This is one of my absolute favorite PPVs WWE has! Anything that involves ladders gets me excited because that usually means craziness is going to be involved! This year’s Money In The Bank (MITB) has some really exciting matchups and some that are destined to be disasters, but as always I’m here to recap them and give my personal opinion of them all! So who walked away from MITB with their head held high? Let’s find out!
Bludgeon Brothers (Champs) vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson – Smackdown Tag Team Championships
When was the last time Gallows and Anderson got to be in any type of match with importance? I honestly can’t remember and that’s sad because they’re an excellent tag team! From time to time I’ve enjoyed the fact that Luke Harper finally has a title too, but I think it’s time Gallows and Anderson got some type of a push. Their match in the kickoff show was pretty decent. Nothing too flashy, but it definitely wasn’t boring. Gallows and Anderson got to show off some of their moves but ultimately the Bludgeon Brothers came out on top. I’m not surprised, I just wish there was a little more meat to this fight and I think it’s always bad to put a title fight on the kickoff show. It just undermines the importance of the title belt! If it’s not good enough to be on the actual PPV why should we care? Hopefully Gallows and Anderson get more title opportunities in the future. The Bludgeon Brothers retain via pinfall 7.5/10.
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
Remember my recap for WWE Backlash? I said unfortunately I didn’t think it was the end of the Big Cass and Daniel Bryan feud? *Sigh* well here we are again. The story is supposed to make Daniel Bryan look like he has a disadvantage because he’s “a little guy,” but this is Daniel Freakin’ Bryan we’re talking about! He’s never at a disadvantage! And that’s exactly what ended up happening for a majority of the match! Bryan just made a fool out of Big Cass countering everything Big Cass threw at him. Big Cass had a few moments to shine but they were always ultimately overshadowed by Daniel Bryan. At no point did you ever think Cass was going to win and ultimately he didn’t. Bryan hit him with the running knee then put him in the Yes Lock which made Cass tap out yet again. There was no final attack by Cass though so maybe this is the last we’ve seen of this feud? At least they got this fight out of the way first thing! Daniel Bryan wins via tap out 6.75/10.
Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn
Two great wrestlers in an incredibly stupid feud! I’m digging the fact that the matches people don’t care about are getting done first though. This story has been so stupid. Sami has constantly antagonized Lashley with tactics such as painfully bad interviews with his sisters and making Lashley run through an idiotic obstacle course. These two deserve a lot better. Their match was as lackluster as their feud. Sami used hit and run tactics while Lashley didn’t do anything overly flashy besides his vertical suplex. It was a surprisingly slow match for how quick both wrestlers can be. It wasn’t even a close contest, Lashley threw Sami around like a rag doll and then pinned him using one hand. Hopefully they’re making Lashley look tough so he can get some better opportunities in the future. Hopefully they also begin giving Sami the types of matches HE deserves as well! Definitely a lowpoint of the night in my humber opinion. Bobby Lashley wins via pinfall 5.5/10
Seth Rollins (Champ) vs. Elias – Intercontinental Championship
Now that the garbage is out of the way we can get to the good stuff! Elias and Seth Rollins are two of my favorite wrestlers in WWE so there was no way it was going to be bad. Elias called Chicago scumbags and the “WE ARE SCUMBAGS” chants returned!! I’m proud to say I was part of the original “We are scumbags” chants, but I love that other cities can get into it! This was a great fight both going at each other full speed. Elias focused on the multiple injuries he had given Rollins over the past few weeks, but the Architect seemed to have an answer for every attack. There were so many moments I thought Elias was actually going to steal the title from Rollins, but in the end it wasn’t meant to be (yet). Elias was in good health and had the size advantage, but just as it seemed like Rollins was completely broken, he managed to steal the victory when the two where rolling each other in and out of pins. It was the first truly great match of the night and I expected no less from these two! Rollins retains via pinfall 8.5/10.
Sasha Banks vs. Natalya vs. Charlotte vs. Ember Moon vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Naomi vs. Lana – Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Last year was the first MITB match for the Women’s Division and it was wasted on that goof with the weird nose Ellsworth, because that’s what we wanted in the first Women’s MITB Ladder match; a guy to basically win it. The lineup for this match was pretty stacked with multiple women having legitimate chances of winning the briefcase. Ember Moon had the first great move of the match body slamming Sasha Banks into a ladder, the ladder attacks continued through the match with just about everyone getting a taste of steel. In the first few minutes alone this was already an improvement from last year. At one point there were six women at once on two ladders going at it for the briefcase! Even Lana was surprisingly decent and had a cool moment when she put Bliss in the Accolade (the signature move of her husband Rusev). It was clear from the beginning who the crowd wanted to win, fans went nuts any time Becky Lynch or Lana climbed the ladder, but just about everyone came close to winning. There was a pretty bad botch at the end though, Becky Lynch was at the top, had the briefcase essentially unhooked and Bliss was WAY late to knocking her off. But she did, and Alexa Bliss ended up becoming the 2nd Women’s MITB winner! What I appreciated most about this match was just how vicious some of the hits were. A lot of bodies were slammed into a lot of ladders proving (once again) that the women are just as tough as the men! Alexa Bliss wins the Money In The Bank Briefcase 8.75/10.
Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *wipes tear from eye* oh boy I can’t believe this is actually happened. Last year Jinder Mahal was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and DEFEATED Randy Orton AGAIN! What is it with Jinder Mahal and this PPV!? How does he keep getting these PPV matches!? It’s like Vince McMahon looked at this PPV and thought, “Last year’s match with Jinder was pretty bad… how can we make this even worse?” Then Roman Reigns stepped in and said, “Hold my beer.” These are two of the most hated people on the entire WWE Roster, who do you even root for in this match!? I think for the first time in his career, Jinder got LESS boos than his opponent! They hate Roman that much! The crowds chanted just about everything including “Boring,” “NXT,” “Johnny Wrestling,” “This is awful,” and (of course) “CM Punk.” Every time WWE comes to Chicago there’s CM Punk. I think one point they were chanting “Let’s Go Cena” too. I’m surprised I didn’t see any beach balls. The biggest boos came whenever Jinder started the submissions and Roman began his classic “miraculous second wind.” We’ve seen this a million times, it’s not miraculous anymore!!! Jinder’s moves are so generic and Roman does literally the same thing every single fight. He does the Superman punch, yells OOOH, spears his opponent and gets obliterated and miraculously comes back and wins. And let me tell you, all those happened tonight. The crowd reaction was more entertaining than the fight but to be honest, it was better than Sami Zayn vs. Bobby Lashley. Please WWE, never do this again. Roman Reigns wins via pinfall 6/10.
Carmella (Champ) vs. Asuka – Smackdown Women’s Championship
I had a very bad feeling about this one. I didn’t think Carmella had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, and I wasn’t convinced it was time yet for Asuka to win. I expected a pretty mediocre match ending with a DQ either by Carmella herself or by the Iconics. The match was OK but to be honest I was impressed that Carmella actually followed through and wasn’t afraid of Asuka. With Charlotte she ran away for half the fight but Carmella fought Asuka head on. Then the absolute unexpected happened. An Asuka lookalike showed up and everyone was confused. Who could that be!? IT WAS THAT GOOF WITH THE WEIRD NOSE I MENTIONED EARLIER JAMES ELLSWORTH. He’s back. Dear God why is he back!? He distracted Asuka long enough to get hit by a super kick via Carmella. Carmella pinned Asuka and now Carmella has officially defeated the Empress of Tomorrow. Thanks to Ellsworth. Why… just why!? Carmella retains via pinfall 6/10.
AJ Styles (Champ) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Last Man Standing Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title
We can all agree that their last match’s ending was an absolute disaster right? I couldn’t believe it ended that way. If something like that happened again this time around there was going to be hell to pay. For a match where the point is beating your opponent to the point they can’t stand, this one took awhile to get going. How is it that two of the best superstars on the roster can be so boring at times. Things picked up though once they made their way out of the ring. Nakamura hit Styles with the Kinshasa on the announce table and threw him through another table in ring. Styles played it well making us all think he was about to lose on the 10 count multiple times. He timed it to the very last second. Styles then retaliated by targeting Nakamura’s knee and even began hitting it with a steel chair. Just when you thought Styles was going to finish off Nakamura, he retaliated with yet ANOTHER punch to the balls. Styles’ balls refused to give up though which led to another Kinshasa to the face. Styles though nailed Nakamura with a Styles Clash of the steel clash which was epic. Nakamura wouldn’t give up though and the match continued. Nakamura even begged for more so Styles basically punted Nakamura’s balls. Believe me, I’m tired of low blows but THAT was pretty legit. Then as if decimating Nakamura’s balls wasn’t enough, Styles hit him with the phenomenal forearm so hard that Nakamura flew through the table! It had moments where it dragged, but you can’t deny how great the finale was! We got an ending that wasn’t garbage! Both put on solid performances and the match was good, but not great. So is this rivalry over? Styles beat Nakamura clean so who knows if we’ll be seeing these two fight again. Styles wins via Last Man Standing 8.25/10.
Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax (Champ) – RAW Women’s Championship
This was another match I wasn’t sure of. Ronda Rousey will obviously become champion someday, but this was her first singles match; is she really ready to be champion? On the other hand though, do you want her to lose her first singles match? Rousey was surprisingly good in her first fight at Wrestlemania so it was interesting to see how she could hold up on her own. Nia came in like a wrecking ball and instantly began pulverizing Rousey who quickly retaliated with a signature lock of hers. Nia dominated most of the match though and Rousey took way more of a beating this time than she did at her Wrestlemania debut. We got a first for Rousey and she did her first jump from the top rope and hit Nia with a lateral press (our girl is coming into her own!) Then somehow she lifts Nia and does a judo throw! Rousey was on the verge of victory then out of NOWHERE Bliss showed up with her newly won MITB briefcase and beat the crap out of both Nia and Rousey! BLISS THEN CASHED IN AND PINNED NIA TO WIN THE BELT!!! I wasn’t sure about this match in the beginning but this was a PERFECT finish! Rousey still looked strong and is (probably) heading into a feud with Bliss and the Goddess is champion once again!! Couldn’t have written that any better myself! Alexa Bliss cashes in her MITB contract and wins via pinfall to become the new RAW Women’s Champion 9/10.
Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Roode vs. The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Braun Strowman vs. Rusev vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kofi Kingston – Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match
This lineup of superstars is STACKED! Honestly I wouldn’t be upset if any of these guys won, they’re all deserving in their own way. The New Day ended up choosing Kofi Kingston to represent them, and the match was underway. To nobody’s surprise, seven of the superstars ganged up on Braun. This is the Monster Among Men we’re talking about though and he brushed them off as if they were made of paper. The match almost got formulaic. The superstars ganged up on Strowman, beat the crap out of each other, went back to Strowman, then back to each other. Rinse. Repeat. Samoa Joe showed himself to be the biggest individual threat to Strowman but watching everyone put their power against him was great. Strowman though rose to the occasion and threw Kevin Owens at least 30 feet off a ladder and then made quick work of the rest of his opponents. He even bulldozed himself through a ladder like it was made out of paper. Miz ingeniously tried to sneak his way to the briefcase multiple times through the match while everyone else was distracted by Braun. Of course his opponents were too smart to be fooled by that and a new strategy was in order. In the meantime, Balor hit Bobby Roode with a vicious coup de gras from the top of a ladder, and Kofi made a super cool jump onto Strowman’s back. In the end it was the Miz vs. Braun with Kofi on his back duking it out for the belt. The Monster (of course) overpowered the Miz and Kofi and won the MITB briefcase! Maybe we will FINALLY see Strowman rip the Universal Title from Brock Lesnar!!! Like I said, anyone could’ve won this match and I would’ve been happy! That being said, I feel like this was a little short for a MITB match. It had a lot of highly entertaining spots but I wish it lasted a little longer since there were so many talented superstars in this match! Irregardless, it was a great match and a solid end of the night! Braun Strowman wins the Money In The Bank Briefcase 8.75/10.
Final Thoughts
This year’s Money In The Bank was full of highs and lows. It started out REALLY rough, but once those duds got out of the way, the show finally picked up with the IC Title match and there weren’t as many rough patches after that. The MITB ladder matches, and at one point the briefcase, were the highlights of the night and that’s what matters most for this PPV! It definitely could’ve been better, but honestly there were some great story progressions tonight and that’s one of the things I want the most from a PPV! The next WWE coverage from me will be coming from Extreme Rules, which I’ll be attending!! Until then, let’s all hope the stories go in the right direction! Final Score: 7.5/10
The Magical World of Dids 