By Jason Powell
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WWE Money in the Bank 2016 Kickoff Show
Aired live on WWE Network and social media
Las Vegas, Nevada at T-Mobile Arena
The show opened with a shot of fans entering the new T-Mobile Arena. There was an audio issue that was resolved quickly. The pre-show panel was hosted by Renee Young and included Lita, Booker T, and a hat wearing Corey Graves (no suspended Jerry Lawler)…
Tom Phillips checked in from the social media masturbation den. He said he would be joined by Becky Lynch and Natalya later in the show… A video package aired on the John Cena vs. AJ Styles match… The panel also discussed the tag title match, then a video recapped the R-Truth and Goldust vs. Tyler Breeze and Fandango silliness… Mauro Ranallo and Byron Saxton checked in on commentary…
1. Goldust and R-Truth vs. Tyler Breeze and Fandango. The heels came out looking sun burnt because of the silly skit on Raw where they were in a tanning booth with the temps tinkered with by Goldust and Truth. The heels sold the effects of the sunburn throughout the match. In the end, Goldust hit his Final Cut finisher on Fandango and pinned him…
Goldust and R-Truth beat Tyler Breeze and Fandango in 5:10.
Powell’s POV: The heels both had burnt faces, chests, and abdomens. They sold that their backs were in pain whenever the babyface duo would touch them, but apparently the makeup crew only decided to work on the front of their bodies. I’m sure Vince McMahon was laughing hard backstage even though the live crowd didn’t seem to care about the humor. Fortunately, they did like the babyface duo even though there didn’t seem to be any type of added excitement over the duo winning their first match as a team.
Backstage, Sami Zayn entered Cesaro’s locker room and spoke about their recent issues. Cesaro said he could tell Zayn was determined and wished him luck before putting his headphones on again… Lita said she knows what it’s like to be in the zone when someone tries to talk to you and you are dismissive… A MITB ladder match video package aired…
Young mentioned that 14 of 16 MITB winners have gone on to cash in successfully. Booker spoke about the pain of the match. Lita tried to talk about the match even though she never competed in one because she’s a GIRL, er, um, because WWE still doesn’t book women’s MITB matches. She said once you get out there, it’s on. Graves, who was still in Frank Sinatra attire mode, spoke about how Chris Jericho belongs on the list of favorites because of his experience, but he ended up picking Kevin Owens to win. Lita picked Zayn to win. Booker said Zayn can pull it off because he doesn’t know what type of pain he’s about to go through…
Phillips read Twitter questions to Natalya and Becky Lynch in the whacking room. Natalya said they work well together because she has known her for ten years. Lynch said Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, and Mick Foley are inspirations. Natalya said Bret, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage were inspirations to her. They kept talking about stuff and things…
2. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Lucha Dragons. Saxton took the usual jackass approach of pumping his arms along with the Dragons. Sigh. The Dragons hit big dives on the Dudleys early. They went up top and were cut off by the Dudleys heading into a commercial break. [C] The Dudleys had offensive control until Bubba mocked the arm pumping and ate a dropkick from Sin Cara, who then made a hot tag to Kalisto.
A short time later, the Dudleys hit the Doomsday Device on Kalisto, but the pin attempt was broken up. The Dudleys went for their finisher, but Kalisto avoided it and got a rollup for a two count. The Dudleys went for the move again, but Kalisto once again avoided it. Kalisto hit Salida Del Sol on Bubba, then tagged in Sin Cara, who performed a Swanton on Bubba for the win…
The Lucha Dragons defeated The Dudley Boyz.
Powell’s POV: A sweep for the babyfaces on the Kickoff Show. I don’t really think it leads to any extra network or pay-per-view buys, but clearly someone in WWE thinks it’s important to have the babyfaces win on the pre-show.
The broadcast team spoke about the Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins match… A video package focussed on the Reigns vs. Rollins match…
Join me for live coverage of the MITB event on the main page.
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