The Great American Bash 2008 The Great American Bash 2008 was the fifth annual Great American Bash pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It took place on July 20 , 2008 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale , New York and featured talent from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . The main match on the SmackDown brand was between Triple H and Edge for the WWE Championship . Triple H won the match and retained the WWE Championship after pinning Edge following a Pedigree . The primary match on the Raw brand was between CM Punk and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship , which ended in a double disqualification following interference from Kane . The predominant match on the ECW brand was between Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Championship , which Henry won by pinfall due to the interference and heel turn of Colin Delaney , with Henry proceeding to perform a World ' s Strongest Slam to retain the championship . The featured matches on the undercard included John Cena versus John " Bradshaw " Layfield ( JBL ) in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl and Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho . The event also crowned the first ever WWE Divas Champion , and it was the last pay - per - view event by WWE before transitioning to a PG rating . Background . The main feud heading into The Great American Bash on the SmackDown brand was between Triple H and Edge , with the two feuding over the WWE Championship . On the July 4 edition of " SmackDown " , SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that Triple H would defend the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash against Edge . On that same edition , Edge took his frustrations out on Vickie due to the fact that he lost the World title ( that he had won at One Night Stand in a Tables , Ladders , and Chairs match ) to CM Punk several days earlier " Raw " and told her the wedding was off . The following week , however , after Guerrero saved Edge from a con - chair - to by The Big Show , Edge re - proposed , and the wedding was back on . On the July 18 edition of " SmackDown " , Edge and Vickie Guerrero held their kayfabe wedding reception . At the end of the reception as Guerrero and Edge were in the ring , Triple H appeared to reveal Edge ' s secret love affair with Edge and Guerrero ' s wedding planner , Alicia Fox . The primary feud going into The Great American Bash on the Raw brand was between CM Punk and Batista , with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship . On the June 23 edition of " Raw " , CM Punk and Batista was drafted to Raw from their respective brands on the same edition where WWE Champion , Triple H was drafted to SmackDown from Raw . At Night of Champions , it was determined that either Batista or John Cena would bring a World Championship to the Raw brand . During that event , Batista was unsuccessful at winning the World title from Edge while John Cena failed to defeat Triple H for the WWE title in a WrestleMania 22 rematch . On the following night on " Raw " , CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract that he won at WrestleMania XXIV and defeated Edge to capture the title , after Batista delivered a beating to Edge . Later on that night , Punk defeated John " Bradshaw " Layfield ( JBL ) to retain the World Championship with the help from John Cena and Cryme Tyme . On the July 7 edition of " Raw " , CM Punk successfully defended his World title over Snitsky . Later that night , Batista became the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating JBL , John Cena , and Kane in a Fatal Four - Way match . On the July 14 edition of " Raw " , Punk defeated Kane by countout in a non - title match . After the match , Kane attempted to attack Punk , but Batista ran to the ring to stop Kane . Batista took a steel chair and hit Kane in the forehead , as Kane rolled out of the ring . Punk offered Batista a handshake , but Batista declined and instead delivered a spinebuster to Punk . The predominant feud on the ECW brand was between Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer . On the July 1 edition of " ECW " , Henry faced Colin Delaney in a match where if Delaney had won , Dreamer would receive a title shot against Henry . Henry won the match , and Dreamer was not granted a title match . The following week on " ECW " Henry faced Dreamer in a non - title match . The match ended in a no - contest after Henry escaped the ring to try and attack Delaney , who was at ringside with Dreamer . Tony Atlas was the special guest ring announcer for this match , and stepped in to save Delaney from Henry ' s attack . Instead , Atlas turned heel , and allowed Henry to attack Delaney . Henry then returned to the ring to attack Dreamer , as the match was ruled a no - contest . The Divas feud on the SmackDown brand was between Michelle McCool and Natalya . On the April 4 edition of " SmackDown " , Natalya debuted as a villainess and assisted Victoria in attacking Michelle McCool and Cherry , kicking off a feud involving all four Divas . On June 6 , SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced the creation of the WWE Divas Championship , and on that same day , Natalya was announced as one of the combatants for the title . On the July 4 edition of " SmackDown " , McCool won a Golden Dreams match to become the second combatant for the Divas Championship at The Great American Bash . Event . The first match of the Bash was a Fatal Four - Way Tag Team Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships . John Morrison and The Miz defended the titles against Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder , Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle . As the bell rang , Festus cleared the ring until The Miz and Morrison tossed Hornswoggle in the ring . The Miz and Morrison then jumped onto the ring apron , but Festus knocked them off . Hornswoggle dove out of the ring through the top and middle ropes to land on top of The Miz and Morrison . Throughout the match , the eight wrestlers would attempt to make physical contact with their respective partners to get themselves tagged into the match . Hawkins and Ryder won the titles after pinning Jesse . The next match was a singles match for the WWE United States Championship . United States Champion Matt Hardy faced Shelton Benjamin . Hardy was pinned after being hit with the Paydirt , meaning Benjamin was the new United States Champion . The next match was a singles match for the ECW Championship . ECW Champion Mark Henry with Tony Atlas retained the title against Tommy Dreamer with Colin Delaney . Tommy Dreamer was on the turnbuckle about to finish Henry off but Delaney turned on him and pulled him into the top rope . Mark Henry then hit the World ' s Strongest Slam to get the win . The next match was a singles match between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho . The match started and already Michaels suffered kayfabe cracked ribs and internal bleeding . During the match Jericho hit a wild elbow to Michaels ' right eye which was injured months before by Jericho . Michaels was bleeding for the remainder of the match . Lance Cade also interfered and hit many cheap shots on Michaels while the referee ' s back was turned . After Jericho hit many shots on Michaels ' face the referee deemed Shawn Michaels unable to continue , therefore Chris Jericho was declared the winner . The next match scheduled was a match to determine the inaugural WWE Divas Champion between Michelle McCool and Natalya . McCool forced Natalya to tap with a Heel hook . After the match , Eve Torres and Cherry joined McCool in the ring to celebrate . The next match was for the World Heavyweight Championship . The champion CM Punk faced Batista . Each man continually built momentum on different occasions . Batista managed to hit a Spinebuster outside of the ring . As Batista pushed Punk back into the ring Kane interfered by attacking both Batista and Punk which ended the match . This meant that Punk retained the World Heavyweight Championship by double disqualification . The next match was a New York City Parking Lot Brawl . The contestants were John Cena and John " Bradshaw " Layfield ( JBL ) . They both performed extreme moves including Cena using JBL ' s body to smash a car door off its hinges . In a planned spot , JBL set fire to a car with Cena inside . Cena destroyed a car with JBL in it with a forklift . Cena was about to hit the FU but JBL countered and pushed Cena into a window , which cut Cena ' s arm , allowing JBL to win the match . The final match was for the WWE Championship . WWE Champion Triple H defended the title against Edge . Both men were dominating at different times of the match . Near the end of the match Alicia Fox tried to give Edge the WWE Championship belt so he could use it as a weapon . Vickie Guerrero started brawling with Fox , however , and Edge accidentally speared Guerrero in an attempt to hit the referee to delay the match . This distraction allowed Triple H to hit a Pedigree to retain the WWE Championship . Aftermath . On the July 25 episode of " SmackDown " , Edge apologized to Vickie Guerrero for his actions at The Great American Bash . Guerrero accepted the apology , but informed Edge that she has already re - instated The Undertaker ( Mark Calaway ) , who had been fired as a part of the storyline between himself and Edge . Guerrero announced that at the upcoming pay - per - view event , SummerSlam , Edge would face Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match , where the ring is surrounded by a steel structure . On the following week ' s edition of " SmackDown " , Mick Foley gave Edge a stern taking about what he needed to do to win Hell in a Cell against the Undertaker . After recalling his own words from the past , describing Edge as the " Greatest Superstar in the WWE " , Foley warned that if the new Edge - the " white - tuxedo - wearing " and " luffa - sponge bathing Edge " - walks into Hell in a Cell , the Undertaker will tear him apart . After Foley ' s cutting words , Edge claimed to understand the advice but suddenly attacked Foley , leading to a melee culminating in Edge leaping from atop of the ladder and smashing Foley through a table . At SummerSlam , Undertaker defeated Edge after performing a Tombstone Piledriver . Following SummerSlam , Edge was scripted to be out of action . Undertaker began to feud with Guerrero and Big Show ( Paul Wight ) at the next pay - per - view event , Unforgiven , when Big Show attacked Undertaker to save Guerrero from being attacked . After Chris Jericho beat Shawn Michaels in a singles match , Michaels came to the ring on August 17 at SummerSlam to announce his storyline retirement . Jericho , however , interrupted the announcement and , in an attempt to punch Michaels , accidentally struck Michaels ' wife Rebecca . On the following night on " Raw " , Jericho stated that he had no remorse for what he did to Michaels wife , claiming that Michaels " had it coming to him " . The following week on " Raw " , Michaels announced he was not going to retire and asked Jericho for an Unsanctioned match at Unforgiven . Jericho agreed to the match and the following week on " Raw " there was a contract signing for the match . The signing ended with Jericho and Michaels attacking each other . During the match at Unforgiven , Michaels ' persistent assault on Jericho would lead to Jericho obtaining a legitimate bruised and swollen jaw . Following The Great American Bash , John Cena and JBL ended their feud , as did Batista and CM Punk ( after a rematch the next night on " Raw " , which Punk won ) . On the July 28 episode of " Raw " , John Cena and Batista defeated JBL and Kane in a tag team match . After the match , on - screen authority figure , Mike Adamle announced that at SummerSlam , Batista would face John Cena in a standard match . On the following episode of " Raw " , Cena and Batista defeated Cody Rhodes ( Cody Runnels ) and Ted DiBiase to capture the World Tag Team Championship . On the August 11 episode of " Raw " , Cena and Batista lost the tag team championship to Rhodes and DiBiase in a tag team rematch . On the August 4 episode of " Raw " Adamle announced that JBL and Chris Jericho would face CM Punk in a two - on - one match that night , where whoever pinned Punk ( if anyone ) would face Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam . JBL won the match for his team after he pinned Punk , setting up the match between himself and Punk for SummerSlam . Reception . The event was met with mixed to positive reception from critics . " The Sun " rated the event as 8 out of 10 . The reviewer praised the Michaels / Jericho match , with particular praise going to Shawn Michaels . Similar praise was given to the emphasis on storylines and good quality wrestling , such as the Edge / Vickie storyline and the Cena / JBL match . The World Heavyweight Championship match was criticized , however , as was the fact that Punk played a very minor role in both the match and the outcome .