Great American Bash 2004 Review

I never actually watched this ppv but am well aware of the horror stories and how "this is the worst ppv of all time". I had pretty much sworn off the product full time post Mania 20 and only recently started buying old ppvs again, just for the sake of having them. I snagged this vhs copy off eBay for $3 so I don't think I lost out too badly. It's June 27th 2004 and we are live from Norfolk VA with the Smackdown brand, Cole and Tazz on commentary. The previous Smackdown show, Judgement Day 2004 was pretty sucky let's see how much worse this one is.


Match #1

Fatal Four Way United States Championship Match

John Cena Vs Booker T Vs Rob Van Dam Vs Rene Dupree


Cena fights with Dupree and RVD fights Booker. RVD brawls out with Booker T. Dupree knocks down Cena and gets a seated dropkick for 2. Cena comes back with an atomic drop, but Dupree dumps him. Booker and RVD are just standing outside acting like they are just seconding one of the two guys in the ring. Booker tosses RVD into the ring, and Dupree goes to a chinlock. Rob fights out and kicks him out of the corner, then goofs a moonsault attempt and repeats the spot, for 2. Spinkick and Rolling Thunder get 2. Now Cena and Booker are just standing around. Rob catapults Dupree out of the ring, and follows with a somersault plancha and takes out both Cena and Dupree. Rob tosses Cena back in for 2. Majastral cradle gets 2. Cena reverses for 2. Rob stops to argue with Booker and tosses him in, and Cena rolls him up for 2. Cena follows with an elbow on Booker for 2. Bodyslam for 2. Cena tosses Dupree into the ring, as Booker hammers away, but runs into a powerslam. Booker slams Dupree, and RVD takes to opportunity to hit the five star frogsplash. Cena tries to go up, but Rob knocks him down and then he gives Booker a star splash. Before RVD can recover Cena rolls him up to eliminate him. Booker blindsides Cena on the outside, and the heels work him over. Dupree and Booker fight over who gets the pin, however, allowing Cena to clothesline both of them and make the comeback. He backdrops Dupree and hits Booker with the throwback, and then Dupree with the F-U, but Booker smacks Cena then gets the pin on Dupree. Booker pounds away on Cena and gets a sideslam for 2. Cena fights out of a chinlock and makes the comeback. Five Knuckle Shuffle gets 2. Booker gets the brisco rollup out of the corner for 2. Sidekick sets up the axe kick, but it misses and the F-U finishes at 15:52. Alright opener. 2 1/2 stars.


Match #2

Singles Match

Charlie Haas w Jackie Gayda Vs Luther Reigns w Kurt Angle


Luther wheels out Angle in his wheelchair to watch at ringside. Haas tries to take him by the leg to start, but Reigns makes the ropes. Reigns beats him down in the corner and Haas rolls him up for 2, so Reigns boots him down and stomps away. Reigns whips him into the corner and gets a backbreaker for 2. Haas comes back with a phantom dropkick, but gets thrown outside. Back inside Reigns press slams him for 2. Crowd doesn't care. Reigns with a half crab. Haas comes back with a rollup for 2, but gets clotheslined down again. Reigns misses a charge, and Haas comes back with an exploder suplex for 2. Haas gets a german suplex for 2. Blind charge misses and Reigns finishes with a test drive at 7:11. 1 star.


Match #3

Cruiserweight Championship Match

Rey Mysterio Vs Chavo Guerrero


If there is any match worth a **** on this ppv it's this one. Not for the title, that IS **** at this point but these two always worked well together. Chavo with a takedown, and Rey gets a rollup for 2. Chavo gets a sunset flip for 2. They mouth off to eachother and Chavo takes him down for an armbar, but Rey flips out of it and gets his own. A moonsault attempt is caught by Chavo, but Rey takes him down with another rollup for 2. Stalemate. Chavo pounds him down, but misses a dropkick and Rey answers with his own. Rey goes to work on the arm, but Chavo dropkicks him off the apron and to the floor. Now Chavo goes after the knee, wrapping the knee around the post and following with a kneecrusher into a half crab. Rey counters with a bulldog, and fights back. The knee gives way and Chavo goes back to it again. Suplex gets 2. Rey up and Chavo kicks the knee out, as Rey does the Curt Hennig flip. Rey brings Chavo out of the corner with a rana, but the knee gives way again and Chavo suplexes him into the corner and hangs him in the tree of woe. Rey dodges a charge and Chavo bails, allowing Rey to follow with a buttdrop off the top to the floor. Back to the apron, Chavo hammers away and tries to bring Rey into position for a superplex onto the tables, but they both crash to the mat instead. Chavo gets 2, but Rey reverses for 2. Chavo a slingshot, but Rey blocks and fights back with a crossbody. Legsweep gets 2. Rey goes up but the knee gives out again, so he gets a bombs away for 2 instead. They slug it out and Chavo gets the gory bomb for 2. Chavo stomps on the arm and goes back to the leg again, but Rey comes back with an enzuigiri and the 619. West Coast Pop is blocked with a crab, however. Rey fights his way over and forces the break. Chavo tries another gory bomb, but Rey wriggles free into a sunset flip pin at 19:40. 3 stars. This pretty much disqualifies THIS ppv from worst show ever.


Match #4

Singles Match

Billy Gunn Vs Kenzo Suzuki w Hiroko


Punchout to start. Suzuki misses a kneedrop and Gunn gets a fisherman’s suplex for 2. Neckbreaker gets 2. Suzuki starts his offense with an STO then goes to the old nerve hold on the guys neck for a few seconds. Gunn fights up and gets a rollup for 2. Kenzo drops him immediately with a reverse knife edge. Suplex gets 2 for Kenzo. They slug it out and Gunn comes back with the corner splash, but the fameasser misses and Suzuki counters with a shining wizard for 2. Gunn comes back with a tiltawhirl slam, for 2. Suzuki goes low, however, and uses Christians back breaker in weak looking fashion for the pin at 8:06. Crowd didn't care for it, neither did I. 1/2 star.


Match #5

Womens Match

Sable Vs Torrie Wilson


Another garbage match. Nothing of note happens as im just not interested in watching Torrie in another sloppy match. Sable with a rollup at 5:42. DUD!!!


Match #6

Singles Match

Hardcore Holly Vs Mordecai


The ppv started out reasonable and we are now on a 3 crappy match streak. Holly attacks right away, and ties him up in the ropes, but Mordecai goes outside. Cheapshot gives the albino Undertaker the advantage. Big boot gets 2. Mordecai to the chinlock. Holly fights out with a stun gun, but they collide in a goofy spot and it's a double knockout. Holly comes back with clotheslines and goes up with a cross body for 2. Inverted ddt gets 2. Mordecai uses a sitout spinebuster for 2. Holly gets the dropkick for 2 and Mordecai shrugs it off long enough to get the razors edge and pin at 6:31. Mordecai was sen't back to OVW and would come back 2 years later as Kevin Thorn. I always felt Mordecai was the better gimmick over the repackaged Gangrel gimmick. 1 star.


Match #7

Smackdown Championship Bull Rope Match

Eddie Guerrero Vs John Bradshaw Layfield


The rematch of the previous ppv. Now it's a touch all four corners while tied to a bullrope. Guerrero chokes him with the rope to start and gets a rope toss out of the corner. JBL uses the cowbell then chokes out Eddie. Now for this rope match there are light up signals for when each guy touches a corner. Green for JBL and red for Eddie. JBL touches two and Eddie stops him. Bradshaw pops him one with the cowbell. He hangs him in the tree of woe and goes outside and chokes him with the rope while he's upside down. Eddie sends Bradshaw into the post, and busts JBL open with a chair. Back in, Eddie hits him again and touches three corners, but JBL grabs to ropes to break the momentum. Eddie dropkicks him in the face and touches three again but JBL stops him again. JBL gets a ddt and Eddie still maintains control with the rolling verticals and he squashes JBL with the frog splash, Eddie touches three easily, but Bradshaw rolls out to keep Eddie from touching the fourth. Eddie drags him back to the apron and slugs away, JBL counters with a hiptoss onto the announcers table, that's new for me. Bradshaw powerbombs him through it. Back in, Bradshaw touches three corners but Eddie stops him again. Bradshaw pastes Eddie with the cowbell and gets three corners but Eddie goes low and whips him with the bullrope and starts going to corners again, but as Eddie touches a corner JBL touches it along with him. Eddie launches himself at JBL and touches the fourth corner at 21:06. Hold on. Here comes Kurt Angle and he has the producers play up the instant replay and it shows that JBL actually touched the corner first. So in one of the biggest WTF moments for me, Bradshaw is the Smackdown champion. Im going 2 1/2 stars. Im not a big fan of the touch all four corners strap matches and the finish just seemed cheap.


Match #8

Concret Crypt Handicap Match

The Undertaker Vs Smackdown Tag Champs The Dudley Boys w Paul Heyman


I thought we left this garbage back in the mid 90's.


If Taker refuses to lose Paul Bearer gets incased in cement. I simply cannot enojy this kind of Vince Russo 1999 BS gimmick match were they threaten to kill a person. What make it worse is the Dudleyz are staler than month old bread at this point. Taker teases laying down for Bubba but it's a swerve and the match is one. Heyman yakks on the mic for almost the entire match and starts filling hte plexi glass chamber with cement. Taker is preoccupied with watching this stupidity and gets posted by Bubba. They drop some legs on UT and he comes back with a ddt on Bubba and a backdrop on D-Von. Sideslam and he starts to go after Heyman, but Bubba gets him from behind, and they work him over on the floor. Back in, D-Von gets the flying elbow for 2. Double-team suplex gets 2. They keep working him over. Bubba hits UT with a piece of wood from a table. Bubba gets a backdrop suplex and everyone’s out. Crowd doesn't give a **** either. D-Von tags in and Taker gives him snake eyes and a big boot. Bubba comes in and gets knocked down. Taker does the ropewalk but D-Von goes low. Double team neckbreaker, but Taker rallies and tombstones both Dudleyz and pins D-Von at 14:42. AND just to add to the supidity, Undertaker swerves again and pulls the lever and burries Bearer in cement. They were later going to say he was killed but changed it to "seriously injured" What a pile of dog**** this main event was. 1/2 star.


Overall Opinion: It must be the younger generation plugging this as "the worst ppv ever" Halloween Havoc 95, Halloween Havoc 99, Uncensored 95, Unforgiven 98, 95 King Of The Ring, IYH DX, Starrcade 97, Judgement Day 2004, IYH It's Time, World War 3 98, 99 King Of The Ring, 99 American Bash, Bash At The Beach 99, Uncensored 2000 and Fall Brawl 98 all scored worse than this ppv. It still stinks though.


Final Score: Judgement Day pulled a 2.8 star rating from me, this one scores an even 3 stars out of 10. Thanks to Rey and Chavo mostly.