It was the final PPV of the Ruthless Aggression Era, as WWE programming became PG two days after the event.

As such, it was also the final WWE PPV to have a TV Parental Guidelines rating of TV-14 until The Horror Show at Extreme Rules in 2020.

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.

It was sponsored by AT&T and took place on July 20, 2008, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.

This prompted Edge to take 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 on Raw and told her the wedding was off.

On the July 18 episode of SmackDown, Edge and Vickie Guerrero held their kayfabe wedding reception.

At Night of Champions, it was determined that either Batista or John Cena would bring a World Championship to the Raw brand.

Later that night, Batista became the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Kane, JBL, and John Cena in a fatal four-way match.

The match ended in a no-contest after Henry escaped the ring to try to 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.

The next match was for the WWE United States Championship, with Matt Hardy defending against Shelton Benjamin.

Dreamer was on the turnbuckle about to finish Henry off but Colin Delaney turned on him and pulled him into the top rope.

Lance Cade also interfered and executed many cheap shots on Michaels while the referee's back was turned.

They both performed extreme moves including Cena using JBL's body to smash a car door off its hinges.

On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Edge apologized to Vickie Guerrero for his actions at The Great American Bash.

Guerrero announced that at the upcoming pay-per-view event, SummerSlam, Edge would face Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match.

[12] On SmackDown the following week, Mick Foley gave Edge a stern taking about what he needed to do to win Hell in a Cell against the Undertaker.

[15] The following week on Raw, Michaels announced that he was not going to retire and asked Jericho for an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven.

[16] On the July 28 episode of Raw, John Cena and Batista defeated JBL and Kane in a tag team match.

[17] On the following episode of Raw, Cena and Batista defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to capture the World Tag Team Championship.

[18] The 2008 Great American Bash was the last WWE pay-per-view event of the Ruthless Aggression Era and also the last to have a TV Parental Guidelines rating of TV-14.