Great Balls of Fire was a 2017 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brand, Raw. It took place on July 9, 2017, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event's title referenced Jerry Lee Lewis's song of the same name, which was used as the event's theme song.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Brock Lesnar defeated Samoa Joe to retain the Universal Championship. In other prominent matches, Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns in an ambulance match, Cesaro and Sheamus retained the Raw Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) in a 30-minute Iron Man match, and in the opening bout, Bray Wyatt defeated Seth Rollins.
This date's event was originally announced to revive Bad Blood and be held at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, which would have been the first Bad Blood since 2004 and the fourth Bad Blood overall. However, these plans were scrapped in favor of Great Balls of Fire; Bad Blood would instead return in 2024. This would be the only Great Balls of Fire event, as although a follow up was not on WWE's originally planned 2018 schedule, brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events for the main roster were discontinued following WrestleMania 34 in April that year, reducing the amount of these events produced per year.
Production Background
On March 21, 2017, the professional wrestling promotion WWE announced that it would be reinstating the Bad Blood pay-per-view (PPV) event to be held on July 9, 2017, from the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. This would have been the fourth Bad Blood event, the first held since 2004, and the first Bad Blood to livestream on the WWE Network. On April 28, however, the company announced that these plans were scrapped in favor of a new PPV and livestreaming event titled Great Balls of Fire, which would instead be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on July 9. Tickets went on sale on May 5 through Ticketmaster. To coincide with the brand extension that was reintroduced in July 2016, in which the promotion again split its main roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform, the event was held exclusively for Raw.
The event's title referenced Jerry Lee Lewis's song of the same name, which was ultimately used as the event's theme song. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler stated that his personal attorney, who also represented Lewis, had asked him about pursuing legal action over the title, but that he "called them and got everything worked out", including securing rights to use the song itself as part of the event. The name received negative criticism on social media.
Storylines The event comprised nine matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.
After Brock Lesnar won the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33, Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman teased a match between Lesnar and Roman Reigns as they were the only two men to have defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Lesnar was notably absent from Raw for several weeks due to his status as a part-time wrestler. During this time, Reigns, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, Bray Wyatt, and Samoa Joe each expressed their desire to challenge Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Due to Strowman being sidelined from an arm injury, General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled an extreme rules fatal five-way match at Extreme Rules between the remaining five, with the winner earning a title match at Great Balls of Fire. Joe won the match and confronted Heyman the following night on Raw, stating that he did not fear Lesnar and wanted to face him. Joe then applied the "Coquina Clutch" on Heyman to send a message to Lesnar, who returned the following week and got into a brawl with Joe, which was broken up by the Raw locker room. On the June 26 episode, as Lesnar was making his entrance, Joe ambushed Lesnar from behind and applied the "Coquina Clutch" on him three times, nearly causing Lesnar to pass out. Joe stopped the third attempt only after some other wrestlers pulled him off of Lesnar. On the final Raw before Great Balls of Fire, the two had a live split-screen interview. They taunted each other and an enraged Joe left to find where Lesnar was. He eventually found him, but was held back by security.
On the April 3 episode of Raw, Braun Strowman, who had been feuding with Roman Reigns since the Royal Rumble, interrupted Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and indicated his desire to face him for the title, but left before a fight could occur. Strowman then continued his feud with Reigns, defeated him at Payback, and assaulted him after the match and again on Raw Talk, when Reigns was about to be taken to a medical facility. However, Reigns retaliated by slamming an ambulance door against Strowman's arm multiple times. The next night on Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle informed the audience that both men were injured. The following week, Strowman, wearing a sling on his arm, indicated that he would target the Universal Champion after finishing off Reigns. Later that night, Reigns attacked Strowman during the latter's match, targeting his arm with a steel chair. Strowman required surgery and was expected to be inactive for up to six months. On the June 19 episode of Raw, Reigns proclaimed himself to be the number one contender for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. Later that night, Strowman returned in an ambulance, costing Reigns his match against Samoa Joe. Strowman attacked Reigns and challenged him to an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire. The following week, Reigns accepted the challenge and an ambulance appeared at the stage; Reigns went to investigate, but Strowman attacked him and put him into the ambulance. On the final Raw before Great Balls of Fire, Strowman attempted to put Apollo Crews, who he had just defeated, in an ambulance, but as he opened the door, Reigns was in the ambulance and attacked Strowman. The two brawled that ended with Reigns executing a spear on Strowman off the stage and both crashed through a table and boxes.
At Extreme Rules, Alexa Bliss retained the Raw Women's Championship against Bayley. The following night on Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled Bliss to defend the title against Nia Jax, as Bliss had said that she would give Jax a shot after she was through with Bayley. Bliss won the match by disqualification after getting Mickie James and Dana Brooke, who were at ringside, to attack her. On the June 12 episode, Sasha Banks, Brooke, and James defeated Bliss, Jax, and the returning Emma after Bliss abandoned her partners. The following week, during a match between Jax and Banks, Emma confronted Bliss, and a brawl broke out also involving Brooke, James, and Bayley, who came out to help Banks. Angle then scheduled a six-woman gauntlet match for the June 26 episode where the winner would face Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship at Great Balls of Fire. Jax eliminated Bayley, James, Brooke, and Emma before being eliminated by Banks via submission. Bliss then came out to confront her, but Banks attacked her and posed with the title belt.
On the May 15 episode of Raw, Seth Rollins was scheduled to face Bray Wyatt as part of the buildup to their fatal five-way match at Extreme Rules. Wyatt and Rollins insulted each other prior to their match which Rollins won by disqualification after Samoa Joe interfered. On the June 5 episode of Raw, Rollins wrestled Joe. During the match, Wyatt's music played and distracted Rollins, allowing Joe to win. The following week, Rollins confronted Wyatt, called him a coward, and wondered if the reason Wyatt cost him his match was due to Rollins previously calling him gutless. Wyatt, claiming himself to be a god, said that although Rollins slayed a king (referring to Rollins' victory over Triple H at WrestleMania 33), he cannot slay a god. The next week, as Rollins introduced himself as the cover star of the WWE 2K18 video game, he was interrupted by Wyatt. Wyatt accused Rollins of contradicting the video game's tagline "Be Like No One" by having conformed to the expectations of the audience. Rollins then attacked Wyatt. On the June 26 episode, Wyatt challenged Rollins to a match at Great Balls of Fire, which Rollins accepted. The two cut promos on each other the following week, with Wyatt's promo emanating from a desert.
On the June 6 episode of 205 Live, Titus O'Neil attempted to get Akira Tozawa to join his stable of wrestlers, "The Titus Brand" (later named "Titus Worldwide"). O'Neil continued to try and recruit Tozawa on the June 12 episode of Raw, the following night on 205 Live, and the following week on Raw, after Tozawa defeated TJP. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville then complained about being disrespected by Tozawa. O'Neil responded that Tozawa could beat Neville and, with his help, would become Cruiserweight Champion. On the June 26 episode of Raw, O'Neil informed both Neville and Tozawa that he had negotiated a title match between the two at Great Balls of Fire. The following week on 205 Live, O'Neil hyped the Cruiserweight Championship match. Neville interrupted and said that Titus was only concerned with making money, and not the safety of his own clients, as demonstrated by the loss Titus Worldwide member Apollo Crews received from Braun Strowman on the previous night's episode of Raw.
On the May 22 episode of Raw, Enzo Amore was found unconscious backstage after being attacked from behind by an unknown assailant, and again the following week, where The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) became suspects. Raw commentator Corey Graves suggested that Big Cass, Amore's tag team partner, may have behind the attack, which Cass denied, saying that he would never hurt Amore. The following week, Cass was found backstage knocked out. Big Show, in Cass' place, teamed with Amore in a victory over Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Later backstage, Cass confronted Show. The following week, Cass was again found unconscious, but still competed with Amore against Gallows and Anderson in a losing effort. Gallows and Anderson tried to attack Amore, but Show made the save while Cass watched. Amore confronted Show regarding Cass being attacked, which Show took offense to and walked away. On the June 19 episode of Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle held a meeting about the attacks on Amore and Cass. After being questioned, Big Show took offense and said that he would not compete on Raw again and left. After Angle cleared The Revival of any wrongdoing, Graves showed video surveillance of Cass staging his own attack from the previous week. Cass admitted that he was behind the attacks on Amore. Cass said that he was tired of Enzo and blamed the fact they never won a championship on him. Cass broke up the team before kicking Amore in the head. The following week, Cass said that he was ashamed of himself for what he did. The two embraced in the ring, but on the stage, Cass attacked Amore. On the July 3 episode, Amore said that he would fight back and the two brawled until Angle separated them and made a match between them at Great Balls of Fire.