Before anything begins, I want to take this time to apologize to everyone for what might be coming today. I am fresh off of less than an hour of sleep, and said sleep just came to an end right before this show started. Therefore, I am juuuuust a tad bit grumpy. I am going to try everything in my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual powers to review Money In The Bank in a normal fashion and not let that grumpiness affect anything, but I do apologize if my review seems more negative than usual.
With that out of the way, this looks like a fantastically fun card on paper, and what is guaranteed to be a red hot crowd at The O2 Arena in London will only make things better. I’m excited. Tired as hell, but excited. Let’s get this going.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Logan Paul vs LA Knight vs Ricochet vs Butch vs Santos Escobar vs Damian Priest – Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match
To the surprise of approximately zero people, this crowd in London is going banana from the start.
I don’t know what the London version of Home Depot or Lowe’s is, but whatever it is, they have the strongest ladders of all-time. There have been multiple spots where a ladder was bridged and had a diving move performed onto it, with at least two people crashing down, only for the ladder to not budge an inch. In America, those ladders would’ve been destroyed.
Holy shit, that was a blast. Not that I was thinking it was going to be a methodical match or anything, but that was balls-to-the-wall from the start, with high spot after high spot after high spot. All seven men were able to look strong at points, with everyone looking like they were going to win at one point or another. Very well put together match, and a great way to start the show. 4.5 Stars
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler vs Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan – WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match
It’s a bit earlier than we usually get the “cool down” match, but here we are. After everything we saw in the show opener, it’s time for the crowd to get a break.
Well… there wasn’t a whole lot of time for that break to take place. This wasn’t much of a match, and was more of a vehicle for a (spoiler alert, for those who don’t want things to be ruined) Shayna Baszler turn that made ZERO sense. We knew the team was going to split up at some point, because it was being discussed a lot in interviews, but why the fuck would Shayna turn on Ronda after a few minutes of the match? It would’ve made sense if Ronda cost them the match and the titles, but Shayna simply decided to wrestle for a few minutes, then say “fuck it” and attack her friend out of nowhere for seemingly no reason. Personally, if you attack Ronda Rousey, I’m going to cheer you, but they certainly made that look like a situation where Ronda is the face being betrayed by her best friend. Ronda is one of the worst faces in pro wrestling history, so returning to that role would certainly be a decision.
As I said, this was more about the turn than the match itself. I can’t give it anything more than an “average” rating because of it. 2.5 Stars
Gunther vs Matt Riddle – WWE Intercontinental Title Match
I’m going to go ahead and assume that this will get the crowd going once again.
With Gunther and Matt Riddle, you know you’re going to get a physical match, and that’s what we got here. However, the match wasn’t all that long, and therefore, it wasn’t anywhere near the level of Gunther’s title defenses that we’ve been seeing. The story was that Riddle’s ankle was injured, and that kept things short. Just a tad longer than seven minutes by my count. 2.75 Stars
The bigger story is what happened after the match. We didn’t get the return of Randy Orton like many people were hoping for, but we did get the return of Drew McIntyre, who went after Gunther and appears to be next-in-line for an Intercontinental Title shot. That works for me.
Cody Rhodes vs Dominik Mysterio
I thought the previous match was going to get the crowd going again, but I was kinda sorta wrong. They were louder for it than they were for the Women’s Tag Team Title match, but it just didn’t last long enough to get things to another level. That will change here, with one of the biggest faces in the business taking on one of the biggest heels in the business.
WWE has Rhea Ripley get physical with way too many guys for it not to lead to some sort of intergender match(es) soon. They might not be as wild as what we see on the independent scene, with male wrestlers beating the shit out of female wrestlers, but it’ll be something.
This ended up being the third consecutive match that didn’t have a lot to it. I wasn’t expecting a 45-minute back-and-forth or anything, but it was pretty much a quick, one-sided match. 2.5 Stars
Surprise! Just when we thought we were going to the next match, John Cena’s music hits, and the roof nearly blows off of the arena. The man is here. This has been such a strange show. A lot of the rumored happenings… well… haven’t happened. We’ve had three straight short matches that were damn near house show contests. Now, a surprise appearance from John Cena.
Cena says that he is there to help bring WrestleMania to London. He wants the fans to let the decision makers in WWE know that London deserves WrestleMania. Wow. That’s crazy. You know this wouldn’t be happening if the wheels weren’t already in motion for that to happen one day. His promo is interrupted by Grayson Waller, who feels WrestleMania should be in Australia instead. It leads to the inevitable spot where Cena hits Waller with an AA, and the crowd is happy.
Looks like we’re going to get WrestleMania in London one day. Not next year, as Philadelphia is hosting the event, but perhaps in 2025? 2026? We’ll see. Man, this has been such a weird show.
Becky Lynch vs Bayley vs Zelina Vega vs Trish Stratus vs Iyo Sky vs Zoey Stark – Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match
There was a lot of good and a lot of bad in this match. We had some overly contrived spots, as well as some mistimed moments that featured at least one wrestler having to stand around and look dumb while they waited to be hit. On the other hand, there was a lot of what was good about the men’s match at the start of the show, with action taking place from bell-to-bell.
It was definitely slower paced than the men’s match was, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. 3.5 Stars
Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor – World Heavyweight Title Match
I’ve enjoyed the build to this match, even though it was pretty much a one-note story that was all about their Universal Title match at SummerSlam 2016 and Balor’s shoulder injury causing him to vacate the title the following night. They’ve done a good job in at least trying to make Finn look like a threat to win here, where he otherwise probably wouldn’t be viewed as a potential winner. I still don’t think many people are picking Finn to become the new champion, but at least they’re trying to make things interesting.
I enjoyed this one. It didn’t end up being a Match Of The Year contender or anything, but it was really solid. Balor wrestled a smart match, repeatedly going after Seth’s injured ribs, and Rollins got to look strong for continuing to fight back each and every time. 3.5 Stars
The Usos vs Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa – Bloodline Civil War
Here. We. Go. Arguably the greatest long-term story ever told in pro wrestling continues with the next logical chapter. It continues to be absolute art, week in and week out, and it has at least another month to go, one would assume.
What a match. Goodness gracious. I know some will complain about the first half or so being slow, but it was telling a story of Roman and Solo’s dominance, but once The Usos got back into things, the match went from really good story to great overall match. These men can do no wrong. 4.5 Stars
A great match to start the show, a great match to close the show, a big return, a newsworthy turn, new champions crowned, two intriguing Money In The Bank briefcase winners, and a tease for WrestleMania coming to London in the future. I’ll take it.