Falls Count Anywhere

07-23-07

You didn't even know I was gone.

The Great American Bash LIVE!!!
So, I just got back from The Bash and I am very pleased to announce that the show was great fun. I was slightly worried. I’ve talked to people who were regular in Puerto Rico when Bruiser Brody was murdered and they said that even the big matches for more than a year later had a sort of cloud over them.

This cloud did not follow the WWE and the crowd was hot and reminded me of the kind of crowd that would have shown up in the 2000-2001 wrestling phase when I would never miss a show at the arena. The place was nearly sold out, and that’s a good sign. PPVs need to sell out for people to take them seriously. The fact that the WWE so seldom runs shows in San Jose might have helped.

The opening match was the re-debut of Chuck Polumbo against Chris Masters. The crowd was hot enough that they reacted to some of the moves and got on Masters' case. The match wasn’t pretty, but Polumbo looked OK and there were a few decent moves, including the big kick and the finisher which was rather non-descript. I like Polumbo, but the crowd was more into hating Masters than loving Polumbo.

We open the PPV portion with MVP taking on Matt Hardy. There was no way that Matt was going to win because the push of MVP is meant to be a long one. The match wasn’t bad, and the crowd was into it. They were pretty hot all night, with a few exceptions. The match had some timing issues, especially when MVP was on the offense. He’s good, but not great. Hardy was way over. There were a lot of kids with Hardy signs. Other than Cena, no one was more over with the kids or the girls than the Hardys. The Playmaker was the finish, but it wasn’t clean. Lots of good near falls that the crowd got into.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Yang vs. Shannon Moore vs. Funaki vs. Jamie Noble followed for the Cruiserweight title. This was a lot of fun and while the reaction wasn’t huge from the crowd, it did get some reaction particularly from the area upwards of me. Jimmy Wang Yang is a really good worker and he hit one of those giant Moonsaults. There was a multiple dive segment where planchas and topes were the rule. Noble went for the Superplex on Yang, but Chavo put him on his shoulders for a stacked-up Superplex. After that, Hornswaggle ran in and did a frog splash onto Noble to get the pin. Hornswaggle got the pin and won the title. That was a good finish and the crowd seemed to like it. I thought this was a good match that kept the crowd going on.

Sandman took on Carlito in a Singapore Cane on a Pole match. I thought it was an average match. Carlito wasn’t much inspired, and his Dropkick into the Corner was weak. He got the win with the backpack after Sandman got the cane to a decent pop. I like this match stip, but it was never used. They let Sandman get the cane, but he didn’t get to cane Carlito, even in the post-match.

No one went to the bathroom during this.

Candice Michelle vs. Melina was a match that was as good as you’ll get out of Candice. She tries. She really does, but she’s just not that good. Still, she is good to look at. A lot of Melina’s offense is based on her ability to do the splits really well. I like that. The match ended up with Candice hitting a standing bulldog thing.

After the match, the Hardys were talking and Candice came in and gave herself a water bottle shower all sexy-like. The Hardys gaped and Ron Simmons came out and said one simple word: Damn! It was a nice bit, actually. The crowd was mostly dead for the match.

Umaga and Jeff Hardy had a really strong match. It was probably the best match so far. Hardy was really good as was Umaga in playing the monster. They had Jeff doing great comebacks and working spots when he got a single chance to not sell. I loved the Whisper in the Wind. I love that move. Umaga hit the Samoan Spike for the win. Good stuff. I hope that we get more between them, but I kinda doubt it.

John Morrison is Johnny Nitro’s new name. I like it. It works for his gimmick. CM Punk got a really solid, though spotty, response. He got a lot of calls from the women. The two of them worked well together, though the crowd was barely interested. I liked the way that CM made his comebacks. He got kicks and such, but the crowd seldom got hot. The match ended with CM going for a Springboard, but Morrison hit a High Knee and pinned him. A sorta sudden ending, but a decent match. SO far, this is better than the last two non-PPVs I’d been to at the Arena.

I went to the bathroom and when I came back, Dusty Rhodes and Randy Orton were having their Bullrope Match. I love the American Dream. The match was pretty short, with Rhodes get a few small pieces of offense like the Bionic Elbow. Orton beat Rhodes with a shot from the cowbell. Cody Rhodes stopped a post-match attack. I like Cody, but they’ve gotta build him right.

Khali faced Kane and Batista in a match that the crowd kinda liked. It was better than I expected, though Khali really sucks. I did appreciate the fact that Khali took a bump through a table, but it was the slowest table bump in history. Kane and Batista worked together pretty well. The match was OK overall. I thought that Khali would be a weak wrestling champion. They can not get it off of him soon enough. The crowd was up on this match until Khali won. That sorta deflated things.

Booker came out and said that Jerry The King Lawler had made an act of treason. He also accused him of regicide. That’s not quite right now, is it?

John Cena knows how to work Main Event. There’s no question. Bobby Lashley is pretty good too. The crowd gave Cena that reaction he always gets. Lots booed, kids and chicks screamed. It was an amazing reaction to be in the middle of. Lashley’s reaction was pretty good, too.

Everytime someone got a move off, the crowd reacted. They worked so well together and I have to say that they got to the crowd. I loved the way they reacted to the near-falls. The crowd reacted to all the near-falls in almost all the matches. Cena managed to get the STFU that had the crowd going crazy. Cena hit the FU off the Top Rope to get the win. Solid stuff.

All in all, it was the best live show I’ve been to in ages.

That’s all for today and I’ll be doing my next article a week from today, after Comic-Con and my stint at Con-X-Treme!

Talk about today's column in the forums!

Chris Garcia