DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu #240 – 'Great American Bash' Review + McMahon
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 3:24 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #240

Welcome one and all to the 240th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

100%... 100%... 100%... I’m certain I wasn’t the only one to pick the card, but my heel-heavy predictions for The Great American Bash came true this past Sunday as DaveyBoy went 100% on the 7 matches that were advertised ahead of schedule. Whether or not I would have chosen Hornswoggle to win the Cruiserweight Title & Carlito to win the Singapore Cane match is irrelevant… Hey, it’s not my fault if WWE like to announce matches at the last minute. I may as well gloat while I can as there is a good chance I won’t go 100% again for a while.

Today’s column sees my review of The Great American Bash, as well as the beginning of an attempt to catch up on all the WWE DVDs that have been released over the past year with my review of the first half of the ‘McMahon’ DVD.

On with the show.....


APPETIZERS

Great American Bash Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '07)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Vengeance ’07)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: One Night Stand ‘07)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrestleMania 23)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Royal Rumble '07)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Backlash '07)
80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

MVP defeated MATT HARDY to Retain the United States Title: Interspersed with some decent Hardy offense (including a crowd-pleasing plancha), MVP gets the better of the opening few minutes with predominantly technical action working on Matt’s arm. Some back & forth action then ends in a 2 count for the champ following a nice superplex. But in then attempting a top-rope back superplex, MVP falls victim to a 2 count himself following a Hardy counter & Matt then gets the same result twice more with a huge middle-rope bulldog & middle-rope legdrop. The pattern continues with a side-effect, but MVP gets yet another near-fall with a move I have never seen before & don’t even know how to explain (sorry). After even more 2 counts & counters, MVP hits his big boot & follows up with a messy playmaker (they played it out as if Matt was unconscious from the boot) for the victory at the 13 minute mark. Very good opener that included a bit of everything & was entertaining in amongst its many 2 counts. In fact, the bout probably needed an extra 2 minutes to allow a little more time to take it all in. I also would have liked to have seen even more byplay between the 2, but that is being picky, as this was more than solid & entertaining. I’d personally love to see a longer rematch. Match Rating: 7.5

HORNSWOGGLE defeated CHAVO GUERRERO, JIMMY WANG YANG, SHANNON MOORE, FUNAKI & JAMIE NOBLE in a Cruiserweight Open to Win the Cruiserweight Title: Chavo is removed from the ring immediately as the other 4 do their fast-paced & high-flying thing. It’s the usual stuff with all sorts of action happening all over the place until someone attempts a pinfall only to be thwarted by another entrant. The action is almost perfectly spread evenly between all 5 wrestlers with all men impressing. Yang then hits his gorgeous moonsault, but then falls victim to a 3 man superplex that leaves all of them lying. This results in Hornswoggle entering the bout & hitting a top-rope frog (tadpole) splash on Noble for the victory at the 7 minute mark. To make it a little more official, the little fella had run across the ring at the beginning of the bout to cryptically signify he was an entrant. Very good multi-man cruiserweight bout that was mid-late 90’s WCW style for the most part. The change to Noble’s booking was apparent here as there was sufficient logic in amongst all the spots. Meanwhile, I was very impressed with the equality of offense, as well as the efficiency of all performers. So fun that even the ridiculous result didn’t bother me! Match Rating: 7.5

CARLITO defeated THE SANDMAN in a Singapore Cane Match: Sandman’s cane is placed on top of a ringside pole in this bout that begins immediately when Carlito spits his apple into his opponent’s face. Carlito acclimatized surprisingly well to what was pretty much a brawl right from the start. The heel brought the intensity on the night & threw in a few of his own moves (mainly dropkick related) at just the right times. Following a miss of one of those moves, a springboard back elbow, Sandman climbs the pole to retrieve the cane. But he misses with his swipe at the afro & Carlito swiftly hits the back-cracker for the pinfall victory at the 6 minute mark. This was clearly a filler bout, but it was actually better than I expected due to Carlito’s performance. Still nothing special & I think we were all a little disappointed that at least one cane shot didn’t connect… Even if it was in the aftermath. Match Rating: 6

CANDICE MICHELLE defeated MELINA to Retain the Women’s Title: The 2 ladies head straight for the mat where Melina gets the better of the technical wrestling, but Candice more than holds her own with some nicely rehearsed counters. The heel gets well on top following a powerful shot to the champ’s mid-section with her knees. The resultant arm work by Melina doesn’t last long though as Candice fights back to get successive 2 counts with a discus clothesline & then a top-rope cross body block. Melina then gets a near-fall of her own, but Candice finishes things off shortly after at the 6 minute mark with a standing bulldog. Solid women’s bout where the rehearsed counters & pinfall attempts played out well enough, if sometimes a little un-naturally. I still prefer Melina bouts where she plays up her heel character to the crowd more, but the crowd thankfully were still involved here. Rather decent. Match Rating: 6

UMAGA defeated JEFF HARDY to Retain the InterContinental Title: Jeff attempts to take things to the champ to kick things off, but a Samoan Drop leads to a few successive minutes of Umaga dominance. A resthold is involved in there to get the crowd involved, but it dragged on a little too long for my liking. A failed bodyslam attempt by Jeff leads to him being the victim of 2 sit-down splashes, but the 3rd hits nothing but knee as the challenger heads to the top-rope. Umaga catches him though and hits a huge & impressive spinning slam. It only gains a 2 count though & when Umaga misses a headbutt from the ropes, the door is open for Jeff to mount some offense & the crowd to go crazy. And what exciting offense it was too. He almost wins by countout after an over the top-rope cross body, and then he gets 2 counts with a low dropkick, a whisper in the wind & a swanton! But a twist of fate is countered into a superkick, a butt charge & then a rag-doll of a Samoan spike for the victory at the 11 minute mark. Take away a minute of Umaga’s boring resthold offense early on & this match would have been markedly better. But at the end of the day, these 2 worked too hard not to be entertained by it all. And the electric crowd really turned this bout into an exciting affair. Match Rating: 7.5

JOHN MORRISON defeated CM PUNK to Retain the ECW World Title: Following some decent technical wrestling, the 2 wisely move things along to get the crowd involved. Despite some nice Punk variation, they remain rather silent until some Morrison gymnastics following a monkey flip. Some ringside action allows the heel to gain control & a resthold is then applied. Punk answers the cheers of the crowd with some 2 counts from successive clotheslines & kicks. The 2 then trade near-falls with a series of rollups, after which Punk goes even closer with a Shining Wizard. The champ threatens to walk out at this point (to get heel heat), but Punk throws him back in the ring. Unfortunately, an attempted springboard maneuver by CM is countered by a messy kick for the pinfall victory to Morrison at the 8 minute mark. This was a difficult match for these 2 to pull off as they had to get the crowd involved, but didn’t have a great deal of time to do so. They partially got the job done here, but something still was not quite right, despite the match being rather solid. In isolation, this did show the potential of the 2 men, but it is now time to deliver on that. Hopefully, they get another chance to do so & I would personally prefer them to have that opportunity under Extreme Rules! Match Rating: 7

RANDY ORTON defeated DUSTY RHODES in a Texas Bull-Rope Match: To some crowd taunting, Randy is at first reluctant to be tied to the rope. When he finally is, Dusty entertainingly uses his experience in the match type to embarrass the youngster much to the crowd’s delight. Orton responds with a bell-shot to the knee of the veteran which earns good heel heat from the audience as Randy heads to headlock city. The 2 then battle it out with fists & elbows before Orton simply hits Rhodes with a bell-shot to the head for the victory at the 6 minute mark. Cody Rhodes makes the save from the usual Orton attack afterwards. Well I suppose the bout was realistic, but no matter what the expectations, this would still have to be viewed as a little disappointing. Thankfully, I liked the fun aspect of the opening byplay between the 2, while there was also terrific crowd involvement that the 2 combatants were able to play off of well. Match Rating: 5.5

THE GREAT KHALI defeated BATISTA & KANE in a Triple-Threat Match to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: Khali continues his run of holding the title upside-down before the beginning of this bout that sees the 2 faces immediately team up to attack the champ. But it’s all to no avail as Khali handles them both rather easily, before clearing the ring of Kane & then applying a resthold to Batista. A chokeslam to both men then sees the champ (pardon the pun) stand tall, but when the action heads to ringside, the opportunistic faces team up to send the Indian through an announce table. Batista & Kane then battle it out in the ring with better offense than what they put together last Friday night, until Batista hits an impressive bodyslam for a 2 count & then Kane gets the same result with a top-rope clothesline.

The Big Red Machine then hits a chokeslam on a returning Khali, but the Animal makes the save & then clears Kane from the ring. He then hits Khali with a spine-buster, but Kane returns the favor by making the save & then follows up with a chokeslam for a 2 count. Batista then hits his finisher, the Batista Bomb, on Kane, but Khali makes the save. He then clears the ring of Batista & follows up with his double handed choke bomb for the victory at the 10 minute mark. As with most big man matches, this was a tough one to rate, but was definitely better than expected. The main reason for this was because it was about the perfect duration & benefited from having every imaginable finishing move thrown at us. Continuing the theme of the night, this was very entertaining. Match Rating: 7.5

JOHN CENA defeated BOBBY LASHLEY to Retain the WWE Championship: Lashley enters the ring to new Limp Bizkit-like vocals accompanying his entrance theme, as Cena gets a more favorable reaction upon arrival. Lashley predictably wins the opening battle of strengths & then shows his greater amateur wrestling prowess as well. Some involving back & forth action then follows, with Cena using his greater smarts/experience to get in some offense in amongst some Lashley suplexes. Cena gets a 2 count with a top-rope legdrop variation , but the challenger regains control with an interesting modified gut-buster. Cena then escapes a resthold & connects with his 5 knuckle shuffle. But Lashley counters an F-U attempt into a powerslam for a 2 count & then hits his torture rack/backbreaker combination to set up his running powerslam. But Cena counters out of nowhere with an F-U, although he doesn’t have the energy to score the pinfall.

Lashley then hits a clothesline & sets up for a spear, but Cena counters successfully into the STF-U, which Lashley takes a good minute to escape from to the raptures of the crowd. The challenger then hits a spear from out of nowhere, but Cena excitingly lifts his shoulder off the mat at a count of 2.9, as the crowd get right behind the champ. Lashley then looks to set up a superplex, but Cena counters with a super F-U from the top-rope to earn the victory at the 15 minute mark. Terrific main-event that was booked to near perfection in the allocated timeframe. I was surprised at how well the 2 meshed with each other in the ring & that was partially due to some good byplay at the beginning of the bout that set it all up. Lashley stepped up here & showed why he has so much potential, while Cena did the same in simply adapting his own style to yet another different type of opponent. Good stuff & match of the night. Match Rating: 8.5

PPV RATING (63/90) = 70

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2007 version of 'The Great American Bash’ a 'B+' grade & said that it was ‘very good’. While it only just made it to that rating, I am really glad it did as I really enjoyed the show. 2 things stood out to me; Firstly, the show was a really fun & entertaining one to watch. Even when the quality didn’t stand out on occasions, the matches were booked in a rather fun way. The only exception to this was a lack of hardcore action in any one of a number of bouts. Secondly, while there wasn’t a real classic of a match anywhere on the card, neither was there a stinker. Even the filler bouts played their part well, although I would have preferred that the Singapore Cane match did not take place to allow a little more time to each of the remaining 8 bouts. This may not be the most memorable pay-per-view ever & how it will age is questionable either way, but on the night it was a fun & entertaining show that I would recommend to anyone.


'McMAHON' DVD REVIEW

This is a 2 disc set & is simply titled ‘McMahon’. As per usual with most WWE DVDs, it has a documentary portion, but this one lasts longer than most at 129 minutes (containing 30 chapters). There are also some non-match extras (including stories, vignettes & deleted scenes), as well as 9 matches. There is even an Easter Egg or 2!

MAIN - Documentary

To begin the documentary portion of this DVD, we skip the usual childhood stories apart from the mentioning of the fact that Vince's father & grandfather both promoted professional wrestling. Vince too quickly tells the story of how he was spontaneously thrown into the spotlight as an announcer by his dad & then how he went on to take over the WWF. Of course, it wasn't long before an ambitious Vince was buying out regional wrestling promotions & becoming a national company. We hear some decent words by the AWA's Greg Gagne here.

We go on to learn how Vince was winning advertisers for his company & how he went on to Ted Turner's network. However, after Turner wanted to buy part of the WWF & Vince said "no", a rift between the two not only ended their business relationship, but also started a war between the WWF & WCW. With Turner's millions of dollars, WCW eventually got on top of the war (something many thought unthinkable) & Vince knew he had to spice things up & take some risks.

Firstly, Vince explains that he used an angle with Bret Hart to readily admit on screen that he was the owner of the company. With this, the Mr.McMahon character was practically born. But, of course, those 2 men were to have a much more infamous incident in November of 1997; The Montreal Screwjob. This incident is discussed by the likes of Vince, his son Shane & Jerry Lawler. This was seen as the true catapult for the super heel that the Mr.McMahon character went on to be. And the last thing on Vince's mind at this stage was to rob the fans of having the pleasure of booing him, so he played the character up big time.

Fortunately, at the same time, a huge face character was also capturing the attention & adoration of the fans; 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. And so was born one of the biggest & best feuds of all time between these 2. Lots of highlights are shown of the feud and many words are spoken of it by a number of people. The glaring opinion to come out of all this was how both men played equal roles in the feud's success. Approximately 15 minutes is dedicated to the Vince vs Austin feud and it wouldn't surprise me at all if reports were true that this was originally planned to be a single disc DVD just on that feud.

Following some shorter chapters on the WWE becoming a public company & helping out with many charities, we see an interesting chapter on the XFL (a league set up by Vince for American Football) failure. The idea was actually put over as a decent one, but Joey Styles hits the nail on the head by saying that with Vince & The Rock being the first 2 people you saw on an XFL telecast, the wrestling hating media was always not going to support it well. Another interesting chapter follows on Vince in general & how he is perceived to most people. We see a whole range of clips here from his interviews with Bob Costas to the Katie Vick storyline.

We next take a look at the Vince vs Triple H feud & how it basically resulted in the real-life relationship between Vince's daughter Stephanie & Triple H (which is fully admitted to & even detailed here). The documentary then goes further into both the on-air storylines & off-air facts surrounding the entire McMahon family. These include angles involving Linda, Stephanie & Shane McMahon over many years of WWE programming, as well as many real-life stories concerning the (real) relationship between Vince & Linda. It's all quite interesting, even if the chapter does drag on a little too long.

Entering the 2nd hour of the documentary, we see a short chapter on the on-screen womanizing of Vince, before heading into detail on arguably Vince's greatest career accomplishment; Winning the Monday Night War & purchasing WCW from Ted Turner. The likes of Vince, Eric Bischoff & Dusty Rhodes speak here & you get the clear indication that they feel that the buyout didn't exactly help the professional wrestling industry as a whole.

Next up are extended highlights of the great WrestleMania 17 match between Vince & Shane, before we see a not-so-great chapter on the infamous "Kiss My A$$" club! But back to the competition topic we head back to as the brand extension is spoken on for a couple of minutes. Both the for's & against's of the brand extension are discussed, even if then never go very much into detail on the subject. Thankfully, the next topic of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin walking out on the company is dealt with in a little more detail, even if there is nothing we haven't heard before on the occurrence.

Following an all too brief chapter on Vince's surreal hiring of his ex-arch enemy Eric Bischoff as Raw's on-air General Manager, we view a predominantly storyline-based chapter on Vince's 2003 feud with Hulk Hogan. Very little real-life happenings between the 2 are delved into here unfortunately. Instead, we skip into the next chapter concerning Vince's feud with the one-legged Zach Gowen.

Back to a family feud we go as this time Vince took on Stephanie in the ring. The big deal about this was that a pay-per-view match between the 2 took place all of a week before Steph’s real-life wedding to Triple H! Needless to say, Linda was not impressed about the idea & begged for Vince to call off the bout, and ultimately take it very easy on the bride to be. And speaking of not being impressed about ideas regarding Stephanie, she wasn't a big favorite of Vince's idea to hold the wedding on ppv! Of course, not even that was crazier than Vince's idea to later have him or Shane be the on-screen father of Stephanie's child!!!

We next hear how Vince would practically put himself in danger to do what was best for business & how he wouldn't ask wrestlers to do anything that he wouldn't do. This stems into a few minutes concerning Vince's almost humorous injury where he tore both quadriceps muscles at once by simply strutting on down to the ring!

The "You're Fired' catchphrase then gets a heap of play & the chapter intermittently touches on some real-life firings. It remains predominantly storyline-based though, as the overlong Jim Ross colon surgery skit is shown briefly to prove an example of this. But the likes of Matt Hardy speak on the Edge & Lita scnario here, as does Shawn Michaels concerning an early career firing that he got from Vince. Following this is a brief chapter relating to Vince's love of his country & his decision to take WWE to the troops over the last few years.

Vince's controversial 2006 feud with Shawn Michaels & how it revolved around religion is highlighted next. The storyline is actually used as a metaphor to him abusing power, but neither the storyline or metaphor or real-life situation is investigated in sufficient depth. Instead, we head into the final chapter which uses a number of ways to attempt to put Vince in a nutshell; The ruthless 60 year old workaholic grandfather who is both a real person & a heel WWE character... Or is there any real difference at all!?!?!?


DESSERT - Disc-1 Extras

STORIES

I Enjoy The Fight: 90 second grab of Vince admitting that he likes physicality full stop. He tells a story of his younger days & how he learnt to fight against marines.

Ultra-Competitive: Triple H explains how a pool contest involving himself & Stephanie against Vicne & Linda got to Vince so much (because he lost) that he had to leave the room! 2 minutes in length.

No Vacation: In 2 minutes, Triple H backs up what has been reported that Vince doesn't really take the time to enjoy his success. Vince genuinely believes that "work is enjoyment".

Regal's Rehab: William Regal tells the story of how he passed out (due to drug use) while actually signing his contract with WWE! Regal is amazed how Vince never once brought this up afterwards & is forever thankful that Vince put him through rehab. Very good extra & while I am unsure whether to believe every single word of it, Regal looks rather genuine in discussing it. 4 minutes in length.

The Sleeping Giant: The Big Show (Paul Wight) tells a 1 minute story of how he was asleep on an inflatable air-mattress on a flight to Iraq & how Vince slashed that mattress.

I'm The Boss: The Big Show tells a story about how Vince told a military officer in Germany that he was the kid's boss. One minute in length.

I Remember My Dad: Stephanie emotionally remembers some of the finer things about her dad throughout their lives. 2 minutes in length.

EXTRAS

Slammys "Stand Back": With the help of some fake musical back-up by wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage & The Junkyard Dog, Vince sings 'Stand Back' at the now defunct Slammy Awards. An embarrassing 4 minutes worth.

VKM Training Package: From January 1997, this was the hilarious segment of Shane training Vince for The Royal Rumble in the snow. The image of Vince chasing a chicken has never left my mind! Both Vince & Shane perform this terrific extra with humorous gusto. 2 minutes in length.

DELETED SCENES

The Motorcycle: Vince, Linda & Shane speak for 3 minutes about a motorcycle accident that Vince once had that resulted in a broken pelvis. In true Vince fashion though, he still took a bump or 2 on WWE programming soon after.

WWE Championship: Triple H talks briefly about Vince winning the WWE's #1 title.

9/11 SmackDown Taping: Vince & Shane speak in amongst clips of the live episode of SmackDown that aired only a couple of days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At the time, WWE were apparently the first live sports or entertainment show to "go back to normal" so to speak. 3 minutes in length.

Stuck In His Ways: A whole bunch of people speak for 3.5 minutes & agree that Vince is very stubborn & stuck in his ways. The best story here is Jimmy Hart's about a conversation that Dusty Rhodes once had with Vince about his polka-dotted character.

The Walk: Vince's trademark strut is shown & discussed by many. It is also badly imitated by even more! 90 seconds in length.


DISC-1 MATCH

vs 'STONE COLD' STEVE AUSTIN (WWE Raw. April-13, 1998):

This is relevant as it was (apparently) to be Vince's first competitive wrestling match. And it was no less than a televised bout for Austin's WWE Championship! Shane fails in his initial attempt to talk his father out of the bout before it even starts, as Vince slaps Austin in the face before challenging him to wrestle with one arm tied behind his back (as he had previously stated he could win such a bout between he & Vince). Austin eventually accepts as Vince taunts him & then gets massaged by his goons (Patterson, Brisco & Slaughter). Just as the match is about to begin, Dude Love (Mick Foley) interrupts and, after some to'ing & fro'ing with Vince, puts the mandible claw on Stone Cold. Foley & Austin then brawl as Vince heads to the back. All up, 16 minutes of footage is shown despite the fact that no actual match took place. Relatively entertaining segment & the crowd were involved throughout, but it was all rather overlong when all was said & done. Segment Rating: 7


That, my friends, is edition #240 of 'The Wrestling Menu' in the bag. As per usual, if there is anything that you want to provide feedback on, you know where I am & you know that I will reply to all feedback in due time. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com, but if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=7.

And while you are on the LOP Forums, why don't you check out my weekly contributions to the Album Review thread. So far, I have reviewed 2 albums each by groups such as My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rise Against, Razorlight, The Killers, Kasabian, The All-American Rejects, Kaiser Chiefs, AFI, Panic At The Disco, Fall Out Boy & Jet. Just click on the following link & scroll down: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=99&page=2.

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will have the concluding part of my 'McMahon' DVD Review, as well as (most likely) writing about a famous wrestler on the WWE's books that seems to have sparked some attention of late. But in keeping with my "in the minority" opinion theme from last week, I wonder if he is hindering rather than helping WWE at the moment. Who could it be? Find out next Wednesday... As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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