WWE The Great American Bash

WWE The Great American Bash

The Great American Bash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced in the summer in either the month of June or July by professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The 2009 edition was known as The Bash. The event was originally-produced in 1985 under National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions, and then by its successor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). According to Ric Flair in his autobiography, To Be the Man, Dusty Rhodes invented the concept. The last event was held on June 11, 2000, not to be held again due to the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling Federation (WWF). After a four-year hiatus, the event was revived by the rechristened WWE in June 2004 and would be exclusive to the SmackDown! brand from 2004 to 2006. In 2007, to follow the format of WrestleMania, WWE made all its pay per view events promotionwide, featuring matches with competitors from its three brands, Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. The 2009 event was rebranded as The Bash, as a way to distance the show from its past as part of WCW. The event was replaced in 2010 by Fatal 4-Way.

In July 2012, the event name was used for a live SuperSmackDown show featuring the Great American Bash Battle Royal.