The Great American Bash 2005 The Great American Bash 2005 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It was the second such annual event and took place on July 24 , 2005 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo , New York . The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the SmackDown ! program . The main event was Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against John " Bradshaw " Layfield ( JBL ) . JBL won the match after Batista was disqualified , but did not win the title because a championship can only be won via Pinfall or submission . One of the featured matches on the undercard was Rey Mysterio versus Eddie Guerrero , which Mysterio won by pinfall . The other was Orlando Jordan versus Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship , which Jordan won , also by pinfall . The event grossed over $ 375 , 000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 8 , 000 , and received about 233 , 000 pay - per - view buys , the same amount as the following year ' s event . This enabled WWE ' s pay - per - view revenue to increase by $ 4 . 7 million from the previous year . When the 2005 event was released on DVD , it reached a peak position of second on " Billboard " ' s DVD Sales Chart . The event was also available free of charge for Armed Forces members and their families . Background . The Great American Bash event featured a card , which contained matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing scripted feuds , plots and storylines . Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension , leading to a wrestling match . The name of a wrestler ' s character was not always the person ' s birth name , as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character . The main event at The Great American Bash was a standard wrestling match for the World Heavyweight Championship , in which Batista defended the championship against John " Bradshaw " Layfield ( JBL ) . The buildup to the match began when WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to the Raw brand , taking the title with him and leaving SmackDown ! without a top - tier championship for the heavyweight division . General Manager Theodore Long , a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer , announced a match between six wrestlers for a new top - tier SmackDown ! championship . On the June 30 episode of the " SmackDown ! " television program , the match took place between JBL , Chris Benoit , Christian , Booker T , Muhammad Hassan , and The Undertaker . JBL was victorious in the match , but Long announced that he was still not the champion . Instead he had won the right to a match against the World Heavyweight Champion , Batista , who was SmackDown ! ' s final 2005 draft pick , making the World Heavyweight Championship exclusive to SmackDown ! . On the July 14 episode of " SmackDown ! " , Batista defeated Orlando Jordan in a standard match after performing a Batista Bomb . After the match , JBL successfully attacked Batista by executing a clothesline . The following week on " SmackDown ! " , JBL , who was accompanied by Jordan , threw himself a celebration party with the belief that he had already won the World Heavyweight Championship . Batista appeared , and as JBL fled the scene , performed a spinebuster on Jordan . The event also featured a feud between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero . At the No Way Out event , Guerrero and Mysterio won the WWE Tag Team Championship s from the Basham Brothers . After Guerrero and Mysterio lost the championships , Guerrero then began to portray a villainous character , turning on Mysterio in the process . At WrestleMania , Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a standard match . On the April 21 episode of " SmackDown ! " , MNM ( Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury ) defeated Mysterio and Guerrero to win the tag team championship . On the April 28 episode of " SmackDown ! " , Guerrero and Mysterio faced MNM in a rematch for the title , but MNM retained them after pinning Mysterio for the win . At the Judgment Day event , Mysterio defeated Guerrero by disqualification , and on the June 30 episode of " SmackDown ! " , the rivalry between Guerrero and Mysterio continued when Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret concerning Mysterio ' s son Dominick . Both the Mysterio and Guerrero families continued to beg Guerrero to not reveal the secret . A match was made between Mysterio and Guerrero for The Great American Bash , where if Mysterio won , Guerrero could not reveal the secret , but if Guerrero won , he would be able to reveal the secret on live television . The third predominant feud prior to the event was between Chris Benoit and Orlando Jordan for the WWE United States Championship . On the July 7 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Benoit defeated Booker T in a match to become the new Number One contender for the title . As a result of his winning the match and becoming the number - one contender , Long granted Benoit a match against Jordan for The Great American Bash . Event . Before the pay - per - view went live , a match took place on the " Sunday Night Heat " pre - show between Paul London and Nunzio for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship , which London won to retain the title . Preliminary matches . The first match on the card was between MNM ( Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury , managed by Melina ) and The Legion of Doom ( Heidenreich and Road Warrior Animal ) for the WWE Tag Team Championship . During the match , Nitro hit Animal with one of the championship belts , but Animal retaliated by powerslam ming him . Animal and Heidenreich then performed the doomsday device , on Nitro and got the pin to win the match and capture the titles . This began their reign as WWE Tag Team Champions . The next match was between Booker T ( managed by Sharmell ) and Christian . Booker T won the match after using his scissor kick . The following match was between Orlando Jordan and Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship . During the match , Jordan removed the top turnbuckle pad before Benoit attempted to slam Jordan . Jordan avoided the attack and instead forced Benoit to run into the exposed turnbuckle . Jordan got the pin to win the match and retain the title . The fourth match was between The Undertaker and Muhammad Hassan ( managed by Daivari ) . During Hassan ' s entrance , men in masks accompanied him to the ring to represent his Arabic culture . The masked men proceeded to interfered in the match , but Undertaker retaliated and removed all of the masked men from the ring . Midway through the match , Undertaker attempted to use a Tombstone piledriver on Hassan , but Hassan escaped the move and attempted to hit Undertaker with a clothesline . The Undertaker countered by chokeslam ming Hassan . Undertaker scored the pinfall on Hassan to win the match . The next match was between The Mexicools and the Blue World Order in a six - man tag team match . At the match ' s end , Super Crazy executed a moonsault onto Big Stevie Cool from the top ring rope , and Psicosis performed a leg drop . Psicosis proceeded to pin Big Stevie and win the match for his team . Main event matches . The following match was between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero , where the stipulation was that if Guerrero won the match , he would reveal the secret he has been hiding from the public that neither Mysterio ' s nor Guerrero ' s families wanted revealed . If Mysterio won , however , Guerrero would not reveal the secret . Guerrero suplexed Mysterio three times . Afterward , Guerrero performed a frog splash . Guerrero then tried to score the pinfall , but Mysterio countered by pinning Guerrero to win the match . As a result , Guerrero was not able to reveal the secret . The seventh match was between Melina and Torrie Wilson ( managed by Candice Michelle , who was also the guest referee ) , in a Bra and Panties match . The only way to win a " Bra and Panties " match is for a wrestler to strip her opponent down to her underwear . At the start of the match , Melina pulled off Wilson ' s shirt to reveal her bra , but Wilson retaliated and pulled off Melina ' s shirt . Wilson then lifted Melina to her shoulders and dropped her to the mat , while she attempted to pull off her pants , but Melina countered the attack by pulling Wilson ' s pants off to win the match . Afterward , Michelle stripped Melina and then removed her own clothes , as well . The main event was between JBL ( managed by Orlando Jordan ) and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship . Jordan interfered by attempting to hit Batista with a folding chair , but Batista grabbed the chair from him . Batista then used the chair to hit Jordan and JBL , and JBL was declared the winner , via disqualification . In WWE , a title cannot be won by disqualification , but only by pinfall or submission ( the normal scoring conditions in professional wrestling matches ) . As a result , Batista retained the title . Aftermath . The feud between Batista and JBL continued after the Bash . On the July 28 episode of " SmackDown ! " , JBL defeated The Undertaker after interference from Randy Orton to become the number - one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam . The following week on " SmackDown ! " , Batista and JBL held a scripted official contract signing , where it was announced that their match at SummerSlam would be a No Holds Barred match that allowed for no disqualification . At SummerSlam , Batista defeated JBL to retain the World Heavyweight Championship . The feud between the two ended when Batista defeated JBL in a Texas Bullrope match on the September 9 edition of " SmackDown ! " , a match where the objective is to touch all four ring corners while tied to one ' s opponent with a bullrope . On the edition of " SmackDown ! " following The Great American Bash , Eddie Guerrero revealed the secret he had been keeping ; he was Dominick ' s real father , not Rey Mysterio ( was thought to be ) . At SummerSlam , Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a ladder match , where the goal is to climb a ladder to retrieve an object that is suspended in the air . As per pre - match stipulations , Mysterio gained complete custody of Dominick . On the September 9 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Guerrero defeated Mysterio in a steel cage match to end the feud . Guerrero then began a feud with Batista when Guerrero was given a title match at No Mercy . Guerrero , however , died unexpectedly of heart failure on November 13 , 2005 . In 2006 Guerrero was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Mysterio , his nephew Chavo Guerrero , and Chris Benoit . The feud between Chris Benoit and Orlando Jordan continued . At SummerSlam , Benoit defeated Jordan for the WWE United States Championship in a match that lasted 25 . 5 seconds . On the September 1 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Benoit once again defeated Jordan for the title , but this time the match lasted 23 . 4 seconds . The following week on " SmackDown ! " , Benoit defeated Jordan in another title match , where the match lasted 22 . 5 seconds . Reception . The HSBC Arena has a maximum capacity of 18 , 690 , but it was reduced for The Great American Bash . The event grossed over $ 375 , 000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 8 , 000 , the maximum allowed . The event resulted in 233 , 000 pay - per - view buys , which was the same amount as the following year ' s Great American Bash . The promotion ' s pay - per - view revenue was $ 21 . 6 million , greater than the previous year ' s revenue of $ 16 . 9 million . " Canadian Online Explorer " ' s professional wrestling section rated the event a five out of ten . The World Heavyweight Championship main event match was rated three out of ten , and the match between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero received the highest match rating of eight out of ten . The event was released on DVD on August 23 , 2005 , by Sony Music Entertainment . The DVD reached seventh on " Billboard " ' s DVD Sales Chart for recreational sports during the week of October 8 , 2005 , and it rose to the fourth spot the following week . It remained on the chart ' s " top ten " for four consecutive weeks , until the week of December 15 , 2005 , when it ranked thirteenth .