5-Minute Rule: Money in the Bank Reactions

Ed: it's the summer. We need content. Just go with us on stuff like this. And our Twitter feeds often tell us how many of our readers watch Rasslin' too.

We’re back with another installment of the Daily Stampede 5-Minute Rule, where anything we talk about in our Slack channel for more than five minutes goes on the website. Now with a good chunk of us being wrestling fanatics, any given episode of Raw or Smackdown Live each week could turn into a post of it’s own. But this time around, our Carl Zee and Nick Simon decided to talk about Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay per view, a show that was...well, underwhelming at certain points and problematic at others. Let’s dive in.

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The Money in the Bank ladder match has been an interesting concept the WWE has come up with over the last several years, using it as an opportunity to elevate an up and coming star into a main event player ...if done right.

In recent years they’ve turned it into a full blown ppv, using it as kind of a bridge between Wrestlemania and the spring and Summerslam in, obviously, the summer. This year the show belonged to the Smackdown Live brand, eminating from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

LETS JUMP INTO IT....

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Carmella w/James Ellsworth def. Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Tamina, Natalya

Carl: Let’s start with some shenanigans, shall we? The first ever women’s Money In The Bank match was won by a man.

The match itself was largely forgettable, with a few decent spots: Charlotte pulled off the ladder by Carmella and getting her leg caught in the ladder on the way down, Charlotte with a corkscrew splash onto Tamina and Natalya, most things involving Charlotte.

However, what it will be remembered for is the finish. Becky Lynch powerbombed Carmella at the base of the ladder and started to climb. However, Carmella’s vallet James Ellsworth tipped the ladder over, spilling Becky onto the floor (there are no DQ’s). Ellsworth then climbed the ladder himself, unhooked the briefcase, and dropped it to Carmella.

Nick: I thought the match itself was actually pretty good. Every one had their own moments throughout....and it died a thousand deaths with Ellsworth grabbing the case. Like yeah, the point is to make us hate Carmella even more, but not to the point where her valet is literally winning the match for her.

Carl: What really sucked was this should have been a celebration of the evolution of women’s wrestling, and it was won by a man... and I totally called it.

Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship: New Day def. The Usos (c) by countout. Usos Retain championship.

Nick: After being off tv for about a month, the New Day arrived to SDL and immediately began a feud with their old rivals from Raw, the Usos.

This was easily the best (non-ladder) match of the night. You had a few sick highlight spots from both teams, several near-falls, and the Usos played their heel roles perfectly by getting themselves counted out to retain their belts. This was good stuff and we’ll more than likely see them run it back down the road.

Carl: Nick was ready to call this the best match of the night until the men’s Money in the Bank match happened. It was so much fun to see Big E and Kofi perform some of their singles moves again, and the Midnight Hour is brilliant. These guys did their best to steal the show, and it’ll be a barn burner at SummerSlam.

Smackdown Live Women’s Championship Match: Naomi (c) def. Lana

Carl: For whatever reason, the in-ring debut of Lana was for the SDL Women’s Championship. Another largely forgettable match, Lana had a few crisp snap suplexes, but that was about it. Naomi made her tap to the FTG while Carmella teased the crowd with her newly acquired briefcase. Carmella would eventually disappear into the back without cashing in. But for a debut match, it definitely could have been a lot worse.

Nick: In this classic battle of Orlando’s Naomi versus Tallahassee’s Lana, I thought Lana did pretty well for her first official televised match. Like you said Carl, it wasn’t groundbreaking or anything, but it wasn’t terrible.

Maria and Mike Kannelis Debut

Nick: Lol, what the hell was this.

Carl: Lol, what. Well, if this was to establish them as heels, it worked, but they’re gonna have a hell of a time keeping the crowd’s interest.

WWE Championship Match: Jinder Mahal (c) defeats Randy Orton

Nick: Like the rest of #WrestlingTwitter, I’ve actually been hyped on Jinder getting an opportunity at the top. It truly has been one of the more out of the blue things that we’ve seen in quite some time.

As with the match itself....zzzzzzzzzzz. Didn’t really enjoy it. It was another bland, Randy Orton-esque match imo. My Network feed cut out at the very end and when it came back on, Jinder had won.

Carl: I’m actually not on the Jinder train. His push is SO out of the blue, it honestly annoys me. He was handed an opportunity he didn’t deserve in my eyes.

Match was bland. What Nick probably missed was the Singh brothers (Jinder’s managers) getting ejected, and them trying to beat up Cowboy Bob Orton on the way put. Randy proceeded to protect his actual father and beat 7 bells out of the Singh bros, before climbing into the ring and eating Jinder’s finisher. You could have heard a pin drop in the crowd, and that’s not good. The crowd has soured on Jinder, and I think it’s time to give it up.

Nick: Nahhh. Someone alluded to on Twitter that perhaps the excitement of this feud got sucked out with the presence of Orton. I’m interested to see what the MODERN DAY MAHARAJA does when working with someone else.

Breezango defeats The Ascension

Nick: As you can see above, the Fashion Files have been one of the best things going on Smackdown for several weeks now.

This match however, meh. I don’t really care for the Ascension. At least they found a way to get Breezango on the show.

Carl: The matches are now secondary to FASHION VICE. They’re bigger than actual wrestling matches. WE NEED TO KNOW WHY THE ASCENSION WRECKED THEIR OFFICE AND ATTACKED TYLER.

But the match sucked. Straight up. The roll up win was lame, and it was perfectly timed to allow the crowd time to reset for the main event.

Smackdown Live Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Baron Corbin def. AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Dolph Ziggler

Carl: Match of the night, predictably. Look at the names in this match, there was no way this match was gonna suck. Before the match started, Corbin blasted Nakamura during his entrance, eliminating him from the first half of the match.

The following is a list of spots we wrote down as the match was happening: KO being flipped onto and bending the hell of a ladder, Sami’s Sunset Flip powerbomb to Ziggler off the top of the ladder, Corbin murdering AJ Styles, AJ Styles AA’s KO onto a ladder from the apron, Styles falling a good 15 feet onto the mat (moron), crowd explosion to Nakamura entering halfway through the match, Nakamura/Styles showdown (That’s a Mania match)

Even without the spots, this match was incredible. Each man got their time in the spotlight and each had their moment. The highlight to me was when Nakamura and Styles faced off on opposite sides of the ladder, then moved the ladder out of the way to battle it out. Go watch the showdown, it’s the only time you’ll see it before WrestleMania.

The following is the exchange immediately following Corbin winning the briefcase

Nick: LONE WOLF!!!

Carl: Notice how the crowd died almost immediately?

Nick: DOESN’T MATTER CARL. A STAR IS BORN

Carl: Nah, they try to get reactions, and there was precisely none for this. This should be a sign that the booking was no bueno

I think you can tell my opinion on the result of the match.

Nick: They’ve screwed around with Corbin since they brought him up from NXT over a year ago, but now they’re finally carving out a direction for him. He’s one of the only true heels that they have and a spot like this for him to be in is perfect.

Overall

Carl: Could have been better, could have been worse. The order of matches was good, but most matches themselves could have been better. The New Day continues to be one of the best things in wrestling, and the main event was never going to be anything but excellent. However, the rest of the night was...meh at best.