By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Money in the Bank Hits
Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Roxanne Perez vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Giulia vs. Stephanie Vaquer in a Money in the Bank ladder match: A quality ladder match without needlessly risky bumps. So while I applaud the crew for taking a safe approach, perhaps they should have come up with a better finish. Ripley and Bliss taking tame bumps after Naomi tipped their ladder was smart, and yet made for a flat ending to an otherwise enjoyable match. Naomi’s win should lead to some fun moments with her crazed character teasing cash-ins.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Title: A Hit for match quality, but it was pulled down to a soft Hit simply because of the fan interest level. The crowd was rather flat to start, and the hard work of the wrestlers pulled the fans in, but this still feels like a lukewarm feud. Valkyria has gained something from working with Lynch, though it remains to be seen just how much.
WWE Champion John Cena and Logan Paul vs. World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes: A soft Hit for a decent main event, and the rehiring (we’re not buying it, Paul Levesque) and return of R-Truth. Cena’s title reign can’t end soon enough, so hopefully the friction he had with Logan Paul boils over soon. While Truth’s involvement was fun, it was also a big distraction in that no one was talking about Cody pinning Cena coming out of the show. I’m surprised that Jey didn’t take more abuse during or even after the match to really play up the idea that he is vulnerable heading into tonight’s title defense against Gunther. A sponsored ladder? Is there any place that TKO won’t plaster with advertising if the price is right?
WWE Money in the Bank Misses
Seth Rollins vs. Solo Sikoa vs. LA Knight vs. Penta vs. Andrade vs. El Grande Americano in a Money in the Bank ladder match: The hard work from everyone involved was overshadowed by the latest example of the creative team using a No DQ stipulation to overbook a match with outside interference. As fans, we accept that there will occasionally be outside interference in No DQ situations, but WWE has gone so overboard with it that they run the risk of the heat falling on the company rather than on the heel characters. I hope they have something hot in mind for Rollins and the briefcase, because it’s not like his character needed the boost that winning MITB gives some wrestlers.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Octagon Jr. for the Intercontinental Championship: A throwaway match that added nothing more than a few more minutes to the surprisingly long show (at least by modern WWE standards).
Doesn’t sound like you were even too keen on the Hits there, Jason! I actually completely agree with you, this was a disappointing show and the crowd didn’t seem that into it on the whole, either. Nice to see R-Truth back though, even if is accompanied by lots the usual WWE disingenuousness.
Rollins didnt need the boost but the faction needs a world title.
And he’ll get it tonight.
Agreed! But will he get it from Jey or Gunther?
He’ll get it from Jey actually because Goldberg is returning tonight and will cost Gunther the match somehow.Jey will be so out of it that he ends up losing to Seth while Bron and Bronson are fighting with Punk and Zayn at ringside.
Meanwhile, the men’s MITB match was leading the voting for best match of the night, until a raft of mystery votes pushed the much worse women’s match to the top, and the interference is what made the match so good.
Nice List…really can’t disagree with anything. I gave the show a c mark with my best match being the Becky/Lyra match , it was a far cry better than their previous one. I didn’t vote for either of the mitb matches even though I felt they both had their good points and bad points mostly in the set up spots like Penta standing a rung down on the ladder with his hand on the briefcase just watching el grande come to him without making an honest attempt at the briefcase. I think the tag match at the end of the show could’ve been better , Logan Paul did a great job and it was nice to see the return of R-truth…A surprise and unexpected cash in would’ve been interesting heading into raw but tougher to pull off.
Octagon was awful. He wasn’t in the moment, just getting his spots in. But that’s lucha.
Poor Chad Gable. Best match at Worlds Collide, risks injury during the ladder match, only to take and be laid put by one of those unsafe spears from Bron. That some hadn’t already had a serious injury from that repeated spot is a miracle.
I can see Cena dropping the belt to Truth in a feel good moment, the regaining it to be the definitive, 18x GOAT. Maybe he passes the torch to Logan Paul, or Cody gets his revenge.