WWE Money in the Bank Review 06/17/2018

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my review for Money in the Bank 2018. This years Money in the Bank is going to be hosted by both the Raw and Smackdown brand. There will be two Money in the Bank matches. There will be one for the women and one for the men. There are also 4 championship matches going on as well. I was 7-2-1 with my predictions, only being wrong about the two ladder matches and not predicting the cash-in tonight. This was in front of the ruckus Chicago crowd and they were alive for this event. Let’s see how it went.

Image via WWE.com

This show is coming to us from the All State Arena in Chicago, Illinois.

– Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Jonathan Coachman are the announcers for the Raw matches and Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton are the announcers for the Smackdown Live matches.

Daniel Bryan def. Big Cass
in 16:20 by submission
I wasn’t expecting much from this match but it ended up being a great opening match. The pace was great. It sped up when Bryan was in charge and slowed down when Cass would gain the upper hand. The Chicago crowd loves Daniel Bryan and still fresh as this was the first match so they were loudly rooting for him during this match. They gave us one moment where it looked like Cass was going to win with a big boot after avoiding the running knee but it only lead to him getting caught into a heel hook and tapping out. The crowd was alive for this match and love Bryan so I think the placement of having it open the card was smart, other than that the match wasn’t anything too spectacular or memorable.

– The New Day are backstage making their plan for the Money in the Bank match. Kevin Owens interrupts them with a bag full of pancakes and finest Canadian maple syrup they could find. This was Kevin Owens way to distract them. Their were some funny wordplay jokes around the word “fool”. Owens tries to figure out which member is going to be in the match and suggest the other two try taking out Braun Strowman. New Day claims that they dont cheat. They tell Owens to stay, eat some pancakes and chat but he says he hates all breakfast food including pancakes and their cereal. The New Day loses their shit and tell him to leave. Kevin loses his shit and said IHOP was better at changing their name to IHOB and The New Day steal his Maple Syrup before he leaves.

Bobby Lashley def. Sami Zayn
in 06:35 by pinfall
This ended up being a pretty one-sided quick match where Bobby Lashley gained redemption for all the trash Zayn has been talking for the past few weeks. They played a cat and mouse game to kick off the match allowing Zayn to gain the upper hand at first. The moment Lashley caught Zayn from a cross body hitting a fallaway slam, the match was done from there. Lashley hit a series of moves including a spear and two delayed vertical suplexes for the win. This match was exactly what it was meant to be and if it went any longer, it would have just been trying to stretch it. Lashley got his retribution and his first big PPV win in a singles match since returning after Wrestlemania. I’m not sure whats next for either guy but this was what it was.

– Nia Jax talking to Jon Cone about what she can and can’t do to Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey is shown backstage warming up with Natalya watching her.

Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins (C) def. Elias
in 17:00 by pinfall
What a match! This might have been Elias’s best match so far in his WWE career. They went with the story they use with Rollins often where he tweaked his knee mid match and he was fighting from under. No matter how many times they have Rollins sell a knee injury during a match, we believe it because he’s hurt it before. Elias put on a hell of  battle and did whatever he could to pick up the victory. There were moments where you thought he had it but Rollins powered through and kicked out. The fans were really invested into the match and split down the middle. I actually had moments where I thought they were going to give it to Elias. For example when he came down with the flying elbow, I thought Elias had the match won but it was not the case. The finish was great because it had everyone on the edge of their seats. Seth Rollins pulling Elias’s tights in desperation makes me believe that this isn’t over yet between them and after this match, I’m glad it isn’t.

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Alexa Bliss def. Sasha Banks, Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Ember Moon, Becky Lynch and Lana
in 18:30 by retrieving the briefcase
I really enjoyed this and was caught off guard by Alexa Bliss winning. I personally didn’t think she needed it but I am definitely not against her winning it. I just felt that the briefcase used to represent hope for a superstar who doesn’t often get those chances for championship matches and not for somebody who does. It was better than my prediction of Natalya as I felt like that might have been underwhelming. I found myself rooting for Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch during the match and they both came very close. The Chicago crowd also seemed to really be behind Lana as well. These women tore the house down and put their bodies through hell during this match. Sasha and Ember Moon took some nasty bumps onto the ladders. Naomi had a handful of cool spots which involved the ladders. There were some cool face off during the match that were throwback to old rivalries and foreshadowing some future ones. For example, seeing Charlotte face off against Natalya or Sasha Banks were throwback to two of her former rivals or seeing Alexa face off against Lana. There was also this competitive dynamic between two friends when it came down to Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Sasha did this cool spot where she turned falling off the ladder into a double knee strike to Charlotte and Natalya.  There was a point where all six women were fighting off two ladders and when one ladder went down everyone tried climbing the one that was still up but it wasn’t placed right under the briefcase. The commentators kept pointing out how the ladder might be too far away from the briefcase but none of them women notice it which didn’t help the situation. Alexa Bliss hit this a sunset bomb on Charlotte which was really impressive. Lana got the spotlight briefly when she loses her shit and gets Alexa in the accolade when she shoulda just climbed the ladder.
The match came to an end with everyone getting a chance trying to climb the ladder and getting close until someone pulls them off. Naomi pulls off Lana, Lynch pulls of Naomi, Bliss knocks Charlotte and Lynch off ladder, Charlotte gets pulled off by Banks, Banks gets pulled off by Noami, Lana pulls Naomi off only to get hit with an electric chair by Natalya. Nattie climbed the ladder only to get met with boo’s as the fans did not want to see this happen. Moon knocks Natalya off only to get hit with a spear from Charlotte who runs under the ladder to spear Ember Moon onto a ladder. Charlotte tries the same to Becky only to get caught with a Bexploder suplex. Becky gets so close to winning and basically has the briefcase unhooked but stalls cause of bad timing only for Alexa to tip the ladder to push Becky off and climb up for the victory. The fans popped loud for Alexa winning. This was a solid Money in the Bank match and these women left it all out there.

– Backstage, Kurt Angle gloats to Paige about Bliss winning the MITB match. Baron Corbin walks in and says… stuff. Paige asks Corbin if he has an attitude because last year when he tried to cash in MITB he failed miserably. Corbin tells Angle to get the job done and walks away. Paige and Angle laugh at Corbin.

Roman Reigns def. Jinder Mahal w/ Sunil Singh
in 15:40 via pinfall
Sunil Singh came out in a wheelchair, wearing a neck brace and still suffering from injuries from the beating he took from Roman on Raw. I found this hilarious and even more so as the match played out. Roman Reigns came out to a huge mixed reaction from the fans. The fans were wild during this match. They chanted everything to show they didn’t want to pay attention and care for this match. There was even a point where they started doing the wave. I actually thought that this was a decent match but with the fans not being invested in it to the story not being intriguing enough to really care about the match, it hurt the match. Roman was in control early on but they had Sunil Singh hop up out of his chair and push Roman into the ring post to put the match into Jinder’s favour. Mahal did get some colour during this match but I’m not sure when or from what. They tried this again and it backfired. It only led to Roman murdering Sunil Singh and catching Jinder with a spear for the win. This win did nothing for Roman and Mahal could have really used it. I guess this was a one off and it was to just an experiment to get Roman over to put him against someone who gets mega heat. I’m a fan of both guys and thought the match was decent, but I wasn’t fan of the finish.

Smackdown Live Women’s Championship
Carmella (C) def. Asuka
in 11:10 by pinfall
MELLA IS MONEY! Carmella has to face off against one of her biggest challenges since winning the womens championship. If this was an Asuka match prior to her streak ending at Wrestlemania this match would have only gone 5-6 minutes tops but since its post streak we got a decent match out of it. Of course what Carmella lacks in wrestling she gives us in character by being entertaining as hell. The screaming and the selling from her was on point. Every time she was getting her ass beat by Asuka. she was selling it like she was seeing stars. Asuka got her usual offence in and there were plenty of times where I thought Asuka finished off Mella but shockingly Mella would kick out. Mella hit a suicide dive which was cool to see from her. I dont recall seeing that in her arsenal from before. Asuka seemed to have had the match in the bag and hit Carmella with this brutal looking kick to the head until another figure appeared on the apron dressed like Asuka, wearing an Asuka mask. This masked person revealed themselves to be James Ellsworth who winked at Asuka in a cheesy way only Ellsworth could do. This allowed Carmella to super kick Asuka for the win. CARMELLA HAS BEAT ASUKA. It might have only happened with the help of James Ellsworth but it happened. I predicted Carmella would win but not without some sort of interference. I would have preferred two ladies showing up and it end up being the IIconics but this worked because of Carmella and Ellsworth history. I liked that Carmella was two steps ahead of her opponent and had this in her back pocket. It explains why she was so confident that she would beat Asuka.

Last Man Standing
WWE Championship
AJ Styes (C) def. Shinsuke Nakamura
ended in 31:15 by being the last man standing
HELL YEAH! This match was the match. This was the best match in their series so far. This was the match that guaranteed a clear winner since their last matches for the WWE Championship ended in a no contest. This was also the rubber match since Styles beat Nakamura at Wrestlemania and Nakamura beat Styles on an episode of Smackdown to pick this stipulation. As I mentioned previously in my predictions and reviews, every Nakamura and Styles match in the WWE is better than their last. This was proof of that. This match was filled with technically sound wrestling and violence. Their rivalry has been going on for months now so the fans were invested in the story of the match. The drama every time the referee counted to ten had the crowd on the edge of their seat and on the edge of my seat at home. There were so many awesome spots and moments during this match that I can’t go through them all but I’ll mention some. The kinsasha where Nakamura ran across the table was sweet. AJ Styles hitting the Styles Clash off the steps which had that fans chanting “holy shit!” The way Nakamura got back up before the count to do his signature “COME ON” only to kicked in the balls which is symbolic to this feud. It was AJ Styles Phenomenal Forearm which put Nakamura through a table and kept him down for ten-second count. Styles showed a more vicious and aggressive side by attacking Shinsuke Nakamura’s knee. Nakamura showed his ability to take a beating and his ambition to become WWE Champion. This was the perfect end to this feud which definitely has overstayed its welcome. I mean at this point it does feel like it has been going on forever. It’s unfortunate because Shinsuke Nakamura has had so many championship opportunties but failed to capitalize on any of them to become champion. However, there is something really cool about AJ Styles being that fighting champion who keeps overcoming the odds. Its time to move on from this rivalry though.

Raw Women’s Championship
Nia Jax (C) vs. Ronda Rousey
ends in a no contest at 11:05
This was Ronda Rousey’s first big singles match in the WWE as her first match was at Wrestlemania in a tag match. I think I was looking forward to this more to see how Ronda would do than anything else. It was all action and no filler. There were some things here that came off a bit sloppy but due to that it felt a lot more authentic. Ronda held her own and looked impressive. Nia Jax looked like a monster when she was in control in a way she hasn’t looked like in ages. The head butts and cutting Ronda off anytime she got offence was great. It was all action and no filler. Ronda sold and made it seem like it was a challenge to beat Nia rather than just destroying her. It was cool to see Ronda struggle in this new atmosphere and taking risks you wouldn’t expect from her. When Ronda Rousey went off the top with the cross body, that was definitely a moment. They did a great job making both competitors look strong. The finish helped with that as well.
When it looked like Ronda finally got the better of Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss appeared to break up the arm-bar submission by hitting Ronda Rousey with the briefcase she won earlier in the night. The match ended in DQ or a No Contest due to Alexa’s interference. Alexa Bliss continued to beat up Ronda Rousey with the briefcase, while mocking her and throwing her over the announcers table to get her out of the picture. Alexa Bliss got back into the ring and attacked Nia Jax with the briefcase and said she wanted to cash in.

Raw Womens Championship
Alexa Bliss def. Nia Jax (C)
in 0:35 by pinfall
Jojo totally botched the announcement of Alexa cashing in but you had to be one of those people like myself who pays too much attention to detail when it comes to wrestling to catch it. Alexa hit her DDT and the Final Bliss moonsault to defeat Jax to become the Women’s Champion for the fifth time. This was fun and it protected both Ronda and Nia, while getting Alexa heat. I wonder if this leads to a triple threat moving forward or if we’re going back to Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. I’d like to see Ronda still be involved in some form in the championship picture or at least with Alexa for costing her the opportunity to be champion. This was fun but I still would have preferred someone like Becky Lynch or Sasha Banks winning the briefcase and making it a thing for a longer period of time.

Mens Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Braun Strowman def. Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Rusev, Samoa Joe, The Miz, Bobby Roode and Kofi Kingston
in 20:00 by retrieving the briefcase
This match was a lot of fun just like the Women’s Money in the Bank match earlier in the night but just a bit more chaotic with crazier spots. Kofi Kingston was the New Day member to represent them in this match and I was really happy it was the seasoned vet of the group. I was totally fine with any of these guys walking out victorious. I did however think that Braun Strowman needed it the least but it is what it is if they have a story to tell. There were a lot of great moments during this match. Everyone had their moments to shine and it started right off the bat. Everyone but Miz buries Strowman with ladders on the stage. Miz tries to set up a ladder in the ring but Joe runs back into the ring and stop the Miz from getting a quick victory. Kofi Kingston got a lot more offence then I expected. There was a point where Owens teased hitting giant splash on his old rival Finn Balor who he had laid out on the announce table but he saw Rusev trying to climb the ladder so he goes to stop Rusev instead only to get hit with a fallaway slam on the ladder. Braun resurfaces only to get attacked by Rusev and Owens who struggle to get him on a table until Joe comes and chokes out Braun. Owen tries climbing that super large ladder to jump on Braun but Braun gets up and chokeslams Owens from the top of the ladder. This was great since it has been Owens biggest goal to make sure everyone works together against Braun at all times. Braun ran through a ladder and decimated people. Finn Balor hit a Coupe De Gras from a tall ladder outside to the inside of the ring. Rusev had a moment where he looked like he could have won but similar to his wife earlier he decided to waste time locking his opponents in the accolade. In the end Braun Strowman climbed the ladder like King Kong knocking away everyone that tried to stop him like they were flies. Braun Strowman won and is officially Mr. Money in the Bank. Again he is someone who I dont really think needs it but if this is the way we get that title off Lesnar and on to Braun…I’m into it. This was a fun match for sure with a lot of top notch stars.

Final Thoughts
This even was filled with surprises and shocking moments. The two ladder matches were great. The choice of winners are questionable. The Chicago crowd stayed hyped the entire event. There were some really good matches on the card like Rollins/Elias and Styles/Nakamura and some forgettable ones like Mahal/Reigns and Lashley/Zayn. This event was much better than Backlash which I think a lot of people already forgot about. I definitely enjoyed the show and would watch some of the matches from it again. The Money in the Bank PPV continues to remain to be one of the most fun shows of the year.
Final Rating – 7.5/10

What were your final thoughts on Money in the Bank? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.