Dr. Wrestling:The Bash
Posted by Dr. Wrestling on 07/17/2008
This week for That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It I'll be telling you who I think the winners will be at The Great American Bash.
The Great American Bash has generally been one of the WWE's weaker PPVs the past few years and more of a builder to Summer Slam then anything but this year's Bash is very different. Due to the draft, the cards have been shuffled and some really interesting match ups have been put on the card. Instead of being just a builder to Summer Slam, this PPV will be more of an indication of what could possibly takes place at Summer Slam, which makes the Bash more unpredictable then it's been in past years. Punk's title reign, the newly created Divas championship, the WWE title, the HBK/Jericho feud, and the parking lot brawl will all be showcased at the bash.
The ECW title match probably won't be the best match of the night but I'm interested to see where the storyline surrounding the match goes from this point. The challenger, Tommy Dreamer was is and will always be the heart of ECW. I've always been a major fan of Dreamer for both his ability as a performer and his dedication to giving the fans a good show each time he steps into the ring. Sadly, Dreamer's ability as a performer selling a storyline is sometimes forgotten about by some fans simply because his passion for the wrestling business stands out so much that it's what he is most well known for. As cool as it would be for Dreamer to win the title, I just don't see it happening at the bash because a new storyline was just started last week on ECW with Tony Atlas being Mark Henry's manager. Speaking of the ECW champion, there's a few things I want to discuss about his ECW title victory at the Night Of Champions PPV last month. The story of WWE writer,Micheal Hayes making racist comments to Mark Henry was widely reported on the internet and as a result of his dumb comments Micheal Hayes was suspended. Since then Hayes has returned back to work with the WWE but I have to say Hayes should have been fired for his comments. The WWE is a corporate company and this is 2008 not 1908 there's no place for Hayes comments. It was because of this incident that many now think that Henry's title win was because of Hayes comments. The answer is, Hayes comments were probably the reason that Mark Henry was given the ECW title but that doesn't mean that Henry couldn't prove himself as ECW champion. One way or another, Henry was given the ball and now he has a chance to run with it. If you've read any of my past columns that mention Mark Henry, you know I'm not a fan of his work but you can't consider Henry a paper champion until he has had a chance to prove otherwise. As I mentioned, Tony Atlas is Mark Henry's new manager and there's a few things I'd like to mention about Atlas' new role in the company. It's obvious that Atlas was probably brought in for the WWE to show they are an equal opportunity company but I think Atlas can do alot to help ECW and Mark Henry's run as ECW champion. First of all, I think it's great that Atlas has been given a job with the WWE and I hope he does well enough in his role that he can be used long term in the WWE. A few years ago Atlas was homeless at one point before becoming a personal trainer so I hope that the WWE hall of famer can make enough money during his current run with the WWE that he can eventually retire. Some may know this and some may not but according to interviews from other wrestlers as well as an interview from Atlas himself, Tony was one of the few American wrestlers that tried to help Bruiser Brody the night he was murdered in Puerto Rico. For those that don't know, Invader stabbed Brody in the dressing room and as Brody was dieing on the floor, Atlas stayed next to Brody until doctors arrived but Brody later died at a hospital. Brody was one of the greatest of all time and Atlas helping him is one of the reasons I hope Atlas does well with his new role in the WWE. Aside from that, Atlas as a manager can be very beneficial to Mark Henry's title run because the hall of famer can lend credibility to Henry as champion and Atlas can also do the mic work to help get a storyline over with the fans. Henry hasn't ever really been known to be great on the mic and Atlas was known more for his strength then promo skills but at this point, when a hall of famer talks the fans will listen. It's somewhat sad to see how managers are barely ever used anymore and it seems that the reason is managers don't sell merchandise but those merchandise sells are sometimes more important to the WWE then the quality of the product. Managers used to be a vital part of the wrestling business and unfortunately some fans of today might not realize how useful managers can be for selling a storyline. A great example of this is Bobby "The Brain" Hennan, who in my opinion is the greatest manager of all time. When "The Brain" was a manager for a wrestler it helped that wrestler get over and have credibility for a storyline. I apologize for rambling on there but that's just my opinion on a few of the similar topics.
The Diva's championship will be Smackdown's verison of the Women's title and I have to question the logic here because Smackdown only has a few women that are actually wrestlers on the roster but I think the idea behind creating the new title is to try to make Smackdown equal to Raw. The challenge with creating any new title is establishing the title and making it a legitimate title with credibility. The Light Heavy Weight title over a decade ago and more recently the Cruiser Weight title are examples of what can happen when a title isn't established as being important. I'll pick Natayla to win the title because she is the daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neighthart and her association with the Hart family as well as her skill in the ring could help establish the Divas title on Smackdown. Michelle McCool seems to be one of the divas that the WWE is building the division around and I'm not really a fan of her in ring work but she's definitely improved from when she started wrestling on Smackdown. The Smackdown brand seems to lack some depth in terms of a women's roster at the moment but Victoria is still on the brand and she's always been a solid competitor in the ring, who I think is under ratted so it would seem that the Divas championship could become a legitimate title on Smackdown.
The New York Parking Lot Brawl should be entertaining and I would expect it to be one of the better JBL matches so far this year. John Cena and Eddie Guerrero had a memorable parking lot brawl match a few years ago but I don't expect the JBL/Cena match to be as good as that match. As for a winner, I'll predict Cena to win the match because I would expect him to be in the main event at Summer Slam.
The HBK/Chris Jericho feud has really been a great feud because it puts the audience in somewhat of a moral dilemma because Jericho, the heel in the feud is technically right, Micheals did fake an injury. Micheals has gotten the better of Jericho recently when he costs him the IC title at the Night of Champions PPV and since I expect this feud to go to atleast Summer Slam I will pick Jericho to get the victory so that he will have more heel heat to build up to a possible match at Summer Slam. I have to say this feud has really rejuvenated Jericho's current run in the WWE. Jericho's return was hyped up for months and he was rushed into the main event. After his match with Randy Orton he was rushed equally as fast out of the main event and his character was somewhat stale. A heel Jericho has the potential to to build more storylines and it's possible he could feud with CM Punk for the World title.
The Triple H/Edge match should be a good match in terms of in ring action but it's obvious that Triple H is going to retain the title. Despite having alot of talent, Edge really has been a victim of circumstances when it comes to his title reigns and the timing of those reigns just hasn't really worked too well for him. Besides the injuries, the majority of Edge's reigns as champion have been when Smackdown was a very weak brand, which makes Edge's run as champion look weak. The whole Vickie Guerrero angle doesn't help things either as it's more ridiculous then anything, considering the WWE has tried to make the widow of a former WWE champion one of the main heels of Smackdown. That being said, it will be interesting to see what Edge does on Smackdown after the PPV because it would seem like his time in the main event picture, atleast for the title being has concluded.
CM Punk v.s. Batista for the World Heavy Weight title has an obvious result, CM Punk will retain the title because if Batista was going to win it he would have at the last PPV but it will be interesting to see if Punk can have a PPV main event level match. As I've said, Punk's title reign has generated alot of buzz but now it's time for Punk to prove he is a legitimate champion and that his title win wasn't just a publicity stunt for lack of a better word to try to get better ratings for Raw. I would expect John Cena to challenge for the title at Summer Slam and it will be interesting to see if Punk is still the champion after Summer Slam.
Until next week
That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling
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