This past Sunday was WWE’s Money in the Bank from Las Vegas, Nevada. It first made its debut at Wrestlemania 21 and became its own event on July 18, 2010.
The event is centered around a ladder match with a briefcase suspended above the ring.
The wrestler who wins the match and obtains the briefcase, gets an opportunity to cash in on the World Heavyweight Champion anytime within a year. Since the event began, 15 out of 17 wrestlers who have “cashed in” have been successful as the only two who have been unsuccessful are Damien Sandow(recently released) and John Cena (15 time World Heavyweight Champion and the face of WWE).
On Sunday night, the latest installment of Money in the Bank came from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The night got started with two Pre-show matches that was announced through various wrestling sites. The first pre show match saw the team of Golden Truth (R-Truth and Goldust) against Breezedango (Tyler Breeze and Fandago). Goldentruth got the win in a little bit over five minutes.
I felt this was more of a comedy match as this match did nothing for either team because even if either team goes on a winning streak, I don’t see either team getting a opportunity at the Tag Titles, currently being held by New Day. The other pre show match saw the Lucha Dragons ( Sin Cara and Kalisto) against the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley). The Lucha Dragons ended up winning in a little bit under nine minutes. Like I said with the previous match, I don’t see either of these teams going up in the ladder for a packed Tag Team division.
I felt the pre show matches were put in last minute and it showed because neither winners benefit from winning.
The main card began as we had our third straight tag match. The opening match on the main card saw The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) vs. The Club (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) vs. The Certified G’s (Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy) vs. The Vaudevillians (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) for the tag titles. New Day would end up retaining the tag titles in a little bit under 12 minutes.
Prior to this match, I figured the New Day was going to drop the belts to the Club and I was surprised New Day retained. Another match from that night was considered to be a dream match and one that wrestling fans have been craving to see for years. Aj Styles went up against John Cena.
In a surprise move, Aj Styles beat John Cena after the Club interfered. All this ends up heading towards is when Cena and Styles fight again at probably Summerslam, John Cena would end up winning to tie this feud up. The Money in the Bank ladder match saw Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Cesaro for the MITB contract.
In all the years of the MITB match, there was never a MITB match where there was no clear cut winner because you could have seen any of them winning it, but after 21 minutes, Dean Ambrose won the MITB contract and now has an opportunity to cash in on the World Heavyweight champion when he chooses to.
Finally, we had our main event that was two years in the making as former Shield members Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins fought for the title. After 26 minutes of going back and forth, Seth Rollins reclaimed the title as Roman Reigns would end up losing the title for the third time in eight months.
But it would be short lived as Dean Ambrose would cash in and win the title, one hour after winning the briefcase. Other things we saw Sunday night was Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Rusev, Charlotte and Dana Brooke all won.
One thing with the woman’s match that made no sense was having Natayla turn on Becky Lynch which was out of left field. Overall, I felt the event was decent as the three “Wrestlemania caliber” matches were done well and there was a lot of moments that were unpredictable.
In my next piece, I will be looking at the long term effect that Money in the Bank has as WWE enters the summer months and the brand extension.