WWE Money in the Bank 2016

WWE Money in the Bank 2016

Las Vegas, Nevada - June 2016

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Roman Reigns is the WWE World Champion, The Miz holds the Intercontinental Championship, the Womens' Champion is Charlotte, the WWE Tag Team Champions are still The New Day, and the United States Title is the property of Rusev.

COMMENTARY: Michael Cole, JBL, and Byron Saxton

Money in the Bank 2016 kicked off with a 4-way Tag Titles match, The New Day defending against three relatively fresh teams: Enzo and Cass, The Vaudevillains, and Anderson and Gallows. The crowd was thoroughly behind Enzo and Cass here, who cut a strong promo before the match began. An abundance of action, but not all of it executed well - particularly the finish, which suffered from some sort of mistiming involving Gallows and Cass. The live crowd chanted "This is Awesome," but I didn't find it any better than just intermittently good. (2.5/5)

Kevin Owens was backstage for an interview but was interrupted by Chris Jericho and Alberto Del Rio. A fun segment that benefitted Owens more than either of the other participants, so who is going to complain about that? Del Rio has to be one of the biggest "He's Still Around?" guys of the past decade. 

Baron Corbin took on Dolph Ziggler next. The crowd shat on this match with a "Boring" chant, but Corbin masterfully milked it and drew legit heat from it. He also landed a great-looking Deep 6 on the outside and, later, reversed a Ziggler cross body into an End of Days. A solid clean finish where the right man won the right way. A considerably better match than many are calling it, but arguably 2-3 minutes too long. (2.5/5)

Current WWE Womens' Champion Charlotte and her protege Dana Brooke made their way down the aisle next to take on the team of Becky Lynch and Natalya. The women were welcomed with a loud "We Want Sasha" chant and proceeded to have a decent-at-best match with several strong moments (including a Hart Attack by the babyfaces early on and a vicious collision that led to a finish that was absolutely ruined by instant replay) but just as many stretches where it seemed like the participants were preparing and performing maneuvers more than organically executing them. The best part of the contest, though, may have been the post-match beatdown delivered by Natalya, kicking this up a notch by a half-point. (2.5/5)

After some words from Dean Ambrose it was time for one of the night's unexpected highlights - Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews. The crowd was mostly disinterested and Sheamus' deliberate, headlock-heavy pace certainly didn't jar them into life, but it was also the right approach to take and served Crews well by making his comebacks and offense shine through simple juxtaposition. There were also several outright awesome spots, including Crews tossing Sheamus to the arena floor with a Belly-to-Belly Suplex from inside the ring and following it up with a moonsault off the apron (not to be outdone, Sheamus connected on a White Noise from the top rope that arguably should've ended the match). Sadly, a cheap finish deflated my excitement for this match and, unless there is something more personal at stake than sheer pride, I'm not necessarily sold on these two having a series of matches (even if they have fairly good chemistry). (3/5)

Main event ti - whoops, force of habit when it comes to the two names who duked it out next: John Cena and AJ Styles. Before the bell rang, we got a spectacular video package chronicling the rivalry and rewarding those of us who haven't bothered watching RAW in months by giving us every moment that's mattered in one condensed music video. The crowd was absolutely bonkers for this, with Cena getting his usual 50/50 cheering and AJ's support come from the deeper-voiced and rowdier portion of the arena. Unlike Cena's quality bouts with Kevin Owens last year or, more famously, his matches with CM Punk in 2011, this one was less back-and-forth (Cena vs. Anti-Cena) and more New Guard vs. Old Guard, AJ Styles using his remarkable athleticism, speed, and cunning to keep Cena on defense for the majority of the match. Unlike Styles/Reigns, this one didn't pack in as many fun, "Holy Shit" gimmicks (read: table spots and weapon use), but it was far from dull and, maybe most promisingly, left plenty on the table for future matches (unlike the aforementioned Owens/Cena matches). The various counters that Styles pulled out were astonishing and led to some thrilling moments, including a killer Calf Crusher out of an Attitude Adjustment and, later, AJ reversing a Cena leg drop from the top rope into a power bomb. Unfortunately, while this match didn't feature nearly as many of the classic Cena tropes as some feared, it still offered at least one too many - most notably some abhorrent finisher no-selling (AJ kicking out of an AA [after his countless brilliant escapes had finally restored some credibility to it as an "endgame" move] and Cena kicking out of a Styles Clash (which has now become as likely to win a match as a hiptoss). This is, of course,  before a ref bump and run-in that discredited the very premise of this match and main focus of the pre-match video. Sure, the ending protects both men and establishes Style as willing to do anything to win...but its also one that can't be "unseen" or forgotten easily, a disappointing ending to an otherwise very strong match. Anyone calling this a Match of the Year contender is heaping praise where it doesn't belong. (3.5/5)

The Money in the Bank Briefcase was on the line next in a ladder match between Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Alberto Del Rio, and Cesaro. What ensued was one of the better car crash matches in recent history, a thoroughly entertaining smorgasbord of ultra-violence (but, almost shockingly, no blood). Between the bells, we saw a variety of vicious spots including Owens landing a frogsplash on Ambrose on top of a ladder, Cesaro swinging Jericho into a ladder in the corner, Alberto Del Rio double-stomping Cesaro on a ladder, Sami Zayn getting powerbombed through a ladder, Alberto Del Rio taking a huge spill from atop a ladder, and Owens getting Michonoku Driver'ed into the top corner of a ladder in one of the most nasty spots since, well, the last time Owens and Zayn found themselves in a multi-man ladder match. A very strong match with a great visual towards the end of all six combatants brawling atop the ladder. Good stuff. (4/5)

After a recap the Golden Truth/Breeze and Fandango match from the pre-show, we got a United States Championship match - Rusev defending against Titus O'Neill. Rusev was glorious in this one, avoiding contact in the early minutes (leading to one of the best match opening sequences I think I've ever seen), but then taunting and getting extra physical once he established control. I was a huge fan of Titus O'Neill years ago, but I think a caveat is worth noting: Titus was an unbelievable hot tag because of his explosive power and dynamic charisma, but in singles, his shortcomings are more noticeable and this match showed it. The crowd was dead for most of it, which is a bit of a shame when, minute for minute, this was a better than average contest reminiscent of Rusev's best from his rookie year. (3/5)

Main event time - Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Championship. The crowd was firmly behind Rollins, which almost worked against the story of the match as Reigns dominated for lengthy stretches, tossing Rollins into the announce table and, once they found their way back in the ring, connecting with a Tequila Sunrise power bomb (I think thats what its called?). Rollins popped the crowd with a huge somersault splash to Reigns on the outside and the match proceeded to keep the crowd alive with both men hitting some of their most devastating signature moves including Reigns' Superman punch, Rollins' knee from the top rope, the Falcon's Arrow,  Reigns' one-arm powerbomb, and an Architect running powerbomb into the corner. However, every time the match lagged into a stretch of selling (one of Reigns' strengths, if you ask me), it was almost eerily quiet, noticeable to the point of being distracting and completely unlike the atmosphere I recall from Reigns' match with AJ Styles at Payback. The final minutes of the match were tremendous, with Rollins showing his craftiness, Reigns costing himself the match with a costly, inadvertent ref bump, and then Rollins proving that he may have his former teammates number by deftly countering the big man's most potent offensive maneuver. With a clean finish that effectively established Rollins as, at the very least, Reigns' equal, the match delivered. The post-match, on the other hand, was a mixed bag. Storyline-wise, it made perfect poetic sense for Ambrose to capture the title by defeating Rollins the way Rollins had defeated Reigns at WrestleMania XXVI, but in terms of delivering a "moment"? I'll take the Boyhood Dream or Austin's WrestleMania XIV, moments that came as the culmination of lengthy chases, over the "hotshotting" of a title any day of the week. Still, a quality piece of WWE production worthy of a watch. (4/5)

While watching Money in the Bank 2016, I read through a number of "as it happens" threads on various wrestling sites that called this the "Best MITB Ever." While I haven't gone back and watched Money in the Bank 2011 in awhile, I doubt any single moment of this show will go down in history the way Cena/Punk has. Ah, the power of a 5-star match.

Anyway, Money in the Bank 2016 earned a very respectable 3.13-out-of-5 on the ol' Kwang Meter, thanks in large part to a handful of better-than-expected matches (Rusev/Titus and Sheamus/Crews), an ultra-violent Money In The Bank ladder match, and a solid main event that started off well enough but got stronger and more suspenseful with each passing minute. Cena/Styles was not the Match of the Year-caliber match many wanted, but this almost seemed to be by design rather than by either guy not having their workboots on.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand


A QUICK NOTE - As well-produced as the final minutes of the show were, I'd still argue that Dean Ambrose' first World Championship victory was bungled by the ridiculously insular vision of the bookers. While Monday's RAW rating proved that Ambrose's win did seem to inspire a bump in the rating, it was a moment that could've and undoubtedly would've been far bigger had it not also occurred on the night of the year's (if not the DECADE's) BIGGEST, MOST INSPIRING SPORTS STORY. Go Cavs.