The Bash 2009 The Bash 2009 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on June 28 , 2009 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento , California . This was the sixth and final show in WWE ' s production lineage for The Great American Bash event ( twentieth overall ) and the only one to be referred to as The Bash . It featured talent from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . There were eight matches on for the event ' s card . The card for the event was a supercard due to it having three main attraction bouts . This included : Randy Orton defeating Triple H in a 3 Stages of Hell match to retain the WWE Championship , World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk getting disqualified against Jeff Hardy , and John Cena defeating The Miz in the first official encounter between the two . The undercard for the show featured five matches : ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer defending his title against Christian , Jack Swagger , Finlay , and Mark Henry in a Championship Scramble match , Chris Jericho wagering the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Rey Mysterio ' s mask , Dolph Ziggler versus The Great Khali in a No Disqualification match , The Colóns defending the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship against The Legacy and Edge and Chris Jericho , and Michelle McCool challenging Melina for the WWE Women ' s Championship . The event had 178 , 000 buys , down on The Great American Bash 2008 figure of 196 , 000 buys . Background . The Bash featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing scripted feuds , plots , and storylines that were played out on " Monday Night Raw " , " Friday Night SmackDown " , " ECW " and " WWE Superstars " — World Wrestling Entertainment ' s ( WWE ) television programs . Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension , and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches . All wrestlers were from WWE ' s Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands — a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name . The primary rivalry from SmackDown was over the World Heavyweight Championship . Three weeks prior at Extreme Rules , CM Punk invoked his guaranteed title match , which he received from winning the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV , and defeated Jeff Hardy to win the title . The two had tense confrontations in the coming weeks , which resulted in a match between the two for the championship being announced for the Bash on the June 15 episode of " Raw " by SmackDown general manager , Theodore Long . After winning the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules , Batista was assaulted on the succeeding episode of " Raw " by former champion , Randy Orton , incapacitating Batista and leading to him vacating his title due to a legitimate tear in his Biceps brachii muscle . On the following edition of " Raw " , a Fatal Four - Way match was held to determine the new champion , which featured Orton , Triple H , John Cena , and The Big Show . Orton won the match , and it was later announced by the owner of World Wrestling Entertainment , Vince McMahon , that the next man to face Orton for the title would be the winner of a 10 - man battle royal ; Triple H won the match , and became the number one contender . It was also announced on this episode of " Raw " by storyline owner , Donald Trump , that the title would be defended the next week on " Raw " between the two in a Last Man Standing match , match that has both wrestlers attempt to incapacitate their opponent for a count of ten ; the winner would go into The Bash with the title , defending against the other . The match ended in a draw when neither man was able to answer the referee ' s ten - count ; Orton retained the championship as a result . Later in the show , Mr . McMahon acquired " Raw " back from Trump with his first act back in control being to change the match between Orton and Triple H at The Bash to a two - out - of - three falls match , dubbed " Three Stages of Hell " , consisting of a singles match , Falls Count Anywhere , and a stretcher match for the first , second , and third falls respectively . For the two months before the event , Christian , Tommy Dreamer , and Jack Swagger had been in constant conflict with each other over the ECW Championship with Christian defeating Swagger at Backlash and Judgment Day , and Dreamer defeating both at Extreme Rules . In the wake of their conflict , Finlay ( Dave Finlay ) inserted himself into the rivalry on the June 16 episode of " ECW on Sci Fi " by attacking all three men . It was announced following the program that the four wrestlers , along with Mark Henry , would participate in a Championship Scramble match at The Bash . Following Rey Mysterio retaining the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Chris Jericho at Judgment Day , Jericho had begun moral crusade , accusing Mysterio of being dishonest to the fans for wearing his mask , not showing his true face ; he assaulted him after posing as a fan in the crowd wearing one of Mysterio ' s masks . This led to another match between the two at Extreme Rules , in which Jericho won the title after removing Mysterio ' s mask . On the June 19 episode of " SmackDown " , it was announced that the Intercontinental title would be defended at The Bash in a match where if Mysterio were to lose , he would remove his mask . Since being drafted to Raw in April , The Miz had been making challenges to John Cena . These were generally made after Cena either had been injured or was already in a match , leading to The Miz claiming victory by forfeit . This would continue until The Miz accumulated a record of 7 - 0 . After some confrontations , as well as an ambush by The Miz with a steel chair as a weapon , on the June 22 episode of " Raw " , it was announced Cena and The Miz would officially meet in a match at The Bash . Event . Pre - show . Prior to the show airing live on pay per view , the crowd in attendance was shown an untelevised match match pitting R - Truth against Shelton Benjamin , which saw the former defeat the latter by pinfall . Preliminary matches . The show commenced with the ECW Championship Scramble match . The match would start with two wrestlers competing for three minutes with another wrestler entering every three minutes thereafter ; when a wrestler scores a decision over another , they are declared the interim champion for the time being , and would only lose the distinction if another wrestler scores a decision after them . Whoever was the interim champion as the time limit expired would be named the official champion , thus winning the match . The first two competitors were Christian and Jack Swagger before the entrance of Finlay . Swagger became the first interim champion by pinning Finlay after exploiting his legitimately scratched cornea ; Finlay eventually retaliated by hoisting Swagger onto his shoulder , driving his head to the mat with the move he calls the Celtic Cross . When incumbent champion Tommy Dreamer and Mark Henry entered the match , Henry became the interim title holder by pinning Dreamer , only to have Swagger regain the distinction by pinning Henry following a body press from the corner . As the time limit was set to expire , Dreamer grabbed Christian with a facelock , and executed a DDT before pinning his opponent . As the final minute of the match progressed , Dreamer spent the time preventing the four other men from scoring a decision before winning the match and retaining the title . Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio ' s match for the Intercontinental title followed ; the contest was kept at a fast pace , leading to Jericho going to the floor of the arena surrounding the ring to have his opponent dive onto him from the top turnbuckle with a body block called the seated senton . As the move also damaged Mysterio , Jericho gained control , whipping the challenger into the guardrail surrounding the ring before returning the action to the ring ; Mysterio regained his momentum to take down Jericho with a backflip press following two bounces off the top rope . The match continued with both men countering each other ' s signature maneuvers in attempts to score a pin . Mysterio gained the upper hand by dropkick ing the champion onto the bottom rope in an attempt to execute his signature kick that has him swing through the ropes , the 619 ; once connected , Jericho quicklt regained composure , stopping the challenger ' s momentum , applying his signature submission hold , the Walls of Jericho ; Mysterio struggled out of the position , leading to an exchange of surprise pin attempts . The match came to an end when Jericho made an attempt to remove his opponent ' s mask , only to see another one in its place , leading to Mysterio taking advantage of the confusion by executing the 619 again before jumping off the rope , performing a body press to pin his opponent , winning the title and retaining his mask . Third on the card was the No Disqualification match between Dolph Ziggler and The Great Khali stemming from weeks of inconclusive finishes in their matches together ; this stipulation would guarantee a winner without any dispute , as all paraphernalia was legal to use . The match quickly went to the arena floor with both men trying to gain control of a steel chair to use as a weapon . Kane made his return in this match by assaulting Khali with the chair before Ziggler made a pin to win the match . The following match was between The Colóns ( Carlito and Primo ) and The Legacy ( Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase ) for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship . As the match was about to proceed , after being pressured by Vince McMahon to improve the quality of " SmackDown " , Theodore Long announced another team would be inserted into the match , making it a triple threat match ; the team would be Chris Jericho and Edge . The match centered around The Colóns and The Legacy isolating themselves for the most part before Edge managed to tag himself into the match as Carlito went to pin Rhodes , but due to Edge tagging Rhodes , the match continued for Edge to connect with a tackle referred to as a spear to Carlito , pinning him , and winning the titles . Melina would next defend the WWE Women ' s Championship against Michelle McCool . The match focused around McCool attacking her opponent ' s leg with her associate , Alicia Fox , inhibiting Melina . As the champion went to wrap her legs around the challenger ' s torso , McCool positioned her adversary between her legs and drove her upper body into the mat with her finishing maneuver dubbed the Faith Breaker , to garner the pinfall victory , winning the title . Main event matches . The first of three matches billed as the main event was the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy . The match was wrestled at a fast pace as the two exchanged a series of holds and kicks . As Punk was about to deliver a knee to the face in the form of a finishing move called the Go To Sleep ( GTS ) , Hardy maneuvered his way down from the position to grab Punk with a facelock . Hardy then twisted his arm around to perform his own move called the Twist of Fate , dropping Punk to the mat on his face ; the challenger followed up on his attack by ascending the top turnbuckle where he dove off and connected with a flipping body block called the Swanton bomb ; Hardy then covered his opponent and got the pin . Though it appeared initially that he won the title , the referee soon discovered Punk ' s foot was under the bottom rope ( the ropes neutralize any offense and null any pin attempts ) , causing the match to continue . As the competitors continued to fight , Punk performed a roundhouse kick on the referee , causing him to get disqualified , thus retaining the title . Following the match , a frustrated Hardy assaulted the champion , leading to the two being pulled apart by the referee and other officials . John Cena and The Miz had their first official match together next . Cena was able to beat down on his opponent quickly before using the Attitude Adjustment before using the STF to make the Miz submit . The main event of the evening was the 3 Stages of Hell match . In the first match , a Singles match , Triple H was disqualified after hitting Orton with a chair , giving Orton a victory , therefore leading the series . The next fall was Falls Count Anywhere , which allows a wrestler to score a victory over their opponent anywhere in the arena . Triple H won this decision with little effort after attacking Orton with the chair he was previously disqualified for using , followed by a pin on the floor of the arena after a Pedigree on the outside , tying the series , leading to the Stretcher match . Triple H tried to end the match early by wheeling the champion over the yellow line on the stage that signified the end of the match only to have Orton slide off , leading to a brawl between the two on the stage . The momentum shifted to Orton ' s favor as he caught the challenger on the stretcher before performing a DDT from the structure onto the entrance ramp . The fight went back up to the stage with Triple H driving Orton ' s face into the structure whilst holding the arms with a move called the Pedigree , followed by loading the stretcher with Orton until Orton ' s two protégés , Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase , interfered , preventing Triple H from winning by distracting him to have Orton attack him , put him on the stretcher , and carried him across the finishing line to win the match . Aftermath . On the edition of " Raw " following The Bash , it was announced that the general manager position for the Raw brand would be eradicated and replaced with a new weekly special guest host role . Batista was then announced as the first person to be special guest host . In his position , Batista announced the WWE Championship would be defended at the July event , Night of Champions ; the competitor who would face Orton would be determined by the winner of the tournament that commenced that night . The semi - finals saw Triple H defeat Montel Vontavious Porter ( MVP ) and John Cena defeat The Miz to advance to the finals of the tournament to be held on the July 6 edition of " Raw " . Following his match , on the July 2 episode of " Superstars " , CM Punk revealed he suffered a ( storyline ) eye injury at The Bash ; after a match with Edge that caused him to forfeit due to extra damage inflicted in the match . Punk claimed the reason he struck the referee because he was unable to see who his target was . Hardy continued after Punk , leading to the announcement the two would meet at Night of Champions for the title . Reception . The show was rated as merely average by wrestling journalists . Canadian Online Explorer had analyst , Brian Elliott , review the show ; he would comment that the show " failed to live up to expectations , largely due to bad booking . " This criticism was built around what he had felt to be the inability of the company ' s creative writers to showcase effective segments and matches . Dave Meltzer , editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , wrote a real - time commentary during the event ; he was disappointed by a few moments in the show , but still saw the wrestling as a positive , particularly the main event , but said it was " nothing compared to their match ( Triple H and Orton had ) on Monday and this was the one you were paying for . " A seemingly - universal praise for the event from critics came in their commentary of the WWE Intercontinental Championship match between Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho . Elliott dubbed this the " Match of the Night " , giving it a rating of 8 / 10 . James Caldwell , an editor for the Pro Wrestling Torch , commended the effort of both men for the overall quality of their rivalry over the past few months leading up to this encounter , saying to the two had " great chemistry " . Meltzer called it " one of the better WWE matches this year . " The most noteworthy criticism of the show came from John Cena ' s match with The Miz . Wade Keller , editor of the Torch , who also wrote a report for the show , said the encounter " was pretty much the worst finish possible " with the logic of his criticism being that it was not helping to elevate the status of The Miz as a viable competitor . Despite the favorable reviews of 3 Stages of Hell , Keller would refer to it as " stale " due to how many times prior to the show these two wrestled .