What is possibly WWE’s most exciting pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank, came and went last night. And there’s really only one way to sum it up: disappointing.
With so many question marks heading into the PPV, WWE had a great opportunity to create some new and fresh storylines with their WWE World Heavyweight Title ladder match and Money in the Bank contract match, and instead, well let’s get to the recap and find out.
Daniel Bryan updates the WWE Universe on his return
The Money in the Bank kick-off show began with newly-stripped and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, who was speaking for the first time since losing his titles.
The crowd showed WWE that Bryan was still as loved as ever, popping huge for DB and serenading him with raucous “YES!” chants throughout the segment.
Unfortunately, Bryan let everyone know that he is still unsure of when he will return as recovery from neck surgery has taken longer than anticipated. According to Bryan, he may be facing a second surgery on the injury. This is devastating news for the WWE and its fans, as DB is an integral part of WWE programming.
Here’s hoping the Flying Goat makes his return sooner rather than later.
WWE World Heavyweight Title Match (Winner: John Cena)
After fighting off seven competitors and finally disposing his long-time nemesis’ Kane and Randy Orton, John Cena ascended a ladder to claim his titles and.. the crowd booed the entire thing. Because this isn’t 2007, and we’ve seen this story play out approximately 356 times in the past ten years.
Ugh.
That’s really the only way to describe the outcome of this match. With fast-rising stars Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt and Cesaro all participating in the match looking for their first title reigns, WWE decided to put the straps on their golden goose, Cena. Again. For the 15th time. The crazy thing is 15 feels like a low number for John Cena title reigns.
The match itself delivered on everything, except the finish. There were plenty of great spots as each participant was given an opportunity to shine in the main event.
We were offered a glimpse into the future (and maybe the Wrestlemania 31 main event), when Cena and Reigns faced off in the center of the ring with all of their opponents sprawled outside of the ring. The moment was actually pretty cool and ended with Cena eating a massive spear from Reigns.
Although that moment may have been the most iconic of the night, the biggest pop of the night actually went to a surprising participant; Bray Wyatt. After tossing Orton aside, Wyatt climbed the ladder to his destiny amid huge cheers from the WWE Universe, surprising for a heel. Wyatt was thwarted by Alberto Del Rio (why is ADR in this big of a match?!) before things broke into total chaos.
Finally, with Kane patrolling the ring to ensure Randy Orton became the corporate Champ, the climax of the match saw Roman Reigns ascending the ladder looking to finally secure the title, only to be thwarted by Orton and Kane. Following a massive chokeslam off of the ladder to Reigns, Orton began his ascent up the ladder with Kane protecting him. Then, Super Cena came in and took out the two men who had been dominating the match single-handedly, ascending the ladder and grabbing the belts.
Cena was rained upon with boos in his hometown of Boston as Raw went off the air with Triple H reacting exactly like everyone sitting at home who had just spent three hours of their time hoping this exact thing didn’t happen.
Money in the Bank match for WWE World Heavyweight Title contract (Winner: Seth Rollins)
WWE’s first opportunity to create a star and shock us all, the company once again decided to go with a tried and true outcome.
While not holding the star power of the WWE World Heavyweight title match, the tradition MITB match featured high-flyers and fast-rising stars. With guys like Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kofi Kingston taking part, fans were excited for plenty of big moments, and the wrestlers did not disappoint.
The absolute highlight of the night came courtesy of former Shield partners turned bitter enemies Ambrose and Rollins. Ambrose and Rollins battled on top of a ridiculously tall ladder, and there was only one way for it to end:
It was an absolutely insane move that hurt both competitors, causing the crowd to erupt louder than they did all night.
For Rollins, that wasn’t the only huge move he took during the match. In a heated battle with Kofi Kingston atop the ladder, Rollins cemented himself as the King of Bumps after taking this fall onto another ladder.
The match itself was pretty much what you want to see from a MITB match.
As things progressed, Ambrose would suffer a separated shoulder and be sent to the back by WWE medical personnel as he was no longer cleared to compete. But that wasn’t the last we would hear from him.
Each participant was given their time to shine, and fans were even teased with a possible Dolph Ziggler win that seems to never be coming. #PUSHZIGGLER!
Finally, Rollins began to take care of his opponents and made his way up the ladder, Ambrose made his return. In a form of poetic justice, Ambrose took Rollins out with a chair, throwing his former brother out of the ring and beginning his one-armed descent up the ladder and then BOOM! Kane’s pyro hits and the Big Red Machine makes his way out to do the Authority’s dirty work.
After a massive chokeslam off of the ladder to Ambrose eliminated him from the match, Rollins climbed up top and grabbed the briefcase, ensuring himself a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight title in the the next 12 months.
So to recap: Fan favorite looks to finally be on his way to huge victory, Authority henchman screws him, and Authority favorite wins much to the chagrin of the crowd. Sound familiar? Oh that’s right, we’ve seen this about 12 times in the past year. And again, the WWE wastes a golden opportunity.
WWE Tag-Team Title Match (Winners: The Usos)
The Money in the Bank card wasn’t completely filled with disappointment however. Rikishi’s boys took on the Wyatt Family disciples in what may have been the match of the night.
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were there usual dominant selves, grounding the high-flying Usos with physicality for the majority of the match. However, like most matches, the Usos got their chance to finally get going and did the most with it.
Following numerous near-falls for both teams, Jimmy and Jey finally got their opportunity after a massive suplex off the top rop to Rowan, both brothers hit the top turnbuckle and each delivered a Big Splash to Rowan to ensure the 1-2-3 and retaining of their gold.
Other Results:
Rusev defeated Big E via submission with the Accolade
Layla defeated Summer Rae via pinfall with Fandango as special guest referee
Paige defeated Naomi by pinfall to retain WWE Diva’s title
Stardust and Goldust defeated Rybaxel via pin-fall
Personally, I am disappointed with how Money in the Bank played out. There were high expectations coming in, and a little fear that WWE would take the easy way out, and that’s exactly what the company decided to do. What did you think of the PPV? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!
And as always, #PUSHZIGGLER!
