Tag: money in the bank 2017

Thumbs Down

• Best: Men’s MITB
• Worst: Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton

Show was a case where bad booking undercut some good work in-ring in the Women’s MITB match, New Day vs Usos and Men’s MITB. Men’s MITB struggled at first with crowd reactions when Nakamura was taken out. His return and heat was the best use of him on the main roster so far. Styles and Nakamura feels like a special match-up in a way that nothing else they can program on SmackDown feels like.

Corbin winning is blah, heel holding MITB is a boring, played-out trope now (and Corbin is just dull by himself). This feels like when Seamus won two years ago. 

Women’s ending made a mockery of their whole selling point of the match being historic. Jinder just has nothing between the ropes, and has the least going for him of any pushed main-eventer I can remember.

This year is going to be a tough contest for me between Jinder and Baron for Most Overrated in the Observer Awards.

– Kevin Chiat

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Look. I didn’t have any high expectations for the PPV. Really only thing I was interested in was the Men’s MITB because it had proper booking. And I just knew having Ellsworth ringside for the women’s match would just end up having a screwy finish. And I was right. I completely lost interest after the Woman’s MITB. Having a man’s help to win a woman’s match isn’t how you’re supposed to be showcasing the woman’s division.

So what I legit did, was turn it on mute and put on Okada vs Omega at Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion. I would check back once in a while to see how the PPV is doing. And I was immediately put off after the tag title match. Sure, Usos are heels. But that’s not strong champions if they run off for the countout.

Orton vs Mahal was 25 minutes of boredom to me. You may have enjoyed it, maybe not, I don’t know. But for me, it bored me. We all know WWE has a history of having wrestlers lose in their hometown. So it was so predictable already. Men’s MITB was my certain MOTN. Teasing us with what Nakamura and Styles can do just pleased me very much. I’d give the main event a ****1/4. Very very deserving for Baron Corbin. But the overall PPV, I would give it a 6.2/10.

– Joaquim Cardenas

**********

This is one of the worst WWE pay per views of the year. Most of finishes were awful, especially the women’s money in the bank match, which was a major letdown. Lana is not ready for the main roster and she can’t be led by Naomi who is still green herself. The Ascension being the culprits was awful. The main event was pretty good, highlighted by KO taking huge bumps and the Nakamura/AJ showdown. Pretty terrible overall. Thumbs down. 

– Mike Auger

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Thumbs in the middle 

• Best match: Men’s MITB Ladder Match
• Worst match: Breezango VS Ascension

I thought the 5 advertised matches were about as good as they could’ve been, but all of the finishes on the show were just duds. Even the Men’s MITB Ladder match which I thought was one of the top 3 in history, one of WWE’s best matches of the year and I’d probably go ****3/4, the finish was just, Corbin runs in and dumps the ladder over while everyone else takes a nap.

And during the show I argued with some brainwashed WWE fan on Twitter that said this show was better than Dominion because Dominion was nothing but tag matches and WK rematches, and they gave us just as bad of a finish in the main event with the time limit draw. How do people actually believe these things?

– Richard Kelly

**********

Thumbs down

• Best Match: Men’s MITB Ladder Match
• Worst Match: Breeze & Fandango vs Ascension 

I would have given worst match to the women’s MITB or the Tag championship match because of the lame finishes, but the Fashion Police match was pretty bad. Only on good to great match on the show which was the main event. Styles is the best worker in the WWE. Too many video packages that they have aired several times before. Baron Von Rashke was more over than most of the current roster. 

– Tommy Noe

**********

I thought the main event was pretty stellar predictable finish but hey what can you do if they book it right Corbin should be a great Mr. Money in the bank and a great future WWE champion. 

Women’s ladder match was a complete dump. Sloppy spots all over the place excluding Charlotte’s jump off the turnbuckle.

Waste of Breezango if they wanted to have that match fine but at least have AA come as the real culprits who attacked Tyler. Maybe they’re saving it for SmackDown.

Usos v New day was absolutely fantastic just fluky stupid finish really disappointed that ended a great match.

Lana v Naomi… yeah let’s just skip that and erase that from my memories….

Mahal V Orton was really boring just absolutely boring. I didn’t like it at all.

Colons v Hype bros was just whatever shame they didn’t turn one of the hype bros heel but maybe they’re saving that for the next couple of weeks.

Overall I’d give this whole show about C-

– Peter Perez

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Thumbs Down

Best match was Men’s MITB

Disrespectful to the women for having a comedy act get the briefcase off the hook. Great effort by all participants. 

Mahal and Corbin are classic Vince guys. Loved the Legends at ringside. I hope Baron gets inducted into WWE HOF.

AJ and Nak stare down stole the show. Sami and KO are under appreciated and always give 100 percent. 

– Joe Greget

**********

Thumbs up show

• Best Match: Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match
• Worst Match: Breezango vs The Ascension

The Tag Team match was really good but lame finish. Guess they have to prolong the feud somehow and maybe it’ll culminate at SummerSlam. I thought Lana was going to be really bad in the ring but she wasn’t. Glad to see Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis on the main roster.

– Eric Poon

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I personally was very soured by the finish of the Women’s Money in the bank match and for me the show never recovered from there. 

I mean the WWE title match was decent and the Main Event was great but I was so disinterested by that point because of my disappointment/frustration with the first half of the show that I couldn’t enjoy them properly.

To quote something I read from Twitter “They gave the women ladders and still didn’t let them break through the glass ceiling.”

I’m not even saying the finish was bad. I just think the timing was. Tbh if this was say the 3rd women’s money in the bank match it’d be fine imo, but for the FIRST EVER women’s money in the bank match to end with a bloke climbing the ladder and grabbing the briefcase seemed very wrong and backwards.

Massive thumbs down I’m afraid.

– Jose Gonzalez

**********

All in all I have to say tonight’s show was a thumbs down. 

For a ladder match that was constantly pushed as history making, the finish of the Women’s MITB was ridiculous and more of a regression for women’s wrestling. It was reminiscent of Santina Marella at WrestleMania 25.

That and the finish of The Usos vs New Day match was incredibly frustrating not in a sense of “heel heat” but more so WWE once again having poor finishes on big shows.

It felt like an episode of SmackDown Live at this point.

The Women’s Championship match wasn’t terrible and while Lana is green I don’t think she can be faulted too much with it only being her second match as long as we see improvement in the future. From a logic standpoint, you could argue why Carmella didn’t cash-in seeing as she could have the briefcase taken off her on Tuesday, but wouldn’t she have just been stripped of the Championship as well? 

The Fashion Files segment was great once again and surprisingly so was the Great Balls of Fire ad with Ambrose and co. singing Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s still ridiculous that it has that title and that they’re having a laugh when really it should be a serious show with the Brock/Joe match.

I actually enjoyed Jinder vs Orton and think they’ve worked well together in their matches at Backlash and tonight. Even though Jinder shouldn’t really be in this position as champ, I’m happy to not be hating his PPV matches. Orton beating up The Singh Brothers again was funny and thankfully he didn’t nearly kill one of them this time.

It was a underwhelming that The Ascension were the ‘big reveal’ as I was sure it was Chad Gable on the left in that Coliseum Home Video tape. Hopefully we’ll see AA soon enough, but this match, well, happened.

The main event was good with the highlights being the crowd’s hyped response for the Styles/Nakamura fight, KO and Sami once again being fantastic in a ladder match and Styles trying to climb while hanging from the briefcase which is something I’ve never seen before. AJ’s fall was scary and very similar to the one against Rhyno from the Elevation X match back in 2007. A risky thing to do but he seems to fall safe enough.

I saw Rusev’s tweet mid-match and spent the next however many minutes hoping he’d show up (classic trolling Rusev) so I was a bit frustrated about the finish due to that. Corbin winning is fine as it was expected and he’s got some great heel heat from beating up Nakamura during his entrance and winning at the expense of arguably the two most popular men in the match.

– Kieran Lane

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THUMBS IN THE MIDDLE

• BEST BOUT: Men’s money in the bank ladder match
• WORST BOUT: Tyler Breeze and Fandango Vs. The Ascension 

THOUGHTS: Another ok show with a great main event. I thought the women’s money in the bank match was good and even though I’ve seen a lot of people angry over the finish I don’t mind because it’s leading to something Tuesday night.

The tag team match was really great up until the finish which I know had to be done to prolong the feud.

The women’s title match was boring and kinda just there.

The WWE championship match was good wrestling but I just don’t care about Jinder Mahal OR Randy Orton for that matter, I was bored through most of the match but I did like the stuff with the legends.

I loved the main event like really really loved it. Everyone looked strong, Corbin taking out Nakamura before the match started was great. AJ hanging from the briefcase and falling to the mat was great, The stuff with Sami and Kevin was excellent and now all anyone wants to see after that match was an AJ V Nakamura match. I would’ve loved Nakamura to win the briefcase but deep down I always knew it was going to be Corbin.

– Gerry Sheedy

**********

The ending to the women’s MITB match was a travesty. They spent so long hyping up how this was a historic match and a breakthrough for women’s wrestling and then ended the match by having a man grab the briefcase and literally had it to a woman.

This isn’t bad because it’s a bad storyline or the wrong person won etc., it’s just a genuinely sad thing to see that they squandered an opportunity to promote women’s wrestling. A woman grabbing the briefcase for the first time could have (and should have) been a historic shot that would be replayed in video packages for years to come but they made a mockery of it.

– Jay Adams

**********

Overall I was thumbs-middle on the show. While I really loved the crowd and the atmosphere and thought it was one of the more energetic shows in recent months, I think it was dragged down by a heel-centric set of victories and some puzzling match production decisions.

Best match was the men’s ladder match, by a country mile. I thought it was very very good, up until the ending, which still managed to suck all of the energy out of me despite being so predictable it was visible from high orbit.

Baron Corbin is as interesting as 70’s-era carpet, and frankly, I’m disappointed in WWE for producing yet another ending that essentially trolls hardcore wrestling fans in favor of putting heat on one of their home-grown boys. Baron was always going to win; I’m just not a fan of teasing the crowd with a Styles/Nakamura victory immediately prior. Would have been better to have Baron cost Sami the victory, I think, because it would have left a less-bad taste in my mouth, which is somehow a victory standard for this company in 2017.

Worst match was probably the Women’s title match. Naomi doesn’t really do it for me and Lana is as green as they come. The match lacked the athleticism and fire of the rest of the show.

Otherwise, the women’s ladder match was really good, if short. I didn’t care for the shenanigans at the end. I’m assuming it’s leading to Ellsworth wrestling a woman, which isn’t something anyone needs in 2017. Carmella winning the briefcase, however, is something I like; unlike Baron (who is in a similar place in his respective division), I enjoy Carmella’s work and think she’s evolved in a meaningful way since receiving her call-up. But I could do without Ellsworth winning for her.

The tag match was pretty awesome and was probably second on my list for great matches of the night. I thought everyone worked hard and really pumped the crowd. They had some pretty crazy and fun spots that I enjoyed.

The WWE Title match was fine. I just can’t really get that excited for Jinder, who regularly battles Baron Corbin in my mind for the least interesting performer alive. I thought he worked hard tonight, and Randy had more motivation than usual, but ultimately it was just fine, with a pretty predictable ending.

So, in the end, there was some good, but the best of the show was marred by a bad finish, and overall the show had too many heel victories that left me feeling a little hollow.

– Chris Clark

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While it was impossible for the Men’s Money in the Bank match to not deliver with the talent involved — and my goodness did Sami Zayn ever steal the show out there with his big spots — unfortunately, the rest of the show failed miserably and merited a Thumbs Down rating from me.

If this were a normal Women’s Money in the Bank match, I do not have an issue with the finish where James Ellsworth handed it to Carmella. Given this was the first-ever, and you only get one shot at a first impression, that was not the finish to do. Find a better way for Carmella to win; this was a huge mistake.

For leading off the card of the PPV itself after a nothing preshow match with the Hype Bros and The Colons, it set a very bad tone. In fact, Shane McMahon wasn’t even there, so no one intervened, and now we have to wait two nights for the fallout to be addressed by a returning Daniel Bryan. Aren’t PPVs supposed to be payoffs? This was nothing more than an exaggerated SmackDown Live episode.

The tag team titles match was a joke. The Usos’ intentional countout, on the heels of Ellsworth/Carmella, was a terrible decision. After that, Naomi-Lana was not that good, even with the Carmella tease of a cash-in, and got my worst match vote of the night. Then there’s the ever-so-predictable WWE title match. We knew Jinder Mahal would win to continue WWE’s India push, and WWE insists hometown wrestlers should lose way more than win, so Randy Orton had no chance.

When a Miami Vice-themed Fashion Files episode is the best thing prior to the main event — and even their match with Ascension was just a boring filler match — that speaks highly negative of the PPV’s quality.

With many WWE PPV duds in recent, I was actually excited for this one going in. I guess I should have reminded myself this is WWE, and I am a complete fool for having such optimism.

– Devin Shultz

**********

Thumbs up. Great WWE PPV. 

• Best match — Men’s Ladder Match
• Worst match — Breezango vs. Ascension 

LOVED Mike and Maria’s debut. Instant heat seeker him taking her name. I love it. Lots of ppl say he wouldn’t be in WWE if not for his wife, why not run with that. 

Thought Orton and Jinder was great. Close second to the men’s ladder match as my fav of the night. 

LOVED the tease with AJ and Nakamura. Please let that be the SmackDown main event at Mania. 

Who cares about the Ascension? Love Breezango and fashion files but again who cares about Ascension. 

New Day – Usos was great right up until the finish. Lazy booking. Cop out.

Lana was better than I expected. Where is Rusev?!

– Jeff Morris

**********

Thumbs Up!

• Best Match: Jinder vs. Orton
• Worst Match: Fashion Police vs Ascension (bad spot for those guys)

This was a fun show made more special by the awesome St. Louis crowd!

I’m seeing a lot of people complaining on social media about sexism with Ellsworth’s involvement in the women’s MITB finish. I think it was just a matter of a typical heel second/manager helping the person they represent get the win.

It was great to see the legends at ringside. Too bad they weren’t used more in the match.

– Jake Koch

**********

Had to express my distaste for this show, worst WWE has had in the two and a half years since I started watching them again. 

Thumbs down!

• Best match: Men’s money in the bank (but Corbin is the worst-case scenario winner; he did nothing in this match)
• Worst match: Fashion Police vs Ascension

Finish to women’s money in the bank was garbage. Essentially a man wins the first women’s money in the bank match in WWE history, not to mention how underwhelming it was anyway? Going to be difficult to convince me to watch SD Live on Tues. Styles vs Nakamura is obviously the best direction for SummerSlam, and if they don’t start going that way, why would anyone watch?

– Jerimee Bloemeke

**********

Thumbs down.

I’ve had less than 5 thumbs down reviews since 2010, but WWE was really trying to earn it tonight. 5 bad finishes (3 from interference, 1 from walk-out, and 1 from the wrong guy winning) on a 6 match PPV signal to me that WWE doesn’t care.

• Best match:  MITB ladder match (men’s). Exciting with good builds for future matchups. The problem is that it missed an opportunity to makeup for a truly lackluster PPV and send people home happy.
• Worst match: Naomi v. Lana. Hard to watch the women’s ladder match and know that Lana was actually fighting for the title.  Fine for SmackDown.  Unacceptable for a PPV title match.  Having a run-in/distraction after the finishes of those previous 2 matches was unacceptable.

Good work from lots of people that didn’t get their hands raised tonight. A real shame.
Orton in his hometown? They had him lose. In front of his dad. On Father’s Day.

– Nick Garcia

**********

Thumbs Up

• Best Match — Men’s MITB
• Worst Match — Ascension vs Fashion Police (by default)

Just a few notes on the Fashion Police Segment:

Loved the reference to “Coliseum” when they got ready to play the video.

Also, the picture of Michael Hayes with “Wanted ” under his name on the bulletin board. There were a few more inside and funny references that I don’t remember, but it made for a great three minute segment.

An enjoyable show. AS the show went off the sir, did you catch the sign that said ” Boring Baron”? I thought that was creative.

– Mike Stack

**********

Thumbs In The Middle

• Best Match — Baron Corbin vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler (Money in the Bank Ladder Match)
• Worst Match — Naomi vs. Lana

Another WWE show saved (well, saved from a thumbs down at least) by an excellent multi-man main event. The visual of Nakamura & Styles moving the ladder was among my personal favorite WWE moments of the year. The match only solidified the fact that I’ll watch any ladder match with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in it.

The New Day vs. The Usos greatly exceeded my expectations. I don’t mind the lame heel walkout finishes as much as some do, but this match wasn’t the time for it as this was the type of great match where The New Day really should have just won the belts. The pressure is really on for them to follow that match but this match & feud has already improved the SmackDown tag team scene by about 1,000%.

The women were pretty disappointing overall. I get why they didn’t do that much in the women’s MITB match to not take away from the stunts in the main event but, like with Sasha vs. Charlotte in the Cell last October, this didn’t even remotely live up to the expectations set. It was a perfectly good match though. The finish was a creative way for Carmella to win although her selling is still all kinds of pathetic. Naomi vs. Lana was nothing but still better than that women’s match at Extreme Rules two weeks ago.

Putting Mahal vs. Orton on earlier was the right call. Mahal still isn’t quite up to a WWE main event standard but he was far better here than he was last month in the match vs. Orton. The crowd greatly helped them as well.

– William Gregory