Created by Dusty Rhodes, the event was originally established in 1985 and was produced by the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).

It originally aired on closed-circuit television until 1988 when it began broadcasting on pay-per-view (PPV), and later that same year, JCP was rebranded as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which seceded from the NWA in January 1991.

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's SmackDown brand from 2004 to 2006 before brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued in April 2007.

[7][8] Following WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued,[9] thus the events from 2007 to 2009 featured the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands.

After the event, Buzz Tyler left JCP after a dispute with booker Dusty Rhodes and took the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship belt with him.

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 the Four Horsemen with Tully Blanchard and James J. Dillon joining in early 1986.

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 and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defended his title at each one against Ricky Morton, Road Warrior Hawk, Ron Garvin, Nikita Koloff, Robert Gibson, Road Warrior Animal, Magnum T. A., Wahoo McDaniel, and Dusty Rhodes.

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.

July 5, 1986 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Memorial Stadium) July 26, 1986 in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum) The 1987 Great American Bash was the third annual Great American Bash event produced by the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).

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 by The War Machine.

Lazor-Tron (Hector Guerrero) would leave JCP later in 1987 and vacate the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

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.

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.