The Great American Bash
NXT The Great American Bash logo used as of 2024
Created by	Dusty Rhodes
Promotions	National Wrestling Alliance:Jim Crockett Promotions (1985–1988) World Championship Wrestling (1989–1992, 1995–2000) WWE (2004–2009, 2012, 2020–present)
Brands	Raw (2007–2009) SmackDown (2004–2009) ECW (2007–2009) NXT (2020–present)
Other names	The Bash (2009) NXT The Great American Bash (2020–2024)
First event	1985

The Great American Bash is aprofessional wrestling event held during the summer and has been produced by the American promotionWWE since 2004; since 2020, it has been held as an annual event for WWE'sdevelopmental brand,NXT. Created byDusty Rhodes, the event was originally established in 1985 and was produced by theNational Wrestling Alliance's (NWA)Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). It originally aired onclosed-circuit television until 1988 when it began broadcasting onpay-per-view (PPV), and later that same year, JCP was rebranded asWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), which seceded from the NWA in January 1991.

In March 2001, the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) purchased WCW. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the promotion revived The Great American Bash as their own annual PPV event in 2004. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from WWE'sSmackDownbrand from 2004 to 2006 before brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued in April 2007. In 2009, WWE renamed the event asThe Bash, which was also the final Great American Bash broadcast on PPV, as it was replaced byFatal 4-Way in 2010.

The event returned once in July 2012 under its original full name and was held as atelevision special, airing as aspecial episode ofSmackDown. In July 2020, the event was again revived and became an annual event for WWE's developmental brand, NXT; from 2020 to 2022, it aired asspecial episodes ofNXT, but was held as alivestreaming event in 2023, marking the first Great American Bash to air on WWE's livestreaming platforms and again in 2025. Due toHeatwave being held outside the United States, the 2024 event was held instead as a television special.

The Great American Bash was invented byDusty Rhodes, a prominent wrestler of theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), who became a wrestler and booker of the NWA'sJim Crockett Promotions (JCP). The first Great American Bash event was held by JCP on July 6, 1985, inCharlotte, North Carolina at theAmerican Legion Memorial Stadium. In 1986 and 1987, The Great American Bash was held as a series of events. It was broadcast onclosed-circuit television until the1988 event, when it began broadcasting onpay-per-view (PPV). In November that year, JCP was purchased byTurner Broadcasting System and JCP was rebranded asWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW).^[1]

WCW continued to produce The Great American Bash under the NWA banner until WCW seceded from the NWA in January 1991. As such, the1991 event was the first Great American Bash produced by WCW alone. After the1992 event, WCW did not hold the PPV again until1995. It then continued annually until 2000.^[1] The2000 event was the final Great American Bash held by WCW,^[2] as in March 2001, WCW was purchased by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF),^[3] which was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May 2002.^[4]

After a four-year hiatus, the event was revived by WWE in 2004. To coincide with thebrand extension, where the promotion divided its roster into brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform,^[5] the2004 event was held exclusively for theSmackDown! brand.^[6] It continued to be held exclusively for SmackDown! in2005 and2006.^[7][8] FollowingWrestleMania 23 in April 2007, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued,^[9] thus the events from 2007 to 2009 featured theRaw, SmackDown!, andECW brands.^[10][11][12] In 2009, the event was renamed asThe Bash.^[12] It would be the only held under this name, as well as the last broadcast on PPV, as the event was replaced byFatal 4-Way in 2010.^[13]

In April 2011, WWE ceased using its full name with the WWE abbreviation becoming anorphaned initialism.^[14] The company then revived The Great American Bash once in July 2012 under the event's original full name, but it was held as atelevision special, airing as aspecial episode ofSmackDown.^[15] After another eight years, WWE again revived the event, this time for theirdevelopmental brand,NXT, as a two-partspecial episode ofNXT.^[16] The event was scheduled to again be held as a special episode ofNXT in 2021, but reduced to one night, thus becoming an annual event for NXT.^[17] In 2023, the event was broadcast vialivestreaming, marking the first Great American Bash to air on WWE's livestreaming platforms,Peacock in the United States and theWWE Network in most international markets.^[18] It returned to being a television special ofNXT in 2024, but as a two-night event for the first time since 2020.^[19]

The 1985Great American Bash was the inaugural Great American Bashprofessional wrestlingevent produced by the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions. It took place on July 6, 1985, at the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event included a 1-hour live concert performance byDavid Allan Coe.^[23]

As a result of Dusty Rhodes winning the match,Tully Blanchard's valet,Baby Doll was forced to be Dusty Rhodes' valet for 30 days which sparked her face turn as she became a full-time valet for Rhodes and his then partner, Magnum T. A.

After the event, Buzz Tyler left JCP after a dispute with booker Dusty Rhodes and took theNWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship belt with him. The Russian Team would lose the NWA World Tag Team titles to the debutingRock & Roll Express three days later. Ric Flair would turn heel later in 1985 and join his (kayfabe) cousins Ole & Arn Anderson and break Dusty Rhodes' leg in a steel cage in September of that year, forcing him to surrender the NWA World Television title, and Flair/The Andersons would become the foundation of theFour Horsemen with Tully Blanchard and James J. Dillon joining in early 1986. Kamala would join the WWF later in 1985.

The 1986Great American Bash was the second annual Great American Bash event produced by the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Instead of a singular event, JCP used "The Great American Bash" name for a tour that had several pay-per-view caliber shows around the country in the summer of 1986. There were a total of 13 shows held under this Great American Bash tour andNWA World Heavyweight ChampionRic Flair defended his title at each one againstRicky Morton,Road Warrior Hawk,Ron Garvin,Nikita Koloff,Robert Gibson,Road Warrior Animal,Magnum T. A.,Wahoo McDaniel, and Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes defeated him for the title at the July 26 event.^[27] Flair challenged Rhodes to a rematch on the last Bash on August 2. Nikita Koloff and Magnum T. A. were involved in a best of seven title match series throughout the Bash for the U.S. Title. The cities toured in 1986 were in order as follows: July 1 inPhiladelphia, July 3 in Washington, D.C., July 4 inMemphis, Tennessee, July 5 inCharlotte, North Carolina, July 8 inCharleston, WV, July 9 inCincinnati, July 10 inRoanoke, Virginia, July 12 inJacksonville, Florida, July 18 inRichmond, Virginia, July 21 inFayetteville, North Carolina, July 23 inJohnson City, Tennessee, July 25 inNorfolk, Virginia, July 26 inGreensboro, North Carolina, and August 2 inAtlanta.

In July 2019, the July 5 and July 26 editions were uploaded as hidden gems on theWWE Network.^[28]

Steve Regal won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title from Denny Brown at the final Bash event in Atlanta, then lost it back to Brown a month later and joined the WWF shortly afterwards. Ric Flair regained the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Rhodes in St. Louis one week after the Bash tour ended, then Baby Doll left Dusty Rhodes and became Flair's valet until she was moved to the Central States territory after JCP's purchase later in 1986. Nikita Koloff won the United States Heavyweight title after defeating Magnum T. A. for the fourth time on August 17 in Charlotte, NC, then unified the United States title with the former Georgia National Heavyweight title by defeating champion Wahoo McDaniel in September 1986 (retiring the last of the former Georgia Championship Wrestling titles), then turned face after Magnum's career-ending car accident in October. Manny Fernandez turned on Jimmy Valiant (Valiant lost his hair later in the Bash tour) and become a heel, joining Paul Jones' army, later joining forces withRick Rude. Ron Garvin won theMid-Atlantic Title from Black Bart in September before vacating the title (which then was retired) after winning theUnited States Tag Team titles with his partnerBarry Windham.

July 5, 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Memorial Stadium)

July 26, 1986 in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum)

The 1987Great American Bash was the third annual Great American Bash event produced by the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Like the previous year, it was a series of events held throughout the summer of 1987, although this year's tour only had three events instead of 13. This was the first use of theWarGames: The Match Beyond match conceived by Dusty Rhodes.

Rhodes was on the winning side in both events along withThe Road Warriors,Nikita Koloff, andPaul Ellering. Koloff, Rhodes, and J. J. Dillon sustained serious injuries in the first encounter, which led to him being replaced in the 2nd WarGames match in Miami byThe War Machine. The Bash series took place in numerous venues all July long, starting in Lakeland, Florida at the Lakeland Civic Center Arena on July 1. This was also the final wrestling event of the NWA's JCP to be aired live on closed-circuit television, as JCP began airing their wrestling events live on pay-per-view, starting withStarrcade in November 1987.

This was the first major card that included theUWF stars after JCP purchased the UWF in April, 1987 as well as Championship Wrestling from Florida, as JCP took over operations of the promotion as well. Lazor-Tron (Hector Guerrero) would leave JCP later in 1987 and vacate theNWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. The WWF national expansion continued as Big Bubba Rogers would leave later in 1987 to become the Big Boss Man, while other stars such as Chris Adams, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts would return to World Class (WCWA). Dark Journey would leave JCP after the Bashes and retire from wrestling. Manny "The Ragin' Bull" Fernandez would go onto a short feud with Jimmy Garvin before leaving JCP later in 1987. Tully Blanchard would lose his World TV title to Nikita Koloff, then he and Arn Anderson would form a tag team which captured the NWA World Tag Team titles (with a little unsolicited help from the Midnight Express) from the Rock & Roll Express in September 1987. Dusty Rhodes would begin a feud with Lex Luger over the United States Heavyweight title. Jimmy Garvin's valet (and real-life wife) Precious would have her "dream date" with Ric Flair (which turned out to be Garvin's brother Ron Garvin in drag) and Ron Garvin would rekindle his feud with Ric Flair over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which Garvin would win in Detroit, Michigan, on September 25, 1987.

July 4, 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia (The Omni)

July 18, 1987 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Memorial Stadium)

July 31, 1987 inMiami, Florida (Orange Bowl)

The 2012Great American Bash was the seventh Great American Bash professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and 21st Great American Bash event overall. Unlike previous editions of The Great American Bash, it was the first to air as a special episode of a regular WWE television program, as opposed to a pay-per-view event. The 2012 event was held as a specialSuperSmackDown Live episode ofSmackDown. It took place on July 3, 2012, at theAmerican Bank Center inCorpus Christi, Texas. It was the first Great American Bash held since the 2009 event, which had been titled The Bash; the 2012 event returned to using the full name of "The Great American Bash".^[15] It was the final Great American Bash until2020.

Notes

1. ^^ Slater and Swagger's eliminations occurred during a commercial break.

• The Great American Bash
• 1985 establishments in the United States
• Recurring events established in 1985
• Recurring events disestablished in 2000
• Recurring events established in 2004
• Recurring events disestablished in 2009
• Recurring events established in 2020

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2021