WWE Money in the Bank Reaction

I been gone for a while but now I'M BACK!

And it's time to dish out a review for WWE Money in the Bank. Another WWE pay-per-view is in the books and I think successfully rebounded from No Way Out which was carried by Punk/AJ/Bryan/Kane.

But anyway, Money in the Bank is always a great show, so let's get down to business.

Kofi & Truth get another win!

We're gonna start things off with the pre-show match. Kofi and Truth taking on Hunico and Camacho in a Non-Title match.

This match exceeded my expectations. I thought this was going to be some 2 minute squash throwaway match, but this was a lot more. This match showcased how underrated Hunico and Camacho actually are. These two are pretty good in-ring talents, but need something a little more before people can take them seriously.

Nonetheless, it was a solid match. Back and forth action that showcased that teamwork and speed of Kofi and Truth and the Brawler/Power combination of Hunico and Camacho. Kofi and Truth get the win after Truth connects with the Lie Detector for the win.

It would've been cool to actually see the tag titles on the line. Haven't seen that happen in quite some time now. But that's beside the point.


Let's get to the PPV!

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Christian vs Cody Rhodes vs Santino vs Dolph Ziggler vs Tensai vs Tyson Kidd vs Damien Sandow vs Sin Cara

You talk about setting the tone, this match did that to perfection. Every guy in this match filled their roles. It started out slow like most matches do and they weren't a lot OMG Ladder spots, but that quickly changed midway through the match.

Tensai was entertaining and dominant with spots like powerbombing Sin Cara onto the Ladder and sending Dolph Ziggler flying into the announce table which looked absolutely great. Some cool spots were Tyson Kidd jumping from Ladder to Ladder and hitting a sunset flip in the process, Christian spearing Rhodes off one Ladder and Ziggler hitting the Zig Zag taking Rhodes off the Ladder. In short, when this match really picked up and got going, it got really good. Everybody started being more aggressive and made this match exciting until the end.

When all the action settled, there was one man left in the ring and that was Dolph Ziggler. The crowd was HOT for the whole match and popped when Ziggler grabbed the briefcase. I honestly thought they were going to give this one to Cody Rhodes because I didn't think Ziggler needed the briefcase to get a World Championship match, but it's always good to try out something new. Let's see where this goes.

Great way to kick off the show.

The Miz Returns!

The Miz returns after being gone for two months filming The Marine 3 sporting some facial hair and informs everybody that the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match will now feature five former Champions: John Cena, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, and now The Miz.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs Alberto Del Rio

World Title on the Line already and it was a pretty solid match. It was very slow, methodical, with a lot of submission style wrestling. I didn't mind it, and it had some storytelling with Del Rio constantly going to work on the injured arm of Sheamus. Other than that, it was pretty slow and uninteresting until the closing moments with several nearfalls. This is no knock on the abilities of both men, they're both great competitors, and gave a little bit of chemistry in the ring, but nothing really stood out for me in this match. Not story, no hatred, no intensity. Good match nonetheless. But after a botched Enziguiri in the corner, Sheamus closes the deal with White Noise and Brogue Kick.

But after the match, Del Rio and Ricardo beat down Sheamus for a while and Dolph Ziggler's music hits and he marches down with the briefcase. He gets in the ring and wants to cash it in, but argues with Del Rio. Ziggler lays him out with the briefcase which gives Sheamus enough time to get up and drop Ziggler with a Brogue Kick. As Michael Cole put, since the bell never rang, it wasn't an official match, therefore Ziggler still has his briefcase.

That would've been a great spot had Ziggler cashed it in on Sheamus right there, but there's always another day for that.

Primetime Players (w/ A.W.) vs Primo & Epico (w/ Rosa)

Not much to say about this match. It was a pretty standard tag team match with teams that the crowd could barely care about. Ok, let me not be that blunt about it, it was a good match but the Primetime Players became the #1 Contenders at last month's pay-per-view and have still not gotten their title shot. Not only that, but they lost this match to Primo and Epico.

After the match, they confront the tag team champs who are conveniently sitting at ringside and get embarrassed as Truth throws water in the face of A.W. for getting too close to the announce table.

A.W. is a good manager, but his talking during the match on his own microphone was annoying at times. I really hope this is temporary because this can't be an every week thing. The man is funny, but he talks a little too much.

I guess a win from Primo and Epico ensures us that these two aren't out of the tag team title hunt which is good because the tag team division could use some boosting up. Obviously they're building towards a feud with the Champs and Primetime Players, but it doesn't say a whole lot when they lose. Food for thought.

WWE Championship Match - AJ as special guest referee
CM Punk (c) vs Daniel Bryan

Ok, here we go. CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship and for AJ.

Well, as much as I like seeing these guys wrestle each other, I feel like this match dragged on way too long towards the end. As much as I loved this storyline, I feel like AJ brought the match down. When AJ got knocked out 5-10 minutes into the match and had to go to the back, these guys really got down to business. It was reminiscent of their great match from Over the Limit but with more leeway to the rules because it was made No DQ. A lot of great wrestling and aggressiveness from Daniel Bryan with the weapons. The crowd was also pretty hot for this match as well. Punk and Bryan continue to show us that they have great chemistry in the ring and can go for a while.

But then AJ came back and the match quickly dropped in quality IMO. Everything seemed so annoyingly awkward. Both men's minds weren't on the title, they were on AJ. I understand that was the point of the storyline, but it got too out of hand. The match dragged on for far too long because of long pauses, dramatic facial expressions, and AJ's mannerisms that would eat up more and more time. It was getting to a point where I felt like the match should've ended 10-15 minutes earlier than when it actually ended.

Not to take away from the match itself, because it was great. Anytime Punk and Bryan face off, it's a five star match, but the AJ factor sucked a little bit of life out of the match and made it go on for too long and that's really a no-no.

The ending came when Punk delivered a back suplex on Bryan through a table and covered him for the win. AJ hands Punk the title and he celebrates and that's really about it.

This should be the last we see of this this love triangle, but I feel as if there is still no payoff. Punk needs to move on after this, but something tells me this story isn't over yet, because once again, I feel like there was no proper ending. Is there going to be some new guy introduced that falls for AJ and feuds with Bryan, or will this love triangle stretch all the way out to Summerslam? I hope not.

I personally think this should've been resolved at No Way Out, and tonight there's still no clear ending to this story. Guess we have to wait and see what happens next.



Ryback vs Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins


Not your typical Ryback squash as he looked like he struggled just a little bit against these two guys. In the end, once he got the situation under control, Ryback destroyed both of them. I think this was probably the first win that he actually started to sweat through a little bit.



Divas Match


Layla, Kaitlyn, and Tamina defeat Beth Phoenix, Eve, and Natalya in a meaningless, two minute match of nothing. The faces win, the divas title continues to not be defended, and the divas themselves continue to be irrelevant.

This annoys to me to end. Divas like Trish, Lita, Candice, Mickie James, Molly Holly, Melina, Victoria, and so on paved the way for new divas and this is what we get. What happened to the Divas Division? You know what, I won't get into it right. That's a different topic on its own.

WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

John Cena vs Chris Jericho vs Kane vs Big Show vs The Miz

It's rare that we have a Money in the Bank Ladder Match actually headline the Money in the Bank pay-per-view itself but if John Cena is in the match, then for some odd reason, it will be the main event.

But this match had a good flow to it. The addition of Miz helped in a good way providing room for more spots. Unlike the SmackDown Money in the Bank which started slow, this one started out HOT. When I mean HOT, I mean John Cena delivering an AA to Big Show through the announce table 5 minutes into the match HOT. Not to mention being buried underneath some Ladders.

But getting back to the match, there weren't a lot of noteworthy spots because these superstars really aren't spot monkeys, so they couldn't really do a lot, but from the little that they did, it worked very well. Suplexes onto ladders, using it as a projectile, and other little things made everything work. One good spot, sort of, was Big Show pulling out a Giant Gold Ladder that I've never seen before. It was pretty cool.

Now, anybody wanna guess who won this match? You can tell by looking at the picture above.

John Cena won, but it was pretty funny how he did it. He and Big Show were atop the Ladder and he drove the briefcase into Show's head and the clasp that held the briefcase broke and John Cena was declared the winner. It was a funny botch, or at least I think it was a botch. Who knows? John Cena wins Money in the Bank and my guess is he's going to challenge CM Punk to a match at Summerslam like a good little boy.

My problem that all seems a little too easy. WWE cannot be THAT predictable....can they? I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if that's what happened. Let's hope WWE can pull a swerve or something so we don't have to sit through five weeks of

"I have a lot of respect for you, but I want you to know that I will be the next WWE Champion."

"Let's go out there and have the best match we can have and may the best man win."

"We may be friends, but I want that title."

I don't want to hear it. If they are going to do Punk vs Cena at Summerslam, then at least make a story of it. I do not want to hear the aforementioned quotes I just typed. A good face vs face feud needs to have a story where these guys develop a backbone and realize they're fighting for the WWE Championship. I know there's a better way to phrase what I'm trying to say, but I can't think of it right now.

There is another route that WWE might go which might make things a little interesting. Why not insert John Cena in this Punk/Bryan/AJ Love Triangle? If Cena can steal Eve away from Zack Ryder, he can steal AJ away from Punk and Bryan as well. AJ can fall for Cena just as easy as she fell for Punk and Kane.

Then again, that's also something I don't want to see. God help us is if that's what they do. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if that is what they go through with.


Overall, I enjoyed Money in the Bank. I always end up enjoying the SmackDown Money in the Bank Ladder Matches because there's that unpredictability where you don't know who's going to win whereas with the RAW match, there's always a clear idea of who's winning. And there's a lot more spots.

I enjoyed this more than No Way Out. The only bright spot about No Way Out to me was the Triple Threat WWE Championship Match. Money in the Bank is always an enjoyable pay-per-view. The big matches delivered and the filler matches provided some bathroom breaks. Now, the next big pay-per-view is Summerslam. Let's see what WWE has up their sleeve for this one. But let's see what they do for RAW tomorrow first.

Until next time!



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete