Out of all WWE pay-per-views, few attract as much hype as Money in the Bank. Ever since Wrestlemania 21, the Money in the Bank ladder match has been beloved by many as being one of the last great WWE match stipulations.

   Unless you’re Baron Corbin or Damian Sandow, winning the briefcase has proven to be a perfect shortcut for bookers to transform young talents into main-eventers.

   A lot of anticipation was going into this event. With two stacked ladder matches, and the first singles match of Ronda Rousey’s WWE career. For the most part, Money in the Bank delivered on those matches, on the other matches, well, let’s just take a look.

Bludgeon Brothers Def. Gallows & Anderson, Smackdown Tag Titles match.

   I don’t normally look at pre-show matches. However, this one was for the Smackdown tag-team championships, so I decided to give it a go. And with what they were given, the two teams put on a decent little match. The good brothers, Gallows & Anderson, got in more offence on Harper and Rowan than any team previously has.

   There was some back and forth action until the Bludgeon Brothers hit a double-team powerbomb on Luke Gallows for the win. This was fine, the right people won, and it felt like something I would see on a regular episode of Smackdown. But please Vince, please have these boys join Finn Balor and turn heel.

2.5/5

Daniel Bryan Def. Big Cass

   I’m not sure what exactly went wrong with Big Cass’s feud with Daniel Bryan. Perhaps people just didn’t desire to see these two superstars face off. Maybe it’s something about Big Cass’s character that has rubbed people the wrong way. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this feud is centered around Daniel Bryan’s height.

   As sloppy as this storyline may be, the two still put together an entertaining match nevertheless. It played out very similar to their battle at Backlash with Big Cass dominating Bryan most of the match, only to tap out in the end.

   While I’m happy for Daniel Bryan, who deserved the win, what’s next for the seven-footer? After suffering two high-profile losses to Bryan, WWE has effectively stunted his momentum. Regardless of what happens with Cass, hopefully Daniel Bryan can move on to bigger, and better opponents.

3/5

Bobby Lashley Def. Sami Zayn

With the first two matches of the show being ok at best, this was the first real dud of the evening, and sadly not the last. First of all, this feud had little heat to go off of. As good as Sami Zayn is on the mic, his skills have been undermined by Bobby Lashley.

   Much like Roman Reigns, Lashley suffers from being an uninteresting hero. His bland and constant smiling, even while being insulted, pretty much makes it impossible to get invested in him. He smiles so much, when he finally starts acting tough in the ring, it’s not as believable. All of these problems were evident in his bout with Sami Zayn.

   This felt more like a TV match, and less like two rivals trying to kill each other. Bobby won after slamming Zayn to the mat, and that was that. The match was too short, and neither emerged from the match looking any better, in fact they both looked a bit worse.

2/5

Seth Rollins Def. Elias, Intercontinental title match

   Well that was better than I thought it would be! In a time where WWE’s booking decisions are questionable at best, this match demonstrates the simple formula of good booking, plus good wrestlers, equals great matches, and that’s exactly what this was.

   It began with an entertaining guitar solo by Elias where he referred to the Chicago crowd as “scumbags.” The crowd ate it up, and chanted “we are scumbags.” Things only got better once the match began. Elias got in a great deal of offense, focusing most of his attacks on Rollins’ neck. Rollins eventually came back and landed an impressive suplex combo and a falcon arrow. Near the end, it was a back and forth fight between the two, with Rollins picking up the victory via grabbing Elias’ tights.

   The finish was a little sketchy, but this still was a fine match nonetheless. While Elias is still improving in the ring, Seth Rollins carried him through possibly the best match of his career so far.

3.5/5

Alexa Bliss wins women’s Money in the Bank match

   We now get to the first of two Money in the Bank Matches, and my word, this was much better than last year’s woman’s ladder match. All eight women put on an excellent ladder match. There wasn’t as many high-flying spots as a normal Money in the Bank match, there were some crazy spots, especially with Sasha Banks.

   The on/off rivalry between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch was evident, and made the match all the more entertaining. The newer competitors like Ember Moon and Lana put in an excellent showing, and the crowd was really into both of them. Towards the end of the match, it looked as if Becky Lynch just might do it as she stood at the top of the ladder, fingertips on the briefcase. Sadly, it was not Becky’s night as Alexa Bliss reentered the ring just in time to stop her. With seven other women down, Bliss scaled the ladder to retrieve the briefcase and become the second Ms. Money in the Bank.

   Again, this non-stop thrill ride was leaps and bounds better than the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank match (which was won by a man, never forget). Now the ending was slightly botched with Alexa missing her cue, leaving Lynch at the top of the ladder fiddling with the briefcase. But besides that minor botch, this match lived up the hype, and satisfied fans and critics both casual and hardcore.

4/5

Roman Reigns Def. Jinder Mahal

   So it’s come to this, the nightmare match. I call it that because it is every hardcore fan’s worst nightmare come true, Roman Reigns vs Jinder Mahal. The dream-match nobody wanted to see. The sad thing is the worst part of this match wasn’t even the match itself, but how the crowd received it.

   The Chicago fans destroyed the match, chanting “CM Punk,” Boring,” This is awful,” and “you suck.” The match itself was a pretty standard affair. Jinder beat Roman down, Roman came back, beat up Sunil Singh, spear, 1..2..3. Props to Reigns and Mahal for working with what they were given, but fans simply wouldn’t except it, and verbally ripped the two superstars to pieces.

   However, the best part of all of this was Sunil Singh’s introduction to Jinder Mahal. Just something about a wheelchair-bound Sunil Singh struggling to speak into the mic for Jinder’s intro made me laugh a lot more than it should’ve.

1/5

Carmella vs Asuka. Smackdown Women’s title match

   Now I’m well aware that I may have the unpopular opinion on this match, so let me start this off by saying comedy characters have their place in professional wrestling. Occasionally they manage to get over with the crowd and create a bigger star like Santino Marella, or the New Day. Other times it can act as harmless filler like the B team.

   And sometimes, it absolutely ruins a potentially good match, like Carmella vs Asuka. When I heard that Asuka was going to face Carmella for the Women’s title, I was quite excited. For as you may know, I was very vocal in my review of Backlash on how I believe Carmella doesn’t do the Smackdown women’s division justice as champion. Asuka on the other hand is one of the best female superstars in WWE, possibly the world. A Women’s title reign is just what she needs to regain some of the momentum she lost after tapping to Charlotte at Wrestlemania.

   The match started as you would expect with Carmella keeping her distance from the challenger. Eventually Carmella got the jump on the empress of tomorrow and from there you know the drill. The heel beats on the face for 10 minutes or so, only for the face to make a comeback and win the match. Such a match layout didn’t fit either of these characters, but decent spots like Carmella suicide-diving into Asuka are always welcome in Claude’s Column.

   The problem emerged when Asuka didn’t win. Instead, a mysterious Asuka cosplayer came down to the ring, stopping her dead in her tracks. The cosplayer removes his mask to reveal, of all people, James Ellsworth: the official successor to Hornswoggle as the destroyer of storylines.

   As he winked to the camera and Carmella booted and pinned Asuka clean for the win, I felt a pain that I haven’t felt since James Ellsworth beat AJ Style clean on Smackdown (oh the horror). The worst part of all of this is the fact that WWE has officially derailed Asuka’s momentum, and turned her into just another woman on the roster, just like another Smackdown superstar.

1.5/5

A.J Styles Def. Shinsuke Nakamura, WWE title match

   By far the best match of the night. A.J Styles’ last man standing match with Shinsuke Nakamura was fantastic. While the pace was considerably slow for an A.J Styles match, what it lacked in speed it made up for with brutality.

   This battle featured everything you could want in a last man standing fight: Nakamura hitting Styles with a Kinshasa on the announcers table, Styles ruining Nakamura’s leg in the calf crusher, Nakamura attempting to put A.J through a table, which hilariously kept collapsing; All the fun of the fair.

   After landing a low-blow to Styles, Shinsuke hit him with a second Kinshasa. Styles laid motionless as the ref counted. I thought it was over, that Nakamura’s inevitable world title reign had begun. However as the ref hit 9, Styles threw himself on the announcer’s table, making it to his feet. He then hit a phenomenal fore-arm, and a deadly styles clash on the steel steps. Even then, Shinsuke wouldn’t go down.

   So A.J ended this match in the most fitting way possible, with a crude kick to the testicles, followed by a final phenomenal fore-arm through the announcer’s table. While I believe Nakamura should’ve won, he still put in a fantastic performance, as did Styles.

4/5

Ronda Rousey Def. Nia Jax via D.Q, Raw Women’s title match. Alexa Bliss cashes in Money in the Bank and becomes the new champion

   If there are any doubters of Rousey’s in-ring skill in WWE, this match proved all of those critics wrong. As fine as this match was, it wasn’t the back and forth bout I was expecting. Ronda surprisingly was dominated by champion Nia for a majority of this match.

   To her credit, Rousey sold really well and made Nia Jax look like an absolute beast and a credible threat to her. Eventually, the former UFC champion retaliated with several jabs and judo slams to the irresistible force. As it looked as if Rousey was about to force Jax to submit, enter Alexa Bliss.

   The second Ms. Money in the Bank absolutely ruined both women with multiple briefcase shots. After eliminating Rousey from the equation, Little Ms. Bliss cashed in her contract on an injured Nia Jax, regaining her Women’s title.

   While I believe it would’ve been more interesting if Ronda won, only to be cashed in on by Natalya to set up a feud between the two, this still was a very solid contest with a chaotic but satisfying conclusion.

4/5

Braun Strowman wins Money in the Bank

   This was possibly the most stacked MITB match I’ve seen in years. Featuring stars like Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and the Miz, this match was oozing with potential. And thankfully, it delivered on every level.

   As expected, this match had plenty of high-flying spot, like Braun Strowman throwing Kevin Owens off a 20 ft ladder to his doom. there were also some very neat spots on the ground, like Braun Strowman running straight through a ladder held by Finn Balor and Bobby Roode, and Rusev locking in the accolade on three men.

   However when the dust settled, the monster among men was standing tall at the top of the ladder, briefcase in hand. This was a rare case where the person I thought would win, the Miz, was beaten by the monster I personally was rooting for. As MITB matches go, this lived up to the hype, and is one of the best ladder matches I’ve seen in years.

4/5

Samuel Claude
Reporter