was honest, it was believed by those at OTR that a major statement was when Landsberg asked McMahon about the company steroid usage policy, since that’s a major sports issue, that McMahon said they don’t have a policy and don’t test for steroids. He also gave a mixed reaction when asked, if he could turn back time, would he have purchased WCW. His response was that part of him wishes he had never made the deal, and indicated one company having to be the entire business wasn’t the best thing. When asked about his successor if something were to happen to him, he indicated it would be a group effort, and mentioned family

members Shane, Stephanie and HHH in specific as those who would run things.

When talking about the decline in Smackdown, McMahon talked about the departure of Brock Lesnar. While Lesnar claimed he had been talking with McMahon for six months about his problems, McMahon claimed he was blindsided and had no idea it was going to happen. McMahon talked about hiring people who didn’t grow up as pro wrestling fans (and many wrestlers, and office people, who didn’t like Lesnar leaving or get along with Bill Goldberg, have

expressed similar views), although as a hard and fast rule, many of the biggest draws of the past 20 years were not fans growing up, and Kurt Angle never paid attention to it until 1998. He said losing Lesnar was a big deal and blamed the schedule.

The Canadian issue was announced and when asked about Chris Benoit now being billed from Atlanta, McMahon said he’s lived there for ten years. Landsberg had no good response to that, and then McMahon said Benoit prefers Atlanta, which is not exactly what he said when he was in Edmonton. McMahon did say the changing of home towns was to increase the popularity of Benoit and Jericho in the U.S., even though it surely has nothing to do with anything. Landsberg asked why Christian is from Toronto when he also lives in the U.S., and McMahon said it was because Christian was a heel.

Clearly the McMahon-Bret Hart issues are not as smooth as both make them out to be when they’ve talked face-to-face in recent years, since McMahon brought up that Hart was an hour late for their last meeting (after the live Raw in Calgary in April) because he was watching a hockey game. Vince said he knew because he and Shane were watching the same Flames playoff game, waiting for him, but never let Bret know. He said he was once close with Hart and wants to think the two are close. Vince said he’s like to apologize about what happened in 1997, but he can’t, because he thinks he might do it again if the same situation arose.

He talked about Hart coming back for one night and a potential DVD, which he said was the main reason for the meeting. Landsberg acted like it was a big deal when McMahon conceded that Hart was a Canadian hero. When McMahon hated Hart, he and Landsberg had argued that point on the show with McMahon claiming they portrayed him as a Canadian hero but Hart was no Canadian hero, and Landsberg saying that McMahon is not Canadian and doesn’t realize how Hart is viewed in that country.

While the company doesn’t look to have a strong summer domestically, Europe showed no sign of fading interest with four nights of sellout business for the Raw brand tour this past week.

The Dublin shows, the first WWE shows in Ireland in something like ten years, were a huge success. 5/26 in Dublin, Ireland drew a sellout of 6,699 paying $400,000. 5/27 in Dublin drew a second sellout of 6,836 paying $400,000. Both sold out the day tickets went on sale, the first time the company had ever sold out the same building twice on the same day. While I didn’t get numbers, merchandise sales at the Dublin shows were huge. 5/28 in Manchester drew a sellout of 18,311 paying $1,020,000. With the exception of Mania, Rumble and the Saitama show, this was the biggest company gate of the year, and I believe the second biggest gate ever in the U.K. (and maybe even Europe), trailing only the 1992 SummerSlam from Wembley Stadium. 5/29 in Birmingham, England drew a sellout 11,754 paying $790,000.

In what is expected to be reported shortly in the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore Ravens have serious interest in Brock Lesnar, due to his speed and strength, as a special teams player. Team officials have already met with Lesnar twice.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran a huge story about Lesnar by Mark Craig, that was very good, except the fact he reported in the first sentence that Lesnar was making $9 million per year in the WWE (I believe the seven year contract he signed was for around a $9-10 million total downside). It noted he’s purchased a eight-seat twin-engine plane, has a personal pilot and lives on 47 acres. Boy, when I read that, I was thinking he’ll be back in WWE next year if only because unlike somebody like Austin who doesn’t live high on the hog and has had years of huge money, Lesnar had two years at about $1 million, which is good money, but that’s not enough for life.

I’m sure Lesnar and his agent are floating these big numbers out, but it actually has made NFL teams shy away because of the belief there is no way he’s not going back as soon as he gets discouraged in football. It noted that he would most likely make either $85,000 if he makes a practice squad (most likely) or $230,000 if he makes a team this season. The belief is, because of his phenomenal numbers they are floating, that teams will be interested, but the overinflated WWE figures will be a concern because he’ll be a project. Most are skeptical, being that he hasn’t played since 1995 at his small high school in Webster, SD, where he was not a superstar player. He didn’t even get any Division I football offers coming out of high school. He’s been measured at 6-3 1/4, weighed at 290 pounds and at that weight tested at 9% bodyfat, with remarkable speed and agility at that size. You’ll find very few human beings who can match his combination of power and agility walking the Earth.

Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy noted that being NCAA heavyweight champion is harder than playing the defensive line in the NFL, but the question is his age and how long he takes to learn to play. Defensive End, the position, he’s going for, is considered easier than most positions to master, but even those close to him that have watched him think it’s a two-year minimum. Lesnar said working in WWE made him miserable (in other words, he still doesn’t think he’s going back), missed his daughter and misses athletic competition. “I wanted to play

football out of college, but I followed the dollar signs instead of my heart. I finally decided I didn’t want to look back when I was 50 and wonder if I could have played in the NFL.”

Lesnar’s 5/18 public workout was canceled due to injuries from his recent motorcycle accident, where he ended up breaking his jaw, breaking his left hand, bruising his pelvis and pulling a groin muscle. He was scheduled to do his public workout on 6/2, but aggravated his pulled groin in training, so it won’t be until late June now. Green Bay, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco were said by Lesnar’s agent to be attending (Minnesota and Indianapolis reps also indicated they would attend). The story said the 49ers denied that, Dallas and Kansas City didn’t confirm or deny although we’ve read other reports indicating Dallas was interested in bringing him in for a workout. Green Bay and Philadelphia both confirmed interest.

The Ravens are said to be showing serious interest, although they have not yet brought him in for a workout.

He’s said to right now do a 475 bench and 695 squat. Luke Richesson, who trains him in Tempe, AZ, said he’s the Baddest guy to ever walk into their famous training facility as for a combination of speed, strength and power, nobody can match him. Nobody of his size can run as fast or jump as high, plus have the lifting power. Those at the gym say his work ethic is unbelievable, which is no surprise, because top shelf amateur wrestlers as a rule train much harder than football players. Paul Wiggen, the Vikings director of scouting noted that guys

with the great numbers and great look, but no football experience usually don’t make it (can you believe Brock is now the Lex Luger of football, except it’s a shoot, as Luger got many NFL looks and was recruited by major programs like Miami and Penn State in college for the same reason he had a lengthy pro career on top when he couldn’t wrestle very well, although Lesnar is far more gifted an athlete than Luger, who more looked like a gifted athlete). Wiggen also had the

damning quote, “I also don’t think (Lesnar) will wait around long enough, go on the practice squad, and do all of that. I think he’ll go back to pro wrestling before that.”

Richesson said he expected Lesnar would run a 4.5 40 at 290 pounds, which is almost unheard of for any human, but tempered that by noting his groin injury may hold him back. Colts coach Tony Dungy said if he runs a 4.7 with witnesses, people will fight over him, and at a 5.0, teams will have interest.

The story also talked about the steroid issue. J Robinson, Lesnar’s coach at the University of Minnesota, said he passed steroid tests at both the 1999 and 2000 NCAA tournaments. Lesnar said he also passed tests in WWE, although the WWE would not confirm he was ever tested. Lesnar was tested at least twice in OVW and passed both times. However, Lesnar also was arrested, and charges were dropped, while living in Louisville and working for WWE in OVW, when he was thought to be possessing steroids. Under analysis, it turned out it wasn’t steroids the police found on him in his apartment.

Police said it was GH, while Lesnar’s lawyers claimed it was food supplements. Lesnar said he’d take a test for any team before signing, as there is skepticism about signing him and finding he can’t play because he fails a test, since the NFL tests players randomly year around. Former NFL line coach Ty Parten, coaching Lesnar right now in Arizona, said he’s a fast learner, but would need one or two years to learn defensive end. But he said Lesnar could play on special teams and be a force this coming season.

Lesnar himself said if football doesn’t work out, he’d consider going to WWE or to K-1 (the first time he’s commented on that, as all the Japanese major groups, New Japan, K-1 and Pride, which could use him both for Pride and Hustle shows, have serious interest in him). It is believed his WWE contract release prohibits him from going to K-1 or Pride until March.

Meltzer reported the following week -

Lesnar’s workout on 6/11 for his home town Minnesota Vikings garnered a ton of publicity, including ESPN news and many newspapers around the country. The main thing was that on a groin that had not healed, he ran a 4.75 40 at 286 pounds. Teams are interested. The Vikings didn’t offer him a deal, with coach Mike Tice telling him they had no roster spots open, but left the door open to come back in a few weeks and see if he’d improved on football skill and his groin healed. He has scheduled workouts with many other teams planned over the next month. Scott Studwell of the Vikings said he’s a project with the physical tools, but has a long way to go. At the workout, his football skills were not there, as he struggled with the agility drills and had trouble getting into a defensive stance.

He didn’t have the first step, footwork or hand speed they look for. While this didn’t make the local media, an inside source on the Vikings said they were a lot more negative about him than came out. His actual workout was bad, and they were not impressed. The other problem is that he had an MRI done on his body by the Vikings, and he had a lot of physical issues, as far as injuries going in, from those three plus years in pro wrestling. Still, the feeling is some team will take a chance and sign him. Even though people in football really don’t understand how quickly Lesnar adapted to becoming a top pro wrestler and wouldn’t respect that, they do respect his NCAA championship because everyone in football knows the type of training and skill it takes to win that title.

Tice suggested Lesnar hire an ex-defensive end to coach him on his football skills, and not worry so much on the gym training he’s been doing to have impressive sprint, bench press, squat and jumping numbers. Tice said he liked Lesnar and saw a glimmer, and if he had a roster spot open, he’d consider rolling the dice. Lesnar has made it clear he’d rather play with the Vikings than any other team, because of his daughter living in the area

Smackdown on 5/27 did a 2.92 rating (3.36 realistic rating; est. 4.44 million viewers).

The show did a 5.6 in New York, 4.3 in Los Angeles, 3.7 in Chicago, 3.1 in Philadelphia, 3.1 in SF, 3.0 in Boston, 3.1 in Dallas, 2.9 in Detroit, 2.5 in Atlanta and 5.5 in Houston.

5/24 Raw show was it did a 3.52 rating (3.31 first hour; 3.73 second hour; 4.32 million viewers).

The Raw Diva Search was actually planned originally for Smackdown, as was my immediate reaction that it should have been, just because that show needs something to make it seem to the audience that WWE thinks the show is special. With “America’s Next Top Model” being the flagship show for UPN, they thought it was a natural for the network and would help in cross-promotion. However, UPN felt the contest was too similar, and declined. As you can imagine, this idea didn’t go over well to a lot of the women characters in the company

We were incorrect two weeks ago, as there was no specific money offer made to Kevin Von Erich for his tape collection at that time, although he and Jim Ross met this past week for WWE to find out exactly what he had and what the condition of the tapes were. Kevin had told people and it must have been an unofficial offer. I don’t think a deal was made, because just says after the Von Erich/Ross meeting, we got word that Kevin Von Erich will be releasing a “Best of the Von Erichs” DVD through VCI Entertainment in Tulsa, probably in late July. The plan is VCI will release a Von Erich and World Class DVD every other month. Kevin will be doing promotions, and he and former referee and office worker David Manning did new commentary.

WWE has also spoken to Ene Watts of late about the Mid South collection. The company feels they have more than enough tapes now for what they are trying to do, but are interested in adding to it. The Mid South tapes probably have some sentimental value, because Jim Ross is a main figure in this project and it’s his original work, plus he was Bill Watts’ right-hand man for the last several years of the company and it’s kind of the wrestling he grew up with. There is interest in old All Japan and New Japan tapes, but it’s hardly considered major interest.

Because the tapes are owned by the networks, it may be difficult to purchase world rights to them.

They probably wouldn’t have a hard time getting U.S. broadcast rights, since The U.K. Wrestling Channel features New Japan classics and they hardly have a WWE budget, and have already gotten rights to some Benoit matches and Guerrero matches in New Japan for upcoming DVD releases, including the Benoit vs. Great Sasuke 1994 original Super J Cup championship match on the new Benoit tape

Harry Smith, the son of Davey Boy, just graduated high school. It had been assumed for years he would get a developmental contract, but not until he graduated high school. Haven’t heard anything in that direction, but the company has always been, and particularly under Jim Ross, went with the idea of “pedigree” in that sons of stars have gotten developmental deals. While Rock would have made it under any circumstances as a big, agile, good-looking ex-college football player with natural abilities, although he wouldn’t have had the push right out of the blocks, there is no question Orton benefitted greatly by his family tree, as did David Flair, who would have never been signed by WCW or WWE if he was the son of Bill Howard. Expect another group of developmental signings this month. One person rumored to be under consideration is Shelly Martinez of UPW, who uses the name Desire

June 14 th Observer -

John Layfield caused a lot of controversy, and lost his CNBC jobs, stemming from his actions on the 6/5 show in Munich, Germany, when he kept goose stepping and making Nazi signs on six occasions. The actions took place during a series of matches that started with a singles match with Eddy Guerrero, turned into a handicap match when Booker T joined in, and finished as a tag team match when Undertaker helped out Guerrero.

According to several live reports, most of the fans did not find this the slightest bit entertaining. Of course, he didn’t do it to entertain as much as attempt to get heel heat. Goose stepping and saluting Hitler are illegal in Germany, although it’s very possible he didn’t know that. No charges were filed, and Layfield, 36, worked the next night in Oberhausen, where he did nothing of the sort, and left the country without incident. It is a crime in Germany that is randomly enforced, usually resulting in a heavy fine on a first offense and a short jail term on a second offense.

It is a federal crime and can, at worst, carry sentences of up to five years. It is a crime that foreigners have been prosecuted on in the past. There were a lot of reporters at the show in Germany since it was the first time in eight years WWE had been in Munich. It was still not reported as a significant incident locally, although many fans had very negative reactions to it, in the wrong way, particularly the many who had members of their families as victims of the Third Reich. It was said that word did spread in Germany and there were reporters in Oberhausen ready to write a story about it, but since he didn’t do it there, there were no stories written. It became more of an issue in the U.S. The Bavarian Governor’s Chief of Staff was at the show with his children.

On 6/8, CNBC issued a press release stating “CNBC has terminated its relationship with John Bradshaw Layfield following his conduct this past weekend in a wrestling match. We find his behavior to be offensive, inappropriate and not befitting anyone associated with our network.” While there had been no mainstream publicity in the U.S. for his actions in Munich initially, his getting fired and the reasons for it was expected to have made many newspapers around the country on 6/9.

It was an example of wrestler thinking along the “anything for heat” wrestling lines, and not realizing that old standards are no longer valid, as wrestling is more mainstream entertainment. Layfield’s non-wrestling position on business news shows made going that far, particularly on the week of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, a terrible call. Layfield apparently didn’t consider this, and thought only along the lines of being a heel wrestler, figuring what happens on a house show, particularly in Munich, wouldn’t be known outside of the momentary heat the spots got. Officials with both CNBC and WWE were said to have been embarrassed by the story breaking. Both were put in an indefensible public relations position.

Layfield, from all accounts, made the decision to do it on his own, and had done it before. It’s unclear whether he mentioned it or cleared it before hand with Malenko, who was the lead agent on the tour (and happens to be Jewish), but he was definitely not instructed to do it. After the incident, he was told not to do it again, and did nothing of the sort on 6/6 in Oberhausen. On the company’s web site, on 6/8, both WWE and Layfield apologized for the actions and to anyone

offended by it, and it said Layfield had been reprimanded. The same statement was e-mailed to fans who complained to the company about it. However, the apology was taken down a few hours later, just as CNBC fired him. There was no word at press time what actions, or if there were any actions, WWE would take. According to those at Smackdown, the feeling was that Vince McMahon was sympathetic toward Layfield because of how everything went down.

While it is doubtful Layfield will ever publicly bring this up because it’s a no-win situation, it will probably cause his hatred for the internet to increase, as well as increase hostilities among wrestlers in the company and reporters in wrestling in general. Without addressing the whys of his losing his job due to a bad lapse in judgment and not realizing his personal big picture, some will likely blame outside “villains,” and the internet and reporters as a whole are easy targets all lumped together, for costing a wrestler a mainstream job, since he was just trying to get heat.

While there was an internet petition sent to CNBC, said to have been sent by 1,200

different people, it was more being contacted by four reporters (including Alex Marvez), that those in WWE, and apparently Layfield, believe led to the CNBC decision to terminate him. This is what led to some internal sympathy for Layfield, not just from McMahon, which there wasn’t hours earlier. Layfield had just signed on with CNBC, after making his business name as a gimmick of the big cowboy wrestler doing stock tips on Fox News Network’s weekend business shows. He appeared a few times as a guest just to plug his book, but he was so good on his early appearances, that it led to hin becoming a regular character, even if some of the other financial experts on those show (most notably Wayne Rogers of MASH fame) seemed to go out of their way to try and make him look bad. CNBC had just recently raided him from FNN. While anything is possible, it would seem difficult for FNN to rehire a guy who they think they made and who left for a rival station, particularly with the nature of how he was let go.

Smackdown on 6/3 was the good ratings news that the company needed, although it appears it was the bikini contest and Undertaker that drew the number as opposed to the usual product.

The show did a 3.26 rating (3.70 realistic rating; est. 4.95 million viewers). The Lightning-Flames Stanley Cup game that went head-to-head did a 2.51 rating on

ABC.

Raw on 5/31 drew a scary 3.22 rating (3.03 first hour; 3.39 second hour; 4.00 million viewers).

The term on Michaels’ current contract expired on 6/6. However, there was an option year at the same pay rate (believed to be in the $750,000 per year range) and WWE told Michaels they were renewing him for one year

Van Dam’s contract is up on 6/27, but he has verbally agreed to a new multi-year deal. He has not signed it as of last word. There is really nowhere else for talent at that level to go with Japan hurting, plus guys who have had the taste of WWE really don’t like the idea of going back to Japan. The money is less and it’s physically harder and you don’t get nearly the audience response. Although Raven has done well on TNA & indies, and short term, Van Dam would as well, although he probably couldn’t even come close to his WWE earnings even short-term, long-term it’s far too big a risk to take with your career

James Dudley, who worked for Vince McMahon Sr., in his old Washington, DC Coliseum office dating back to the 50s and who was perhaps Sr.’s most loyal employee, passed away on 5/28 at the age of 93. Dudley was one of the few people that when Sr. sold the company to his son in 1982, he said always should be taken care of, similar to Freddie Blassie. Vince thought so much of him that they inducted him into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994, even though virtually no wrestling fans had ever heard of him. Dudley once remarked that if his own father or Sr. were in a position where he could only save one of their lives, he would save Sr. He worked in the office and was Sr.’s driver.

While he was billed as “manager extraordinaire” by Vince when he put him in the Hall of Fame, only the oldest fans with the best memories even remembered who he was. He briefly managed some African-American wrestlers in the 50s, most notably Bobo Brazil. Vince narrated the graphic that aired on Smackdown, mainly emphasizing Dudley’s loyalty to the company. It is doubtful the Dudley name for the current characters had anything to do with his name

Typical WWE story, in the sense that I hear it all the time when it comes to new wrestlers, as the company swerves them on time (telling them they have 8:00 and then in the ring cutting it to 4:00 on the fly) and opponents to see how they’ll react. Eric Mastrocola and Jean Fredric Clement are Jacques Rougeau’s two best students in his Montreal school. About three months ago, they were arranged to get a try-out dark match against each other at Raw on 5/31, so they had been working their match out regularly since that time. At 4 p.m., they were told things had changed and they wanted them to put over Hurricane & Rosey for Heat. On the show, Snow & Coach simply referred to them as Jack & John, and made fun of them not having last names

Gene Snisky, who is the big (6-4 to 6-6 depending on the source, about 280, apparently good physique) guy signed in the last batch of developmental contracts, was a former football player at the University of Missouri before being trained for wrestling at Afa’s school

June 21 st Observer -

Raw on 6/7 drew a 3.39 rating (3.17 first hour; 3.61 second hour; 4.08 million viewers).

We only have prelim data on the 6/14 Raw, which did a 3.6 rating. It’s the best rating since Rock’s surprise appearance. What it appears from prelim data is the show would have done a 3.6 had it gone the normal length, and that it was the Highlight Reel segment with HHH and Eugene, at a 4.2, which was the most watched part of the show. We should have complete details next week.

Smackdown on 6/10 drew a 3.00 rating (3.53 realistic rating; est. 4.55 million viewers).

Vince and Austin are still talking from time to time. It’s said to be highly unlikely he’ll return in the immediate future, as the feeling is Austin is in no hurry to come back. He’s focusing on acting right now and trying to open some doors in Hollywood for movie and TV work. Austin is being represented now by Barry Bloom. Bloom had heard indirectly (through Rick Steiner of all people), about the supposed Austin-Hogan offer from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates that we

reported on last week that the AWA was attempting to broker, but nobody had even opened discussions with him. That’s one of those crazy stories that nobody expects to ever happen, and even if the money came in, I’m guessing Hogan wouldn’t do it, because he’s turned down bigger money than that in Japan in recent years, and if Austin wanted to wrestle, he could build for a Mania match.

Austin and Hogan (and I believe Goldberg, although he was not yet confirmed at press time) are appearing together with many big celebrities, including Magic Johnson, Mary Lou Retton and Donald Trump for a guest appearances by a series of superstars show on 7/11 at the Anaheim Pond. Even though Austin and Goldberg are tight, both are free agents and have talked for years about doing a match that they would promote on their own, we’ve heard nothing about any plans in that direction, and Austin really isn’t looking to wrestle. Internally, the feeling in WWE is currently negative toward our idea of putting Austin on Smackdown for an immediate impact.

They seem to have the approach it’s better to work to get the existing talent over through long term planning, although it is well acknowledged the weakness in star power of the show and it appears most of the writing is week-to-week, although on Smackdown, what appear to be the recently changed angles based on what the Bash PPV card was at first, are for the better

Attorneys for Dale Gagner of the AWA responded to the WWE legal letters threatening suit if they don’t cease and desist from using the AWA and All-Star Wrestling names, since WWE believes they own the rights through purchasing the intellectual properties of Verne Gagne’s AWA. The Gagner attorneys response was to tell WWE they own rights to both names and for WWE to cease and desist using the AWA and All-Star Wrestling names and threaten legal action if they did. I can’t even recall WWE using the name, and I doubt they’d put out an AWA DVD just because it’s going back too many years. The AWA video library is valuable because it has tapes of a lot of people like Heenan, Hogan and Ventura, who are still well known

There is a lot of heat on Rikishi right now. First off, they asked him to lose weight

and he lost little if any. Then he hurt his ankle, which is why he hasn’t been

around. They wanted him to come back but he was still injured, but managed to

work a show for Afa in Allentown a few weeks ago, and you can imagine how that

went over, even though he actually didn’t do much in that match. Then,

afterwards, apparently without telling the office, he underwent nasal surgery to

help with his breathing in the ring, which will keep him out of action longer.

According to those close to him, he signed a great contract, with a downside far

more than you’d think for someone at his level. This works against him when he’s

hurt and they think he’s not coming back as soon as he can. The heat is bad

enough that it wouldn’t shock me to see him gone

Ultimate Warrior did an interesting multi-part interview with reader Daniel Flynn

last week. He mentioned his famous 1990 match with Hogan, and said they only

went over it one day, in an old building in Florida. Hellwig said most of the guys

used steroids, even people you would never imagine, just to keep up with the

lifestyle. He said when Hogan lied on Arsenio Hall in 1991, it caused a lot of

friction between Hogan and Vince (Vince never said it publicly, but I sensed that at

the time). Hogan would say that Vince, by really trying to clean up, was dealing

with it the wrong way. Hellwig said Vince was afraid he was going to go to jail at

the time.

He said the guys at the time were looking for ways to beat the tests, and were mad

that the bodybuilders in WBF at the time were getting guaranteed contracts (Vince

didn’t start giving wrestlers guaranteed contracts aside from Hogan and a few

others until 1996). I sure can recall numerous wrestlers complaining about going

out breaking their backs while Vince gave all this money to bodybuilders who just

stayed home and went to the gym. He said he hated the Papa Shango angle but

Vince had his mind set on it and he’d be on the road all worn down when he came

to TV, and just didn’t get it modified much

July 5th Observer - 

Linda McMahon’s mention of Bruno Sammartino at the investors conference, as one of the wrestlers from the past when they talked about signing older talent up, sounded strange. As it turned out, later that day, Jim Ross and Jerry McDevitt had a meeting with Sammartino and his attorney in Pittsburgh. 

The meeting went well enough that they’ll probably continue talking. Sammartino gets along with Ross better than anyone in the company, and his willingness to even take the meeting surprised a lot of people. Once, after the accident with Darrin Drozdov, Ross and Sammartino were on a news show on opposite sites of what the TV station (I forget the station) thought would be a hot debate, and while both stated their view, it didn’t degenerate like the TV show hoped as both were clearly respectful of the other, even though Sammartino was still very negative about the company. Sammartino, 68, and McDevitt had talked earlier in the year after depositions in Larry Zbyszko’s lawsuit against WWE about Sammartino coming to Wrestlemania and doing the Hall of Fame thing. 

Sammartino isn’t really into the Hall of Fame personally, as he believes he’s in a few real Halls of Fame for sports, and this one is bogus since they have some job guys and Vince Sr.’s limo driver in, so dangling that carrot in front of him meant nothing. However, the company recognizes the constant criticism of its Hall of Fame right now with Sammartino, Hogan and Bret Hart not in. The sides talked about releasing a Bruno DVD, his being involved with it, the 24/7 idea, and Bruno doing a new autobiography that they would promote. Bruno, like Hart, is said to be concerned at how it would look after all the years of being so negative toward Vince and hating the company and the business, to take a job with them.

Sammartino at the meeting expressed how strongly against steroid use he still was, and he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Vince personally, and was very negative about Hogan ever coming back. McDevitt and Ross did everything to placate Sammartino. McDevitt apparently even told Sammartino that Hogan was just a lucky guy who was in the right place with the right look with the right marketing behind him. Without the timing and push, nobody would have made it. And with the timing and push, many could have short-term success, and there isn’t one enduring legend of this business who became one without having a special ability to connect with the audience. The company must be somewhat confident they will make a deal, since Linda mentioned his name, and also because they put Sammartino in a TV commercial for the Bash PPV 

Van Dam signed a short-form contract extension while all the final issues in his long-term deal were being worked out. The contract has basically been agreed to, and Van Dam has publicly said it’s all but finalized 

Office morale was hardly up after the strong earnings report. The company’s strong profitability was partially through cutting back more than $21 million in administrative expenses and another $30 million in other expenses from last year. All departments were hit with major cutbacks, forcing fewer people to work more hours. And so much of the profit went directly to Vince’s pocket through the dividends (another $3.24 million this quarter) and to pay off the his private jet, although that is a company plane that transports all the major executives 

Bischoff is missing Raw this coming week because he’s trying to sell and put together a new reality show called “777” that his production company, Bischoff-Hervey (yes, that Hervey) entertainment are partnering with Scott Sternberg and Rick Hilton (Hervey is friends with the parents of Paris Hilton) on. The premise is they would take seven multi-millionaires, who would all put up $1 million in Las Vegas, compete in a bunch of different gambling encounters and the winner would get the $7 million pot. They are trying this week to sell it to a network. Bischoff, Hervey and Rick Hilton have already sold a show to NBC called “The good Life,” which would be a reality show starring Kathy Hilton, who is Paris’ mother. They are also looking for their seven multi-millionaires, who would risk $1 million as a way to become celebrities on network prime time 

Ultimo Dragon is still scheduled to return in the fall as was the original arrangement. I could easily see this falling through just because the company won’t push him and he’s got business interests in Japan

Rodney Mack is expected to be booked on some house shows over the next few weeks to check on his progress

Even though he has continued to talk about it in many interviews, there was never a $1.5 million offer by WWE to Rulon Gardner. Coming off the Olympics in 2000, Gerald Brisco spoke with Gardner about joining WWF. Gardner wanted to continue until the 2004 Olympics. His agent did propose the idea of him doing one PPV match, for huge money, and WWF passed, but Gardner never actually turned down an offer of any dollar figure, let alone a seven figure offer

The agents continue to do some double-crossing of sorts. On the 6/20 Fort Myers house show, Venis got in the ring for a match with Tomko. Instead, Palumbo was sent to the ring and was told he was going over, and they had to work the entire match out on the fly. The reason this is being done is to get guys used to working old-style without planned spots

WWE recently had an interview with a well respected soap opera writer about joining the writing team for a supposed $200,000 per year role doing among other things, keeping storyline continuity. It was the role that movie writer Paul Guay (a lifelong fan who wrote “Liar, Liar”) held for some time before quitting. The key to this was the writer was not only never a wrestling fan, but had no knowledge whatsoever of the product 

ESPN ran a front page article on 6/28 on Lesnar. It had a quote from Scot Studwell, the personnel director of the Vikings, the team he most wanted to play for, who came across negative about him. “As much as you’d like to take a shot on a guy like him because of his athletic history, do you do it at the expense of cutting another player? Probably not. At the expense of taking reps away from a promising young player? Probably not. With Brock, it’s like you’re starting from scratch.” Studwell said Lesnar’s chances of making it were less than 50%. Lesnar said he saw older wrestlers, Flair and Undertaker, and saw how much they missed their families, and didn’t want to wind up like them, plus he didn’t like the direction his character was going and said he couldn’t get any straight answers out of Vince. He said he blew up and quit after the South Africa tour. “I think Vince thought I’d change my mind and come back,” he said. “But it wasn’t going to happen.” The article said the feeling was Lesnar would have to spend two years on the practice squad and play NFL Europe to learn the game, and by then he’s 28 and they’re wondering if he’d be past his prime. 

The story made Lesnar come off like an asshole, as he talked about wanting to fight, and that he’d get into fights every day if it wouldn’t cost him money. It’s funny because I spoke with him years ago about doing MMA, and he said he wanted no part of fighting, that he was a wrestler. At the time, he also said being a pro wrestler was the greatest job in the world. He also talked about how much he hated gays 

6/14 Raw TV shoot in Dayton drew 8,000 and 6/15 Smackdown TV shoot in Chicago drew 6,600

6/20 Raw in Fort Myers drew 2,600 and $89,000. 6/25 Raw in Buffalo drew an estimated 3,000. 6/26 Raw in Madison Square Garden drew 8,624 paying $353,145. 6/27 Raw in Salisbury, MD, drew 2,200. 6/28 Raw TV shoot in Richmond drew an estimated 5,000. 6/28 Smackdown in Winston-Salem drew an estimated 2,000. 6/29 Smackdown TV taping in Fayetteville drew an estimated 3,700

Raw on 6/28 drew a 3.67 rating (3.37 first hour; 3.94 second hour). We don’t have the complete details, but it seems to answer the question as to whether it was people thinking Rock was going to run in during the final segment and Rock drawing the big number, or as the company wanted to believe, it was the HHH vs. Eugene dynamic that drew the number. The big losses from last week were among teenagers, and that’s the age group Rock’s returns are always strongest with, as teen males dropped from a 5.3 to 4.5 and teen girls from 2.3 to 1.5.

These are estimated number and we’ll have the actual numbers next week. Orton & Batista vs. Jericho & Edge gained 753,000 new viewers for the long match, although it should have been expected to gain about 600,000 given it was early in the show. The Kane interview in the ring and Divas search video lost 238,000 viewers, which is terrible for a usual growth period. HHH vs. Regal with Eugene as ref gained 609,000 viewers to a 3.94 rating, which is strong for the slot. La Resistance vs. Rhyno & Slaughter lost 38,000 viewers, which is very strong for the slot. The Benoit vs. Kane main event drew 504,000 viewers, which is a good main event showing, peaking at 4.32.

Smackdown on 6/24 drew 3.12 rating (3.55 realistic rating; est., 4.74 million viewers).

The show did a 4.1 in New York (so the new method of ratings is killing the New York rating, and the new method goes into effect in Los Angeles on 7/8 and Chicago soon after), 4.0 in Los Angeles, 2.6 in Chicago, 3.3 in Philadelphia 3.0 in SF, 3.2 in Boston, 5.7 in Dallas, 3.8 in DC, 2.5 in Detroit, 1.9 in Atlanta and 5.5 in Houston.

The good thing is that it was another week with a good ratings pattern, but started out weak at just 2.54. The cruiserweight Battle Royal gained 543,000 new viewers, but that’s probably more due to how weak the show started. Suzuki vs. Gunn gained 18,000 viewers. Guerrero vs. Reigns, with Angle interfering and JBL running in at the end gained 515,000 viewers. Van Dam vs. Dupree gained 109,000 viewers. The 22:00 Cena vs. Undertaker main event was a huge hit, gaining 592,000 viewers and peaking at 3,71 and 5.64 million viewers.

For the weekend of 6/26 and 6/27, Velocity drew a 0.47 rating, Experience drew 0.65, and Heat drew 0.65, which would be the lowest rating in the history of the show not against a Super Bowl game.

Great American Bash -

• Thumbs up 21 (08.0%)

• Thumbs down 205 (78.2%)

• In the middle 36 (13.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL

• Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero 151

• Eddy Guerrero vs. John Layfield 82

• Cena vs. Booker vs. RVD vs. Dupree 8

WORST MATCH POLL

• Billy Gunn vs. Kenzo Suzuki 79

• Torrie Wilson vs. Sable 77

• Undertaker vs. Dudleys 32

• Mordecai vs. Bob Holly 9

Goose stepping your way to the WWE title, and a storyline homicide were the themes of what was the worst WWE PPV show in a long time. One of the key reasons WWE business overall, even with popularity falling, looks nothing like WCW, is because WWE has maintained a large percentage of its PPV audience. The reason? Unlike with WCW at the end, WWE PPV shows consistently deliver. But a collection of matches, most of which had no storyline build-up, featuring talent that wasn’t ready for the PPV stage, led to a sad undercard. John Bradshaw Layfield became the most unlikely WWE champion, with the possible exception of Vince McMahon, in company history, by winning a bullrope match over Eddie Guerrero, ending a planned long-term reign that wound up lasting four months.

But the company can’t afford too many shows like the 6/27 Great American Bash at the Norfolk Scope Arena. The fact PPVs are starting to feel like WCW in its decline was evident with a disappointing crowd of 6,500 fans for first ever WWE PPV event at the Scope, with about 5,500 paying $320,000.

The major storyline the show was built around was would Paul Bearer be put to death to Paul Heyman, inside a magician like glass case that was supposedly to be filled with quick drying cement that would suffocate him. In a scene that was partially pre-taped, Heyman’s attempt to kill Bearer when Undertaker didn’t lay down for the Dudleys ended when a lightning bolt came out of nowhere, stopping Heyman in his tracks. Then, Undertaker “surprisingly” pulled the level and killed his long-time manager, for no apparent reason. What the purpose of all this was, other than an attempt to sell a weak PPV, is unknown. 

Bearer had just come back, and only been on television a few times, so there was little emotional tie with him and Undertaker, even though they had a longstanding tie in the past. Most felt this was done to turn Undertaker heel, but that is very much up in the air, and Undertaker at this point is still being booked as a babyface at house shows. Bearer, who signed a three-year contract in late 2003, when McMahon came up with the idea to bring back the old Undertaker, is expected to work at least the remainder of his contract off in a front office job. The reaction to the angle was strongly negative. In the building, fans were quiet for a main event that came off more like a religious (non) passion play than a pro wrestling match, worse because it was in the main event spot. Fans leaving the Scope were said to be quiet, reacting as if this was hardly what they wanted to see out of pro wrestling. The curiosity over the Undertaker character has slightly increased Smackdown ratings, and strongly in his quarter hours, but it’s not even certain where it ends.

There has been talk of putting Undertaker with Heyman as a full-fledged top heel, but even though that seemed the most logical direction, it’s also the least likely. There was heat between Undertaker and Heyman stemming from the period when Heyman was head writer of Smackdown and wanted to tone down Undertaker’s push and use him more to build newer characters. It is said Vince McMahon wanted Undertaker to be a tweener, who could work with anyone, figuring the fans would keep him babyface because it’ll take a lot of work to get them to boo him. Smackdown is so weak on star power and he’s considered by fans by far the biggest star, which makes it hard to be a heel, but the same thing can be said for HHH on Raw. 

There are three-ways with JBL vs. Guerrero vs. Undertaker booked. As things currently stand, plan for SummerSlam on the Smackdown side is JBL vs. Undertaker for the title, with Undertaker as a face, and Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle. Angle is already medically cleared to wrestle after resting his often injured neck, but the plan right now is to hold his return off until SummerSlam. Angle could also work against Cena, since that was his main rival as G.M., if Guerrero is put in the title mix. Working with Guerrero in a single would put a lot of pressure on Angle in what would likely be his first match back, because fans would be expecting a great match.

The title change to JBL was a relatively recent decision. It was McMahon’s decision, as much to get the belt off Guerrero, as there was the feeling it was time for a heel champion to be chased. While Guerrero is far more popular than JBL among most of the wrestlers, and the reaction we got was negative to the decision, from a box office standpoint it really doesn’t matter at this point. JBL’s character has been thought of strongly by McMahon from the start. Michael Hayes and Bruce Prichard were also said to be strong advocates of JBL as champion. JBL was helped greatly by the controversy, because putting the belt on him enabled Vince in his own mind to thumb his nose at his detractors and win what was really an imaginary fight. 

It was clear from the interview on Smackdown that Vince was seeing JBL, due to the controversy, as an extension of himself, being unfairly persecuted in his mind, and vowing the last laugh. The bullrope match saw both men touch three corners, and Guerrero apparently leap over JBL to touch the fourth, and he was announced as the winner and still champion. Angle came out and showed an instant replay, which showed JBL’s back hit the fourth corner before Guerrero’s hand, and the decision was reversed.

McMahon was not at the show, suffering from diverticulitis, a colon infection, that hospitalized him for a few days and didn’t allow him to travel. Billy Graham was suffering from it in March. It would have been the first PPV show in a decade he’d missed, but he was constantly on the phone during the show. Stephanie, Shane, HHH, Jim Ross and Kevin Dunn were all in various forms of charge in his absence.

Besides the final match being a travesty, the show was marred by four matches with almost no build-up until days before, thrown out, all of which were bad. The three consecutive matches with Billy Gunn vs. Kenzo Suzuki, Torrie Wilson vs. Sable and Bob Holly vs. Mordecai were as bad as any three straight matches on a WWE PPV in recent memory.

Paul Bearer was not actually inside the crypt, but instead they had someone dressed up like him. The close-up shots that aired on the screen were filmed earlier in the day. When Heyman pulled the level for the cement to come out the first time, there was a snafu in the building and no cement came out. However, on the screen, they used the pre-tape, which showed Bearer in a case filling up. The guy in the crypt was buried underneath the cement for a few seconds before they opened the door and all the cement poured open.

A. Spike Dudley pinned Jamie Noble in 4:13 with the Dudley dog. Fans were into this match as this started as a hot crowd. Both worked well given the time limitations.

The 1st match is a 4-way for the U.S. Title. U.S. Champion John Cena defending against Rob Van Dam, Rene Dupress & Booker T.

At Judgment Day, Cena defeated Duprée to retain the United States Championship. On the May 20th Smackdown. Duprée won by countout. On the May 27th Smackdown, Cena defeated Duprée in a lumberjack match to retain the title. On the June 3rd Smackdown, Cena confronted Booker T about his interference in the Lumberjack match the week before. As General Manager Kurt Angle told Cena to leave the arena, Booker T attacked Cena from behind and pushed him onto Angle. Angle claimed he was going to strip Cena of the United States Championship for doing that.

On the June 10th Smackdown, Cena faced Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Duprée, respectively, in one-on-one matches with a 5 minute time limit. The man to defeat Cena would become the #1 contender to the United States title at The Great American Bash. Cena, ended up winning all three matches & since no man was able to defeat him within the time limit, Kurt Angle booked Cena in a Fatal Four-Way match for the title at The Great American Bash. On the June 17th Smackdown, Angle changed the match to an elimination match 

John Cena won the four-way to keep the U.S. title over Rene Dupree, Booker T and Rob Van Dam in 15:52. Cena, in his rap, brought up “G.I. Bro,” which was Booker’s first ring name and a name he used briefly in WCW when nobody was watching. It appeared that remark was over the head of the crowd. He also talked about Norfolk, a Navy city, saying Dupree was overly excited when he’s surrounded by seamen. Van Dam was running wild, hitting a frog splash on Dupree, and another on Booker. 

Cena then pinned Van Dam in 8:19 with a schoolboy. This put Cena as the face in jeopardy as they got heat on him. Cena used the FU on Dupree and Booker hit Cena with an ax kick, but went to pin Dupree instead of Cena in 11:17. Cena’s forearm was all bandaged and it started bleeding. Booker missed an ax kick and Cena pinned him after the FU. Nothing wrong with the match, but Cena in the ring was clearly not at the level of the other three. I think they’d have wanted more out of this bout. **

Cena was hitting on Jackie to a degree, right in front of Charlie Haas, who was doing the same. Haas was already suited up when Angle told him he had to face Luther Reigns immediately.

Luther Reigns pinned Charlie Haas in 7:11. Angle was at ringside for the match. Reigns looked bad. It’s a broken record, but he needed to have spent months talking before being put in the ring, because the in-ring is never going to be his thing. He won with a move that starts as a reverse DDT and ends as a neckbreaker. They badly need to give catchy names to these new guys’ finishers. *

JBL says he’ll win the title tonight. It’s a Texas Bullrope match tonight, which means the four corners kind. He says tonight is his vindication and he’s awesome. 

Rey Mysterio retained the cruiserweight title over Chavo Guerrero in 19:40. They did reference Chavo Classic. Mysterio took a very believable looking spill that looked to have hurt his left knee. He sold it the rest of the way. Very psychologically sound and from a technical standpoint this was easily the best thing on the show. I just don’t think people want cruiserweights to wrestle like small heavyweights. Mysterio kicked out of a Gori bomb, and came back with an enzuigiri and 619. Guerrero did a half crab working on the leg, then went for another Gori bomb, but Mysterio reversed it into an infared for the pin. ***1/4

Torrie is in the hot tub with various Cruiserweights who say they would have won had they been in there. Torrie stands up in her flag bikini and leaves. Funaki says “God bless America.” 

Kenzo Suzuki pinned Billy Gunn in 8:06 with a low blow and another move that started like a reverse DDT, but dropping high on Gunn’s back on his knee like a backbreaker. Crowd was dead. The show started falling apart here. Suzuki’s push is that he’s a personal project of John Laurinaitis, who saw something in him that nobody else sees. Can you believe that, having never seen him wrestle (even though plenty of tapes of him were available), that this guy was booked to headline all summer against Chris Benoit before it was dropped because his planned gimmick was recognized as a bad idea. -*

Sable and Torrie teamed together at WrestleMania 20 and defeated Raw Divas, Miss Jackie & Stacy Keibler, but when Torrie was featured on the cover of Smackdown magazine, Sable turned heel by displaying jealousy over Torrie's cover and berating her in a backstage segment, leading to a brawl between them. Because of this, it was announced that Sable and Torrie would face each other at The Great American Bash 

Sable pinned Torrie Wilson in 6:06. Only thing entertaining here was when Michael Cole talked about how the crowd was chanting for Torrie, and if you looked at the crowd, they were dead. The two knocked heads, and that looked good. Sable was selling like she was knocked out. Problem is, they’ve done this spot far too many times. You could see nobody buying it. Wilson wouldn’t press the advantage. Sable then woke up and used a schoolgirl and turned Wilson over so far that one shoulder was nowhere near down and the other may not have been done either. It was so bad Cole and Tazz had to say how ref Charles Robinson counted when her shoulders weren’t down. I thought the refs were instructed to call a match as if it was a shoot. I guess with these two in there, he didn’t trust to not follow the original plan and force them to improvise. -*

Dawn Marie is in a flag bikini and talks to Rene Dupree who says he got cheated. He’s going to protest Cena’s title reign. He hits on Dawn and offers to show her his French Tickler. He starts dancing and the FBI shows up 

Mordecai pinned Bob Holly in 6:31 with the razor’s edge, which at least has a name and people popped for the finish. They made a big mistake having Mordecai sell so much, because it went from the powerful squash it needed to be to a boring match that hurt the guy who won. Holly was making the new guy pay with hard clotheslines, which is well and good, but that’s not how you elevate a newcomer being geared for Undertaker and Guerrero. After this match, maybe they’ll have second thoughts. ½*

They show a recap of Eddie vs. JBL. At Judgment Day both guys were gushing blood. Tonight it’s a bullrope match, where you have to touch all four corners. JBL says Eddie got disqualified intentionally at Judgment Day, so here Eddie can’t run or hide. 

The next match is the main event, the much beloved WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero defending the title against JBL, in a rematch from Judgment Day.

At Judgement Day 2004, JBL defeated Guerrero by DQ, after Guerrero hit JBL with the WWE Championship belt. On the May 27th Smackdown, GM Kurt Angle announced that JBL was the #1 contender to the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash, and that JBL was allowed to choose the stipulation for the match.On the June 3rd Smackdown, JBL announced that his match against Guerrero would be a Texas Bullrope Match

A very unusual gimmick match for the WWE. Talk about the decision & idea to make this a Texas Bullrope Match

John Bradshaw Layfield won the WWE title from Eddie Guerrero in 21:06 in a bullrope match. The rules were you had to touch all four corners and they had lights, one for each guy, when you touched a corner, which was a new touch. No pinfalls or submissions. As someone who saw tons of bullrope matches involving Dusty Rhodes and others, it’s not the easiest match to work and they did a good job. This wasn’t as good as the Los Angeles match. There was good strategy such as guys hooking themselves to the ropes so they couldn’t be tugged to new corners. Cole called Guerrero’s car wrong, prompting Tazz to say that he didn’t know his wrestling or his cars. JBL bled after a chair shot, in basically the same scene as their first PPV match. 

Guerrero rocked him with a second chair shot. Guerrero used three vertical suplexes and a frog splash, but Bradshaw rolled out of the ring before Guerrero could touch for fourth corner. JBL threw Guerrero off the middle rope and onto the Spanish announcers table, and the table didn’t break, which had to jar the hell out of Guerrero. JBL then power bombed him through the table. Match ended with your classic bullrope match finish, as both guys touched three corners and were struggling for No. 4. Guerrero leaped over JBL to win, which is the classic face finish, and was announced as the winner, until Angle reversed it. When fans realized Guerrero lost the title, he got a hell of a reaction out of appreciation. ***1/4

Why was Eddie's title reign cut short here?

The next match is the final match of the show, Undertaker in a handicap match against the Dudleys.

On the May 27th Smackdown, Paul Heyman told The Dudley Boyz to "make an impact". The Dudley Boyz responded by abducting Paul Bearer . On the June 3rd Smackdown, Heyman told The Undertaker that the only way he would ever see Bearer again, was to align himself with The Dudley Boyz. On the June 17th Smackdown, a handicap match between The Dudley Boyz and The Undertaker was announced for The Great American Bash, with the stipulation being if The Undertaker won, Bearer would be buried in a glass crypt with cement 

Undertaker beat The Dudleys in 14:42. Remember “The Dudley” gimmick to push them as singles? Yeah, in another month, nobody else will have either. Bubba taunted Undertaker, telling him to lay down and be pinned. He laid down, but then snatched D-Von and started fighting. The match consisted of Heyman pulling the lever whenever he was mad at Undertaker, who was supposed to lay down. 

Bearer kept saying that Undertaker would never let him die, and became so obnoxious about it that people would have half wanted him gone, if they cared. This was just dying as if felt like people just didn’t want wrestling to turn into this and they didn’t have their finger on the pulse. 

D-Von used a low blow, but Undertaker sat up. Paul Heyman pulled out the urn to control Undertaker, but instead, he choke slammed Bubba and pinned D-Von after a tombstone. Heyman vowed to flip the switch for good, when lightning struck him down. Undertaker paused in front of the switch, and then pulled it. A major flop of a main event. *

How would you rebook the Great American Bash if you could, or would you leave it as it was?