David of St. Louis, Mo. (5.0): Best Match: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels. Worst Match: Tommy Dreamer vs. Mark Henry. What's up with all these shady finishes on PPV matches in wrestling right now? Last Sunday, TNA pissed off many people who paid $30 to see Joe vs. Booker with that stupid finish. Tonight, WWE doesn't give a decent finish in my opinion to Jericho-Shawn and Punk-Batista. I understand Shawn fighting and not giving up, but there should have been a winner and a loser. C.M. Punk's awesome title win moment is starting to feel worthless if they continue to put zero faith into him booking-wise. Gotta push the Kane storyline, I get that, but Punk has worked too hard too long, and deserved a win over Dave tonight. Just a bullsh-- finish for the sake of pushing the Kane deal and setting up Batista-Kane-Punk probably for Summerslam. There are already pockets of fans who don't understand, like hardcore fans do, the strengths and uniqeness of Punk. Those fans are booing him right now, because they're used to the big guys on top. Booking Punk like crap might turn more casual fans on him and I don't want that to happen, as I know how hard Punk has worked. Triple H vs. Edge was a TV match with the predictable ending. Nice to see some title changes for a change. Hawkins & Ryder might be able to do some good. Shelton Benjamin is good, but bland as white paint. Mark Henry as ECW Champion is boring, but hats off to Colin Delanay for turning heel. The whole teacher/student bullsh-- has been done to death in wrestling. Shawn vs. Jericho went from first gear, to second gear, to third, then jumped right back to first. An awesome match booked crappy. We've seen Shawn injured and helped to the back 100 times; let's just see a war between 'em with a winner and loser for a change. The JBL-Cena match was pretty sweet, actually. Lots of violent bumps taken by both. Surprised JBL won because I thought his back was hurting again. Cena & JBL are good at all they do, so mabye I won't really mind another bout between em'.

Rick Gardner of Manchester, England (6.5): Best match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho. Worst match: John Cena vs. JBL. A decent line-up coupled with improvements in the WWE's creative direction made the Great American Bash a thoroughly worthwhile show. It was telling how many of the matches had a well-developed backstory, as in the past the company has been guilty of throwing together matches in the fortnight before their pay-per-views. The Michaels-Jericho match was a cut above the rest, providing great drama and successfully furthering what has already been a fantastic feud. C.M. Punk and Batista complimented each other's styles nicely, and their match was highly entertaining while it lasted. Batista should be commended for striving to improve in the ring, as it certainly wasn't a case of C.M. Punk carrying him. The only real negative was the Cena-JBL match. While the action itself was good, torching a car and ramming a car with a forklift as throwaway spots was not only wasteful, it also undermined the work put into the Michaels-Jericho match. The time spent on selling Michaels's eye as a legitimate injury paid dividends by creating a memorable finish that will make both competitors stronger for a potential rematch. In contrast, JBL set fire to the car half way through their match, and Cena not only managed to continue, he basically no-sold the affects being inside a torched car. Spots like that should only be used for big angles, if at all. The rest of the card was enjoyable on the whole. Every match featured either a title change or a storyline advancement, which added to the overall sense of purpose that the WWE has been exhibiting since the draft last month. Shelton Benjamin is supremely talented, and hopefully his U.S. Title win will not be the beginning of yet another stop-start push. Colin Delaney's heel turn was unexpected and slightly bizarre, but will hopefully result in a meaningful storyline for Tommy Dreamer. Edge is by far the best character in the WWE at the moment, and while his storyline with Vickie Guerrero overshadowed what could have been the most important match of his career, it will be fascinating to see what is in store for such a well-rounded heel. The Great American Bash provided solid wrestling and a couple of really good matches whilst creating further interest in the WWE's storylines prior to Summerslam next month. In other words, it was everything a WWE "B-show" should be.

Jeremy Quist of Lynchburg, Va. (7.0) Best Match: Triple H vs Edge. Worst Match: McCool vs Natayla. This PPV was what I expected it would be. I was really hoping for a big suprise; it just never came. John Cena vs JBL was cartoonish. Why are they pushing JBL? I think it is obvious that Kane is carrying his mask in that bag that he brings to ringside. Why did they only give Natayla five minutes to wrestle? Why did Natayla not win? That history would have meant a lot more to her than it does to McCool, who will be out of the business in a few years anyways. I think Shelton Benjamin deserves a push, but it's too bad that it comes at the expense of Matt Hardy. They had a pretty good match, though. The hype for it was pathetic. I think I finally get the whole deal with HBK and I don't like it. They will not give Shawn a strap because he does not work house shows. I read about how he is telling great stories in the ring. That is fair. He did last night, but I am tired of him faking injuries. It takes away from the great wrestler that he is in the ring. It's like we are having candy pushed in our faces that we have always loved, but we are not even allowed to taste it anymore. C.M. Punk was okay in his first PPV title defense. He did not look as ridiculous as I thought he would against Batista. Sure Batista can push him over with his pinky, but Punk made himself believeable with his stick and move kicks. Why was his match before Cena's? Punk is the champ. Why did Punk get introduced first? They either must treat him like the champ or strip him of the belt. I am not a Punk fan, but even I can see that they are not giving the kid a fair shake. They are probably selling him that being treated like an underdog is merely part of his gimmick, but too much more of it will bury him with the fans. He's too small as it is. The four-way tag match was just okay. The new champs are dull. Maybe John Morrison can finally break out of his shell now. Mark Henry was too slow last night. I am a big fan of his, but he proves his critics right whe he gives a performance like that. Triple H vs. Edge was the best match of the night, but it was supposed to be. It really wasn't that great, though. The Vickie interference was predictable and boring. Why not have them have a great match with a clean finish? Nobody lost anything, but the fans did not gain anything from that match. What can Triple H brag about? He needed Vickie's help. This sets up a rematch. That is getting annoying. Why do we always have to see the same championship matches over and over? Why can't the champ move on after he beats an opponent. Everybody kept saying that Jeff Hardy would get the title shot at Summerslam, but I knew they would have a rematch. We had to watch Triple H vs. Randy Orton about five times this year. They can put Jim Ross's announce table in the middle, but that doesn't change the fact that we no longer get to hear him call the live show the night after the PPV.       

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "PPV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on Raw, click here.

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