The Bash came to you, live on pay-per-view, from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA.
Quick Match Results
- ECW Championship Scramble Match: Tommy Dreamer (c) def. Christian, Jack Swagger, Finlay, & Mark Henry to retain.
- Intercontinental Championship: Title Vs. Mask: Rey Mysterio def. Chris Jericho (c) by pin following the 619NS to keep his mask and win the Intercontinental Title.
- No DQ Match: Dolph Ziggler (with Kane) def. The Great Khali by pin following several chair shots by Kane.
- Unified Tag Team Championship: Triple Threat: Edge & Chris Jericho (SD) def. Primo & Carlito (c) (RAW) and Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase (RAW) by Edge pinning Carlito (c) following the Spear to win the Unified Tag Team Titles and make them property of SmackDown.
- Women’s Championship: Michelle McCool (with Alicia Fox) def. Melina (c) by pin following the Styles Clash to win the Women’s Title.
- World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy def. CM Punk (c) by DQ after CM Punk (c) kicks the referee in the back; CM Punk (c) retains.
- John Cena def. The Miz by submission to the CSTF.
- WWE Championship: 3 Stages of Hell: Randy Orton (c) def. Triple H with two falls to one to retain.
Match Quality
- WWE Championship Match
- World Heavyweight Championship Match
- Intercontinental Championship Match
- Unified Tag Team Championship Match
- ECW Championship Scramble Match
- No DQ Match
- John Cena Vs. The Miz
- Women’s Championship Match
Detailed Results
The night kicked off with the ECW Championship Scramble Match. Out of the five combatants, two were randomly selected to start the match. Every five minutes, another participant comes out until all competitors are the match. After that point, a five minute clock counts down. Whoever scores a pinfall or submission becomes an "interim champion". Whoever is "interim champion" when the time limit expires will leave as the champion.
No strangers to each other, Christian & Jack Swagger started the match. Finlay would join the fray, followed by the ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer and "The World’s Strongest Man" Mark Henry. The first fall of the match went to "The All-American American" Jack Swagger, who took advantage of Finlay’s eye injury to roll up "The Fighting Irishman" to become interim champion. Finlay comes back and hits the Celtic Cross on Swagger and become the interim champion. "The World’s Strongest Man" Mark Henry pinned the ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer in the match to become interim champion. Swagger then managed to find a way to pin Mark Henry to become the interim champion for the second time. Desperate to keep the dream alive, Tommy Dreamer planted Christian with the DDT to become the interim champion. Dreamer hung on for the remainder of the match and was able to leave Sacramento as the ECW Champion.
Backstage, an angry Edge enters the office of SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long. "The Rated-R Superstar" protests to Theodore Long that he is perfectly healthy, but he is not scheduled to compete. Edge implores Teddy to add him to the World Heavyweight Title match between CM Punk & Jeff Hardy. Long refuses and tells Edge that he had his chance to take the title back. Edge then tells Long that he will be out of a job by the end of the night if he doesn’t give Edge what he wants. What will Theodore Long do to impress Mr. McMahon?
It was respect against disrespect, pride against narcissism, it was the mask of Rey Mysterio against the Intercontinental Title of Chris Jericho. With his legacy and notoriety on the line, Rey Mysterio came out on top against Chris Jericho to keep his mask and regain the Intercontinental Title! The end of the match came when Chris Jericho pulled the mask off of Rey Mysterio. However, Rey had predicted such a tactic from the opportunistic champion, so Mysterio wore two masks! After pulling off the outer mask, Jericho was confused long enough for Mysterio to take advantage and win the Intercontinental Title and keep his signature mask.
Backstage, Chris Jericho barges into the office of SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long and tells the GM that Rey Mysterio cheated to win the title back. Jericho demands that Long make a rematch for the title. Long refuses Jericho’s rematch. Jericho tells Long to reconsider his decision.
In a No DQ Match, Dolph Ziggler picked up a huge win over The Great Khali, but not without controversy. During the course of the match, fire exploded on the stage and a familiar face made his way to the ring; none other then "The Big Red Machine" Kane! The returning Kane made his way to the ring and completely wore out The Great Khali with a steel chair! Kane then made his exit and Dolph Ziggler took advantage by pinning "The Punjabi Nightmare" to pick up the win. The question now is- why did Kane attack The Great Khali and cost him the match? Why did Kane pick The Bash to make his return?
Backstage, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon confronts SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long. The Chairman tells Long that he was going to apologize for his behavior on SmackDown. McMahon then accused Long of doing "absolutely nothing" in his almost five years as a General Manager! The Chairman informed Teddy that he was still on probation.
Then it was time for the Unified Tag Team Championship match as Primo & Carlito were set to defend the gold against Legacy’s Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase. Before the match could begin, however, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long came out and made a shocking announcement; that the title match is now a Triple Threat Match! Even more shocking than the addition of a third team to the contest was who that third team was; it was the team of nine-time World Champion, Edge, and five-time World Champion and the man who had just lost the Intercontinental Title, Chris Jericho! In the end, it was Edge hitting Carlito with the Spear that made Edge & Chris Jericho the new Unified Tag Team Champions! Teddy Long certainly "shook things up" in the Unified Tag Team Title match, but was it enough for Mr. McMahon? Is there any team that can defeat the "super team" of former World Champions Edge & Chris Jericho?
Backstage, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase meet up with the leader of Legacy, Randy Orton. Orton conveys to the duo that he does not care about them not winning the tag titles and all that matters is that he is the WWE Champion. Ted DiBiase took exception to this, telling Orton that he did not join Legacy to serve as Orton’s "lackey". DiBiase then says that it was a mistake joining Legacy and tells Orton "good luck with Triple H" before storming off! Cody Rhodes tells Orton that he will talk to him. Have we witnessed the end of Legacy? Can Orton survive his match with Triple H without any backup?
With some help from Alicia Fox, Michelle McCool defeated Melina to become the new Women’s Champion! Not only did McCool become the Women’s Champion, but she became the first Diva to have won both the Women’s & Divas Titles! Now that she’s won the gold, how long can McCool keep it?
Then it was time to decide the World Heavyweight Championship as CM Punk defended the title against "The Extreme Enigma" Jeff Hardy. In the closing moments of the match, Jeff Hardy hit the Swanton Bomb on CM Punk and pinned the champion! However, the referee waved the win off since CM Punk had his foot under the bottom rope; saving his title. The match continued with CM Punk going for the GTS. However, Jeff countered with an elbow to the eye of Punk. Punk backed into the corner, grabbing his eye. The referee was checking on CM Punk when a vision-impaired Punk delivered a kick to the back of the referee! The referee had no choice but to ring the bell for the disqualification, meaning that CM Punk would keep the title. CM Punk made his way up the ramp, but was stopped by Jeff Hardy. Jeff accused Punk of getting disqualified on purpose to keep the title. Punk responded by telling Jeff that he could not see what he was doing. A frustrated Jeff Hardy then attacked the champion, assaulting CM Punk all the way into the ring. The fight continued until referees came into the ring and pulled Jeff off of Punk. CM Punk was then assisted to the back. Did CM Punk intentionally get himself disqualified to keep the title or could he really not see the referee? How will Punk respond to the post-match attack by Jeff Hardy? What is the next step in Jeff Hardy’s quest to regain the World Heavyweight Title?
It was put up or shut up time for The Miz as he squared of with John Cena. In the end, it was emphatic "shut up" for The Miz as Cena forced Miz to submit to Cena’s signature STF. Miz got his "reality checked" by John Cena, but is this feud over between these two?
Then it was time for the much-anticipated Three Stages of Hell Match for the WWE Championship between champion, Randy Orton, and Triple H. In the first fall of the match, which was a regular match, Triple H blasted Randy Orton with a chair shot to get himself disqualified and lose the first fall! Always having a plan in mind, "The Cerebral Assassin" then took full advantage of the rules of the Falls Count Anywhere second fall by hitting the Pedigree on Orton on the outside and pinning Orton to earn the second fall and tie the match up at one fall a piece. Then it was time to determine the third and deciding fall in the contest with a Stretcher Match. The two bitter rivals fought tooth-and-nail against each other, using anything they could get their hands on. Towards the conclusion of the match, Randy Orton planted "The Game" with a vicious DDT on the steel ramp! Orton then tried to roll the stretcher over the line, but Triple H managed to recover and stop Orton. Now on the staging area, Triple H delivers and thunderous Pedigree to "The Viper" on the unforgiving steel stage. Triple H then loaded Orton onto the stretcher and was just about to cross the line when Cody Rhodes came out and stopped the stretcher. Triple H took care of Rhodes and went back to the stretcher. Triple H had the stretcher halfway over the line when Ted DiBiase came to Orton’s aid and again kept "The Game" from winning the title. The numbers game got the best of Triple H as Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase commenced the assault of Triple H. Legacy then loaded Triple H on the stretcher, but Triple H fought the duo off and fell off the stretcher onto the staging area. With another plan worthy of "The Cerebral Assassin", Triple H removed a piece of the steel stage to reveal a hidden compartment containing a sledgehammer! With his "great equalizer" in his possession, Triple H took out Rhodes & DiBiase. However, the ever crafty Randy Orton blasted Triple H with the piece of steel stage Triple H removed. Triple H landed on the stretcher and Orton used his last bit of energy to pull the stretcher over the line and survive the Three Stages of Hell to retain the WWE Title! After the match, Randy Orton held his WWE Title high after his successful defense. However, Triple H recovered and stood behind the champion with sledgehammer in hand. Orton then turned around to face "The Game" and Triple H blasted Orton right in the skull with the sledgehammer! With Orton & Legacy motionless at his feet, Triple H held his sledgehammer high. Triple H has shown to Randy Orton that it is not over yet between the two of them. After nearly tearing each other apart in Three Stages of Hell, what is the next step in this intense rivalry?