WWE Money in the Bank Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's WWE Network special.
Kickoff:
Golden Truth increased Breezango's risk of skin cancer. That's pretty intense for an undercard wrestling feud.

That was a really uninspired remix. 

 - Golden Truth vs. Breezango:
This is pretty silly, but I didn't really expect much different.

Good selling of the tanning bed burning by Breezango. That's really painful to think about.

That was fine for a silly opening match. Goldust and Truth can still contribute in the ring.

Not a good Zayn/Cesaro segment. It definitely didn't sell me on either of them being a winner of the match, nor for any kind of tension about who wins and who loses. It was just kind of "yeah, we're in a match." This is their biggest opportunity ever and should be sold as such.

I hate the "wrestler casually strolling into the arena" shot. Roman and Rollins are fighting for the WWE Championship! Rollins needs to look really intense and focused. Roman needs to walk out of his car, put the title on his shoulder, and walk in confidently. They're going way too far in the "wrestlers are just regular people" direction instead of treating them as larger-than-life superheroes.

I like the "Hart and Fire" tagline for Natalya and Becky.

- Dragons vs. Dudleys:
Mauro referencing GoT was a bad move. Why remind people what else they could be watching?

"That team that used to win titles and put people through tables" isn't much of a gimmick. At least Bubba's trash talk game is still strong.

I would have cried if Kalisto won on that rollup. The luchadores are impressive, but the Dudleys have really fallen as a serious team.

Not a bad match for Kickoff.

Money in the Bank:
Pretty fun promo from Enzo and Cass.

New Day is always hysterical, although they're no-selling their opponents.

- Big E/Kofi vs. Enzo/Cass vs. Anderson/Gallows vs. Vaudevillains:
Pretty solid work by everyone early.

I like the Vaudevillains' vicious streak.

Enzo's a lot of fun, since he's not in the "former indie/international star you should love because they did good stuff elsewhere" mold.

Good work from Enzo and Cass. I would have loved to have seen them win the titles, although it should probably be a heel team holding the gold next.

That was quite the good match. Everyone brought their all.

Fun promo between Owens and Jericho.

Not a bad promo from Del Rio, but things went downhill after he showed up. Too many segments have to turn comedic these days.

- Corbin vs. Ziggler:
This match could have benefited from a stipulation or something after they've already faced off on a number of occasions.

Corbin has the tools to be successful. He just needs experience in putting them all together.

Dolph always shows fire.

Corbin avoiding the Fameasser AND the superkick made it mean more when Ziggler hit them.

I liked the End of Days reversal to the superkick.

That was mostly good. Slow in places, though.

- Charlotte/Dana vs. Becky/Natalya:
Dana's been a lot of fun as a heel. I'm enjoying her as Charlotte's sidekick.

Pretty good action. It felt like a fight/match, which is their goal.

OK, now that that's over, can we start the build to Charlotte vs. Sasha for the title?

Well, I guess someone had to make a random heel turn tonight. Not really sure why Natalya turned.

I mostly liked Ambrose's promo. He's better when he's the serious unhinged guy.

- Sheamus vs. Crews:
Sheamus going right after Apollo was good. No shaking heads leading into exchanging highspots.

I like this being a big fight.

Crews is definitely a great athlete.

That White Noise spot was impressive. I would have been OK with that being the ending.

A little bit of a flat ending. I think it might have done more to hurt Sheamus' credibility than put Apollo over, since it was a surprise victory. I like Apollo, but I'm not 100% sold on him at this level.

AJ and Cena in the ring together for the first time was definitely an electric moment.

Cena wearing his PBR-inspired shirt. If that doesn't get the hipsters on his side, I guess nothing will.

- Cena vs. Styles:
Good feeling out process early. Cocky AJ is fun.

AJ's agility is unreal.

Both men are veteran workhorses. That's on display here.

AJ continues to get Cena off his game.

NICE STF spot.

I LOVED the Forearm to AA to Calf Crusher spot. Well done.

Good Rocker Dropper counter, too.

Counter after counter. This is exciting!

I hope Cena doesn't kick out of a Styles Clash AND Magic Killer.

Big feather in AJ's cap with that one.

Unless the plan is for AJ to go back to being face, JBL is a terrible heel commentator for not cheering for AJ and The Club beating Cena.

- Y2J vs. Owens vs. Zayn vs. Del Rio vs. Cesaro vs. Ambrose:
Jericho doing the smart thing trying to win when Ambrose took himself out of the equation.

Owens psyching Zayn out to do the superkick was funny. Why do something dangerous with a ladder when you don't have to in order to do damage?

Owens stopping the uppercut party was great, too. I like the idea of a heel ruining the fans' enjoyment.

Del Rio using the ladder with evil intent.

The cross armbreaker/superkick/uppercut spot was pretty cool.

BAH GAWD WHAT A CODEBREAKER.

That Michinoku Driver was SICK.

The "let's put ladders everywhere" spots didn't really work. It felt more like they were going for a spectacle than actually trying to win a match. Obviously it's all spectacle, but that sequence was particularly obvious.

Some pretty good carnage going on here.

I definitely didn't think Ambrose would win, since it wouldn't be hard at all to put him in a WWE Title feud given his history with both Rollins and Reigns.

Everyone's battered after that one.

Lol Titus is going to get wrecked in front of his family.

- Titus vs. Rusev:
I like this being a down and dirt fight after the crazy ladder shenanigans in the last match.

Rusev's mobility for his size is great. He's definitely the super athlete.

Involving Titus' sons is awesome. It adds more meaning to the feud.

I like Titus just being an all-out HOSS. His offense doesn't have to be picture perfect to be effective.

Rusev's kicks are lethal!

That was shorter than I would have liked, but it was fine to continue the build for Rusev.

BASED RUSEV burying Titus to his kids. One of the best heels going right now.

- Reigns vs. Rollins:
I like the story of power vs. speed.

Reigns more or less working as the heel here.

I like the Razor's Edge/Sitout Powerbomb spot. I hope that becomes a permanent part of Reigns' moveset.

Rollins making the most of his size with his ferocity.

These two counter each other pretty well. I like what we're seeing between them.

This is heating up well. It's hard to boo Rollins when he does such impressive moves.

I still dislike the Superplex/Falcon Arrow spot. I'd probably be OK with it if it was a finisher, but it's too big of a move to not be successful in getting a cover.

Roman no-selling the turnbuckle powerbomb to hit the Superman punch. These two are very talented, but spots like that irk me.

Rollins putting up a hell of a fight. This has some pretty good drama.

GENIUS counter of the spear into a Pedigree.

No shame in Roman losing like that. That was one hell of a match.

Awesome move by Dean to one-up the Architect.

- Rollins vs. Ambrose:
That was a pretty cool moment. It looks like we're in for an all-out Shield feud. That should really be something special.

More wrestling coming up.