by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May 2002. After a four-year hiatus, the event was revived by WWE in 2004. To coincide with the brand extension, where the promotion divided its roster into brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform, the 2004 event was held exclusively for the SmackDown! brand. It continued to be held exclusively for SmackDown! in 2005 and 2006. Following WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued, thus the events from 2007 to 2009 featured the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. In 2009, the event was renamed as The Bash. It would be the only held under this name, as well as the last held on PPV, as the event was replaced by Fatal 4-Way in 2010. In April 2011, WWE ceased using its full name with the WWE abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. WWE then revived The Great American Bash in July 2012 under the event's original full name. This event was held as a special episode of SmackDown. After another eight years, WWE again revived the event, this time for the NXT brand as a two-part special episode of NXT. The event was scheduled to again be held as a special episode of NXT in 2021, thus becoming an annual event for NXT. Events 1985 The 1985 Great American Bash was the inaugural Great American Bash professional wrestling event 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 by David Allan Coe. 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 the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship belt with him. The Russian Team would lose the NWA World Tag Team titles to the debuting Rock & 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