MITB 2018: The Good, The Bad & The Meh
Money in the Bank was one of WWE’s best pay-per-views in a while.
WWE loves to come to the All State Arena, and the ever-rowdy Chicago fans love it when WWE comes to town, as they did this past Sunday for Money in the Bank. These fans have a long history of crapping on the WWE’s choices and hurling insults whenever appropriate (or inappropriate, for that matter), which of course is the exact atmosphere you would want to give Jinder Mahal and Roman Reigns a mind-numbing 15-minute match. Are they insane!? With that in mind, let’s look at The Good, The Bad and The Meh of Money in the Bank 2018.
Let’s get the Meh out of the way:
Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn was nothing to write home about. Lashley let his monster side show for the first time and the crowd warmed up to the big guy, which was nice, but WWE is never going to let Zayn get to where he belongs, and that makes me sad.
Jinder Mahal vs. Roman Reigns was an abortion of a match that just dragged on way too long. There was no real heat for Mahal, and Reigns’ “triumphant” comeback at the end was lackluster at best. Sunil Singh was really the only fun part of the match. The crowd was on another level, shitting on Roman as they love to do, but this match didn’t even deserve that kind of reaction. It was so boring! Let’s just let it die a peaceful death and hope we never have to talk about it again.
Moving on to the Bad:
Alexa Bliss winning the Women’s Money in the Bank did not make me happy. This may come off as sour grapes, but I honestly like Alexa. What I didn’t like was giving her a rub that she didn’t need. No one had Alexa on their list to win this match, since the self-proclaimed Goddess of WWE had just finished an epic run as four-time Women’s Champion. It would have been much better to see Becky end her drought or use the all-powerful briefcase to push a newcomer like Ember Moon.
The never-ending Fake Asuka/Asuka stare down was pure rubbish. I don’t mind Asuka losing to Carmella due to shenanigans, but staring for that long made her look beyond stupid. How can I keep cheering a hero if she gets suckered into such an obvious ruse so blindly? Fix this, WWE. Fix this. Use your magical power editing and fix this.
Big Cass vs. Daniel Bryan II. I’m glad Bryan won, but this feud was a complete waste of time. I liked Big Cass, but it might have been for the greater good that he was released, as that feud needed to be over yesterday. Now D-Bry can get some rocket boosters back on him again and take the kind of spotlight he deserves.
Let’s lighten things up with the Good – and there is a lot to talk about:
The Intercontinental Championship match was stellar. There were some nail-biting near falls, and Elias proved that he could hang with the best of them. And even though he ultimately came up short, Elias has a big future ahead of him. Rollins is just on fire right now, and I would be so bold as to say he might be the greatest active wrestler in WWE today.
The Chicago crowd was on fire as always. The unique chants were incredible. “We are scumbags” is now my new favorite chant. But most importantly, the crowd was excited to be there, which really added to the show overall.
Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey was electric. At first, I was not sold on this feud at all. Like many in the media, I felt it was too soon for a title match for Ronda, let alone a title run. But this match really impressed me. Ronda is a natural and has been improving rapidly in the ring since her debut. And although I didn’t agree with the “who,” I loved the near fall ending and the big surprise cash-in! Again, Alexa wasn’t my first choice to win the briefcase, but it’s hard not to get excited by a perfectly-timed cash-in. I got flashbacks to when Seth Rollins interrupted the main event at WrestleMania 31.
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – wow. What an incredible match! It was dramatic, violent and everything these two ring veterans did looked amazing. AJ took a few nasty spills. The Kinshasa was among the best ones Shinsuke has ever done. I do feel bad about the ending, though. I’m starting to doubt whether Shinsuke will ever get the recognition he deserves as a WWE Champion, but AJ winning was the smart money. He’s the biggest babyface in the company right now.
Lastly, we had a stellar Men’s Money in the Bank match. This was one of those rare matches I enjoyed because I felt like anyone could have won. Everyone involved was telling a great story and gave a fantastic performance. And there were some huge spots, as per usual for these matches. I’m just glad Kevin Owens was okay after that insane bump he took. Ultimately, Braun Strowman took the prize, which is kind of the perfect place for the Monster Among Men to be in. If you’re looking over your shoulder as the champion, Braun Strowman is one of the last people you would want to see standing right behind you. I’m hoping this cash-in comes swiftly.
Overall, I would say this show helped Money in the Bank on its way to being seen as the fifth “Big” pay-per-view, as it seems WWE is eager to do. It was exciting, it kept great pacing throughout the show and the match order made sense from a booking standpoint. I’d give it a solid B+ for my first pay-per-view review.
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