WWE Great American Bash 2006 results

WWE Tag Team Titles: Paul London & Brian Kendrick beat The Pitbulls when Kendrick pinned Kash with a sunset flip after London hit a dropsault to retain the titles.
- A solid tag match and these two teams work really well together. WWE seriously need to book more tag matches like these.
Match Rating: ***1/2

GM Teddy Long comes out to announce that Bobby Lashley would not be able to compete tonight due to elevated enzymes discovered in his liver during a routine medical check. Lashley comes out dressed to wrestle and asks Long to let him wrestle tonight. Long denies his request for his own good despite the fans chanting “Let him fight!”. Long denies his request again, but promises him the first shot at the US title when he’s 100% cleared to wrestle.
US champion Finlay & William Regal come out as Lashley makes his way to the back. They stare down for a moment before Finlay & Regal get in the ring. Finlay asks Long to raise him hand and declare him the winner via forfeit. Long denies his request, and orders Finlay to defend his title against Regal right now!

US Title: Fit Finlay beat William Regal with a roll-up with his feet on the ropes after hitting Regal in the head with his boot.
- Well, despite the comedy bits with the leprechaun and the screwy finish, this was a solid brawl of a match between two veterans. You gotta know the only reason the fans chanted “boring” was because they really wanted to see Lashley in action. But this match definitely earned it’s props.
Match Rating: **1/2

Backstage and Rey Mysterio gets encouragement from Chavo Guerrero, telling him to live out his dream and Eddie Guerrero’s dream as world champion.

Gregory Helms beat Matt Hardy with a roll up and a hand full of tights.- Non-title match as Hardy is now a heavyweight. Seriously, THANK WWE for putting these two on the PPV, and thank them even more for giving them enough time to really give you your money’s worth. Would have made more sense if they had built this one up as it really looked like a championship caliber match. I just wonder if they had Hardy lose here just to make it look like his win over Kennedy was a fluke and that Kennedy actually has a chance against Batista tonight?
Match Rating: ***1/2

Daivari & Great Khali are on their way to the ring for the Punjabi Prison Match, and ‘Taker appears and takes out Daivari. But before he can get to Khali, Big Show comes out of nowhere and beats down ‘Taker! GM Long & officials pull Show off ‘Taker, and Khali gets in one last cheap shot. The match is next.

After a video highlighting the feud between ‘Taker & Khali, we see Daivari and the 2 giants backstage. GM Long confronts them and announces that BIG SHOW will face ‘Taker in the Punjabi Prison instead of Khali! Can we say “Bait ‘n’ Switch”?

The Punjabi Prison is lowered onto the ring, and the setup is basically 2 bamboo cages. One surrounding the immediate ring area, and a second octagon shaped cage surrounding the ringside area. The rules are that there are 4 doors on the inner ring, and the wrestlers can order the referees to open any of the doors and than are given 60 seconds to escape to the second cage, and if you don’t get out in time, the door can’t be opened any more! And to win the match, they have to find a way to escape the over 20ft second cage!

Punjabi Prison Match: The Undertaker beat the Big Show when he escaped the Punjabi Prison.
- Hey TNA, how’s this for an original concept match? I guess the reason Big Show was put in this match was because WWE knew he’d do a way better job in there than Khali could, and what we got was a real interesting contest between 2 big men in a never before seen environment. The crowd was pretty silent, but I’m guessing it’s cause they didn’t know what to expect, but they did pop in all the right places. Hate to say it, but I like the concept of the match and hope they can somehow do another one someday.
Match Rating: ****

4-Way Bra & Panties Match: Ashley Masaro beat Krystal Marshall, Michelle McCool & Jillian Hall when she stripped Krystal- A lot better than expected since they actually tried to brawl a bit, with Jillian & Michelle bringing some stiffness to the match with their knee strikes. And you expect to see Jillian’s boob smother move in the next Rumble Roses game.
Match Rating: *

Mr. Kennedy beat Batista by Disqualification.
We actually get some boos for Batista! And Kennedy seriously looked like Ric Flair after Batista bloodied him up. This was fun and brutal at the same time thanks to the aggressiveness of both men here. Batista getting disqualified and then continuing to lay out Kennedy I guess is best explained by Batista releasing all the built up anger of his. It win would have meant more to Kennedy if he didn’t already lose his first match to Matt Hardy 2 weeks ago.
Match Rating: **1/2

World Championship: King Booker beat Rey Mysterio after Chavo Guerrero hit Rey with a steel chair to win the title.
- Well, Chavo’s turn on Mysterio has been speculated for weeks now, and interesting to see it finally hit it’s peak. Interesting to note that was finally put up against someone he could the advantage on, and he finally loses the title.
Rey’s Cinderella story comes to an end, and Booker’s reign as belt warmer for Batista begins. It was a good match though.
Match Rating: ***

Overall: Another one of those PPVs with a less than spectacular build-up, but ended up being very good work rate-wise. I thought it was a good show from front to back.
But what the heck is up with JBL’s commentary? He seriously sounds like he’s being fed information through his headset and can’t come up with anything of his own. He did come off funny at times though, but he still needs a lot of work.