So, Money in the Bank was a solid pay-per-view overall.
There were matches where I said, “Eh, that was cool, I guess” and then matches like The Women’s MITB Ladder match, AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens vs. Kofi Kingston, and the first 18 minutes and 50 seconds of the Men’s MITB Ladder match (I’ll get to the last 10 seconds later) made me smile and feel like it was worth missing the Game of Thrones finale for.
Nothing was actively bad on this show, though the Shane/Miz Steel Cage match wasn’t particularly good. The match was sloppy in parts and the referee non-sense took me out of the bout altogether. Had it been established previously that Shane was threatening or paying off referees to gain an advantage in his matches then it would’ve made sense, but this incident felt out of the blue. There was never any indication that the ref was in cahoots with Shane before and after the leg on the rope spot.
The show was otherwise fine, with two standout moments that I’m going to heavily focus on. The first is Bayley winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
First, what a great moment. After years and years of mistreatment on the main roster, Bayley deserves to have a nice moment like this - but it still felt a bit hollow.. Bayley’s cash-in felt rushed and more importantly, it felt wrong.
Bayley’s character on the main roster has been damaged. The never-say-die underdog in NXT turned into a happy-go-lucky woman who became a very unlikeable character last year during her feud with Sasha Banks. Yeah sure, Bayley won the Women’s Tag Team titles earlier this year, but it never washed away the damage her character suffered through throughout her time on the main roster.
WWE robbed us of a compelling redemption story for Bayley in favor of a moment. It was a nice moment, but imagine if this had happened at Summerslam instead? After a lengthy arc showing the evolution of her character and her goal in trying to capture the WWE Women’s championship once again.
It’s not like Bayley has been on a hot streak since joining the blue brand. She lost to Charlotte for a #1 contender’s spot and tapped out to Becky Lynch. Now, Bayley cashed in the briefcase in a heelish manner.
Why should I cheer for Bayley? She did a heelish tactic by beating an opponent she couldn’t beat in a fair fight several weeks ago and there’s nothing about her character that has changed much. I’ve definitely noticed that’s she been a bit more aggressive lately (which I like), but I wish the company saved this moment for when she truly earned it. Bayley could’ve been as hot as Lynch was months ago and the pop would’ve been gigantic.
You can’t start at Chapter 1 and then skip to Chapter 10. Wrestlers such as Stone Cold, The Rock, Mankind, and even Bayley down in NXT didn’t get over because they won championships and had great match-ups, they got over because these men and Bayley were put on a journey that the audience was able to latch onto.
I do hope that Bayley is finally able to get a chance to shine going forward and not have her momentum killed like her last title reign. The next moment is Brock Lesnar winning the Money in the Bank ladder match. When Lesnar grabbed that briefcase, I shook my head and said, “This is why this company doesn’t have any stars”.
Let’s ignore logic for a second. I could ask, did Triple H know that something bad was going to happen to one of the participants so he called Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman just in case? How did Brock Lesnar get to Connecticut so fast (Afterall, it’s been established that Lesnar rarely shows up)? Why would babyface Triple H allow Brock Lesnar to wait to the very last minute to join the match?
Instead of taking a risk on a compelling Sami Zayn, or Drew McIntyre, Andrade, Ali, or just anyone not named Lesnar and Randy Orton, the company decided to go back to their old habits and rely on an established veteran who most likely doesn’t have many years left inside the ring.
Lesnar didn’t need the briefcase, as he could’ve simply been given a title shot in many different ways. The MITB briefcase could’ve been a chance to elevate or even define characters for that matter. I still don’t know who Finn Balor is. He does moves and is the demon sometimes; There’s nothing defining about his characteristics. The same thing can be said about Ricochet. He just has tattoos and isn’t the demon. He’s Balor 2.0 in my book. WWE Ricochet is not the same guy that he was in Lucha Underground, New Japan, or even NXT.
Once again, WWE chose to have a moment instead of thinking long term booking that could’ve benefited one of their rising stars. Moments can always be great, but they’re never long lasting. We need captivating stories and characters in order for the art known as wrestling to truly shine.