Background
The main feud heading into The Great American Bash on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Bobby Lashley over the WWE Championship. The feud began on the June 11, 2007 edition of Raw, when Lashley was drafted to the Raw brand and stripped of his ECW Championship. Three weeks later, on the July 2 edition of Raw, a "Beat the Clock" tournament was held to determine Cena's opponent for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash. The tournament matches included: Randy Orton versus Jeff Hardy, King Booker versus Val Venis, Mr. Kennedy versus Super Crazy, and Lashley versus Shelton Benjamin. Lashley ended up winning the tournament by defeating Benjamin in less than 5 minutes and therefore becoming the number one contender to the WWE Championship.
The main feud on the SmackDown! brand was between The Great Khali, Batista, and Kane, with the three battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. At the previous pay-per-view, Vengeance, then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated Batista in a "Last Chance" match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 6 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced that Edge would be defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Kane at The Great American Bash. The next week on SmackDown!, The Great Khali issued an open challenge for a match at The Great American Bash, which was accepted by Batista. Later that night, Edge legitimately injured his left pectoral muscle after Kane, who was disguised as a character, attacked Edge during his Mardi Gras celebration. On the July 20 edition of SmackDown!, Edge was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship due to his legit injury. Theodore Long then announced that there would be a 20-man Battle Royal later that night to determine a new World Heavyweight Champion. Khali ended up winning the Battle Royal by last eliminating Kane and Batista. That same night, Kane faced off against Batista to determine Khali's opponent for The Great American Bash, which ended in a no-contest after Khali interfered. Long finalized that both Kane and Batista would end up facing Khali for the championship at The Great American Bash.
The main feud on the ECW brand was between John Morrison and CM Punk with the two battling over the ECW Championship. At Vengeance, Morrison (then known as Johnny Nitro) defeated Punk to win the ECW Championship, which was vacant since then-champion Lashley had been drafted to the Raw brand. Nitro was a replacement for Chris Benoit, who was absent due to "personal reasons." On the June 26 edition of ECW, CM Punk defeated Elijah Burke in a two out of three falls match to once again become the number one contender to the ECW Championship.
Read more about this topic: The Great American Bash (2007)
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