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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Monday, September 5, 2005 at 11:19 PM EST
WWE – Great American Bash 2005 The date is July 24, 2005. The event: The Great American Bash PPV. The Location: Buffalo New York. It’s the last Smackdown PPV until SummerSlam, In fact, it’s the last PPV until SummerSlam period. This PPV is notable for a few non-match related reasons. First, it the first PPV after the Draft Lottery. Batista, Muhammad Hassan, Christian, and Chris Benoit had all been traded to Smackdown. All the trades had been wrapped up. Hence the bWo match against the Mexicools. But more importantly, this the PPV where the now infamous Hassan, Terrorist angle wraps up. Banned from TV, this is his last match. Sound interesting? Packaging and Layout A nice picture of Torrie Wilson on the cover, with plenty of Patriotic symbols. Red, White and Blue, stars and stripes, and so forth. The back tells you the matches included as part of the Pay per View, but is very vague on special features. The menu is easy to navigate once you get past the ads for other DVD offerings, and the "can’t skip past" warning about injuries, and the Anti-Pirating notices. Easter eggs? No idea. Wasn’t looking for any, but I’m sure they’re there. But WWE Easter eggs are a chancy bet. Let’s break down the offerings on this DVD. WWE Tag Team Championship Match– 12:37 MNM vs Road Warriors (Animal and Heidenreich) Not the greatest example of Tag Team action. MN does have some talent and the nostalgia factor is in full swing as it’s a fairly typical Road Warriors style match. Animal had dedicated the match to the late Road Warrior Hawk. Josh Interviews Eddie Guerrero – 2:30 A great promo from Eddie. Booker T vs Christian – 15:47 Good match. Christian was very intense and focused on trying to hurt Booker T. A solid match, but not an exceptional one. Steve Romero Interviews Melina - :41 Quick interview, and before you know it, it’s over. United States Championship Match – 19:47 Chris Benoit vs Orlando Jordan Benoit is always great to watch, but this match is generic. Number One Contender’s Match For World Heavyweight Championship – 26:40 Undertaker vs Muhammad Hassan This may be the most note worthy match on the DVD. Not because the match was a classic, but because this match is the finale in the somewhat controversial angle that Taker and Hassan had been in. The Terrorists make a return. Haas gets thrown through the stage. Hassan is, as of this writing, no longer on TV, and is rumored to never return. At least on UPN programming. The match itself was nothing special. But for historians, this is the only documented history of this angle. Indeed, there is a 4-minute recap of the angle before the match starts. Commercial For Road Warriors (The Real Ones) DVD :45 Steve Romero Interviews Torrie Wilson - :40 The DVD says Josh Mathews, but it’s actually Steve Romero. It’s Torrie Wilson and that’s about it. It is also very brief. bWo (Blue World Order) vs The Mexicools – 9:05 Not as high flying as one might hope. In fact, rather a dud of a match. Josh Mathews Interviews JBL – 2:00 A long interview, and from watching closely, you can see that JBL is reading a teleprompter. Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero 28:48 This should have been the pinnacle of the feud, as it had lasted for months, and emotionally, it was at a peak. A 3:35 recap sets the tone beautifully, and a minute long skit with Rey and his son Dominick was very moving. The match itself was excellent. Some real drama told in the ring. Torrie Wilson vs Melina – 7:40 Bra and Panties Match For a cheesecake angle, there was some actual wrestling involved. Not bad for a match, as good as Taker vs Hassan in terms of action, just not as long. World Heavyweight Championship Batista vs JBL The end results from the chick match runs over into the beginning of this chapter. We then get a 3:50 recap of the angle. JBL makes his appearance. He doesn’t enter the ring until 6:35 second into the chapter. Batista’s music hits at 7:50, Batista gets in the ring at 8:50. The match actually starts at 10:37. The chapter only runs for 34:17. So, one third of the supposed match has no wrestling. That says a lot about it. It was a slugfest, with a bogus ending. Not really main event worthy. Sights and Sounds The Great American Bash has the traditional high quality production values. Excellent sound, plenty of cool graphics, and the theme is of course the Fourth Of July, so basically, lots of flags and red, white and blue colors. Cole and Tazz, well, they’re Cole and Tazz. No worse or better than usual and if you watch Smackdown, you know what I mean. Special Features Very light on special features. There are only three, one is worth the price of the DVD in the bargain bin. The others, you can pretty much skip over. bWo – Blue County Choppers It sounds funnier than it is. It’s Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, and Nova (AKA Simon Dean) playing the guys in a parody of American Chopper. Eddie Tells Rey’s Secret On The 7/28/05 Smackdown The sound quality is horrible on this one. It sounds really muted, probably from all the editing that had to be done. It was also heavily replayed on Smackdown, so it’s not really a special treat. But for historians, it is documentation of the angle. From start to finish in summarized form. Except it isn’t over. As of this writing, it’s still going on. So I guess, this value is moot. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match 7/7/90 – 12:50 Ric Flair vs Sting A classic match. You have the Dudes with Attitudes at ringside, keeping the Four Horseman at bay. Who are the Dudes with Attitudes you may ask? Paul Orndorf, Junk Yard Dog, and a very young, just getting huge Scott Steiner along with Brother Rick Steiner. There’s also Ole Anderson and El Gigante at ringside. A classic match, and very compelling reason to pick up the DVD. Final Thoughts This was a PPV I did not see in any way shape or form. Now that the DVD has come into my hands, I was interested to see what it was like. I enjoyed reading the recap, but there is also something to get out of seeing it live, whether on TV or in person. Having watched it, I will say this. It was a forgettable PPV that I believe that many people passed over. It wasn’t worth the price of the initial PPV offering. If you must fill your collection, then wait until the price drops. There are no memorable matches on this DVD as the entire key ones have been repeated for free on TV. The best match is one fueled by nostalgia, and that one is the Ric Flair/Sting special bonus feature match. This is a can miss DVD, but it does have some slight historical value. Not a lot, but some. Still, a bargain bin pick up is the best I can recommend. DVD Score : C- Audio Visual Score: B Packaging and Layout : B Special Features: B – ( The Ric/Sting match is a real treat) Overall Score: C (The intangibles only have a slight impact) Upcoming DVD reviews: Vengeance 2005 Greatest Wrestling Stars Of The '80's Until Next Time, Thanks For Readin' and Thanks For Ridin' Wevv Mang mrwevv@mac.com Please label all email[b] DVD FEEDBACK.[/b] DVDFANATIC.COM *NEW GALLERY* Very HOT and Revealing Gail Kim Photos! WOW!!!
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