STW - Great American Bash 2005 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Great American Bash 2005

The last PPV that had anything to do with Smackdown was ECW’s One Night Stand 2005. The Smackdown/Raw rosters were sat in a balcony to watch the action until the end of the night brawl. During this brawl JBL “shot on” The Blue Meanie opening up a cut he had gotten a few days before from an errant Sandman cane shot.

Long time listeners know you weren’t at One Night Stand but what was the immediate fallout of JBL and Meanie’s situation at ONS?

Meanie cut an online promo at the time that he was going to take legal action. Was that why Meanie ended up coming back for a short cup of coffee?

Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy & Psychosis debut on “WWE” TV after Crazy & Psychosis had worked One Night Stand. Guerrera defeats Funaki (INDEED) and Crazy & Psychosis defeat Akio & Billy Kidman all taped for Velocity.

First thing’s first - your experiences with getting all 3 into the company.
Second thing’s first - Mexicools? No way you could use that gimmick today but were any of them brought in with any chance of getting over?
Third thing’s first - With the debut on Velocity they were all positioned to be an underneath gimmick right?

On Smackdown 6/14/05 it features Benoit defeating Doug Basham but JBL & his cabinet attack Benoit until Undertaker makes the save.

Chris Benoit & Undertaker as a tag team… 

Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio’s feud continues.

Who was entertained by questioning if Eddie was Dominic’s real dad...and when will anyone question if Rey is Dominic’s father now that he’s double the size of him?

Randy Orton debuts on Smackdown after being picked in the draft lottery and attacks Undertaker to help JBL defeat him in a No DQ match.

Natural marriage between Orton & Undertaker correct?

Mark Jindrak is working the house shows putting over the likes of Matt Morgan.

Where did Mark Jindrak go wrong?

Matt Hardy’s music played during an episode of Raw while Edge is in the ring.

At what point did the shoot of Matt Hardy become the work of coming back?

The Diva Search returns.

Whyyyyy?

A european tour begins with Steve Austin as special guest referee (a tour that draws almost sellouts the whole tour) with John Cena on top facing JBL and Kurt Angle. After the bout Austin stuns Cena before handing him a beer.

Was it important to let Austin get his heat on Cena when he was normally hitting Stunners on Angle before the finish?

Vince supposedly announces at the Ireland show that “this is where the McMahon legacy begins.”

How important is that legacy to Vince?

CM Punk signs with WWE and Samoa Joe signs with TNA.

Why Punk and not Joe at this point?

Smackdown on 6/30/05 was taped after Raw was live where Cena, Michaels & Hogan team up in the main event.

This is the beginning of the Hulk Hogan & Shawn Michaels program. Even though it had nothing to do with Great American Bash...how much was this a political nightmare for Vince to navigate?

John Cena had been drafted to Raw while he was WWE Champion on SmackDown and Batista didn’t move over to SmackDown until after he defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match at Vengenance.

Why the hold to move Cena for that long before moving Batista after his win over Triple H?

John Bradshaw Layfield defeated the Undertaker, Chris Benoit, Booker T, Christian, and Muhammad Hassan in an elimination match at around the 33-minute mark; Taker was disqualified at 8:43 after hitting Hassan with a steel chair; Hassan was counted-out; JBL pinned Benoit with a DDT at around the 18:45 mark; Christian pinned Booker with a roll up at around the 32-minute mark; JBL pinned Christian with the Clothesline from Hell; stipulations stated the winner would become the new world champion on Smackdown!; moments later, Teddy Long came out and said JBL couldn't be the new champion because Smackdown! had just drafted its new world champion; he then introduced World Heavyweight Champion Batista; JBL was then named the #1 contender (Batista's surprise return to Smackdown! after a 3-year absence)

How much of an impact was Batista expected to have on the Smackdown brand? How important were the fresh match-ups with Batista?

WWE goes on an Asian tour to South Korea & Japan until returning to the states.

Did you ever go to South Korea and what are your favorite stories of traveling to Asia?

Smackdown was taped again after a Raw episode due to the tour.

How draining were these tapings for everyone at the time?

The Blue Meanie PINS JBL in a No DQ match when Stevie Richards hits JBL with a hard chair shot as a receipt and Batista attacks JBL and hits a spinebuster.

Why the bWo here? You have Stevie & Nova so why not just add Meanie and make it a thing and give him a job for a few weeks and give Stevie the receipt and the Meanie the pin and all the “legal trouble” goes away right?

The Mexicools attack William Regal.

Odd first pairing for the Mexicools.

The Undertaker pins Daivari but is attacked by a bunch of hooded men who choke him out with piano wire.

Figure Four Weekly 7/18/05

“The Hassan deal (more in the Smackdown section) actually made international headlines with a story in Variety that got picked up all over the place.  They had comments from Gary Davis, who must have no mirrors in his house because I cannot fathom him being able to look into them on a daily basis (not that this doesn’t apply to many people in this business), who said:  “We all feel bad about the timing of the segment.”  Uh huh.  So bad that you aired it anyway despite having plenty of time to edit it, then sent the tape unedited to the UK, then put it up on the front page of the website even after all the controversy on Friday.  The article said Davis “said the show wasn’t attempting to depict a terrorist attack — although he said he understood how some viewers might construe it as such.”  Wow, what a fool I am.  I could have sworn that when Hassan told Daivari he would become “a martyr” for “the cause”, and when the masked men spreading terror came out and choked Undertaker with the same sort of piano wire that is used to behead people, and when Daivari was paraded around afterwards like he’d been gunned down in the streets of Baghdad, that this was meant to recreate a terrorist attack.  What a dipshit I turned out to be.  “People will see what happens this week (as the storyline) gets straightened out,” he concluded.  Or not.  We learned just before going to press that whatever WWE had planned for him (and there were major plans) won’t be happening because UPN, upset with what went down, told WWE they didn’t want Hassan appearing on the show this week at all.  Never a good idea to piss off your network to the point where they make creative changes to your program.  Vince is lucky that’s all they did.  So far.”

How insane does this angle look in hindsight? How hard would it had been to not air the angle and cut it directly?

WWE releases a total of 19 people:

-The Dudley Boyz (Bubba, D-Von & Spike)
-Joy Giovanni
-Kenzo Suzuki & Hiroko
-Matt Morgan
-Charlie Haas & Jackie Gayda
-Marty Jannetty
-Dawn Marie
-Mark Jindrak
-Maven
-Kidman
-Shannon Moore
-Akio
-Gangrel
-Kevin Fertig

Thoughts on all and why they were released?

Jim Cornette is also released.

Figure Four Weekly 7/18/05

“Jim Cornette was released from his role as head booker of WWE’s developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling after an incident where he blew his top and slapped a trainee multiple times... It started with the debut of Marty Wright, the huge black guy from Tough Enough that was cut because WWE, in the legendary words of John Lauranitis, doesn’t like liars.  He was a 40-year-old who claimed he was 30, looked 30, and outperformed all of the competitors that really were 30.  But he LIED about his age, so they cut him.  Soon afterwards, they realized the absurdity of this, signed him and sent him to Ohio Valley.  The word we got was that in terms of his in-ring, he was nowhere near ready, but his persona was out of this world and he could cut awesome promos.  In fact, we were told that he either did the most believe insanity gimmick in all of history or he really was insane. 

WWE took out a trademark on The Boogeyman, gave the name to him, and he was set to debut on OVW TV last Wednesday.  Jim Cornette built him up like crazy, saying he was axed from Smackdown because he was a dangerous criminal with a record (not true) and a pathological liar (perhaps true, though that might serve him well in this business).  A bunch of trainees presumably from the “Goof Class” (beginner class) were told to sit in the front row as plants and act terrified when he came out.  One of them was a man named Johnny Geo Basco. 

So Boogey Man came out, and instead of acting scared, Johnny Geo Basco took one look at him and started laughing hysterically.  I should note that while I have not see this on TV yet, I am told that Boogey, perhaps in an unplanned moment, came out with ANTLERS on his head.  Perhaps Basco had no idea this was going to happen and really was in hysterics at the site of this terrifying man coming to the ring wearing antlers. 

Regardless, he laughed, and Cornette was outraged.  He confronted Basco backstage and Basco intimated that he didn’t feel he’d done anything wrong.  Cornette went nuts and slapped him at least a dozen times, right in front of everyone.  I don’t think I talked to one person who thought his actions were justified.  Basco called the office to issue a complaint and the rest is history.”

Johnny Geo Basco would later become...Santino Marella. Was this just a powder keg waiting to happen with Cornette?

Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon meet.

What was this meeting about?

Writer Larry Mollin finishes up.

Remember him?

Smackdown on 7/14/05 features Road Warrior Animal returning to save John Heidenreich from an attack by MNM.

Was this an idea Vince had or someone else to make another LOD/Road Warriors...and why Heidenreich?

During this time WWE is running house shows that are drawing between 1500-2000 people in smaller size arenas.

Were these events run just to get the guys ring time as there can’t be profit in a show at that size?

SmackDown on 7/21/05 was scheduled to have MNM face Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten in a dark match but Rotten wasn’t cleared by the Maryland state athletic commission.

First off how dumb is it that states have athletic commissions patrolling pro wrestling and second what was wrong with Axl and what happened here?

Earl Hebner is fired for allegedly selling company merchandise without company permission.

Is that everything about Hebner or was it also about getting out of his half a million dollar contract he had at the time?

Supposedly Mohammad Hassan is banned by UPN as a character.

How does this happen and how does it get conveyed to the company?

WWE is in talks with Matt Striker after the story of Matt Striker taking sick time as a teacher to work wrestling matches.

What about the Matt Striker story got WWE interested?

Lord Alfred Hayes passes away at 70.

Favorite memories of Hayes?

Great American Bash 2005 - recap from Bryan Alvarez

1.  MNM vs. Heidenreich & Animal for the Tag Team Titles.  Yup, this was the opener.  Might as well get it out of the way early.  I expected Heidenreich to come out with the spiked shoulder pads and face paint, but surprisingly he didn’t.  Apparently Animal dedicated this match to Hawk.  Why would he be so foolish?  MNM had the phattest new phur coats ever this week.  I’m not sure where they got this lame LOD music rip-off, but God it was awful.  Animal’s gut was huge and he was far from being in shape, but he was still strong enough to reverse a double suplex attempt by the bad guys and get both of them over just fine.  MNM got the heat on Heidenreich and worked him over as the fans chanted “LOD!”  John’s selling was comical.  He did a lot of roaring and screamed “OW!” and “SHIT!”  Animal finally got the hot tag and ran wild.  He was trying to fly around, and at his size, it totally didn’t work.  Nitro hit him with a belt shot behind the ref’s back, but he kicked out.  MNM went for the snapshot but Heidenreich broke it up, then the good guys hit the doomsday device for the pin.  Read that sentence again.  Crowd chanted “LOD!”  The announcers were trying to put it over as win for Hawk.  “Hawk,” Animal said, “this one was for you, brother!”  Well, it was a nice gesture, but still, I’m shaking my head.  (*)

Was this just a waste of MNM talents at this point?

2.  Booker T vs. Christian.  Sharmell was out there backing her MAN~!  Cole spent the first five minutes giving stats about both guys.  I think the idea is that they figure this will make it look like Cole has a clue, but he comes across like he’s reading it off a paper prepared for him (which he is, of course), and thus in some ways he comes off as having even less of a clue.  I guess maybe if he retains some of this knowledge he’ll be better off for it.  This was your basic Smackdown top-of-the-hour match.  Christian got the heat and utilized the Randy Orton cranking headlock.  Booker made his big comeback and ran wild.  Half the crowd booed when he signaled for the spinerooni and the announcers noted that there were a lot of Peeps in the crowd.  Christian got several nearfalls using the ropes and such, and every time Booker kicked out they booed.  It wasn’t overwhelming, though, as Booker did have his fans.  So anyway, all of a sudden Booker T hit the axe kick off the top, and I thought, “Jeez, that’s an awfully big move for Christian to kick out of,” but then all of a sudden the ref counted three and Christian HAD NOT KICKED OUT.  HE LOST.  Who the fuck is booking this show?  We’re two-for-two in completely incomprehensible finishes.  (**1/4)

Odd finish I don’t disagree but why that as a finish?

3.  Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan for the US Title.  Well, if the rest of this show is any indication, Benoit is losing for sure and I will kill myself.  Benoit has had a huge bandage on the back of his neck for like two weeks now, and someone at a house show said it looked like something had been scooped out of his neck.  Not sure what the deal was.  Anyway, it fell off really early here and sure enough, there was a hole in his neck.  YUCK!  Benoit beat this young man nearly senseless.  He did everything he could, but Orlando sucks.  All I could thing was, “This man is US Champion – WHY?”  No one could give me a good answer.  And I’m not talking about just the guys in the room with me.  I’m talking about in THE WORLD.  Cole pointed out that the spinning neckbreaker works on the neck.  Benoit hit a big superplex that caused everyone in the room with me to scream, then made his big comeback.  He hit the rolling Germans and the headbutt but ORLANDO JORDAN KICKED OUT OF THESE MOVES.  Come on, dude.  Seriously.  Orlando undid a corner pad and Benoit bonked into it, leading to the pin.  ORLANDO JORDAN PINNED CHRIS FUCKING BENOIT.  I cannot believe what I have seen so far.  Let’s go over the results:  Animal & Heidenfuckingreich beat MNM, Booker T beat Christian and Orlando Jordan beat Chris Benoit.  Check out this week’s Figure Four Flashback regarding how shitty last year’s Bash was.  Someone really has a grudge against WCW, even in 2005 when it’s long since dead and buried and WWE owns all the assets.  Fucking idiot dipshit moron stupid ass motherfucking bookers.  (**)

Yeahhhhh. Hard to defend here.

4.  Undertaker vs. Mohammad Hassan.  Well, at least we know there will be no surprises here.  Hassan was taken to the ring on a cart-type-deal carried by the TERRORISTS.  He cut a promo saying that he’d vowed that if he didn’t beat Undertaker tonight, he’d never return to Smackdown again.  I cheered.  Undertaker beat him up for a long time, even stealing Hassan’s downward spiral finisher.  However, even though they’re writing the Hassan character off TV, they still allowed him to get the heat for awhile.  WHY?  Not only that, one of the “sympathizers” outside choked Taker out with piano wire.  Nice, one more hearty “FUCK YOU!” from Vince McMahon to all of you in the UK, who watched this live.  Taker ended up making his own comeback and getting the pin clean with the chokeslam.  All the sympathizers hit the ring afterwards and attacked Taker, but he made his own one-man comeback again and killed them one-by-one.  First guy got a chair to the throat, second guy a chokeslam on the floor, third guy got tossed into the announcers’ table, fourth guy got booted, Daivari got snapmared outside, and the fifth guy got tombstoned.  Tazz insisted that was Piano Wire Guy, despite the fact that all the guys wore the same masks and outfits and looked identical.  Taker then went outside and threw Daivari head-first through the side of the announce table.  Hassan tried to crawl up the ramp, but Taker caught him and gave him a chokeslam on the ramp.  Let it be know for the record that Hassan pussed out on his final real bump ever and it looked lame.  Taker then opened a hole in the stage and powerbombed him into it, likely onto a stack of safety mats.  They gave them thirty seconds to move all the crash pads, then panned down and showed him lying flat on his back on the cement.  And that was the end of Mohammad Hassan.  (**1/4)

Had to be done right?

5.  BWO vs. Mexicools.  BWO came out on BIG WHEELS.  Ok, that was funny.  Apparently, Hollywood Nova and Simon Dean are completely different people in WWE Land.  If the show-long trend is any indication, Mexicools will be losing this match.  Perhaps you’re saying, well, Undertaker beat Hassan.  That doesn’t count.  They’re writing the character off TV, so he had to lose, and in fact, before he was being written out the plan was for him to win.  Mexicools vs. the Three Cartoons just did not work.  Simon Dean worked the whole match until Stevie got the hot tag.  Juvie missed a plancha and was selling his right knee.  Don’t know if that’s good or bad.  The guys in Mexico do work on the right instead of the left.  Meanie never even got in the ring before Juvie pinned Stevie with the Tijuana jam.  A nothing match, really, but at least the right team won.  (*1/4)

The end of BWO. Over with Meanie here and giving the actual team signed here a win.

6.  Rey vs. Eddy.  Very fast-paced match early.  Some light “LET’S GO EDDY!” chants.  Eddy got crotched on the top rope and did the goofiest sell-job ever.  Dominick was sitting at ringside looking profoundly concerned.  Eddy went for a crucifix powerbomb but Rey turned it into a frankensteiner, then hit the 619 and the springboard silla for an awesome nearfall.  Eddy went outside and used Dominick as a human shield.  “He’s a friggin’ ASSHOLE!” Tazz screamed.  OH~!  Eddy pummeled him forever.  They were working their asses off and seemed to have made the conscious decision to do way more highspots.  Rey hit a tornado DDT and made his big comeback.  He hit the 619 but missed the springboard legdrop.  Eddy hit the three suplexes, glared at Dominick, then hit a big brainbuster.  Rey, dead, laid there and ate the frog splash.  Eddy pointed to Dominick, sneered, and laid across him for the pin.  Rey, however, crucifixed him and got the pin himself.  Cool finish.  Don’t worry, kids, you’re still gonna hear the secret.  After all, Eddy’s gimmick is that he LIES.  (****)

It’s so weird to see Dominik 15 years later. Both of these guys are so fucking good.

7.  Torrie vs. Melina in a bra and panties match with Candace Michelle as referee.  Cole said Candace was the first referee ever to officiate with a garter belt on.  Well, we don’t know what Earl Hebner wore under those pants.  Torrie was wearing the pink spandex pants that first caused me to fall in love with her back in WCW.  They tried to have a wrestling match.  It was something else.  Torrie stripped her top off but then got shoved outside when she went for the bottoms. No joke, Torrie took a HELL of a bump to the outside.  Melina then got her shirt off, so they were “tied”.  Crowd wanted puppies.  Well, about nine of them.  Match was WAY better than it had any right to be, and Torrie in particular was working her ass off.  Well, her hubby did just get fired and she isn’t exactly a regular character these days.  And then I learned the other reason – she was booked to lose.  Of course, after the match, Candace stripped Melina down and celebrated with Torrie.  Then SHE stripped down and everyone said YAY.  Those are some hot mamas, but I really have no desire to see Candace vs. Melina at the PPV.

Yup. Roll tide. Moving along.

8.  Big Dave vs. JBL for the World Title.  JBL came to the ring in a motorcade with millions of pounds of confetti falling from the ceiling.  There were 31 minutes of PPV time left.  “That is inconceivable,” Vince said.  Word.  Luckily, after ring intros, they were down to 18-20 minutes left.  Batista hit him with a forearm so hard early that sweat flew off Big Dave’s back.  Batista pounded on him for a long time early.  Clearly JBL doesn’t know how to work; everyone knows the way to have a match with Big Dave is to make him sell for 90% of it.  JBL finally threw him shoulder-first into the post and went to town.  No heat for the match since it was, you know, Bradshaw vs. Big Dave.  A lot of nothing including a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG sleeper spot.  This was like the longest sleeper spot in WWE history.  Dave finally fought free and hit a big back suplex.  Crowd, however, was still sleeping.  Then they woke up, and they were grumpy.  You know, after a show this bad, a great main event was needed, and this was not that great main event.  Dave SNAPPED and beat on him in the crowd.  Tazz said the ref was allowing a lot of leeway because he knew what was at stake.  Yup, DQ’s a comin.  Ref took a bump and Orlando walloped Dave with a chairshot to the back.  Ref woke up but Dave kicked out.  “This is a no-win situation,” Craig noted, “since the winner has to wrestle Undertaker.”  He’s got a point there.  JBL hit the clothesline from hell but the ref was busy trying to get his earpiece back in.  Really.  Crowd was comatose.  Orlando hit the ring again and got backdropped outside. My God, end this already.  Batista hit the sidewalk slam.  Then Orlando hit the ring AGAIN.  He had a chair, but Dave confiscated it and hit both guys, and of course the ref woke up right then for the DQ.  What a poetic ending to this shitfest.  Dave destroyed both men with chairshots afterwards.  Thanks for coming, please drive safely.  (**)

Weak finish for a PPV main event don’t you think?