By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Money in the Bank Hits
Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight for the World Heavyweight Championship: The match exceeded my expectations and ended up being my favorite of the night. It seemed unlikely that Knight would win the match, but the wrestlers created plenty of drama with some terrific near falls. My concern going into the match is that Reigns going over clean would make fans lose faith in Knight. That won’t be a problem. Knight actually feels hotter coming out of the match than he did going in, which was a testament to the performances of both wrestlers. Reigns is likely going to work a champion vs. champion match at Crown Jewel and a WarGames match at Survivor Series. It will be interesting to see what creative can do to keep Knight’s momentum going away from the World Heavyweight Championship.
Tiffany Stratton vs. Lash Legend vs. Sol Ruca vs. Lola Vice vs. Jacy Jayne vs. Roxanne Perez in a Money in the Bank ladder match: I predicted the Stratton win, but I can’t say that it excites me as much as a couple of the alternatives. The wait begins for Stratton to use the briefcase to take the WWE Women’s Championship from her new buddy, Chelsea Green. Amazingly, Stratton was able to continue despite taking that nasty bump on the floor. I’d love to know what the fallback plan would have been. That wasn’t the only frightening spot, and one can only hope that everyone came out of the match without any significant injuries. Ultimately, I enjoyed the women’s MITB match more than the men’s MITB match this year.
Penta vs. Bron Breakker vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Trick Williams vs. CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens in a Money in the Bank ladder match: A good ladder match that was a little slow to start and then overstayed its welcome. The big stunt with Evans actually took away from my enjoyment of the match. There was no reason for Evans to climb the ladder when it was nowhere near the briefcase hanging above the ring. I could look past that, but it led to Evans crashing through an obviously gimmicked ambulance roof. I’m all for safety, but when something looks so unrealistic. Sure, it will generate a lot of YouTube and social media views, but how many of those are because it looked so hokey rather than fans being impressed by the stunt? I was hoping that Breakker would win to help make up for the way he’s been booked recently, but I have no complaints about the decision to go with Penta. Vince McMahon was known to push back when fans started to like someone more than he did. While there’s still plenty to criticize about the current booking, Paul Levesque is much better than McMahon was in his later years as a booker at recognizing when an act has caught on and getting behind it rather than sabotaging it. Punk and Owens added star power, yet were good about not doing anything too crazy at this stage of their careers. Does WWE intend to run it back with Penta and Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship, or will Penta use the MITB contract to cash in on the WWE Champion?
Oba Femi vs. Bronson Reed: A soft Hit for an entertaining match that just went overboard in making Oba look indestructible. It would have been more than enough for Oba to kick out of one Tsunami, but the idea that he kicked out of a Tsunami that was preceded by Reed punching twice while wearing brass knuckles was just too much. I’m all for making Oba strong, but there should be limits. The last thing they should want is to eliminate the suspense from Oba’s matches because fans won’t believe he’s going to be pinned unless a semi-truck hits him first. Really, I could have done without any involvement of the other Vision members, as there’s no shame in Reed losing a hard-fought match to the Oba character
WWE Money in the Bank Misses
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan in a Triple Threat for the Women’s World Championship: A disappointing match. There were times when the wrestlers weren’t on the same page. At one point, it looked like Vaquer and Lynch were fighting over which position they should be in before a move. The live crowd’s flat reaction during Morgan’s entrance was telling. Morgan was a very good heel when she stole Dominik Mysterio from Rhea Ripley and took over the Judgment Day faction. She’s been more of a pest heel lately with her obnoxious line about being the greatest champion of all time. The line gets heat, but is it the right kind of heat? There’s nothing wrong with being a good pest heel if that’s your strength, but Morgan has shown that she can be more than that.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
